‘We’d have to leave Holly again,’ Aunt Charlotte says. ‘She’s locked herself in her room. She’s clicking away on her laptop and won’t come out.’

Hodges discovers he’s pulling his hair and makes himself stop. ‘How old is your daughter?’

A long pause. ‘Forty-five.’

‘Then you can probably get away with not hiring a sitter.’ He tries to suppress what comes next, and can’t quite manage it. ‘Think of the money you’ll save.’

‘I can hardly expect you to understand Holly’s situation, Mr Hodges. As well as being mentally unstable, my daughter is very sensitive.’

Hodges thinks: That must make you especially difficult for her. This time he manages not to say it.

‘Mr Hodges?’

‘Still here.’

‘You don’t happen to know if Janelle left a will, do you?’

He hangs up.

2

Brady spends a long time in the motel shower with the lights off. He likes the womb-like warmth and the steady drumming sound. He also likes the darkness, and it’s good that he does because soon he’ll have all he ever wanted. He’d like to believe there’s going to be a tender mother-and-child reunion – perhaps even one of the mother-and-lover type – but in his heart he doesn’t. He can pretend, but … no.

Just darkness.

He’s not worried about God, or about spending eternity being slow-roasted for his crimes. There’s no heaven and no hell. Anyone with half a brain knows those things don’t exist. How cruel would a supreme being have to be to make a world as fucked-up as this one? Even if the vengeful God of the televangelists and child-molesting blackrobes did exist, how could that thunderbolt-thrower possibly blame Brady for the things he’s done? Did Brady Hartsfield grab his father’s hand and wrap it around the live power line that electrocuted him? No. Did he shove that apple slice down Frankie’s throat? No. Was he the one who talked on and on about how the money was going to run out and they’d end up living in a homeless shelter? No. Did he cook up a poisoned hamburger and say, Eat this, Ma, it’s delicious?

Can he be blamed for striking out at the world that has made him what he is?

Brady thinks not.

He muses on the terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center (he muses on them often). Those clowns actually thought they were going to paradise, where they’d live in a kind of eternal luxury hotel being serviced by gorgeous young virgins. Pretty funny, and the best part? The joke was on them … not that they knew it. What they got was a momentary view of all those windows and a final flash of light. After that, they and their thousands of victims were just gone. Poof. Seeya later, alligator. Off you go, killers and killed alike, off you go into the universal null set that surrounds one lonely blue planet and all its mindlessly bustling denizens. Every religion lies. Every moral precept is a delusion. Even the stars are a mirage. The truth is darkness, and the only thing that matters is making a statement before one enters it. Cutting the skin of the world and leaving a scar. That’s all history is, after all: scar tissue.

3

Brady dresses and drives to a twenty-four-hour drugstore near the airport. He’s seen in the bathroom mirror that his mother’s electric razor left a lot to be desired; his skull needs more maintenance. He gets disposable razors and shaving cream. He grabs more batteries, because you can never have enough. He also picks up a pair of clear glass spectacles from a spinner rack. He chooses hornrims because they give him a studently look. Or so it seems to him.

On his way to the checkout, he stops at a cardboard stand-up display featuring the four clean-cut boys in ’Round Here. The copy reads GET YOUR GEAR ON FOR THE BIG SHOW JUNE 3RD! Only someone has crossed out JUNE 3RD and written 2NITE below it.

Although Brady usually takes an M tee-shirt – he’s always been slim – he picks out an XL and adds it to the rest of his swag. No need to stand in line; this early he’s the only customer.

‘Going to the show tonight?’ the checkout girl asks.

Brady gives her a big grin. ‘I sure am.’

On his way back to the motel, Brady starts to think about his car. To worry about his car. The Ralph Jones alias is all very fine, but the Subaru is registered to Brady Hartsfield. If the Det-Ret discovers his name and tells five-oh, that could be a problem. The motel is safe enough – they no longer ask for plate numbers, just a driver’s license – but the car is not.

The Det-Ret’s not close, Brady tells himself. He was just trying to freak you out.

Except maybe not. This particular Det solved a lot of cases before he was Ret, and some of those skills still seem to be there.

Instead of going directly back to the Motel 6, Brady swings into the airport, takes a ticket, and leaves the Subaru in long-term parking. He’ll need it tonight, but for now it’s fine where it is.

He glances at his watch. Ten to nine. Eleven hours until the showtime, he thinks. Maybe twelve hours until the darkness. Could be less; could be more. But not much more.

He puts on his new glasses and carries his purchases the half-mile back to the motel, whistling.

4

When Hodges opens his front door, the first thing Jerome keys on is the .38 in the shoulder rig. ‘You’re not going to shoot anyone with that, are you?’

‘I doubt it. Think of it as a good luck charm. It was my father’s. And I have a permit to carry concealed, if that was on your mind.’

‘What’s on my mind,’ Jerome says, ‘is whether or not it’s loaded.’

‘Of course it is. What did you think I was going to do if I did have to use it? Throw it?’

Jerome sighs and ruffles his cap of dark hair. ‘This is getting heavy.’

‘Want out? If you do, you’re taillights. Right this minute. I can still rent a car.’

‘No, I’m good. It’s you I’m wondering about. Those aren’t bags under your eyes, they’re suitcases.’

‘I’ll be okay. Today is it for me, anyway. If I can’t track this guy down by nightfall, I’m going to see my old partner and tell him everything.’

‘How much trouble will you be in?’

‘Don’t know and don’t much care.’

‘How much trouble will I be in?’

‘None. If I couldn’t guarantee that, you’d be in period one algebra right now.’

Jerome gives him a pitying look. ‘Algebra was four years ago. Tell me what I can do.’

Hodges does so. Jerome is willing but doubtful.

‘Last month – you can’t ever tell my folks this – a bunch of us tried to get into Punch and Judy, that new dance club downtown? The guy at the door didn’t even look at my beautiful fake ID, just waved me out of the line and told me to go get a milkshake.’

Hodges says, ‘I’m not surprised. Your face is seventeen, but fortunately for me, your voice is at least twenty-five.’ He slides Jerome a piece of paper with a phone number written on it. ‘Make the call.’

Jerome tells the Vigilant Guard Service receptionist who answers that he is Martin Lounsbury, a paralegal at the firm of Canton, Silver, Makepeace, and Jackson. He says he’s currently working with George Schron, a junior partner assigned to tie up a few loose ends concerning the estate of the late Olivia Trelawney. One of those loose ends has to do with Mrs Trelawney’s computer. His job for the day is to locate the I-T specialist who worked on the machine, and it seems possible that one of the Vigilant employees in the Sugar Heights area may be able to help him locate the gentleman.

Hodges makes a thumb-and-forefinger circle to indicate Jerome is doing well, and passes him a note.

Jerome reads it and says, ‘One of Mrs Trelawney’s neighbors, Mrs Helen Wilcox, mentioned a Rodney Peeples?’ He listens, then nods. ‘Radney, I see. What an interesting name. Perhaps he could call me, if it’s not too much trouble? My boss is a bit of a tyrant, and I’m really under the gun here.’ He listens. ‘Yes? Oh, that’s great. Thanks so much.’ He gives the receptionist the numbers of his cell and Hodges’s landline, then hangs up and wipes make-believe sweat from his forehead. ‘I’m glad that’s over. Whoo!’