Sanchez looked like he was waiting for him to say something.

“What’s so funny?” Sanchez asked.

“You think this is a coincidence?” Archie asked him. “Her coming back now?”

“You have to warn people,” Susan said from the kitchen. “You have to make an announcement.”

“She’s right,” Archie said.

“So, what?” Sanchez asked. “So they can lock their doors?”

Archie looked across the coffee table at Henry, who was sitting quite still. He’d been noticeably silent on the subject.

“Henry’s with us on this,” Sanchez said.

Henry’s pale eyes looked tired. He spread his palms plaintively. “People will keep their kids home from trick-or-treating,” he said to Archie. “There will be people in costume. People dressed up like Gretchen, for Christ’s sake. It’s a recipe for panic. You know that there will be drunk jackasses who take a shot at the first girl in a blond wig they see.”

Claire offered Archie an apologetic shrug. “If she doesn’t know we know she’s in the area, it gives us an edge,” she said. “We can catch her.”

Archie looked around. These people were all smart, all dedicated. How could they all be so wrong?

“She knows,” Archie said, exasperated. He lifted his hand toward his laptop. “Look at her. She knows she’s being filmed.”

“She doesn’t know you’ve even seen the tape,” Sanchez said. “She doesn’t know you’ve shared it with us.”

Susan was still on his counter, eating her sandwich. She paused and shook some crumbs off her orange T-shirt, and then brushed them off her purse, which sat gaping open next to her. She was being uncharacteristically calm about all this, Archie noticed. She’d offered a few pronouncements, sure, but there’d been no bitter pleading, no dramatics.

Her purse hadn’t been on the counter earlier.

Archie raised an eyebrow at her.

Susan shrugged.

“It’s moot,” Archie announced to the group.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Sanchez asked.

Susan took a bite of her sandwich and chewed.

“It’s already done, isn’t it?” Archie asked Susan. “Who’d you go to?”

Susan swallowed. “The Herald,” she said. “It’ll be up on their Web site as soon as they can confirm some of the details.”

Henry put his head back and closed his eyes. Claire said, “Oops.” Eaton and Sanchez turned the same shade of purple, and Sanchez shot Archie an accusatory look.

“Hey,” Archie said, putting up his hands. “I’m not the one who didn’t take away her phone.”

Archie’s bedroom door opened and they all looked as Gary emerged, carrying a metal case. He stopped short, took in the scene, and then glanced back at the bedroom door, like he might turn around and go back through it.

“You done?” Sanchez asked him.

Gary held up the case and tapped it. “Got everything I need,” he said.