badges on their shirts. “I’ll just take care of putting your IDs on.

Can’t let you in here without identification, can we? There, now.

That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

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“Thanks, Doreen,” Hannah said. “Let him know we’re here,

won’t you?”

“Absolutely. Can I get y’all anything? Some water, maybe?”

“Beer,” Shane said. “Shiner Bock if you’ve got it.”

“Oh, now, you stop that,” Mrs. Hodgson said. “You’re far too

young to drink, you scamp.”

This wasn’t a situation where any of them were inclined to be

smiling, but Shane did, a little, and shook his head. He mouthed

the word scamp to Claire, his eyebrows raised.

She raised hers back.

“Just some water might be nice,” Hannah said. “Thank you

kindly.”

She led Claire over to a padded chair nearby and pressed her into

it; Eve got seated next to her. The deputy kept Shane standing.

The anteroom was pretty plain, dominated mostly by the desk

manned by Mrs. Hodgson, but there were some photos on the

walls— Claire squinted against the glare from the skylight and

made out the shapes of several people in one of the pictures, standing in front of this very building— but in the early stages of renovation, it looked like. She could make out that one was Hannah,

and one was the new Morganville mayor, Flora Ramos. Apart

from that, the others were a mystery— except that she noticed a

pattern, and a recurring face. A short man, slight build, nothing

really remarkable about his features.

Doreen Hodgson came back bearing water bottles, and follow-

ing behind her was the same man, in the flesh.

He wasn’t very imposing in real life, either— shorter than Shane

by at least four inches. He wore a plain black suit and a white shirt; the only spots of color on him were his very blue eyes— almost the

same startling shade as Michael’s— and a red silk tie and pocket

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square. His face had a vaguely Eastern European shape to it, but

that was really all that Claire could tell about him.

That, and the fact that his Daylight Foundation pin gleamed

like real gold.

He nodded to Hannah and said, “You can let them go now. I’m

sure that we’re all going to be civilized. Besides, they can hardly drink their water if their hands are tied. It’s important to start this conversation with trust.”

Hannah nodded to her deputy, and as he unfastened Shane’s

handcuffs, she pulled out a utility knife and sliced through the

zip- tie cuffs on Claire’s wrists, and then Eve’s. Doreen hurried to put bottles of water into their newly freed hands— cold, sweating

bottles that reminded Claire how long it had been since she’d had

anything to drink.

“Thanks,” she said, and put the bottle down on the chair where