Before leaving, Bean busted the glass on Dutch’s gun cabinet and they cleaned out his shotgun collection. Then they beat a hasty retreat upstairs to the purifying light of day. But even there it did not feel safe. Not until they were out of the house entirely.

They sat in the car in silence, feeling the fear that only now was catching up to them. Bean wiped the blood from his watch face. Ten to nine. He started the engine. “I’ll take you back to the boys,” he told her, “before I go to the church. There’s bound to be some people waiting.”

“What are you going to tell them?”

“The truth,” he said flatly. “They have a right to know. Besides, we need more people on our side, to round up the silver, to melt it down and load the shells. There’s a lot to do before dark.”

“They’ll never believe you.”

He looked back at the house as they pulled away and nodded. “I think they will.”

Billie fidgeted in her chair, checking her watch every few minutes or so. Almost ten. Charlie had been gone over an hour already. Maybe she should go past the church to check on him . . .

She was immediately disappointed in herself. Any excuse, right Billie? Any reason to get out of this apartment, to get out of the same room with Ted Cooper. But she couldn’t help it. His presence made her antsy, almost sick to her stomach. According to Bart, Ted had come back shortly after she and Charlie had left, carrying not his baseball bat this time but a stout ax. He held it even now as he sat in the corner of Charlie’s living room, not saying a word. He didn’t have to. Anyone who looked at the burly young man could see that he had changed. The concern for his girl had turned into grim resignation and, since then, something darker. He sat hunched forward, ax across his lap, his muscles taut, like an animal on the prowl. The thoughts behind those hard, staring eyes were bitter and angry and anxious for release.

She didn’t like keeping Doreen a secret; it was eating away at her insides. But she knew better than to tell him.

“Are you gonna tell Chris?”

She turned. Del was standing beside her. “Tell him what, honey?”

“About the silver?”

She breathed a sigh. “When he gets up,” she said, kissing his cheek. “He’s pretty tired. Let’s leave him alone for now. We’ll wait for Charlie to get back, okay?”

“It’s all right,” Stiles said from the hallway. He was coming out of the bathroom in just his jeans, toweling the water from his chest. “I’m up now. What about the silver?”