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"Honey," he said softly, "do you knoho I airl nodded

"Will you come with me?"

"Mother has a knife"

"I’m not afraid of her"

"She kills you so"

Following his gesture, she saw the golden for the first ti this an invitation, Nickie went to the girl, plu of a new friend, and Hope flung her ar in a display of instant and total trust

Brian glanced at Amy, and she motioned him to her

Amy worried that even if they could find keys for Michael’s vehicles, they couldn’t drive away The engine would be heard They would be shot down as they backed out of the garage

At any ht encounter Michael or Vanessa They had been in the house maybe three minutes They were already overdue

"We can’t hunt theuish in his eyes as he said, "That would hter will take your daughter to safety" As Hope petted Nickie, the pendant on the chain hung visible "Look"

The silver word stunned hi Hope, kward about the affection, though she had been easy with the dog

"Honey, you’re going outside with Nickie Hold her collar Stay with her She’ll keep you safe Don’t be afraid"

S, Hope said, "I’lance at Brian, Amy said, "Yes, sweetie, she is"

The hall was deserted They went to the nearby front door Fog entered, and Hope left with Nickie

The dog hesitated on the stoop, testing the air, then led the girl quickly away into the fog

Harrow on the beach searches sand, fog, and surf foan of the bodies, when belatedly he realizes that he saw no blood in the Expedition

He feels deceived, not only by his quarry but also by his own expectations

Aot lucky once, back in Connecticut, but she’s a subressor, just like her architect, and it is an affront to Harrow’s deepest-held views to i machine like Billy

He hurries back to the steps and cli

He is not worried about Moongirl, only about ht do to them if she finds the it, hty’s toe-nail, hallelujah, sht this would be long and slohen the tiht like to take a couple of days breaking down the little freak before burning her

Now she just wants it over Tonight Right now

She has a gallon of gasoline for the third act

The second act is just going to be punching Piggy Except for the burns on the bottoms of her feet, Vanessa never marked the little creep before You have to be careful: all the meddlesome bastards who see one bruise and they’re on to child welfare She really wants to hit her She’s got a lot of years of hitting saved up

The first act is so bathtub upstairs Tie her up, do soood enough to get soy, who doesn’t even have any answers to give

Vanessa has just finished filling the tub with cold water, as cold as she could draw it She’s selected and set out some scarves she doesn’t want anymore, to tie up the little freak

She has wasted ten years with this Ten years She has never gotten from it the level of satisfaction she expected

It’s very difficult for a pleasure in reality to be equal to what you work up first in your i her Pleasure is the only thing, everything, and yet it is never what it ought to be

Maybe she’ll find so better in the desert She likes the heat of the desert, the barrenness, the emptiness

There’s too much nature here on the coast She just wants sand and heat and white sky and silence

She bought a book, The World Without Us, she wants to read it in the desert, someplace isolated, where there’s just her and Harrow, and thenthat satisfies It’s the only thing that is co you expect it to be The dead never fail you

She is descending the front stairs when, just as she’s about to turn onto the landing, she hears whispering in the vestibule She stops, puts her back to the wall, and eases to the corner