Johnny Boy would want to know why he hadn’t made any drops since his last AtoB pickup. But Chris had called right afterward and, since then, Spencer couldn’t care less about money, because Spencer had just started to grasp how far he’d fallen.

Chris had found out about CPS’s petition to the court. Had found out before Spencer, in fact. That was the downside of a mailman not asking whether the guy signing for the official-looking document was its designated recipient.

Spencer had stopped his rounds and driven straight to Abby’s school, arriving nearly an hour early. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to make things right. Perhaps he could do that if he took her away somewhere, before Caitlyn Dunn took her away.

The door opened and Abby jumped in.

As he watched her don her seat belt, he longed to make her know he loved her, and to ask if she still loved him. But he couldn’t seem to express these things. It was like a spell shut his brain down when he even tried to think them through. He was getting desperate.

“Abby, listen, I want to—”

He was cut off by the short blip of a police siren right next to them.

About the same time in McGrath’s office, dissent was showing itself from unexpected quarters.

“He ain’t one of us. He’s from another country and he’s a drunk,” said Eddie out of the blue. It was uncharacteristic of him to be so forthright, and for some reason it bothered Johnny Boy.

“Foreign is good,” said McGrath.

“Why is foreign good?” persisted Eddie. “Rosso’s gone! I don’t even drink. And I came here from miles away too.”

“Fucking Nebraska,” agreed Cal. “At least they drive on the right there. I found Eddie. Eddie helped the Yo-Yo take care of things with Rosso.”

“I could do it,” added Eddie.

“With all due respect, you can’t even work your phone,” said Johnny Boy.

Eddie knew he had to make a stand. This is where the action was going to be and he needed to be close to it. “You tell me where you want me, where to meet Dom. I’ll get it to you guys.”

“We aren’t going to know where it happens until the last minute, Eddie,” said Johnny Boy. “That’s the whole point of Spencer. And when it comes to meeting Dom, Dom decides where closer to the time. Why is that? Ask Rosso.”

“You guys need to get a little real,” said McGrath. “Spencer comes from nowhere, so he’ll go back there real easy.”

It was rare for both McGrath and Johnny Boy to miss things. But they were distracted by the annoyance that was Cal and by the sound of Sheila’s phones blowing a gasket, which was all too common these days. AtoB was in meltdown.