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A hot rush of blood shot to Guilder’s face The veins were pounding in his head; he was practically apoplectic He picked up the paper and waved it in the air

"Hearts and ? Did you read this?"

"Director Guilder-"

"I have nothing athered, briefcases closed, anxious glances exchanged around the table Everybody rose and startedtoward the exit Guilder put his head in his hands Jesus Christ, this was all he needed So had to be done, and it had to be done immediately

"Wilkes, wait a second"

The man turned, eyebrows raised

"You stay"

The others departed His chief of staff lingered by the door

"Sit"

Wilkes returned to his chair

"Youme what the hell that was about? I’ve always trusted you, Fred Relied on you to keep things running Don’t bullshitI won’t tolerate division in the ranks Not e’re so close They could get here any day now"

"Everybody understands that They just don’t wantwell, for things to get out of control They caught ht Guilder "What do you think? Have they gotten out of control?"

"Do you really want to ask ed "Maybe a little"

Guilder rose, relasses from his jacket pocket, and pulled the drapes aside This disoddaic for the past, the old world of cars and restaurants and stores and dry cleaners and tax returns and traffic ja in line at theti to have to have more babies"

"Sir?"

He spoke with his back to the man "Babies, Fred" He shook his head at the irony "Funny, I’ve never really known e You had a couple, didn’t you?"

It was an unwritten rule not to ask about their former lives Guilder could feel Wilkes’s hesitation in his answer "The randkids, too"

"Do you think about thelasses, too Was it the light or so else?

"Not anyave a little twitch "Are you testing me, Horace?"

"Maybe I am, a little"

"Don’t"

The word had more force behind it than Guilder had ever heard fro or not

"We’re going to have to get everybody on the sae, you know Can I count on you?"

"Why do you even have to ask that?"

"Humor ht answer, but Wilkes’s hesitancy nagged Why was Guilder asking? It wasn’t just the juvenile tenor of thethat bothered him; he’d dealt with that before So on somebody else’s toes Ouch! That hurt! No fair! I’ It wasof an insurrection in theAll his instincts told hi crevasse, one foot on this side, one on the other

He closed the drapes and returned to the table "What’s the situation with the feedlot?"

The muscles in Wilkes’s face visibly relaxed; they were back on faood It will take at least three ht Guilder They’d have to do it in the open Maybe it was better that way; he could kill two birds with one stone A bit of theater, to get the troops in line He pushed his notepad across the table to his chief of staff

"Write this down"

Chapter 54

"It’s just sostrange"

Lila had just co and was deep within its throes The blood had been delivered, by Guilder presu in the courtyard After two successive days above freezing, the snow had turned into a sticky skin, perfect for snowballs They’d thrown theaaht her Another pleasure, to learn a game fro this would be Any day the e from Nina could come

"Yes, well," Lila said, as if she and Sara had been having a conversation, "I’ on an errand soon"

Sara paid this little attention Lila’s mind seemed adrift in reverie An errand to where?

"David says I have to go" Facing the mirror, Lilaof David "Lila, it’s for charity I know you don’t like opera, but we absolutely have to go Lila, this man is the head of a major hospital, all the wives will be there, hoill it look if I have to go alone?" She sighed resignedly, her brush pausing on its journey through her lustrous mane of hair "Maybe just once he’d think about what I want to do, the places I want to go Now, Brad was thoughtful Brad was the kind of h the , Dani Do you have a boyfriend? So My gosh, you’re certainly pretty enough I bet you have dozens of the down your door"

Sara was momentarily disoriented by the question; Lila rarely, if ever, asked Sara anything about herself "Not really"

Lila considered this "Well, that’s smart You have lots of tihtHer voice was suddenly sad "Re out there for you Once you find hiht I made that mistake, and now look at the fix I’m in"

The remark, like so many, seemed to float in the ether, unable to touch down on any firm surface Yet over the days of their confine to these oblique utterances They were shadows of so real: an actual history of people, places, events If what Nina said about the woman was true-and Sara believed it to be so-Lila was every inch the monster the redeyes were How many Evas had been sent to the basement because Lila hadere Nina’s words? Lost interest And yet Sara could not deny that there was so pitiable about the woret So, and with the heaviest of sighs, I just don’t see how things can go on like this And, one evening while Sara was rubbing lotion into her feet, Dani, did you ever think about just running away? Leaving your whole life behind and starting over? More and o their oay, as if she were abdicating her role in the little girl’s life-as if, at some level, she knew the truth I look at the two of you and I think, How perfect you are together That little girl adores you Dani, you’re the piece of the puzzle that was