But though the Nelsons’ car was still in the driveway, though Doug knocked for five full minutes, no one came to answer the door.

30

The electricity went out on Tuesday morning during the second hour of the Today show. As before, the television simply winked off, the lights in the kitchen disappearing simultaneously. When Doug finally got through the wall of busy signals to the electric company, a very unsure man assured him that electrical service would be reestablished as soon as the problem could be identified and corrected.

“Approximately when will that be?” Doug asked.

The man cleared his throat nervously. “At this point I’m afraid I can’t say, sir.”

“Are we talking minutes or months here?”

“Possibly by the end of today. Maybe as late as tomorrow.”

Doug hung up not knowing any more than he had before he called. It was stupid and ridiculous, but he had the strange feeling that the electric company’s bill had gotten lost in the mail and that their machines couldn’t work because they weren’t paid up.

Or something along those lines.

Something to do with the mail.

By five o’clock that afternoon, the water, gas, and phones were out as well.

31

Strange, Doug thought, how they had not even considered leaving town, going to visit his parents for a few weeks or stopping off to see Trish’s dad in California. There was nothing stopping them, no reason why they shouldn’t get away from this madness for a while, but though they had not really talked about it, he knew that Tritia felt the same way he did: trapped in Willis, caged.

As far as he knew, no one had left town. They remained passively in place, like sheep, while a wolf prowled among them.

Why? he wondered. What was this malaise that had so gripped the community? What forced them to stay here, against common sense, against what must surely be natural instinct? The same thing that compelled people to remain in towns that were dying and rapidly heading toward ghost status, no doubt. Some illogical idiotic conception of “home.”

The electricity was still off after three days, and he was getting mighty tired of cold baths and silent nights and sandwiches, but at least gas, water, and phone service had finally been restored. That was something he supposed he should be thankful for, but it seemed to him that the utility blackout period had served to sever ties among the people of the town more than anything else up to this point. He himself had talked to no one but Billy and Tritia for the past few days, and when he called Mike Trenton, the policeman had been cold to him and distant.

Hobie had not even answered his phone.

Which was why he was driving over to see him now.