“Seems a little obvious, don’t you think? Everybody’s gonna see us out here. He might even see us before we see him, know something’s up, and then take off. You really think he’s just gonna stroll up to us and welcome us in for some tea and cookies while we snoop around to figure out if he’s a murderer?”

  “Fine. Then we come back later. Get him when he’s inside and can’t just run.”

  “But we have no idea when that could be. We’re just gonna keep coming back here every hour or so until he’s home?”

  “You’ve got a better idea?” Michael leaned against the side of the house and folded his arms.

  “Look, if he’s got a gurney that’s big enough to lug Derrick up to the hospital, he’s probably not keeping it inside the house. It takes up too much space. Doesn’t this place have a detached garage out back?”

  Michael looked up, his head bobbing for a moment.

  “I…think so.”

  “Uh-huh. And that’s where the gurney is. Let’s just go back there and check.”

  “You want to break into his house?”

  “His garage. Not his house. This is about catching a killer. You said yourself, he might be out hurting someone else right now. We’re gonna let some informal idea of privacy violation keep us from investigating that and maybe putting this crap to bed?”

  “Maybe. I’m just not—”

  “Michael…think about it. Not only would this mean we’ve caught the killer, but it would also extinguish this idea of Zac leading the town. You know as well as I do what a nightmare that would be. This would end it all. If you feel strongly enough that you need to leave, I won’t hold it against you. But I’m going back there. I’d like you to come with me.”

  Michael looked down and scratched his forehead. He closed his eyes and breathed deep, then leaped off the porch and followed Stephanie around the side of the house.

  “Well, it’s locked,” Michael said, jiggling the doorknob to the garage. “I guess that was predictable.”

  Stephanie walked around the left side of the garage and saw a high window. Even standing straight up, she couldn’t see through the bottom of it. There was enough of a lip on the concrete for her to get her hands on there and pull herself up; she held there for a couple of seconds, peering inside. On a quick glance, she could see maybe half of the garage. It looked pretty cluttered, with shelves littered with various rusty tools and rags, paint cans strewn on the floor and even an old lawnmower.

  “What could you see?” Michael asked, peeking around the corner.

  “No jackpot yet, at least in the part I could actually see. Lots of junk. But there weren’t a ton of cobwebs either. That makes me doubt this is a time capsule or anything like that. I think he uses it.”

  “Okay, good. That’s a start. Any idea how we get in?”

  Stephanie walked around to the back of the garage and pushed some overgrown weeds out of the way to reveal a plain concrete wall. The other wall was right up against a picket fence.

  “No dice in back, unless we’ve got a tank.” She walked back to Michael, who was looking up at the window Stephanie was peeking through earlier. “The window here is pretty high. If we found something to break it with, one of us might be able to boost the other one up high enough to get through it, then unlock the door from the inside.”

  “Yeah. But it’s also high enough that it’ll be hard to get all the glass out. Good chance we get cut. And getting cut is bad news these days. Lots of risk of infection, especially with what’s probably an old, dirty window.”

  Stephanie nodded. “Ya know, there may be one other possibility…”

  She walked around to the opposite side of the garage and looked down the fence line. As she’d guessed, there was also a window on that side. Same size and height, but the opposite corner. She guessed the picket fence was maybe two feet shorter than the bottom of the window.

  “Michael, come check this out.” He came around the front of the garage and walked over to her. “What if I went into the neighbor’s yard there and climbed up on the fence? If I could balance myself on that horizontal board, I’d be high enough to break the glass with…something. Maybe we can find a big rock. Then I’d probably be able to clear all the glass off there and just climb inside.”

  “It’s probably a delicate fall to the floor going through there head first.”

  “If I can get my skinny ass through there, I’ll figure that part out.”

  “Think there’s any possibility he notices the broken window and knows someone’s after him before we can get to him?”

  Stephanie stopped for a second and thought.

  “I can’t imagine he’s out here all the damn time. It’s a small, old garage. We’ll hide the broken glass as much as possible. I’d be surprised if we don’t have him in custody before he has a hint anything’s up.”

  “It will be important not to tip him off, though. If we find this gurney, we plan to come back tomorrow morning. Give him a chance to get home, settle in, and think everything’s fine. Wait until just after daylight, and we should have him. Now, let’s find something to break that damn window.”

  They spread out across Zac’s back yard, Stephanie heading toward the overgrown half near the back fence and Michael searching closer to the back porch.

  It was challenging to care for a yard these days, and Zac wasn’t the only one who didn’t put much effort into it. Weeds had long ago taken over what Stephanie remembered as a fairly well-manicured lawn in the old world. Back before Zac’s wife and daughters had died, they’d had occasional barbecues or other parties and invited most of the town. She’d been over a time or two, and remembered them as a happy, seemingly normal family. Had this evil always been inside him and he’d just hidden it from everyone, or did losing his family trigger something inside of him? Seeing the previously nice lawn overtaken by angry, invasive weeds made her wonder how it all had changed so much. It was sad, thinking about what might have been, and the toll this virus had taken on so many.

