As Anna sat in the living room window seat, waiting for Thom to finish getting his things together upstairs, she tilted the lovely opal pendant he had given her this way and that in the light, watching its flecks of fire gleam and shift, and thinking about her conversation with Colleen the night before. They’d grown much more comfortable confiding in each other while Colleen and Dusty had been living here, but last night’s topic had taken Anna a bit off guard.

“Are you ready yet?” Thom teased from upstairs. “We haven’t got all day, you know. And, if your car’s totaled, it may take that long to find an available rental in this soggy town.”

She let the pendant fall back against her sweater and looked up, smiling fondly at him as he came down the stairs.

He gave her a curious smile in return. “What’s that look about?”

“You,” she said, getting up to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

“What about me?” he asked, looking guardedly pleased, but even more mystified.

“Colleen asked me last night how I knew you were the one.”

“The one what?” he asked, grinning now.

“The one I’d marry, of course. Don’t play dumb.” She slid her arms around his waist. “It doesn’t become you.”

“Well, there, see?” he chuckled. “One misstep after another—ever since. I trust you told her what a poor choice I’ve turned out to be.”

She let go of him again with an unamused smirk, and walked back to the window seat. “I told her that of all the men who’d ever flirted with me, you seemed like the first real adult—and the only one who’d ever seemed to take me seriously.”

“Oh, who doesn’t take you seriously?” he asked. “Why would you say such a thing?”

She sat down again, wanting suddenly to make sure he heard what she’d told Colleen. Life was uncertain. If the past two weeks had made anything clear, it was that. “The only thing people take seriously is whatever Anna Clarke they’ve invented,” she said. “Anna Clarke the administrative dragon lady, Anna Clarke the annoying activist, the stern but dependable coach, the Plan B miracle worker, or the clever, useful errand girl…” She shook her head. “Plenty of people have found me useful, or admirable, or scary, but you were the first one who actually seemed to see me—all the way down—and weren’t just irritated or intimidated.”

“Nonsense,” he scoffed, sitting down next to her. “I was just afraid you’d never go for such an old man.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “Still not sure why you did. Should I be hiring a taster?”

“You know as well as I do that age has nothing to do with abstract numbers,” she said, ignoring his jokes, “not in any way that matters.”

“Not how your mother saw it, as I recall,” he said. “‘Twenty years older! He’ll be dead before you’re back from the honeymoon!’”

“She was seeing if you could take a joke,” Anna said. “She went on and on after you’d gone about what a handsome man you were, and so well put together for your advanced age.”

“Ouch.”

“I think she just wanted me to dump you so she could have a go,” Anna laughed. If he was going to joke about this, well, he knew very well she could give as good as she got. “You still pass for a youthful fifty even now.”

He grimaced, comically. “I surrender. But may I ask why Colleen raised this question?” He let go the smile. “There’s not trouble in paradise, I hope?” 

Anna shook her head. “I wondered too, at first. But I just think the last few weeks has left her thinking through what they mean to bite off more seriously than she may have before—which can’t leave her anything but more prepared.”

“So…she’s not having second thoughts…”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Anna assured him. “I asked her if—” Her ringtone interrupted them. She dug into her purse for the phone. “Dusty,” she told Thom as she raised it to her ear. “Hello, dear.”

“Anna…it’s Dusty.”

“…Yup. Your name is on the screen,” she said, amused and a little puzzled. “What’s up?” A lengthy silence killed her smile. “Dusty?”

“They’ve taken Colleen.”

The words confused her, but she recognized his quiet, completely uninflected tone, and knew immediately what it had always meant. “What’s happened?” she asked, already dreading the answer. “Taken Colleen where?” She felt Thom go still beside her.

“She’s been kidnapped. By the people who are after Matt.”

Her mouth fell open as her mind struggled to keep up, and her skin went cold.

“What is it?” Thom asked, tensely.

She waved him silent. “Dusty, wait a minute.” She lowered the phone to put the call on ‘Speaker.’ “I still don’t understand. What’s happened? Why do you think—”

“I’m in the garage, by her wrecked car, waiting for the police to get here,” Dusty cut her off, almost robotically. “They tore the doors half off, getting her out of it.”

“Wait! No. Are you sure she isn’t—”

“I’ve been to her apartment. There’s a ransom note scrawled on the wall above her bed.”

