“How did she seem?” he said. “She seemed like a bitch.”

Edie kept the scream inside. When Lars left the house was silent. They all looked at the door. Would bullets come flying through? They did not. Gabe flipped the deadbolt. It was over. And upstairs, Lydia was crying.

“Go,” said Gabe.

Edie went and so did Nathan. When they came back downstairs, Michelle was on the phone fruitlessly trying to book a charter flight to the Vineyard that evening. JetBlue was the only commercial carrier that flew from New York to the island, and in the off-season the flights were every other day. The ferry from the mainland cut off service early, too, so even if they’d gotten in the car thirty minutes ago, they wouldn’t have been been able to make the last one. Edie listened as her father left a message for Dave Wilcox, the Edgartown caretaker.

“Call me back as soon as you can,” said Gabe.

Edie set Lydia down on the Boppy pillow and gave the girl her finger to hold. She was supposed to be doing at least an hour of “skin to skin” with the baby every day. She was supposed to lie down, bare-chested, and place Lydia on her and they were supposed to … breathe? Bond? They were never going to get this time back. She sat on the sofa holding the baby and strapped the nursing pillow, like a foam lifesaver, around her waist. Her mother came in from the kitchen, breathing hard.

“I can’t get us there until the morning.”

“Should we call the police now?” Edie asked.

“I called Ingrid,” said Michelle. “I gave her the name and she’ll get back to us.”

“Ingrid isn’t the police,” said Edie.

“She’s better.”

“Dad?”

“I sent you both a link,” said Gabe. Michelle sat down on the sofa next to Edie and they clicked. The link was an article from the New York Post, published the day before:

NYU “ROCK” STAR BRUTALLY ATTACKED ON CAMPUS

By Larry Dunn

He’ll never play again.

Long Island native Jeremy Cahill, 19, was set to make an album with Green Day, but the freshman’s father says a “sicko” attacked him on the way to meet with a professor, shattering an eardrum and fracturing the teen’s skull.

“Whoever did this is a monster,” said Peter Cahill, 56.

NYPD Sgt. Wesley Swain said Cahill was assaulted around 9 p.m. Saturday night in the Washington Mews.

A police source who asked not to be named said that surveillance cameras in the area may not have been functional, and the department is actively seeking witnesses.

“His phone was gone, but whoever did it left his wallet and his backpack,” said the source.

Cahill is the lead singer and guitarist for the band Rock. He grew up in Port Jefferson, NY.

Edie’s hand was on Lydia’s chest; it began to tingle.

“The kid was telling the truth,” said Michelle.