The happiness he and his mother had known died with his dad in that Wisconsin marsh. Soon after they’d buried him, the factory had closed. His mother, without a job, had complications with the insurance and trouble with paying bills. They lost the house, and she couldn’t cope. She drank, took drugs; they ended up on the street, and she did what she had to in the back of the van for them to survive.

He tried to find work, going to stores and restaurants begging to scrub floors or clean bathrooms. He went to car dealerships and offered to wash cars in the lot, anything for cash, anything to climb out of the hell that, in his heart, he felt responsible for. And with every car he washed, every toilet bowl he scoured, he vowed to do whatever he needed to do to make a better life for himself and never come back to the one he was living.

Never.

Now, he thought of Lisa, how she missed Cleveland and wanted to return, and the toll the attack was taking. He thought of her home alone. After texting her and seeing her responses, he resumed reviewing some of the data for his presentation. He needed to be confident his figures were accurate.

“Knock, knock.” Leland Slaughter, his director and the number-two man in the Miami office, entered, shaking Jeff’s hand and patting his shoulder.

“Happy to see you, Jeff. You’re okay? And Lisa?”

“We’re taking it one step at a time.”

“That’s a helluva thing to have happened, a helluva thing. The police are on it?”

“They have some video footage from a neighbor, which may give them a lead, and we’ve installed a good home-security system.”

“Good, good. I hope they catch the animal that did this. If there’s anything we can do, just let me know. Come straight to me.”

“Thank you, sir. Again, I’m sorry for delaying the presentation.”

“No, no, couldn’t be helped. I called in some favors, took care of it.” Slaughter indicated the slides looping on Jeff’s monitor. “You’ve come up with a brilliant concept, Jeff. They’ll be here in an hour. All set?”

“Just fine-tuning.”

“I’ll send Martinez in. He needs to be on the same page for translation. Oh, and a last-minute addition. Your presentation will be webcast live to their affiliates in Bogota, Lima, Caracas, Santiago and Guatemala City.”

No pressure. Jeff swallowed after Slaughter left. He’d resumed working for ten minutes when Fred Bonner, a longtime senior manager, stuck his head into his office.

“Got a sec?”

“Sure.”

“I heard what happened to you and your wife. Everything all right?”

“We’re a little shaken, but we’re getting back to normal.”

Bonner folded his arms, lowered his head of slicked-back, silver-streaked hair, then looked hard at Jeff. “Delaying your presentation threw a wrench into things.”

“I know, and I feel terrible about that.”