Nick shook his head. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Let’s just see if they’re home, and if they’re not, let’s call the sheriff.”

It wasn’t nothing. Kyle could not recall ever seeing his son so frightened, but this wasn’t the time to push it. He’d always found it easier to talk to the boy while driving in the car, and he figured the two of them would have a heart-to-heart—or the closest the two of them could get to that—once they were on their way back. For now, he pushed the doorbell, hearing its muffled chime inside the house, and stood there, waiting to see if anyone answered.

Once again, he had the sense that things here were a little too quiet.

“Hello!” he called. “Anyone home?”

No answer.

“Maybe we should talk to the neighbors,” he suggested. “See if they know anything. Like I said, maybe they were called away and had to go somewhere, and asked one of the neighbors to keep an eye on the place.”

“Their car’s here,” Nick pointed out.

“But Victor’s isn’t.”

It was a longshot, and seemed highly unlikely even to Kyle, but he was starting to absorb his son’s panic and was trying to keep both of them grounded. He glanced to his right, toward the house next door—

—and saw, out of the corner of his eye, that the Clarks’ small garage door was open.

How could he have not noticed that before? Their Explorer was parked in front of the closed big door, but on the side of the garage, the small door was wide open.

Nick must have seen where his eyes were looking. “I think that was closed the last time I was here.” There was a nervous tremor in his son’s voice.

“Let’s check it out.” Kyle led the way off the porch and up the driveway. Inside, the garage was dark, daylight barely penetrating past the open doorway. He stepped over the raised sill, reaching for a light switch on the wall to his right. His fingers found one, and he flipped it on. Light from a bare bulb in a porcelain socket attached to an open beam suffused the garage in a yellowish glow. There were the usual boxes and bikes, a toolbench and freezer, lawnmower and edger, and, in the center of the cement floor, two bodies, butchered.

Victor’s parents.

“Jesus!” he exclaimed, instinctively pushing Nick out of the garage.