The sheriff’s eyes were trained on the ribbons of crimson rolling off my arms as he pointed in the general direction of the farmhouse. “Foxy and Jinx are with ’em.”

“Head count?” I rubbed my hands together, wishing for a bar of Lava soap. It could handle tobacco gum with ease. I wondered how it would stand up against sticky blood.

“Six. They all accounted for.” He steered me toward the cruiser and opened the back door. “Everyone’s fine.”

“Boss?” I asked, worried the most about my older brother. Boston’s mind was the youngest and most fragile by far.

“He didn’t see anythin’. He’s okay. Everyone is,” Inman reiterated and motioned for me to get in.

I glanced at the disturbed rows of brittle tobacco where the secret had just spilled out. Maybe the rain would last long enough to wash away the crimson stains. A quick scan confirmed my shorts and T-shirt in no better shape, equal parts dirt and blood. “You got a towel or something I can sit on?”

“Don’t worry ’bout that. Just get on in fore this storm picks up.”

As soon as I climbed in the back, the door slammed at the same time another clap of thunder shook the earth, jolting my entire body and pumping a new dose of adrenaline through my veins. A sting drew my attention to the laceration on my forearm, where it began to trickle again. It was insignificant compared to the whole scheme of things, so I pressed my palm over the wound to stanch the flow. It would heal soon enough, even if nothing else did.

The sheriff settled in the driver’s seat, turned down the CB radio, and put the cruiser into gear. “Everyone’s okay,” he said for the third time, making me wonder if he was trying to convince me or himself. “You hear me, Austin?”

I ignored him, along with the bloody smudges I was leaving on the gray vinyl surface of the back seat and the mud puddling on the floorboard around my bare feet.

The car bumped down the mile-long drive that led out of the farm and away from tonight’s nightmare, passing a few barns and then the farmhouse, where every window was lit. I was too ashamed to look for the shadowed figures who were sure to be peeping out. It was my duty to protect those shadows and tonight made it clear how severely I’d failed each one of them.