A calm seemed to come over her. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Okay.”

“But the first thing we have to do,” I said, “is find him.”

It was as though I’d thrown cold water on her. She became, suddenly, focused. “Find him? You don’t know where he is? He’s missing?”

“This afternoon. He was playing with the croquet set in the backyard and Mom stopped hearing-”

“When?” Jan asked urgently. “When did she notice he was gone?”

“Late. Like, five or six o’clock.”

Jan seemed to be computing something in her head. “He could have gotten there by then,” she said.

“Tell me,” I said. “Are you talking about this Oscar person?”

She nodded. “I think he knows where I’ve been living, who I’ve been these last six years. Either from the news, or from Dwayne, before he killed him. Fine would have had time to get here. He’s driving a black Audi, something he could make good time in. He might have gotten to Promise Falls before I did. I pulled off the highway for a while, trying to gather myself together.”

“Jesus Christ, Jan, how would he even know where to find Ethan?”

“You think he’s stupid? All he has to do is look up your name. He’ll find this address, your parents’ address, plus…”

“Plus what?”

Jan’s face crumpled like paper. “He may even have a picture of Ethan.”

It was all dizzying. Finally encountering Jan, learning about her past, coming to grips with the realization that Ethan might not just be missing, but in real danger. As I went to get up off the floor, my hand caught on the rough edge of a long piece of hardwood flooring shaped like a jagged icicle.

“Fuck,” I said. Still not trusting Jan, I tucked the gun under the edge of my butt while I pried out a splinter with my thumb and forefinger. Blood bubbled out of the wound.

Jan made no move for the weapon, and I took hold of it again as I got to my feet.

“This guy,” I said, “whose hand you cut off, what would he do with Ethan if he had him?”

Jan shuddered. “I think he’d do anything,” she said. “I think he’d do anything he had to, to get back at me.”

The words “eye for an eye” came to me. But I wasn’t thinking about eyes. I thought of the feel of Ethan’s hand in mine.

“Do you have a way to reach this man?” I asked, feeling frantic. “Some way to find him? So we could try to work something out? Make some sort of deal?”

Jan said, “He might be willing to trade Ethan for me.”

There was nothing in that plan that troubled me. Not at this moment. But I didn’t think it was our only option.

“I’ll call Duckworth,” I said.

“Who?”

“The detective who’s been trying to find you, to nail me for your murder. He can put the word out. Get everyone looking for Oscar Fine. You can give them a description, tell them about the car he’s driving. If the police find him, they find Ethan. I don’t think he’s going to do anything to him before he’s found you. He probably figures as long as he has Ethan, alive, he’ll have some leverage with you.”

Jan, resigned, nodded. “You’re right. You’re right. You’re right. Call him. Call the detective. I’ll tell him anything he needs to know to find Ethan. I’ll tell him anything he needs if it’ll help find Oscar Fine, if it’ll lead us to Ethan.”

I took out my phone.

Jan reached out, touched my arm. “I don’t expect you to forgive me.”

I moved my arm away. “Gee, you think?” I said.

I flipped open the phone, started searching the list of incoming calls so I could find Detective Duckworth’s number, and was hitting the button to connect when a voice said, “Stop.”

I looked up. There was someone standing in the doorway to Ethan’s room.

A man with one hand.

FIFTY-FIVE

“Drop the gun, and the phone,” Oscar Fine said to me. He had a weapon of his own pointed at me. It had a long barrel, slightly wider at the end. I was guessing that was a silencer. There’d already been two unsilenced shots fired off in this room. With any luck, maybe the neighbors had heard them and dialed 911.

My gun was aimed at the floor, and I was pretty sure I’d be dead before I could raise my arm to use it. So I let the gun fall down along the side of my leg to the floor and tossed the phone, still open, onto the bed.

“Kick it over here,” Oscar Fine said. “Carefully.”

I lined up the edge of my shoe with the gun and slid it toward him. It narrowly missed one of the holes in the floor. Never taking his eyes off either of us, he knelt down, and using his stump and the weapon in his one hand like a set of chopsticks, picked up the gun, and slipped it into his pocket.

The color had drained from Jan’s face. I’d never seen her look more frightened, or more vulnerable. Maybe, if there’d been a mirror around, I would have felt the same about myself. This is it, her expression said. It’s over.

“Where’s my son?” I asked.

Oscar Fine didn’t look at me. His eyes were fixed on Jan. “It’s been a long time,” he said.

“Please,” Jan said. “You have the wrong person.”

He smiled wryly. “Really. Show a little more dignity than your boyfriend did at the end. You know what he did? He pissed himself. The poor bastard pissed himself. I’m guessing you’re made of stronger stuff than that. After all, you were the one had it in you to cut off my hand. He just sat up front. Did he piss himself then, too?”

Jan licked her lips. I was guessing her mouth was as dry as mine. She said, “You should have had a key on you. If you’d had a key, we could have taken the briefcase without hurting you.”

Oscar Fine momentarily looked solemn. “I can’t argue with you there. But you know what they say about hindsight.” He smiled and then said, with no hint of irony in his voice, “You have to play the hand you’re dealt.”

Jan said to him, nodding in my direction, “Please let him go. Tell him where our son is so he can go get him. He’s just a boy. Please don’t make him pay for anything I’ve done to you. I’m begging you. Is Ethan outside? Is he in your car?”

Oscar Fine’s tongue moved around inside his mouth, like he was thinking something over.

And then, in an instant, his arm went up and the gun in his hand went pfft.

I shouted, “No! God, no! Jan!”

Jan was tossed back against the wall. Her mouth opened, but she didn’t make a sound. She looked down at the blossom of red above her right breast, put her right hand up and touched it.

I ran to Jan, tried to hold her as she started her slide down the wall. I eased her down, tried not to look at the blood trail she’d left behind her. Her eyes were already glassy.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said.

The front of her blouse was already soaked with blood. Her breathing was short and raspy.

“Ethan,” she whispered to me.

“I know,” I said. “I know.”

I looked at Oscar Fine, who hadn’t moved since firing the shot. It struck me that he looked at peace.

“I have to call an ambulance,” I said. “My wife… she’s losing a lot of blood.”

“No,” he said.

“She’s dying,” I said.

“That’s the idea,” Oscar Fine said.

Jan struggled to raise her head, looked at him and, with considerable effort, said, “Ethan. Where is Ethan?”

Oscar Fine shook his head. “I have no idea,” he said. “But if you’d like, I’d be happy to look for your son. Once I find him, who would you like his hands sent to?” He smiled sadly at me. “It won’t be you.”

“You don’t have him,” I said.

“I wish,” Oscar Fine said.

Jan’s eyelids fell shut. I slipped my arm around her, pulled her to me. I couldn’t tell whether she was still breathing.

In the distance, we heard a siren.

“Shit,” said Oscar Fine. He glanced at the open phone on the bed, shook his head in disgust, reached over and snapped it shut. He sighed as the siren-it sounded like only one-grew louder. In another few seconds, I could hear steps pounding on the front porch.