“Gross. Do married people even still have sex? I figured you just ate popcorn in front of the TV and ordered each other snuggies.”

Something too close to the truth must have passed across North’s face because the humor died in Shaw’s grin, and he looked like he was trying to find something to say.

“Up there,” North said, clearing his throat to smooth out some of the roughness. “That’s a barn.”

Shaw looked like he wanted to say something else, and North held his eyes long enough, hard enough, that Shaw swallowed and broke their glance. “Oh my God. You recognized a red building with white trim.”

“That was weak.”

“I’m off my game.”

“You should have made a crack about how I recognized it because I probably built one.”

“All by yourself. Just a hammer and some nails.”

“Not all by myself. Babe the Blue Ox was there too.”

“That’s great. And you probably had to wear a hard hat. And I bet you held the extra nails between your teeth while you were working.”

“Sure, when I wasn’t mixing concrete to pour the foundation.”

“Mixing with your bare hands, you mean.”

They had almost reached the barn, and from inside came a round of soft bleats and hooves clicking on cement. “How are you with your animal sounds?” North asked.

“I played that one game as a kid, the one where you pull a string and the arrow spins around.”

“And?” North said, testing the judas door.

“I think it’s pointing to goat right now.”

“Kids. Let’s see.”

As North pushed on the judas door, though, a man stepped around the side of the barn, an augur slung over his shoulder. He stopped when he saw them.

“You’re trespassing.”

North studied the man, who looked about the size of a domestic sedan. Then he looked at Shaw.

“We’re here to see the goats,” Shaw said.

“The kids,” North corrected.

“No goats here.” The man adjusted his grip on the augur. If he swung it, if he made contact . . . North angled his body in front of Shaw. Then, as though the man were explaining the most obvious thing in the world, he added, “Ponies.”

“I’m sorry?” Shaw said.

“This is the pony rehabilitation ranch. The goat place, that’s down the road. You got lost.” He shifted the augur. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Shaw said, gathering a handful of the back of North’s shirt. “You’re right. See, I wanted to do goat yoga, so we went to the goat farm, only there was a problem because—”

From inside the barn came a long, shrill bleat that sounded eerily like a human scream.

“—the goats are here.”

North read the decision in the man’s eyes an instant before he started moving. This guy, big and beefy and corn-fed, wasn’t a murderer at heart, but he was in too deep and was about to make a very stupid mistake. He swept the augur from his shoulder and swung it.