French glanced at the familiar lines of his partner’s face. He and Ken Burklow went back twenty years, and had few secrets between them. One was about to come out. “Jason’s back in town. That was Reed, at the bus station.”

“Reed’s a burnout.”

“Not so burned out he wouldn’t know my oldest son.”

Burklow leaned back in his chair, hard-faced and unhappy. “I thought Jason was still in prison.”

“Halfway house in Raleigh. Seven weeks now.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me he was out?”

“I need to call my wife.” French dialed the phone and watched emotions play across his partner’s face. Sadness. Worry. Anger. “She’s not answering.”

“Would he go to the house?”

“Not after the way things ended.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“He wouldn’t do that to his mother. Not after the last time.”

“You say that, but come on. Vietnam. Prison. Who knows what he’ll do. You’ve heard the stories.”

French scrubbed a palm across his face, and sighed unhappily.

Twenty-nine confirmed kills …

That was the story: twenty-nine in his first year.

Dialing a few more numbers, he asked his questions and hung up. “She’s not at the neighbor’s house or with either of her best friends.”

“What about Gibby, then? If Jason’s not going home…”

The sentence trailed off, and French thought of Gibson, his youngest son. “Gibby’s in school. He should be fine.”

“Uh-uh. Senior Skip.”

French did the math, and realized that his partner was right. Senior Skip Day had been tradition since the first year of the draft. Last three Fridays before final exams, the seniors cut school and went to the quarry south of town. Teachers looked away and so did the cops. Gibby would be there, and he should be, they all should. That was the thing about childhood and endings and war in some foreign fucking jungle.

“I’ll check the quarry.” Burklow stood. “That way you can look for your wife, and let her know Jason’s in town. Give her time, you know. Get her ready.”

“I should handle this myself.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Burklow shrugged into a coat, and checked his weapon. “Not even Superman can be in two places at once.”