It was Archie.

He was coated in filth. Disheveled. Begrimed. Grubby. Dirty didn’t even begin to describe it. His clothes were creased and crumpled. His hair was a catastrophe. He had soil smeared on his face. Bits of vegetation clung to every part of him. He gave her a nod. “It’s time to go home,” he said.

Susan looked at Jack and Cooper. They didn’t look back. They were staring at Archie.

“Now,” he said.

Susan gulped and nodded. She didn’t know what he knew or didn’t know or what had happened or how long he’d been there, but she knew now was not the time to ask any of those questions. She hopped up off the chair and hurried to him, clutching the paper shopping bag to her chest.

Jack had laid the newspaper down on his desk and was looking up at them calmly. “You’re tracking dirt on my Persian rug,” he said to Archie.

“Where’s Leo?” Archie asked.

Up close, Susan could see blood in his hair. It had collected and congealed, leaving the top of his head matted with dark red. A trail of red traveled along his hairline and disappeared behind his ear. Susan took his hand. It was freezing.

Jack picked up his cup of coffee and lifted it to his lips and took a sip. Then he set it down. “Leo’s gone,” he said.

“Wait,” Susan said. “What?” If Leo was gone, why had she been sitting here for four hours waiting for him? She leaned close to Archie. “I saw him last night,” she said, “down by the pool. They said he’d meet me here and take me home in the morning.” Archie smelled like mud. Underneath all the dirt, she could see that he was wearing a tuxedo. He’d been at the party. Had he come looking for her, or for Leo? A small brown leaf unstuck itself from his shoulder and fluttered to the floor. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Did you come because of me?”

Archie didn’t answer. His eyes were still fixed on Jack. “Give me my fucking gun,” Archie said.

Gun? Susan’s stomach did a somersault. She could feel the tension in Archie’s hand, every muscle tightening.

Jack got a key out of a box on his desk and he unlocked one of his desk drawers and slid it open and reached in and pulled out a gun. Susan scrutinized Archie’s face, searching for some clue as to what the hell was going on.

Cooper walked the gun over, and Archie let go of her hand and took the gun from him, and then Cooper stepped away, and leaned up against the wall next to a framed photograph of a sailboat named Isabel.