Harvey clipped the ice and was reaching the bank as she grabbed the thick horsetail weeds and pulled herself up the embankment. Harvey was puffing hard. He was slowing his pace. He’d had too many easy days to run fast enough to catch her. She was feeling strong, even cocky. She reached the hill and took the down trail. The snow was deep, too deep; it cupped her chest. She had stepped off into the powder of a high snowdrift. She struggled to free herself but she was trapped. The snow was fine as silt. As soon as she brushed a path it sifted over her chest again.

She felt the blow of his fist so hard on the top of her head that light stuttered, and she was being lifted from the snow, heaved over his shoulder. She could feel the wheeze of his lungs. Her ribs ached. He had knocked the breath from her. She caught a glimpse of Jules sitting on the bank edge, his clothes dark-edged with water. She saw a glittering circle of stars.

“Jules, get in the car.”

“What will we do?” Jules asked.

“Just get in the car,” Stoner replied.

Jules followed Harvey as Harvey carried her like a sack of grain, as Harvey fumbled in the car to turn on the overhead. She let them believe Harvey had knocked her out. She had to think. She could see her blood tap the snow and she wanted to touch her face, but she remained still. Jules dropped to his knees, his clothes steaming in the cold.

“Christ, get up,” Harvey turned to him.

The moon moved from the clouds clear and bright and Louise closed her eyes for a moment.

“Get up,” Harvey said again. “Help me here. We’ll have to take her up to the Chefler place. This was a bad idea anyway. We can’t just stand here by the road.”

“What about Charlie Kicking Woman?” Jules asked. Louise could hear the high pitch of his voice. She wondered if he was scared.

Jules opened the back door of Harvey’s car for him, but Stoner heaved her in the front seat. “She can’t get away from us up here.”

“Not now anyway,” Jules said.

She heard Stoner reach in the glove box and saw him grab a flashlight. “I’m going to see if I have a rope in the trunk,” Stoner said. She knew Jules was looking at her so she kept her eyes closed, her head resting on the seat back. She stayed very still.

“Jesus,” Jules said. “Is she dead? I don’t see the point of this.” Stoner was so busy in the trunk she doubted if he had heard Jules.