It was therefore a very thoughtful Dexter who finally pulled up at the community hall at the park. Good old Megan was still there, holding Cody and Astor by the hand, and hopping from one foot to the other in her anxiety to be rid of them and off into the exciting world of accounting class. They all seemed happy to see me, in their own individual ways, which was so gratifying that I forgot all about Weiss for three or four full seconds.

“Mr Morgan?” Megan said. I really gotta go.” And I was so stunned to hear her complete a sentence that was not a question, I merely nodded and pried Cody and Astor's hands from hers. She skittered away to a small beat-up Chevy and raced off into the evening traffic.

“Where's Mom?” Astor demanded.

I am sure there is a caring and sensitive and very human way to tell children that their mother is in the clutches of a homicidal monster, but I did not know what it was, so I said, “That bad guy has her. The one that crashed into your car.”

“The one I got with a pencil?” Cody asked me.

“That's right” I said.

I hit him in the crotch” Astor said.

“You should have hit him harder” I said. “He's got your mom.” She made a face at me that showed she was deeply disappointed in my dorkiness. “Are we going to go get her?”

“We're going to help” I said. “The police are there now.” They both looked at me like I was crazy. “The policeV.” Astor said.

“You sent the policelV

“I had to come get you two” I said, surprised to find myself on the defensive all of a sudden.

“So you're going to let this guy go, and he'll just go to jail?” she demanded.

I had to” I said, and suddenly I felt like I really was in court and I had already lost. “One of the cops found out, and I had to come get you.”

They exchanged one of their silent but very meaningful looks, and then Cody looked away. “Are you taking us with you now?” Astor asked.

“Uh” I said, and it really didn't seem fair to have first Coulter and now Astor reduce honey-tongued Dashing Dexter to monosyllabic idiocy in the same day, but there it was. Things being what they were —exceedingly unpleasant and uncertain —I had not really thought this through. Of course I could not take them with me to corner Weiss. I knew that his whole performance was aimed at me, and it would not really start until I got there, if he could help it; I could not be certain that Coulter had him cornered, and it would be far too dangerous.

As if she heard me thinking it, Astor said, “We already beat him once.”

“He wasn't expecting anything from you then” I said. “This time he will be.”