“Not yet,” he said. “It’s not enough.”
“We’re not going?”
“No,” said Stillman. “We’ve got to wait.”
“But they could be out here any second.”
“That’s the idea. Look around. We’re the only ones out on foot. It’s like everybody died. When that meeting is over, the streets are going to be full of people. None of them will be as far east as Birch Street, but we’ll still look as though we came from the meeting.”
Mary turned her eyes to Stillman but said nothing.
Walker said reluctantly, “All right.”
“Give me a minute,” said Stillman. “I’ll get as close to the corner of Main as I can. The second the doors open up, I’ll move. The two of you walk across together. Hold hands or something, and walk at the same speed as everybody else. I’ll cross alone from here, and we’ll meet on the other side.”
He stepped off alone. Mary and Walker stood on the sidewalk and waited. She said quietly, “Did you hear what that man was saying in there?”
He nodded. “That man was the chief of police.”
“But the whole town was in there listening, agreeing. It’s not just one or two cops fooling people. It’s everybody. They’re all in on it.”
“Let’s just hope everybody came to the meeting,” said Walker. Then he froze. “Kids. When we were here before, we saw kids. There must be people in some of the houses watching them.”
“We should warn Stillman.”
They saw Stillman wave his arm and set off across Main Street. “Too late,” said Walker. He put his arm around her waist, tightened it once in a quick squeeze, then let it rest there. “We’ve got to go. Just keep your face turned away from the windows.”
They walked to the corner and stepped into the street. Walker looked past Mary toward the church. The doors had opened and people were walking down the steps, across the sidewalk, and into Main Street. He adjusted his pace to theirs. Before he and Mary had stepped across the double line in the center of the pavement, he could see that the street to the west was already clogged.
Some of the townspeople were moving along the sidewalks on Main Street away from the church, and others came east and then crossed the street as Walker and Mary were doing. Walker kept his steps even and unhurried, expecting at any second to hear running footsteps behind them.
Then they were stepping up over the curb, and after a few more steps they were on Birch, moving away from Main. Birch Street was still much brighter than it had been when Walker and Stillman had been to Scully’s house the first time. Walker had to force himself to keep from running to get to the house before the first of the residents returned to see them. When he and Mary were almost there, he could see Stillman waiting at the corner of the house.
“The garage is wide open, and his car is inside,” said Stillman. “It’s a Chevy Blazer.”
Walker said, “Want to try for the gun in the bedroom?”
Stillman shook his head. “No. Nothing has changed. If we shoot off a gun, there will be eighty people on us in a second. If we don’t need to fire it, what’s it for?” To foreclose the argument, he moved up the driveway and into the garage.
When they were all inside, Stillman handed Mary the keys. “You drive. You’re the only one they haven’t seen.”
Stillman climbed into the back seat, while Walker got into the front. Stillman tapped him. “Duck down.”
Mary started the engine, and backed down the driveway into the street. Walker crouched on the floor and felt the vehicle lurch forward. She announced, “We’re still ahead of the crowd. I’m going to turn left and go down the next street toward the river.” She made the turn.
“I see lights ahead,” she said. “It looks like a cop car.”
“It doesn’t matter whose car it is, he’s nobody we want to get close to,” said Stillman. “Can you turn anywhere without looking as though you’re avoiding him?”
“I’ll make the next turn and go toward Main again.” She made the turn slowly, then sighed. “There are people in the street. I can get through them, but if they know the car, they can hardly imagine I’m James Scully.”
“See if you can turn at the next corner and get near the river that way,” said Stillman.
They felt the car’s speed decrease, and then felt it coast. “There are two more cars on that street with their headlights pointed this way.” She accelerated again. “I’m going on to Main Street.”
She reached Main, then stopped. “This is not good,” she said. “I can see more cars up ahead before the bridge. Two of them are cop cars.”
Stillman said, “Turn toward them so your headlights are what they see.”
She turned the car, then turned again at the first corner. “They’re not following,” she said. “It looks like they’re just waiting for us to go toward the bridge. Maybe I can come up Washington behind them.”
“Then turn right again at the next corner,” he said.
“Okay.” Walker felt the car tilt as she turned.
“What’s ahead of you?”
“Not much. There’s a driveway at the end of the street. A big building. The sign says New Mill Systems.”
“Good,” said Stillman. “Drive until you’re almost there, and pull over.”
In a moment, the car stopped at the curb. “I’m parked. What do you recommend now?”
“Can anybody see us if we sit up?”
“Nobody’s back in these houses yet, but I just saw a couple pass the corner on Main, so it won’t be long.”
Stillman and Walker sat up. On either side, the street was brightly lighted from the windows of the houses and the floodlights on eaves and above porches. Directly ahead was the dim parking lot of New Mill Systems. Walker could see the usual thirty or forty cars in the lot, and beside the lot, the boxlike brick building with its small, high windows lit like all the others.
Stillman said, “Pull into the lot.”
“It’s not closed,” said Mary. “The lot is full of cars.”
“That’s right,” Stillman said. “We won’t stand out as much if we’re one of thirty cars.”
Mary pulled ahead into the parking lot, turned off the headlights, and headed for the darkest corner.
“Not there,” said Stillman. “Find an empty space in the middle someplace.”
Mary parked in the third row and turned off the engine. “Well, here we are. Why are we?”
Walker said, “It doesn’t seem as though we’re analyzing the problem right. We need to think.”
“While you’re thinking, come with me for a minute,” said Stillman. “Serena, stay put. Keep the key in the ignition and watch for trouble. If it comes, pull out fast and pick us up.”
Walker got out and waited while Stillman joined him. Walker gazed away from the building at the fields beyond. “Do you think we could make it that way?”
“I did until I saw those rifles come out this evening. A weapon like that isn’t much use in a town where everybody’s related to you. It’ll go through the wall of a house and come across the living room still dangerous. And you don’t need a big scope to hit anything half a block away. I think they’re hoping we’ll get sick of hiding and try running. As soon as we’re in ankle-high grass with nothing on any side of us for a hundred yards that’s bigger than a daisy, they’ll take us.”
“Then what are we doing?”
“This whole town seems to be armed. If one person in this lot got distracted when he parked here, he may have left something that I can use.”
“What are the chances of that?”
“Better than if we don’t look,” said Stillman. “You take a close look at this building. See if there’s a way in.”
Walker stepped toward the New Mill Systems building, then stopped between two cars and pretended to tie his shoe. He used the time to study the structure from below. He searched the eaves for cameras and floodlights, but he didn’t see any.
He went toward the rear of the building. There had to be something back there besides these featureless brick walls with their tiny windows. He turned the corner. There was nothing but a concrete walkway directly beside
