It was under the bed where he’d left it. Nothing more than a piece of circular bone on a leather thong. Sam picked it up and held it in his palm for a moment, his eyes closed against the pain of what he had seen. There was no time for this. He must return. Must regain his cleanliness. The squalid stench of betrayal and vengeance would taint him as much as the guilt he had harboured for twenty years. Calvin had removed that guilt and made him pure again, made him an Indian once more. This new nightmare must not pull him back into the material, spiritual desert of the white man. There, he would be powerless. In that place he was no more than a poor Indian who shovelled snow. Not a shaman who could command it.

He slipped the amulet over his head and walked quickly out of the room into Jess’s bedroom. He had to see his children. Maybe for the last time.

Her head was on its side in her cot, the mouth open and her closed eyes almost hidden by a mop of black hair. Sam bent and kissed her fat cheek, paused to look at the tiny face for a moment, then left the room. Katie was on the landing, staring up at him.

She was so beautiful, and her face was so confused and wounded, he struggled to curb his longing for her. He looked away and stepped into Billy’s room, closing the door behind him like a statement.

The boy’s eyes glittered in the dark. Sam put a hand out and switched on the lamp.

‘Dad.’

He ran forward and wrapped himself round Sam’s sore body, his head buried in the torn plaid jacket, the arms circling his father so tightly Sam had to fight for breath.

Sam unravelled him, bent down to take his son’s face in his hands and kissed him slowly on the forehead.

‘I felt you coming.’

Sam nodded.

‘I felt you watching.’

‘Are you going away again?’

Sam nodded again. Billy looked serious, and Sam raised an eyebrow at the old expression that came into his son’s eyes. Suddenly there was an adult in there.

‘There’s two cops out there at the back. Behind the log pile. I’ll get them to come round the front when you’re ready.’

Sam held the boy close again. ‘I love you, Billy. I love you all.’

‘I know, Dad.’ The boy pulled out of his father’s arms and crossed to his bedside cabinet. He opened the door, fished something out and brought it back across the room. ‘This is for you.’

Sam opened his big palm and watched as Billy dropped a flat saucer of shiny metal into it.

‘Queen of Queens. The biggest ever. Remember when we did it?’

Sam nodded, swallowing. He looked back up from the flat dollar into the jewels of his son’s eyes.