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the investigation over to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.
    The only other photograph of Adam Langstrom predated the picture on the registry. It had been taken at his sentencing. He was dressed in an ill-fitting suit, and his tie was askew, as if it were a noose he had managed to loosen. I couldn’t see his right ear to see if it was missing its lobe. What struck me most about the picture was the expression on his face. So often defendants in court appear ashamed and already defeated; either that or emotionless and temporarily brain-dead. But Langstrom was glaring straight into the lens, as if he wanted to vault across the room and strangle the photographer with his own camera strap.
    Langstrom’s anger was as familiar as the color of his eyes. I had seen it too many times in my father’s face and, sometimes, in my own bathroom mirror.
    The cell phone buzzed on the desk. I took another sip of bourbon before I answered.
    â€œStacey?” I said.
    â€œGraham told me you’d called.” Her voice sounded nasal, her sinuses clogged, as if she was suffering from a bad cold. “What’s going on, Mike? I’m too frostbitten for phone sex, if that’s what you want.”
    â€œI was worried about you.”
    â€œWhat? Why?”
    â€œYou were late getting back to the office. And I saw from the weather radar that it’s snowing even harder up there than it is down here.”
    She paused. “Your voice sounds funny.”
    I couldn’t lie to her. “I’ve had a couple of shots.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œI had a visitor earlier. This woman named Amber Langstrom tracked me down at the house. She says she knew my dad.” My voice sounded like someone else’s in my ears. “She says I have a brother, Stacey.”
    I pressed the phone against my ear. I heard nothing for a long time.
    She spoke slowly. “You have a brother?”
    â€œShe says his name is Adam. And he just got out of prison for statutory rape, and now he’s missing.”
    â€œYou need to back up,” Stacey said “Start from the beginning.”
    I remembered how Amber had taken yoga breaths. I closed my eyes, breathed in and then out, and began my tale. I am sure I rambled. Bourbon on an empty stomach hadn’t been the best idea. But Stacey was good at keeping me on point.
    When I had finished, she said, “Can you e-mail me his picture? I want to see if he looks like you.”
    â€œIt might be fuzzy, since it’ll be a picture of a picture.”
    â€œThat’s all right. Do you believe this Amber woman is telling the truth?”
    â€œMaybe. I don’t know. It’s possible. My dad slept with plenty of women. And Amber seems like his type.”
    â€œWhat type is that?”
    â€œReady, willing, and able.”
    Not to mention hot as hell, I thought. But that detail didn’t seem like one I should share with my girlfriend.
    â€œThen you’ve got to help her find this Adam guy,” Stacey said. “Aren’t you curious to meet him?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œLiar.”
    â€œMy life was perfectly fine before I knew he existed.”
    â€œPerfectly fine? Who are you kidding?” she said with a laugh. She really did sound stuffed up. “You might have a half brother, Mike. You’ll never forgive yourself if something ends up happening and you never get to meet him.”
    I pushed the bottle away. “I’ve been down that road before, Stace. It didn’t end well.”
    â€œYou’re not the same person you were when all that shit happened at Rum Pond.”
    â€œExactly. I’m not that person anymore.”
    â€œAt least make some calls for the poor woman.”
    â€œWho would I call?”
    â€œStart with Gary Pulsifer,” she said. “Find out how he knows this Amber Langstrom. Then ask him what the hell he was thinking, sending her to look for you.”
    Those were