Nate’s best friend, Larry, sitting next to him, spotted the cruiser too. “Man oh man,” he said. “You think your family got robbed or something?”

“Maybe some convict’s on the loose,” said a girl named Susan, who was always recounting the plots of TV shows like Dr. Kildare and Perry Mason. “And they took your mom hostage.”

Across the aisle from Nate, his little sister, Junie, looked suddenly anxious. “It’s probably nothing, J,” he told her. “I bet they’re just collecting for some fund-raiser. More than likely, they want Mom to make her lemon bars again.”

By the time he stepped off the bus, Nate knew something was wrong. He could see it in the face of his mother, standing outside in her old blue dress and a cardigan, though the February air was cold enough to sting.

“Take your sister in the house, Nathan,” she said, her voice tight and low, as he surveyed the snow-covered yard: the officers, the cruiser, and a second cruiser he hadn’t noticed before. Over by the barn a third policeman held tightly to the leashes of a couple of bloodhounds, barking like they’d caught the scent of a dead animal. Rufus, their farmhand, would normally be heading out to the barn for the late-afternoon milking right about now, but he had set his bucket down and was talking with rare animation while another officer—number four—wrote in a notebook.

Before Nate could ask what was going on, one of the officers took hold of his shoulder and pushed him toward the house. “Mom—,” he started, but she just stood there, motionless, as if she couldn’t hear.

He could make out Larry, staring through a window of the bus. Henry, the driver, was just backing up to turn around. Out the back more kids craned to see as they pointed toward the barking dogs.

“Go on inside, son,” the officer said again. Only it was too late. Nate had spotted them. Two other officers moved slowly toward the farmhouse, with a third figure, bent over and staggering, supported between the uniformed men. It took a moment to realize who this other person was: Nate’s father.

Junie saw too. She started running toward her father, running as hard as she could, until one of the policemen grabbed hold and held her back.

“This isn’t the time to see your dad, honey,” he said. “You’d best go inside with your brother.”