Joe’s funeral had gone as well as a funeral can go (much better than Bobby had expected), and he ended up staying through to the end, after all. Nobody blamed him for what had happened. People were too busy grieving, or dealing with their own shock and guilt. Almost everyone who had been involved in the search was there; even Hank had shown up. Hank had been uncharacteristically silent through the whole thing, even during the brief gathering in the church reception room afterward—though that was to be expected. It was, after all, a funeral. Later, after it was over, Bobby got out of that goddamned jacket and tie, and over the past few days he’d been able to forget some of the guilt that had been haunting him since Joe’s disappearance.

The phone call from Dr. Mudd changed all that.

Bobby was busy with a magazine, feet up on the desk, feeling pretty good about himself, when the doctor called. Marie answered (she was not only his wife, but the receptionist at the office as well), and yelled at him to pick up line one. He cursed, set the magazine down, and pushed the button.

“Robert? Eustice Mudd here.”

Bobby knew the doctor, but not particularly well. He couldn’t imagine what the phone call would be about. “What can I do you for?” This was Bobby’s standard question upon receiving phone calls from anyone other than a close friend. It made him sound friendly, but not too much so, not so much that the caller would expect anything right away. Bobby liked to keep his options open.

“Well, I have a rather strange request,” the doctor continued. “I’m not really sure how to say it.”

Uh-oh, Bobby thought. “Go ahead, Doc.”

“It’s about the new family that moved in over in Jackson, on the old Kennedy land.”

Bobby took his feet off the desk. “What about them?”

“Well, I had a visit in my office from the mother and the girl, Jessie is her name, and I’m afraid that something funny might be going on out there.”

“Why would they come talk to you?”

“They’re worried about their daughter. She’s been having these…nightmares, and she thinks she saw someone out in the woods, watching her.” The doctor’s voice seemed to waver a little saying this, but Bobby would never have any idea exactly how hard it was for him to do.

“And you’d like me to check it out.” Bobby was pissed off now, not really at the doctor, just that someone had to bring up this crap again. Just when he was feeling good.

“Would you?” The relief in the doctor’s voice was clear. “I don’t know, I just have a bad feeling. I think the girl’s telling the truth.”

“I’ll send somebody over.”