“If you talk about this,” the voice says, “I’ll kill one of your kids.”

Kyle can’t speak. He can hardly make out the words due to the cinematic guttural whisper, but he nods.

Then there is only the sound of someone moving through the woods and the water against him. Everything hurts. He’s too scared to take off the bag; the faces of Iris, Grant, and Julia dance in front of his closed eyes. Whoever that is, he knows who I am. And that I have children. Finally he does, and there’s blood in the bag. Blood from his nose and mouth and ear. He can hardly breathe for fear. The cloth bag is from the Lakehaven Library. He doesn’t know what to do with it. He can’t leave it in the creek. It might be found.

He remembers Grant’s tree, his old hiding place in the greenbelt. He goes there, stuffs it into the cleft at the roots, and decides he’ll come back later. His face, his jaw, are seriously aching now.

He needs a story. An explanation. Because the truth is not an option. He’s going to have bruises; his nose and lip are bleeding. The back of his head aches; he feels a bit of blood in his hair.

He decides on a plan. He scrabbles up the creekside, slips, falls, crawls back up. Mud and blood on his hands, his face. He makes his way toward home, piecing it together, hoping the story will work. The flash drive is still in his sock, maybe ruined from the creek water, maybe not.

Everything has gone horribly wrong.

Before he goes into his house, he peers in the space between his house and the neighbors’, and he sees the Sheriff’s Office cars pulling into Danielle’s driveway to secure the house. They have no idea that they’re too late.

And as Kyle reaches his own back door, bloodied and bruised, ready to embark on the latest series of lies, afraid for his children, he wonders: Who was in Danielle’s house with a gun, and why?

8

Grant

In his room, Grant debates where to hide the money. He can’t believe his luck in Dad leaving him alone for a few minutes. He wonders how Mike and his son, Peter, are taking the news of Danielle’s death. He’s close to Mike, who is like a genial uncle who lets you get away with mischief. He probably shouldn’t call him right now, but maybe Mom will let him call Mike later.