three pre-measured grains of gunpowder and finish his preparations.
In his ear, Baxter’s voice was an abrasive croak. “Jean Luc, have you been listening? Did you hear what I’ve tried to explain?”
Jean Luc Morpaign fully cocked the gun’s hammer now, raised the snout of the gun to the center of his forehead.
“Yes,” he replied. “Yes I have.”
“Then what’s the score?” Baxter said. “What do you have to say about it?”
Jean Luc turned toward the window, smiled faintly to himself.
“Consider us unbound,” he said, and then pulled the trigger on times present and long past.
Dressed in a tank top and jogging shorts, a digital music player clipped to her waistband, Julia Gordian was in her entry hall lacing her sneakers when she heard a car pull into the driveway.
She rose from her crouch, glanced out the side lights bordering her door, and then turned around to face the greyhounds.
“Hmm, kiddies,” she said. “What have we here?”
The dogs stared back at her from the living room, Jill’s teeth chattering a little, all of them showing the typical mix of fretfulness and anticipation with which they met any potential blip in their routine.
Julia looked at the car again. It was a small VW Jetta, and as its engine went quiet she saw Tom Ricci sit behind the wheel a moment, get out, reach in for a large white paper bag on the passenger seat, and start up her front walk.
Though her hair had been pulled into an operable ponytail, Julia paused to smooth it back anyway. Then she unlocked her door and opened it before he could buzz.
“Tom, hi,” she said. “This is a surprise… how’d you find my house?”
Ricci looked at her.
“I remembered from last year,” he said.
“Oh, right.”
“When you were missing.”
“Right,” Julia said, and nodded. “I should have figured.”
Ricci stood there on the doorstep holding his package.
“This a bad time for me show up?” he said.
“No, no…”
“I can go if it is.”
“Really, it’s fine.” Julia waved her hands over herself. “Guess you can tell from these clothes I was about to head out for a jog… every other day, rain or shine, you know… but it isn’t like I’m on the clock.”
Ricci nodded. He held his bag out to her, standing there in a white T-shirt, navy sweat pants, and sneakers.
“I brought muffins from that place you like,” he said.
“Michael’s?”
Another nod.
“They’re apricot and cherry,” he said. “The ones with the macadamia nuts were sold out.”
Julia took the bag, opened it, and made a minor performance of sniffing its contents.
“Yum-yum, I’ll settle.” She smiled. “Tom, this is really nice, but you didn’t have to go out of your way…”
“I didn’t,” he said. “You did that for me last time.”
Stuck for a response, Julia cleared her throat.
“Speaking of last time,” she said, pretty much just to say
Ricci hesitated.
“Got what I needed out of it,” he said. Then he looked slightly down and past her. “Hi, girl,” he said. “Good to see you.”
Julia suddenly realized Vivian had managed to poke her head between her leg and the doorframe. She watched as Ricci slowly extended the back of his hand, keeping his knuckles loosely bent, giving Viv a chance to pick up whatever dogs did from his scent. After a few seconds she began licking and nuzzling his fingers.
“Now you’re in trouble,” Julia said. “That hound’s an insatiable sponge when it comes to attention.”
Ricci had crouched to scratch under Viv’s chin.
“It’s okay,” he said, and brought his eyes up to Julia’s face. “Everything she’s been through in her life, she deserves it.”
Julia looked at him silently a moment, not quite sure why she’d again found herself at a loss for words.
“Well,” she said, hefting her bag of muffins. “I should probably bring these inside, brew us up some coffee…”
“Thought you were going for a jog,” Ricci said.
Julia shrugged.
“No reason it can’t wait,” she said.
Ricci straightened, looked at her from where he stood in the morning sunlight.
“It’s better to eat afterward,” he said. “You don’t want your stomach to cramp.”
Julia shrugged again.
“Weren’t you intending to join me?” she said.
“I was,” Ricci said. He took in a breath, produced a long exhalation. “But I let myself get out of shape lately, figured maybe we could go jogging together first… that is, if you don’t mind.”
Julia noticed what he was wearing—
“No,” she said. “I don’t.”
“You’re sure,” he said.
“I’m positive,” Julia said. “In fact, Viv and I would really like the company.”
They looked at each other a while. Then Ricci nodded, and Julia opened the door wider for him.
“C’mon in,” she said. “I need to put this bag away for when we get back.”