  “Stephanie!” Michael’s voice snapped her back to the present, and she swung around. His obvious excitement suggested he’d found something more than a rock. “You need to come over here now!”

  She jogged in his direction; when she got about halfway there, she could see it barely showing through a maze of vines and bushes—a blue tarp. Michael was yanking them apart, snapping vines.

  Stephanie rushed over to help him clear away the shrubbery, revealing more of the tarp with each vine she pulled away. It didn’t take long before they were both standing there, breathing heavily, staring down.

  She looked at Michael and smiled. They grabbed the tarp and pulled it to their right, spreading it across the ground.

  Stephanie’s heart jumped when she saw it.

  “Holy shit, we got him,” she said. “We fucking got him. And if he did this, does this mean he killed Father Hayden too?”

  “If not, that’s a crazy coincidence that he was there the same morning.”

  She turned to Michael. “Unless someone was with him. But—”

  A wailing noise began to slowly creep down the street in front of Zac’s house, and Stephanie’s back stiffened.

  “What the hell is that?” Michael asked.

  “I think…it’s the siren on the hospital’s electric vehicle. Shit. That’s not good.”

  Stephanie turned and started running.

  “Where are you going?” Michael yelled.

  She stopped and turned back. The siren was very close now.

  “Cover that thing up. Get everything back as close as possible to how it was before we got here. I need to check on this. It’s an emergency, whatever it is.”

  Stephanie ran around to the front of the house and saw the hospital’s electric SUV coming fast down the street and quickly past her. Its tires squealed to a stop three houses away, at the Brownings’ home.

  She saw two people wearing hazmat suits jump out of the vehicle and run toward the house; her heart sank, and she felt a sudden nausea. Instead of going to the front door, she approached the driver’s door of the vehicle. She knew the driver would stay there and keep the engine running so they could move fast.

  She banged on the door and saw the driver was wearing a gas mask. He swung toward her, startled, then pushed the button to roll down the window.

  “What’s going on?” She felt like she was screaming.

  “You need to get out of here!” the driver said, his voice wobbly and a little ominous through the amplifier. “It’s not safe without protection! Go!”

  “I’m Doctor Sloan,” she said, attempting to stay as calm as possible. “I need to know what the situation is!”

  He glanced back at the house; no one had come out yet. He turned back to Stephanie.

  “Tyrone has boils on his skin. We’re not sure how many yet.”

  Stephanie stumbled and nearly fell backward. The driver reached out to grab her arm and steady her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She pressed a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, then nodded.

  “You need to go now, before they come back,” he said firmly. “Get inside somewhere if you can.”

  She started to leave and felt dizzy, putting a hand on the side of the vehicle to keep herself upright. Then she heard screams coming from the house. They were coming out the front door.

  “Now!” the driver said. “Go! Run!”

  And she did.

  40

  “Shit, you’re here,” Zac said, looking around into the dark beginnings of dawn behind Audrey, standing on his front porch with her arms crossed. “I didn’t think you’d come. Did you hear about the lockdown?”

  “Of course. In fact, that’s a big reason why I came. The stakes were just raised. No time to mess around.”

  “Um…yeah. Sure. I’m just barely awake, and it’s dark in here. Come on in. Let me grab a few candles. Go ahead and find your way to the couch if you can see it.”

  Audrey hadn’t been able to sleep much since Stephanie’s voice had boomed through the bullhorn, announcing a possible new case of the H6N1 virus, and that everyone should stay inside their homes until further notice. She didn’t say who it was, but Audrey knew that would leak out soon enough. She did say they’d successfully quarantined the person at Saint Francis, and they’d provide an update after they knew more.

  Up until that moment, it’d been easy to think the virus had been eradicated. It’d been a long time since any new cases of it had arisen. Having a regional quarantine and research center at Saint Francis had probably been what insulated Alessandra from the first, most deadly attack of the virus; it had given them somewhere to immediately take victims and seal them off from the rest of the population. Many towns didn’t have that and tried to make do with locking doors and closing windows. But, as people continued to get sick and die drawn-out, painful deaths, suicide had become almost as common a cause of death as the virus.

  Audrey knew this had to feel ominous—and familiar—for the town. The last time, though, she had been isolated up on the hill in that big mansion, secure in her distance. Now, though, she was right there with everyone else, so she had to be more careful. Hell, it hadn’t been long since the entire town had been gathered in the square. Whoever was showing symptoms of the virus was almost certainly there. Did they already have it then, and just didn’t know it yet? Was everyone a ticking time bomb?

  “Here we go.” Zac returned to the living room carrying two thick red candles. He put a plate underneath them on the coffee table in front of Audrey and struck a match, lighting them both. “That’s better. So, I’m hoping the fact that you’re here so early means you have good news for me?”

  “Hopefully you’ll see it as good.”

  Zac sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “Okay, then. Whatcha got?”

  Audrey had been thinking about this for much of the night, and had rehearsed her opening a few times. She wanted this pitch to go well, because she didn’t like the alternative. She leaned forward, her eyes tight on Zac’s.

