I could see why William was looking so desperately for the recorder. They’d gotten her computer, but they didn’t have the original. But why was he so desperate to find Billy if he didn’t know his son had been there? I asked Billy who else he had told.

“No one, Ms. War-sha-sky, no one.”

“You didn’t instant-message anyone?”

He shook his head.

“What about the blog—April said there’s one you and your sister use to stay in touch.”

“Yeah, but we use nicknames, just in case. Candy’s at a mission in Daegu, that’s in South Korea, my folks—my dad, he sent her there after the—the abortion—to keep her out of temptation and make up for the life she’d taken. I’m not supposed to write her, but we post to this blog, it’s devoted to Oscar Romero, on account of he’s my—my spiritual hero. My dad doesn’t know about it, and when I write her I use my blog name, Gruff, but—”

The hair prickled on my neck. “For ‘Billy-the-Kid-Goat’s Gruff,’ no doubt. Did you tell her about Bron and your dad?”

He was looking at the linoleum, tracing a circle with his running shoe. “Sort of.”

“Carnifice could track your blog postings through your laptop, even if you’d used the world’s cleverest nicknames.”

“But—I told her about Bron through Coach McFarlane’s computer,” he objected.

I yelped so loudly it sent Scurry running down the hall for cover. “They have your nickname, so they can look for any new postings you make! And now they can trace Mary Ann’s machine. If you’re trying to lay low, you absolutely cannot be in touch with the outside world. Now I need to figure out where to park you two—it’s a question of hours before your dad’s detectives track down Mary Ann’s machine. We may need to move you, too,” I added to my old coach.

Mary Ann said she wasn’t budging from her home, tonight or any other time; she was staying here until they moved her to a cemetery.

I didn’t waste time arguing with her or trying to persuade the kids to move; my most urgent task was to find Marcena’s recorder before William’s Dobermans did. Since she seemed to carry it everywhere, she must have had it on Monday. Maybe she’d only read from a transcript because she was recording the meeting, or she was wary enough not to let them see her device.