“Y’all turned out just fine,” Maggie said, watching Brandon, dressed as Spider-Man, fill up his pillowcase and then dart down the center path of the Square. Small orange lights blinking above, cutouts of ghosts and witches hanging in the trees and turning in the wind. “My grandmother didn’t like me out late at night when I’d come visit. I had to promise to be home by dark or else she’d call the sheriff on me. I remember her waiting up, sitting on the couch, smoking Kool cigarettes, with a loaded .22 next to her.”

“Ain’t nothing wrong with that,” Boom said, grinning, pulling back his plaid hunting coat to reveal the biggest damn gun she’d ever seen in her life. “I’ll move along when Quinn gets here.”

“We appreciate you, Boom,” Maggie said, resting her hand on his metal hook. “I hope you know that. You gave Quinn a lot of comfort being at the house while he did his job.”

“Ain’t got much else to do.”

“Sure you do,” Maggie said. “You and Quinn—y’all always watched each other’s back.”

“Always.”

Maggie turned to see Brandon running toward the gazebo while Caddy and Jason walked across the Square, Maggie not quite making out Jason’s costume, maybe some type of pro wrestler. He had on a long black leather duster and wide-brimmed black hat. Brandon ran up to him, always admiring his older cousin, and laughing and saying something about The Undertaker. Jason had on eyeliner and a fake mustache and goatee. When he walked up the steps, he looked right at Boom and rolled his eyes back into his head. “You will rest in peace!”

Boom stood up and pounded fists with the kid. Caddy stepped up to join Maggie, her hair even shorter than usual, dressed in old jeans and boots, a threadbare barn coat over her narrow shoulders. She sat down and fired up a cigarette as Boom walked down with the boys, following them over to another row of trucks and cars to candy. They sat there in the dark for a moment, taking in the scene.

“Where’s Quinn?”

“Out on a call,” she said. “Said he’ll head straight here when he’s done.”

“Weird night,” Caddy said, looking up at the orange sky behind the old water tower, branches whipping back and forth, grit kicking up off the footpaths. “Better get these kids knocking on doors before the bottom falls out.”

“Why’d you ask about Quinn?”

“Just thought he’d be here,” she said. “Wasn’t he working a day shift?”

“Sure.”

Caddy blew out some smoke and smiled, patting Maggie on her leg. “How’d you like Jason’s costume? I sewed it myself from a bunch of donations I had out at The River. Isn’t he a damn trip?”

“I heard about Bentley,” Maggie said. “You OK?”