Evan still screaming. Footsteps pounding up the stairs.

“Police, police! Drop your weapons!”

Andrew picking himself off the floor, shaking his head.

I noticed two things at once. His right side was bleeding, and he still held the knife.

He looked down at me and started to grin, just as Michael Oliver tackled him from behind.

“Son of a bitch. How dare you hurt my family. Son of a bitch!”

“Drop your weapon! For God’s sake, drop it!”

Sergeant D.D. Warren had topped the stairs, blonde curls flying. She had her drawn weapon pointed at me, and her gaze locked on the tangle of grown men. Her partner, and Victoria, poured into the hall behind her.

“The police, Michael,” Victoria was trying to say. “The police.”

“Mommy?” Evan cried from the closet.

“Drop your weapon!” D.D. screamed again.

I put down the gun, my gaze still on Andrew.

“Kick it away. Behind you,” D.D. ordered.

I did as I was told. Michael was on top of Andrew now, bashing Andrew’s forehead into the floor.

“Stop it!” D.D. yelled angrily. “Police! Get up, get away. Now!”

Her voice must have finally penetrated. Michael slowly released Andrew’s hair. He rose shakily, breath shallow, expression wild. D.D.’s partner stepped forward to assist.

“Evan’s in his closet,” I spoke up. “He needs help. Please?”

Those words seemed to finally rouse Michael. He stepped back from Andrew. Victoria was already scurrying by the detectives into her son’s room. She returned a minute later, Evan in her arms.

She looked at her husband. He looked at her. The next instant, they were together, parents, holding tight, their child cradled between them.

And I felt an ache, deep and endless inside my chest. My mother, Natalie, Johnny.

I love you. I love you. I love you. And I miss you so much.

A brush against my cheek. A flutter, like butterfly wings against my right temple. I wanted to hold on, hold close.

I love you, I thought again. Then I let go, as I should’ve done years ago.

The other detective was beside Andrew’s prone form. He reached down to feel for a pulse while D.D. covered him with her gun.

The detective frowned, looked back at D.D., made a small shake of his head.

I realized then what we’d all missed before: the pool of blood slowly growing beneath Andrew’s body. When Michael tackled him, Andrew had still been holding the knife. Apparently, it had finally found a target.

“Everyone out,” D.D. ordered flatly.

We moved to the driveway, where the sun was coming up. Michael and Victoria remained huddled close, Evan nestled between them, refusing to let their son go. I stood off to the side, turning my face toward the light.

EPILOGUE

We’ve found a school for Evan. It’s full-time care in a family-friendly environment in southern New Hampshire. The kids live in actual homes, with trained caretakers serving as surrogate parents. The campus includes a lake, huge gardens, and neighboring woods. The curriculum combines a structured schedule with plenty of outdoor time, where kids get to breathe fresh air, learn to garden, and benefit from the healing powers of nature.

The school even utilizes meditative training to help agitated children improve their self-soothing skills.

Evan’s nervous, but not morally opposed. We can visit on weekends. If his behavior improves, he can come home for the holidays. It’s beginning to feel manageable. Yes, he’s on medication. Yes, he’ll be going away. Yes, we have many “learning opportunities” ahead.

But the school is beautiful. Evan’s calmer. And our family is healing again.

The DA decided not to press charges against Evan. Our lawyer argued Evan had been unduly influenced by Andrew Lightfoot’s now obviously violent tendencies. Prosecuting a child who’d just been kidnapped by his spiritual healer didn’t make for great headlines, so the matter was quietly dismissed. After another week at the acute care unit, a bit of tweaking with Evan’s medication, and the development of a long-term plan, Evan was allowed to come home to finish out the summer before heading to his new school.

It gave me time to heal and go back-to-school shopping with my daughter.

Last week, Chelsea visited Evan and me twice, Michael acting as chaperone. Evan became overexcited, slamming his fingers in the front door, then tripping over his own feet and knocking his sister into the TV. But Chelsea hung in there, I hung in there, Michael hung in there. The calmer we remained, the calmer Evan became. By the end of the second evening, we even managed a family game of charades. Chelsea won. When I gave her a congratulatory hug, she clung to me and cried. So I cried with her.

Sometimes, that’s just what you need to do.

The wedding has been postponed. More pressing matters to tend to, Michael told me, and I thought I saw some of the old familiar heat in his gaze. I know I felt it in mine.

I’m thinking of returning to interior decorating. I’m thinking of prizing every single second I have with my children. I’m thinking of being me again, independent, beautiful, and strong.

And I think if I do that, Michael doesn’t stand a chance.

D.D. loved it when a case came together. Andrew Ficke, aka Andrew Lightfoot, died at the scene, bleeding out after severing his femoral artery. Evidence, however, had a life of its own, and they found plenty of it.

A military-grade Taser was found on the front seat of Lightfoot’s car. Tests determined it met the voltage requirements of the Taser used to attack Patrick Harrington, Hermes Laraquette, Danielle Burton, and Victoria Oliver. The Taser also contained custom cartridges, apparently available on the black market, that powered the device’s twin wires without leaving behind any traceable confetti.

A search of Andrew’s Rockport home also revealed a package of zip ties, same size, color, and durability as the ties used to subdue Danielle Burton and the Oliver family. Then there was the duffel bag in his car trunk, which lit up like the Fourth of July when tested for bodily fluids. The bag revealed three different blood types, most likely cross-contamination from once containing clothing stained with the blood of multiple murder victims.

Andrew Lightfoot was a known associate of all the victims. The police found no alibis for him on the nights of the murders, and security cameras showed him entering the hospital the evening Lucy was hanged. Fire investigators recovered fifteen smoke bombs in the ventilation system; latent prints recovered Andrew’s prints from several of the devices, tying him explicitly to the emergency evacuation.

As far as D.D. was concerned, that was a wrap. Andrew had taken his world of spiritual interplanes a bit too seriously, convincing himself that the fate of his father’s soul was more important than the continued corporal existence of various individuals. He had murdered A, believing he was saving B. Or more likely, he had just wanted to terrorize Danielle Burton after she rejected him.

Naturally, Alex argued with her. “He was a spiritual healer. Man did good work, according to his clients-”

“Converts.”

“Clients. You don’t go from being a respected shaman to a mass murderer overnight.”

“He was obsessed with Danielle. She wanted nothing to do with him. How much rejection can one man take?”

“According to her testimony, he wanted her to save his father’s soul. How does killing two entire families accomplish that?”

“It didn’t accomplish that,” D.D. pointed out with a shrug. “Poor problem-solving skills. Definition of a murderer right there. Some guy wants a divorce, but doesn’t want to lose half of his assets, so he kills his wife instead. Did he have to kill her? Were there other options that might have ended his marriage while preserving his bank account? Of course. But murderers don’t see other options. That’s why they’re murderers.”