“Delusions of grandeur, the big virus hunter,” said Matt. “He’s like those firefighters who set blazes in order to be the hero.” Matt sank deeply into his easy chair. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he was doing all this for you.”

“Me?”

“The attention, or whatnot. ‘Look at me, I’m important.’”

She shook her head fast, as if he was wasting her time. Sometimes it confounded her that Matt could be so wrong about people.

The doorbell rang, and Kelly stopped her pacing. Matt sprang up from his chair, but Kelly was at the door first.

It was Eph, with Nora Martinez behind him, and an old man in a long tweed coat behind her.

“What are you doing here?” said Kelly, looking up and down the street.

Eph pushed inside. “I’m here to see Zack. To explain.”

“He doesn’t know.”

Eph looked around, completely ignoring Matt, who was standing right there. “Is he upstairs doing homework on his laptop?”

“Yes,” said Kelly.

“If he has Internet access, then he knows.”

Eph went to the stairs, taking the steps two at a time.

Leaving Nora there at the door with Kelly. Nora exhaled, soaking in awkwardness. “Sorry,” she said. “Barging in on you like this.”

Kelly shook her head gently, looking her over with just a hint of appraisal. She knew that there was something going on between Nora and Eph. For Nora, Kelly Goodweather’s house was the last place she wanted to be.

Kelly then turned her attention to the old man with the wolf-head walking stick. “What is going on?”

“The ex–Mrs. Goodweather, I presume?” Setrakian offered his hand with the courtly manners of a lost generation. “Abraham Setrakian. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“The same,” said Kelly, taken aback, casting an uncertain glance at Matt.

Nora said, “He needed to see you guys. To explain.”

Matt said, “Doesn’t this little visit make us criminal accomplices to something?”

Kelly had to counter Matt’s rudeness. “Would you like a drink?” she asked Setrakian. “Some water?”

Matt said, “Jesus—we could both get twenty years for that glass of water…”

Eph sat on the edge of Zack’s bed, Zack at his desk with his laptop open.

Eph said, “I’m caught up in something I don’t really understand. But I wanted you to hear it from me. None of it is true. Except for the fact that there are people after me.”

Zack said, “Won’t they come here looking for you?”

“Maybe.”

Zack looked down, troubled, working through it. “You gotta get rid of your phone.”

Eph smiled. “Already did.” He clasped his conspiratorial son on the shoulder. He saw, next to the boy’s laptop, the video recorder Eph had bought him for Christmas.

“You still working on that movie with your friends?”

“We’re kind of in the editing stage.”