“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!”

She didn’t hear a car pull up. She didn’t hear a car door open and close. She hardly felt the touch on her leg. When she did, she grappled for more cardboard trying to bury herself, wriggling and wailing something like no no no.She heaped the panels on top of herself, curling up, trying to hide under them.

It was a lady’s voice; it sounded so faint on the other side of the cardboard. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you!”

A hand patted her foot. She dared to peek from under the cardboard and saw a lady with an angelic face. The lady was on her knees, eyes full of concern, reaching to touch her.

Mandy—if that was her name—shied away, but the angel lady touched her cheek. “Shhh … it’s just me. Can I sit down?”

Mandy didn’t answer. She just stared, her eyes streaked and burning, her breath still broken into sobs.

The angel lady sat down next to her, right on top of the torn-up cardboard and packing material, and drew close, arm extended to embrace Mandy’s shoulders. Mandy wasn’t sure, not at all, but the arm got around her. Mandy wasn’t sure, not at all, but the angel lady wrapped her other hand gently around her cheek.

Before she knew it, before she could think about it, she’d buried her face in the angel lady’s shoulder, she’d clutched for her very life to the angel lady’s arm, and she was still crying but now it was different. Someone was holding her, someone could hear her crying, and now she was crying about that, too.

The angel lady never stirred, and her embrace never faltered. She just stayed right there, holding Mandy, whispering comfort, patting her arm, until Mandy, exhausted, cuddled against her like a child, head against her shoulder, sad, reddened eyes looking at nothing in particular.

“I’m sorry,” Mandy said at last, her voice a low, quaking whimper.

The angel lady gave her a handkerchief. “Don’t be sorry.”

“I didn’t mean to be a bother.”

“You’re not a bother. You’re somebody in trouble.”

“Whoa, yeah.”

“My name’s Mia. I work right here at the thrift store. What’s your name?”

Her name? Should she lie again? The truth could lead to another truth and another and then she’d be back in the hospital. Then again, she was back here sitting on the cardboard next to a Dumpster because the truth had abandoned her. If she didn’t know what the truth was, how could she lie?

“Eloise,” she said. That would be true enough for now.

Mia touched Mandy’s toes, now protruding through the end of a road-weary hospital slipper. “Eloise, would you like a pair of shoes?”

chapter

10

Mr. Stone and Mr. Mortimer had gone rural, renting a small farmhouse in northern Idaho for enough money to send the owners to Europe and, if need be, Mexico and, if need be, Hawaii. They’d left the black Lexus in Vegas and were driving a green Dodge four-wheel-drive SUV; they’d doffed the black suits and were decked out in jeans and flannel shirts. Mr. Stone had found himself a John Deere billed cap, while Mr. Mortimer was reliving a childhood dream under a cowboy brim.

The house sat on a green hillside, huddled among old-growth firs and facing the pastured valley below. The front window provided a pleasing view of the valley, the fields, a winding creek, and particularly the high-end ranch house across the valley on the opposite hill, the one purchased two weeks ago by their man of interest, Mr. Dane Collins.

They’d rearranged the living room, turning the couch to face the front window while allowing floor space for a spotting scope and two long-lensed cameras—one a video, one a still. They had snacks and a thermos of coffee stationed on the coffee table and a computer open on a TV tray. Today’s plans included getting online with a portable satellite linkup—not difficult—and then scouting out better vantage points for observing and eavesdropping on that ranch house—difficult. They would probably carry out that part of the mission that night.

Mortimer was taking his shift at the window when he was alerted. “Hold on, who’s this?”

He went to the spotting scope; Stone went to the video camera.

A white Toyota Rav4 had pulled up the paved driveway and parked under the carport. A small, roundish lady in blue sweatshirt and jeans got out, lifted what appeared to be bags of groceries from the rear compartment, and headed for the side door of the house, the one that led to the kitchen.

“No …” said Mortimer. “Not yet.”

Stone glanced over the photos taped to the wall. Some they took at the memorial service, mostly photos of photos; others were easily available promo shots of Dane and Mandy; some, like the few they had of Shirley Morgan, were the sneaky, surveillance kind: telephoto, shallow focus, shot through trees, from behind cars, often partially blocked by objects or people’s backs. “Shirley Morgan,” said Stone. “Grounds manager. She came with the place.”

Dane was on his cell phone, pacing in the kitchen of his big, empty house when Shirley came in with the groceries. He waved hi, she proceeded to put the milk, bread, oat flakes, and paper towels away while he drifted into the breakfast nook. “Seattle. Is that what you said? Seattle?” He made a frustrated face at Shirley, who made a sympathetic face back. “Listen, I can look at a map, but I don’t think Seattle’s on the way to Idaho. I mean, I drove all the way up here from Vegas and I never passed through Seattle.”

He’d bought some cedar patio furniture in a fall close-out at Ace Hardware in Hayden: four chairs, two deck recliners, and an oval table with a hole in the center to support an umbrella. The recliners were in the den; the table and chairs were in the breakfast nook. The store couldn’t find the umbrella. He got a good deal.

He sat in one of the chairs. “Well, I thought your truck was going to take the same route.” He listened, he sighed. “Okay, tomorrow. I can sleep on the floor one more night. Mmm, it’s all right. ’Bye.” He switched off his cell phone and clipped it back on his belt. “The load’s in Seattle.”

Shirley laughed derisively. “Wasn’t it supposed to be here Monday?”

“Well, they had somebody else’s load they had to drop off in Seattle first. Funny how they left out that little detail.”

“I won’t need the air mattress for a while.”

“I thank you, my back thanks you.”

“I got you the soap and shampoo. What about laundry soap?”

“There was still a box in the laundry room and …” Dane looked down at the clothes he was wearing. “I don’t have a lot of laundry.”

Shirley placed some envelopes and catalogs on the granite counter. “All your friends are finding you.”

“You can toss those women’s catalogs.”

“Okay.” Ka-foom! Into the wastebasket in the pantry. “I’m moving all the hanging baskets into the greenhouse today, and then, if it’s okay with you, I’ll shut down the irrigation pump and blow out the sprinkler lines.”

“Blow out the … what?”

“The yard sprinklers. I use compressed air to blow the water out of all the pipes and heads so they won’t freeze.”

“Oh. Right.”

“And I should take the tractor in to get all the fluids changed next week. You’ll want to get that done before we have to plow snow.”

Oh. He hadn’t thought of that. “When does it start snowing?”

“Depends. Middle of November usually, give or take.”

Dane nodded. It was now the second week of October. The mornings were getting crisp, and the leaves were turning. Pretty soon he’d be experiencing thataspect of living in Idaho.

“I don’t have any warm clothes.”

“No boots either.”

“No.”

“Ah. That’s something you need to do, just take a trip into town and do some shopping.”

“Yeah, I guess, when I’m feeling up to it …”

She leaned, resting her elbows on the counter—she was so short it wasn’t much of a lean. “If I may …”