In a way she was glad. All this destruction made it easier for her to be here. It turned the house into a different place, nothing like she remembered. But still, the degree of devastation was astonishing.

“I knew Thomas didn’t want me to have the place,” Alicia said softly, “but I never realized he was this angry.”

“This isn’t anger,” Jack said, nudging the pile with the toe of his sneaker. “This is methodical as hell. They started in the center of the room, then worked outward, dumping everything in the center after they’d checked it. These guys know what they’re doing.”

“But how could they expect to get away with it?”

Jack shrugged. “I guess they figured you didn’t have a chance of ever taking possession of the place. So what did it matter what they did to it? And I suspect that once they find what they’re looking for, they’ll just disappear.”

“But what—what could they be looking for?”

“Something metal, I’d say.”

Jack had moved to a corner where a contraption that looked like a vacuum cleaner handle attached to a frying pan leaned against the wall.

“How do you know?”

He lifted the contraption. “Metal detector.”

“A key,” Alicia said, remembering the Greenpeace line from the will: “ ‘This house holds the key that points the way to all you wish to achieve.’ They’re looking for a key.”

Jack nodded. “Got to be. Your half brother’s Arab friend quoted the same line yesterday. Obviously they haven’t found it yet.” He looked around. “Did your father have a workshop?”

It was cold in here—Alicia could see her breath misting in the air—but now she felt a deeper chill. “Workshop?”

“Yeah. You know, where he puttered around with his hobbies or whatever.”

Jagged shards of ice needled the lining of her arteries. She forced the words past her teeth. “The basement… if anywhere.”

“How do we find it?”

“Through the kitchen.”

“All right,” he said, moving past her. “Let’s go.”

“No. You go. I can’t.”

“Come on, Alicia. This is no time to—”

“No,” she said, and once again heard her voice climbing the scale. “Didn’t you hear me? I CAN’T!”

He stared at her a moment, then turned away. “Okay. You can’t. I’ll check it out alone. Don’t go away.”

“I’m sorry,” she said softly after he was gone. “But I just can’t go there.”

5.

5.

As Jack reached the bottom of the steps, he wondered if whatever abuse Alicia had suffered had been committed in the basement. Good chance, judging from her reaction.

He found the light switch and checked out the place.