Razor Burn responded with a clipped nod, executed a military turn, and headed for the door, already unholstering his Glock.

“Shoot her in the head,” Susan called as the door closed behind him.

Jack was pulling on a windbreaker with a yacht race emblem on the chest.

Karim had picked up the Town & Country again and was paging through it.

Outside the window behind the desk, it was still dark. It would be an hour before dawn. “Don’t go down there,” Archie said. “I’m not going to warn you again.”

“She killed my Isabel,” Jack said, and for a moment Archie saw a trace of the man he’d visited more than a dozen years ago, the man who’d fallen to his knees after Archie told him that his daughter was dead. Maybe that man was always in there, under the surface.

Archie hesitated. “What if I told you she didn’t?” he asked.

A shadow fell across Jack’s face. “That would be a riot, coming from you. I heard about you this summer. Trying to convince everyone that she didn’t kill all her victims.”

“You know,” Archie said, leaning back in his chair. “Do what you want.”

Cooper’s hand lifted from Archie’s shoulder. “You want company?” Cooper asked Jack.

“I need you two to stay here,” Jack said with a glance at Karim. Karim was engrossed in his magazine and barely seemed to hear. “Stay with them,” Jack told Cooper. “Make sure they don’t call anyone until I get back.” He cocked his head at Susan. But she refused to meet his gaze. Jack’s tongue flickered. He didn’t like being ignored, which Archie knew was exactly why Susan was doing it. Jack moved directly in front of her, took her by her chin, and forced her to look at him. He smiled, satisfied, and released her. “If they’re uncooperative, kill them,” he instructed Cooper. Susan’s chin had a mark where Jack had grabbed her. Archie kept his hands tight around the ends of the arms of his chair.

Jack started for the door.

“Good luck,” Archie said darkly.

Jack hesitated and turned back around. “Give me your extra gun,” he said to Cooper.

Cooper hesitated and then bent over and lifted a pant leg to reveal an ankle holster. He unholstered the weapon and handed it to Jack.

Jack put a gun in each pocket of his yachting jacket and then glanced back at Archie. “No one knows you’re here, my friend,” he said to Archie. “Don’t test me.”

Then Jack grinned madly. He drew each of the guns out of his pockets and, two-fisted, headed for the door to the hall. Halfway out, he caught Archie’s eye one last time. Eyes bright, face ruddy, a spring in his step, he looked like a kid about to enter Disneyland. He looked happy.

For an instant, Archie was jealous.