He made a complete circuit of the road before stopping in front of Killington’s Mercantile Emporium, which—with the meticulous rusticity of its facade and window display of fly-fishing equipment, English teas, and country tweeds—appeared to Gurney to be about as authentic a representation of rural life as a scented-candle catalog.

He took out his phone and called Hardwick for the third time that morning, and for the third time was shunted into voice mail. Then he called Esti’s cell, also for the third time, but this time she picked up. “Dave?”

“Any news from Jack?”

“Yes and no. He called me at eleven forty-five last night. Didn’t sound very happy. Apparently the shooter either had a trail bike or an ATV. Jack said he could hear him in the woods near the road at one point, but that was the closest he got. So, no progress there. I think he was going to spend time today trying to track down the guys who testified against Kay.”

“What about the photos?”

“The Gurikos autopsy photos?”

“Well, those, too—but I meant the trail-cam photos. Remember the flashes we saw up in the woods after the shots hit the house?”

“According to Jack, the cameras were shattered. Apparently the shooter put a couple of bullets in each one. As for the Gurikos and the Mary Spalter autopsy stuff, I’ve got phone queries out. May have replies soon, fingers crossed.”

The next call he made was to his own home landline number.

At first there was no answer, and the call went into voice mail. He was starting to leave a panicky Where the hell are you? message when Madeleine picked up. “Hi. I was outside, trying to figure out the electric thing.”

“What electric thing?”

“Didn’t we agree there’d have to be an electric line running out to the chicken house?”

He suppressed a sigh of exasperation. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, it’s not … not something we need to deal with right now.”

“Okay … but shouldn’t we know where it’s going to be, so we don’t have a problem later?”

“Look, I can’t focus on this now. I’m at Venus Lake, about to interview the victim’s daughter. I need you to set up our phone to make a recording.”

“I know. You told me. I just leave the line open and turn on the recorder.”

“Right, that’s pretty much it. Except, I thought of a better way to handle it.”

She said nothing.

“You still there?”

“I’m still here.”