Again the women softly overwhelmed her and she found herself back in the chair. Of all things, someone had baked muffins and her mom was trying to get her to eat one. She shook her head.

Raj leaned down to her. “I’m going in the back of Otto’s truck with a bunch of the others. We’re heading to his dad’s place first; maybe he’s gone back there. Then we’re going to fan out into the woods.”

As he left, her mom tried to get her to eat some of the muffin again. The warm, fresh-baked smell of it sickened her. She couldn’t just sit around, waiting. She got up, pushing away the women who tried to take hold of her, and joined Raj and a half dozen other men in the truck bed.

“It’s my baby,” she declared, glancing around fiercely, though none of the men had said anything. “I’m not going to stay here.”

Raj was looking with concern down at her feet, which were still bare. She pulled Mr. Talhausen’s jacket more tightly around her shoulders.

Finally the little convoy of trucks and cars pulled out. It was already eight, a beautiful clear day. When they arrived at the Tivots’, the front door was open. Siggy hammered on the jamb and entered. Bennet waited just outside, his rifle at the ready.

When Siggy came out, his boyish face as bashfully furious as it had ever been, he waved everyone to him. They gathered around.

“Lewis got hisself a shotgun,” he said. “He took Clyde’s shotgun.” Noticing Annie, he hesitated, frowning, before adding, “Clyde said he didn’t see any baby with him.”

In Annie the feeling was like the demolitioned high-rise she had seen once in a newsreel: a dizzying sensation of collapsing whole and upright into her own dust.

“But this just happened ten minutes or so ago and he took out that way into the woods. He can’t be far and he’s…he’s still naked. Pair up. We’re going to spread out here and move toward the river in twos. He’s armed and dangerous. If you see him don’t confront him. Keep him spotted and call for help.”

As the men began to pair up and move, Clyde appeared in the doorway. He looked stricken. “You all did this,” he screamed. “You all did this, and now you’re going to kill him too.”

“Pair up,” Bennet shouted, to shift everyone’s attention from Clyde, who continued screaming. “Let’s move!”