“It’s over,” Henry said gently. “There’s nothing you can do there. Let the professionals do their jobs.”

Archie heard a commotion on the bridge and looked over to see a man shouting at a uniformed patrolman. A woman was with him. A pair of headlights suddenly lit the scene and Archie was able to recognize the couple.

They were Patrick Lifton’s parents.

“I have to go,” Archie mumbled into the phone, and he hung up and handed the phone back to the Eaton.

Eaton saw them, too, and put an arm across Archie’s chest. “I can talk to them,” he said.

“It’s okay,” Archie said. “Let them through,” he shouted at the officer trying to hold them back.

The officer turned back and saw Archie and then nodded and lifted the tape for Patrick’s parents to duck under.

Daniel Lifton’s eyes fell on Archie and Lifton ran for him.

His face was twisted with grief, his eyes swollen. He wasn’t wearing a coat.

Eaton stepped between then.

“You had him?” Lifton asked Archie, his voice almost a wail.

“I couldn’t hold on,” Archie said.

Archie thought that Lifton might slug him. He wanted him to. He wanted to feel the pain of his skin splitting, his jaw dislocating. He wanted to taste his own blood.

Lifton turned, trying to hold back sobs. “We almost had him back.”

Eaton put an arm around Lifton and led him away a few steps. “We’ll find him.”

Find him. They all knew what he really meant—find the body. But even that might not be possible. Corpses could stay hidden a long time in the river.

Patrick’s mother shifted close to Archie.

“I was supposed to walk with him, to Simon’s house,” she said. She stood next to him, so that they were side by side, but she faced the opposite direction, looking out over the railing toward the river. She was wearing a baseball cap, and Archie thought he could hear rain tapping against the bill. “But I was late on a job, a Web site I was building for this little store up in Everett. So I told him he could go on his own. I sat there, writing code, while my son was taken away by some maniac.”

“What was the store?” Archie asked.

“The Pet Nook,” she said.

Archie tried to keep his expression neutral. “Do they sell fish?”

She turned and looked at him. The bill of her cap shadowed her face. “Yes.”

“Did you ever take Patrick there?” Archie asked.