That was the moment he’d long dreaded. The knock on the door. He thought about the woman at the mall. The cop’s wife. It seemed impossible that she could have recognized him, or that they could have tracked him down so quickly. He was a phantom in Duluth. The only one who had ever come close was the black bastard at the newspaper who’d stumbled onto his practice field. He wasn’t a problem anymore.

Even so. Be prepared.

Another knock.

‘Ross,’ his mother called.

‘Who is it?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not decent.’

Ross had no way of knowing if this was the moment. This might be the beginning of the end.

He left the safe open and crept to the doorway of the living room, where he could see windows facing the nighttime yard. No flashing lights. No cars on the street. Then fingernails tap-tapped on the glass, and he saw a girl’s face. Two girls. They called through the window to him.

‘Hey, hello!’

He hadn’t realized he was holding his breath. He exhaled.

Ross crossed to the front door and yanked it open. The girls jumped and giggled. They were taller than he was, both around sixteen or seventeen, probably sisters. Their hair was too long, their makeup too loud, their jeans too tight. He had no expression on his face, and he watched them catch their breath, smirk, roll their eyes, and whisper back and forth. They weren’t scared of him. They were laughing at him and could barely hide it. He felt a roaring in his head, his fury as calm as an ocean wave gathering force as it rolled toward shore.

‘Hi,’ the first girl said. She had red hair, cheap earrings. She twisted a curl around her fingers.

‘Hi,’ her sister echoed.

He said nothing at all. They were strangers, but he knew their type. These were the girls at school. These were the girls at the mall. These were the girls on television. They were all the same. They didn’t know who he was, but he wanted to shout at their painted faces: I AM GOD.

I am the Decider. I am the Bringer of Life and Death.

Kneel for your Judgment.

Unbidden, his fingers curled into fists, and his breath came faster.

‘Um,’ the first girl said.

‘We’re your neighbors across the street,’ the second girl added.

He didn’t know the neighbors, and they didn’t know him. I AM GOD. The girls peeked over his shoulder and saw Jessie on the sofa, her T-shirt riding up her stomach. They giggled again, as if looking down their noses at both of them.

Kneel.

‘Our dog’s missing,’ the first girl said.

‘Have you seen him?’ her sister asked.

He could barely hear his voice over the blood pulsing in his brain. ‘No.’

‘He’s a black Lab.’

‘We call him Ducks. He’s a hunting dog. Dad hunts ducks.’