  “I do appreciate the value of your offer. I want you to know that. Your read on me is, honestly, pretty good. I do want to stay here. I’d like my men to be able to stay as well. Clearly, Stephanie’s got bigger things on her mind right now, and I don’t think she’s itching to boot us, so there’s a solid chance we get more than just the week she said she’d allow us. But the clock’s ticking. And going out into the woods will almost certainly be a death sentence for at least one of us, with no logical direction to head in.”

  “That’s what I could step in and prevent,” Zac said. “So does that mean I have your endorsement?”

  Audrey took in a deep breath.

  “I’m not high on Stephanie’s priority list right now, but what happens if I come out and publicly, loudly endorse you? She’s done me a pretty big favor in letting us back in. That’s practically spitting in her face. Maybe that spurs her to action, saying I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

  “I don’t think she’d—”

  “You saw her stand Nick up there to lie for her as well as I did. Don’t give me some bullshit about her being ultra-virtuous. She may not be a ruthless politician, but she’s got an instinct for survival. If she feels threatened, she’s not above doing something underhanded. I just think it’d be too much for her to stand there and take.”

  “So…I still haven’t heard what you’re actually proposing.”

  “A spot in your administration. Deputy mayor. Or whatever you’d plan to call it. But your right hand. I’d be your top advisor and execution person, while you’d be able to think big picture. I’d help to realize your vision for the town, and offer my counsel from the inside. Think about it. We have similar enough philosophies that it should be a good fit. You need somebody like me. And then you could tell people you were planning on that. That’d help alleviate some of the concerns, I think. They’d know someone with more experience would be there with you. A stabilizing force, if you will. I’d talk about how I was flattered by the mention, but never confirm it until—”

  “And what happens when you get tired of taking my orders?” Zac asked, his face stern.

  “When I what?”

  “I’ve seen the way you work, Audrey. I’ve seen what you’ll do to maintain power. We all have. Can you honestly tell me this isn’t your move to try to get back into that mansion, and then have your goons take me out the first chance they get?”

  Audrey rolled her eyes. “That’s not fair, Zac. I’m offering you the help you need. Just in a different way, but also more long term. I think this is a better offer than what you asked for.”

  “Only if I trust you. And what reason would I have to trust you? The offer I made was an exchange of your help to get me elected for me helping you stay in Alessandra. You instead want to change it to me making you the second-most powerful person in the world, and I’m supposed to thank you for that?”

  “Yes. Because, otherwise, Stephanie’s gonna wipe the floor with you. She’s a damn research doctor, Zac. If this really is H6N1, how are you gonna compete with that? You were already losing ground over trust and stability. Now, you think you can beat a medical research specialist in the face of a virus that could kill everyone in the town if they don’t figure out how to suffocate it? You need someone with experience dealing with this.”

  Zac looked at the far wall and shook his head.

  “You’re trying to bullshit me, Audrey, and I’m not falling for it. I’m not as naïve as you think. I know how to make sure people are quarantined as well as you or Stephanie does. You want to have me within arm’s length so you can drive a knife into my back the first chance you get, and I’m not gonna let that happen. Rest assured, no matter who wins, you and your gang of mutes are gonna be on the first ticket out of Dodge. And we’ll all be better off when that happens. This conversation is over. Get the hell out of my house.”

  Audrey closed her eyes, her head hanging toward the floor.

  “I strongly encourage you to reconsider.”

  “Reconsider?” Zac laughed loudly. “Was I not clear before? Get the fuck out of my house! Do I have to physically throw you out?”

  Audrey stood and sighed, shaking her head slowly as she turned to head for the door.

  41

  The sun’s first light cresting the mountains in the distance, Michael twisted the knob on Stephanie’s front door, kind of glad to feel it hitch. He hoped it wouldn’t be this way much longer, but she was right to keep it locked for now. He inserted his key and unlocked it, then went inside, closing and locking it behind him.

  “I’m here, Steph.” He raised his voice loud enough for her to hear back in her room. “Come on out when you’re ready.”

  As he crossed the living room to the couch, he could see some light coming from her bedroom; it looked like the door was open. It was unusual for her to sleep without the door closed. Maybe she was already up?

  He stood still for a moment, listening for any sign of her moving around. No footsteps. No floorboard creaks. Slowly, he began walking down the hall toward the bedroom, past pictures hanging on the wall, one of the two of them at the Grand Canyon. He always liked that picture, her shoulder-length hair blowing in the breeze, silk scarf hanging loosely off her neck, one arm draped across his shoulders as she strained to get them both—and the canyon—in the shot. He remembered it must have taken her at least five tries to get the picture she wanted. By the time she took this one, they were both laughing uncontrollably, a moment of pure pleasure, looking out over one of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth. He sometimes thought about how the canyon was still out there, unchanged through all that had happened in the years between then and now, and what all he’d give to be able to go back, just to bear witness that some things were still static in this world.

  He craned his neck to look around the corner into her room. It was silent, the bedsheets rumpled and slept in, an indent still lingering on one of the pillows. Where was she? The sun was barely up, and there was a quarantine on. Michael was trying to think where she might have gone, and one part of his mind wondered if he should care.

 

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