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is…I don’t even want to say the name.” Never ruddy, she had paled, including her lips.
    Nick squeezed her fingers. “I know it’s Colin Fox who may still be alive.”
    Aurelie pressed her eyes shut. “He could have left his ID behind to throw the police off if they ever found the grave.”
    â€œThe pig,” Sarah said. She still trembled. “He had big plans for Aurelie and me. Disgusting man.”
    â€œThey’ve found remnants of a rope ladder at the bottom of that vent,” Nick said quietly. “Still attached to deep stakes. There weren’t any stakes at the top, but they think the rope was cut up there and dropped down.”
    Tears squeezed from beneath Aurelie’s eyelids and slid down her cheeks. “We didn’t come right out with it, but we already guessed Colin killed them. All of them . They were so nice to us, especially the women and the other kids.” Her eyes flew open. “He murdered the kids, too.”
    â€œProbably. And if he did all that, he’s not going to want anyone around who could connect him to The Refuge.” Hoover bumped against Nick’s hip, looking for attention, but there wasn’t any to spare right now. “He would have had a new life to walk into, with a new name. But we could still identify him.”
    â€œHis eyes,” Sarah said. “They were like green glass. I know he was good-looking but I can’t understand why Mary…”
    â€œNo,” Nick said. “But there must have been a reason. I only asked Delia about my mother once and she didn’t tell me much. When I wanted to know why both my mother and Delia decided to keep us hidden, all she said was that someone dangerous could come looking for us.”
    â€œSo you’ve definitely decided not to go to the police here—or to California?” Sarah said. “Not even to Matt Boudreaux? He’s just about your best friend.”
    Matt was also deputy chief of police, Billy Meche’s second-in-command. “No, not even Matt,” Nick said. “I’m not going to do anything official. And we’d better be watching our backs in case Colin decides he’d seriously prefer us dead.”
    â€œOh, God.” Aurelie knelt beside Hoover and buried her face in his fur. She held him around the neck and looked up again. “Nothing official?”
    Nick considered his words carefully and said, “If the opportunity comes to deal with Colin, I’ll take it.”

2
    B aily Morris slipped off her earphones and listened. She worked as a chemist on the lowest of four floors at Wilkes and Board’s Pointe Judah lab and, faintly, she’d heard what could have been a thud from the room above.
    There shouldn’t be anyone upstairs and there should be nothing likely to fall on the floor without help.
    Concentrating hard, she strained to hear any other sounds. There were none.
    Open vertical blinds made stripes through purple-pink evening light beyond the windows. Baily glanced at the still fronds on shadowy palm trees outside, then at the ground fog starting to gather. She’d arrived earlier than usual this evening, waiting only long enough to be certain all those who worked by day had left. In the future she might make a habit of stretching her hours at the lab.
    Night was her preference, night and solitude. She liked the peace, and not having to deal directly with any of the Boards. Sarah was jealous of Baily’s abilities. Nick didn’t spend a lot of time there, but when he did show up, he pretended not to notice her. For a few weeks that had been very different, until he decided she wasn’t what he wanted anymore.
    His loss. Baily intended Nick to pay for the way he had treated her.
    Each evening, for as long as she dared to put off her Wilkes and Board assignments, Baily worked on a project of her own. In weeks or months or however long it took, she would show the Boards who was the