Thankfully, we don’t have far to go: two and a half blocks southeast, one block southwest, and half a block northwest. I’d like to say something to reassure Annie and Mia, but after watching a man murdered before their eyes—while supposedly in an iron ring of security—there’s not much I can say. I’m only glad they know nothing about the videotapes John Kaiser just dropped on us like grenades tossed back into a foxhole after being flung out once before. The possible implications of the tape erased in the MRI machine are so grave that Will Devine’s murder already seems like a circus sideshow by comparison. No matter how I try to rationalize it, I can’t escape the conclusion that the “Dumpster tape” was inside Henry Sexton’s camcorder while Viola was being murdered, and that’s why my father tried to destroy it.

A lot of people are on the streets as we make our way home—standing outside businesses and residences as we roar up State Street, then veer right on Union. Obviously word of the courthouse attack has spread quickly.

The driver turns hard right again on Washington.

“Almost home,” I murmur, squeezing Annie.

“I’m okay,” she says, obviously trying to comfort me.

The armored Yukon pulls up in front of my house like an airliner with its thrust-reversers engaged—momentum keeps the heavy body moving forward even as the brakes stop the chassis and drivetrain. Then the body settles backward on the reinforced shocks.

“Everybody ready?” Tim asks, scanning 360 degrees around the vehicle for people and oncoming vehicles.

“Ready,” Serenity answers from the backseat.

“We’re all getting out at the same time. My group on my side, Joe’s group on the other. Understood?”

I look around to be sure everybody gets it. Mia and Serenity nod. I scoot Annie toward Tim so that Joe can push my seat forward in preparation for the quick exit. When the seat comes up, Tim says, “Three count. Ready? And . . . three, two, one—”

He shoves open the door and exits the vehicle, taking a combat stance outside as Annie and I leave the Yukon. Joe is first out on the other side, with Mia and Serenity following.

“Take Annie into the house,” Tim tells me, scanning the roofs of the nearby houses.

I’m pulling Annie onto the sidewalk when a thundering report reverberates between the houses. Shotgun, says a voice in my head as I snatch Annie into my arms.