And sometimes, she says, sometimes you just get tired of pokin at the issue. Those are the times you just do something because youre tired of thinkin on it. And thats when the devil better get his pencil ready to tally up a score, cause the time for nuances is gone. And you think, thats it for me on this world. You think, all right then, hell is my home.

And she raises the gurkha and brings it down.

*

On the way back upstairs, she goes into the parlour where Moses Todd is still tied to the chair.

You thought better of killin me? he asks.

Nah. I just want to ask you something.

Shoot.

You ever have questions I mean big questions now that you cant find the answers to?

Sure do.

Im talkin about the kind of questions that follow you around for years, she says.

I know what kind of questions youre talkin about.

So what do you do about em?

He shrugs.

Not much, he says. Some of em answer themselves after a while. Some of em you just stop thinkin about. Some of em accumulate.

You aint much help.

Moses Todd smiles, sucks his lips into his mouth, his beard making a sound like a brush against concrete.

Stop playin around, girl. You know it as good as I do. You step outside under the sky and theres answers everywhere you look. Why you think youre roamin in the first place?

Im runnin from you.

No you aint at least not as hard or fast as you could be runnin. You just know that out there is where to look for the answers, even if you aint found em yet. Its more than what most people got.

Then a change comes over his face, and he looks conspiratorial.

Hey, if you wanna untie me, well see if any answers come to you when I got my thumbs diggin into your windpipe.

She stands and considers smacking him one across the face but she doesnt want to know the feeling of that beard of his.

See you later, Mose.

Count on it, little girl.

*

Did you do it? James Grierson asks when she enters the library.

Its done.

The look on his face is like a dead tree, drained of all its sap.

Youre leaving then, he says.

Yeah. Youll watch Mose for me while I go? I dont want him gettin ideas.

Ill watch him.

All right then.

She turns to go.

Listen, he says, sitting up on the edge of the couch. Listen, I have something to say.

What is it?

I the thing I have to say is . . . I lost my father tonight.

She looks at him, a tragic figure with dark hair and notions that torture.

Youre gonna be all right, James. Every house needs a man. Youre it now.

Right, he chuckles to himself.