David Hunter—Kara

David Hunter and Kara are joined in the novel by a marriage ended by the car crash that also killed Alice, and by the grief David carries after their deaths. Kara remains present in his life not as a living companion but through memory and recurring dreams. His relationship with her becomes part of the difficult passage from bereavement toward the possibility of loving again.

Marriage and Bereavement

The loss of Kara and Alice leaves David oriented toward the past. In one especially disturbing dream, their voices and presence feel vivid to him, and he senses that Kara is trying to warn him. He is afraid to hear what she might say. When he wakes in the kitchen, confused and unable to remember going downstairs or opening the garden door, the dream’s emotional force continues into waking life. The scene presents his bond with Kara as enduring, but also as entangled with fear and the unresolved pain of loss.

Sharing the Past

As David and Jenny Hammond grow closer, he tells her about Kara and Alice as well as the forensic work he has been doing. Jenny listens without comment and briefly touches his hand, then tells him she thinks he is doing the right thing. Their conversation makes room for his past without turning it into an obstacle he must conceal. The ease of their connection gives David a new intimacy, while the shared knowledge of how quickly ordinary life can become tragedy helps explain why their bond feels unusually close.

A Future Without Betrayal

After the crisis surrounding the murders, David sits alone as evening falls over the marshes and considers his future with Jenny. He searches himself for guilt or a sense that loving her would betray Kara and Alice, but finds neither. The pain of their absence remains, he recognizes, and always will; what changes is his ability to look ahead. He understands that Kara and Alice are dead and cannot be brought back, and describes himself as having been emotionally dead for a long time before unexpectedly feeling alive again. His acceptance does not erase his attachment to Kara: it allows that attachment to coexist with anticipation.

The Dream as Leave-Taking

After a long night, David dreams of Kara again, but this time Alice is absent. In the dream, Kara reassures him that his relationship with Jenny is right. The encounter feels like a delayed, inevitable leave-taking, suggesting a shift in how David can carry his memory of his wife. Yet Kara’s familiar expression of concern lingers after he wakes, along with a warning to be careful. The dream offers comfort without resolving every unease: David can begin again, but the bond with Kara remains part of his emotional life.