“Come inside,” she said, taking off her jacket and hat and hanging them in the mudroom. He followed her into the kitchen. She went to the sink and turned on the tap. “How did your trip to Syracuse work out?”

It occurred to him that the damn blue folder was still in his car. “I can’t hear you with the water running,” he said. That made … what? Three times he’d forgotten to bring it in? Three times in the past ten minutes? Jesus.

She filled a glass and turned off the water. “I asked about your trip to Syracuse.”

He sighed. “The trip was peculiar. Syracuse is pretty bleak. Hold on … I’ll tell you about it in a minute.” He went out to the car and this time returned with the object in hand.

Madeleine looked perplexed. “I’d heard that there were some very nice old neighborhoods. Maybe not in the part of town you were in?”

“Yes and no. Nice old neighborhoods interspersed with neighborhoods from hell.”

She glanced at the folder in his hand. “Is that Kim’s project?”

“What? Oh. Yes.” He looked around for a place to put it and noticed the arrow where he’d left it on the sideboard. He pointed to it. “What do you know about that?”

“That?” She stepped closer, examined it without touching it. “Is that the thing I saw outside?”

“When did you see it?”

“I don’t know. When I went out. Maybe an hour ago?”

“You don’t know anything about it?”

“Only that it was sticking in the flower bed. I thought you’d put it there.” There was a long silence as he stared at the arrow and she stared at him. “You think someone is hunting up here?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“It’s not hunting season.”

“Maybe some drunk thinks it is.”

“Pleasant thought.”

She glared at the arrow, then shrugged. “You look exhausted. Come, sit down.” She gestured toward the table by the French doors. “Tell me about your day.”

When he had recounted everything he could remember, including Kim’s request to hire him to accompany her to two meetings the following day, he searched Madeleine’s face for a reaction. But instead of commenting on his narrative, she changed the subject.

“I had kind of a weighty day, too.” She leaned forward as she spoke, her elbows on the table, and pressed her palms together in front of her face, resting her chin on her thumbs. She closed her eyes and, for what seemed like a very long time, said nothing.

Then she opened her eyes, put her hands in her lap, straightened her back. “Do you remember me mentioning the mathematician?”

“Vaguely.”

“The math professor who was a client at the clinic?”

“Oh. Right.”