Meryl tapped on the doorjamb and stepped in. “Moonboy hit you? Elza?”

“Said it was an accident. Pretty well aimed.”

“I don’t understand. I can’t imagine a less violent man.”

“Wonder how often people say that. After ax murders and such.”

“Where is he now?” I asked.

“In bed.” They were set up with separate bedrooms currently and a small shared anteroom. “I haven’t talked to him. I was reading in the kitchen, and Namir came in.”

Elza peered up at her. “He’s never, um?”

“Never even raises his voice, no.”

“Well, he’s sitting on something. A powder keg.” She looked at the tissues and replaced them. “At least he didn’t break any teeth. ‘Dentist, heal thyself.’ ”

“I . . . I’m sorry,” Meryl said with an odd tone of voice, like “I’m kind of sorry my husband hit you while you were fucking, but not really.”

“Look,” Elza said, “it probably was an accident. Let’s leave it at that. I’ll talk to him after he’s rested.”

“I suppose accidents aren’t always accidents,” Meryl persisted. “Maybe it wasn’t you who was the actual target.”

“Maybe not.” She shook her head. “Probably not. But not you, either. Childhood thing.”

“He had a happy childhood. He adores his mother.”

“And his father died?”

“Left. But it was amicable, no-fault.”

“You might talk to him about that. Or no. Let me talk to him. It’s something we were . . . closing in on.”

Namir came in with a tall drink and a plastic bag of chipped ice. “Thanks. Carmen, do we have a clean washcloth left?”

“Sure.” I handed it to her and she wrapped it around the ice, dropping the bloody wad, and pressed the cold pack to her nose.

She sipped the cold drink, holding it at an awkward angle. “Thanks. Look. I don’t think he knows how badly he injured me. Let’s not make a big deal of it?”

Dustin shook his head. “No. He’s got to know he—”

“Trust me, no, darling. This is something I have to control, whether he knows it yet or not.”

“I could,” Namir began.

“No. You boys get back to your game. Please. Just be normal.”

Sure, a normal family full of Martians and spies, hurtling toward its doom a contracted quarter of a century away.

Paul stepped into the doorway, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and stared at the sight of all the blood. “What the fuck?”

“A reasonable question,” Elza said.

Chapter 14 - LOVE AND BLOOD

14

LOVE AND BLOOD

I lay in the dark holding a pack of tissues, listening to Elza’s ragged breathing as she went in and out of sleep. I passed her a tissue whenever a stoppage woke her. Then the pills would carry her back to sleep.