Had to keep it. Maybe Daniel knew why. He gulped at that thought. Sam shifted his arm from Katie’s shoulder and waited to see if she would stir. She made a small noise as she exhaled, then settled back into her dreams.

He could barely see her in this blackness but his heart filled with a passion for her as he touched the warm curve of her neck and smelled her hair.

He swung his legs gently over the side of the bed and felt for his clothes on the chair. The buckle on his belt rattled, and he paused to see if had woken her. No. He was safe. He massed the bundle of cloth in his arms and quietly slipped from the room to dress downstairs.

In the hallway, Sam pulled on his jeans and the big turtleneck sweater that his hands had found in the dark. Some instinct told him not to turn on the light. He pulled back the curtain of the tiny window by the front door and looked into the street. The snow had stopped, leaving the houses and their yards under a picture-postcard mantle of glittering white magic, but the sky looked laden and ready for another dump. There was a car across the road, sitting in the shadows under the pines outside the Neasons’ house. Two figures sat in it.

Cops. He let the curtain fall and leaned against the wall. So they weren’t sure it was him, but suspicious enough not to let him out of their sight. A wave of panic swept over him. He padded softly into the dark kitchen and felt around at the door for his boots. The glowing clock on the microwave was reading 00.52 a.m.

Getting the car away was going to be impossible. Of course, he could just let those guys follow him. He was only going to see Daniel Hawk, a man who might not be that pleased to have his family woken up at this time in the morning. But he had to see him. And he wanted to see him alone.

He grabbed his jacket from the wooden peg and felt in the pockets. The spare keys to the company truck were there, and he knew where the truck was. It was two blocks away outside Marty’s place. As quietly as he could, he opened the kitchen door and slipped through. There was a low growl as Bart’s head rose from his paws, until he saw and smelled his master and remained lying as commanded by Sam’s insistent and frantic hand gestures.

With ears erect and tongue panting in the freezing night air, Bart watched Sam creep through the yard and scale the wooden fence and kept watching until his master was completely out of sight. He put his head on his paws and gave a tiny whimper.