“Oh my god,” Anna breathed. She looked at Thom who’d grown pale as bread and still as stone.

“It says…”

She heard him struggle to maintain his shell, and felt her own collapsing. “Dusty—”

“It says,” he cut in more fiercely, “‘We want someone you know how to find. Care to trade?’ …I told you, Anna. I told you this was serious. The minute those goddamn letters showed up.” His voice was ragged now.

“Oh, Dusty…” She looked back at Thom, unable to absorb what she was hearing, still sure there must be something they were all misunderstanding. But Thom’s appearance just scared her even more. He looked aghast, still not moving, hardly breathing. “Thom? …Are you all right?” For a moment he only stared at her—or at something only he could see. “Thom?”

“What’s wrong with Thom?” Dusty asked, quietly.

“Nothing,” Thom said. “I’m sorry. I just…I…can’t…I’m fine, Dusty. I just need to…understand this better. Start again. Tell us everything that happened. In order, please, if you can.”

“We were going to her apartment.” The robot was back now. “She went on ahead while I stopped to put gas in the truck. When I got there, I found her car piled into a column in the underground garage. Someone had wrenched the doors open. No sign of her anywhere. Her phone went straight to voice mail. I ran upstairs to her apartment, but it was locked; I don’t think she ever went there. But someone had. There’s this huge note above the bed, and…I called 911. They asked me to wait here by the car, and not disturb anything.”

“Didn’t anyone see something?” Anna asked. “Have you asked if—”

“There’s nobody here—anywhere,” he said. “It’s a fucking ghost town. The 911 guy said there’s someone coming, but…I…can you guys come down here? I don’t know what to do.” Anna heard the robot failing again. “I can’t drive right now. I…can’t do anything. Who are these people? What are they…” As she heard him struggle not to cry, her own eyes began to fill. “What are they gonna do to her?” he wept. “Where are the fucking police?”

“We’re coming,” Anna said. She looked at Thom, who nodded once. “We’re leaving right now. Just…we love you both, and I need you to take care of yourself, and trust that all of us together can deal with this, okay? There’s no point in trying to imagine what’s going to happen before we find that out.” And no point in that kind of advice, said a steely voice in her own crisis control center. “Just hang on until we get there, okay?”

“I’m hanging on,” he said raggedly. “What else can I do?”

“That’s plenty for now,” she said. “I’m going to hang up, so we can leave, okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks. But drive safe, okay? I haven’t got…any more right now.”

“Understood,” she said.

He killed the call before she could.

She turned, in shock, to stare at Thom, who was still scaring her too. “You don’t look well,” she said. “You’re not having chest pains or anything, are you?”

He shook his head. “But I’m… Are you okay to drive?”

“Yes… Thom, what’s—”

“I wasn’t ready for this, Anna.” He looked ashamed. “I mean…Again?...How is that even…?”

“Oh.” She brought a hand to her face. “Oh…”

“I…I guess I’m having a panic attack. This just feels so personal.” He shook his head abruptly. “But it’s not me. This is not about me and we need to go.” He stood up. “I’m sorry.” He gave her a thumbs-up, though his hand shook visibly as he did it, and his color hadn’t improved any. “I will get this under control on our way. Let’s just go.”

She nodded and reached down for her purse as Thom started for the door. But as her thoughts raced ahead, she stopped and turned for the stairs instead. “If this really is about Matt, the police will want copies of everything he’s sent us. I’ll just go up and grab my laptop.”

“It’s not on your phone?” Thom asked. “They’re all emails, right?”

“Oh. Of course.” She came back to join him by the door. “God, I’m addled too.”

“Are you sure you’re up to driving?” he asked. “We could just call a taxi.”

“How long would it take them even to get here, with the city in this state? I just need to concentrate. I can do that. Crisis management is part of my job description.” She pulled the front door open. “You’ve got your wallet and everything?”

“I do,” he said, handing her his keys. His color was finally starting to return—if that wasn’t just a trick of the sunlight pouring through the open doorway.

She headed out for the truck, already well into ‘all-business’ mode. Somewhere farther up the street, a robin burst into song—as if spring, not Thanksgiving, were just around the corner. As she unlocked Thom’s truck and climbed inside, the bird was silenced by the noise of some other car starting up as well. She shuddered behind the wheel as the reality of what was happening sank in again. This was not a joke. Probably not all just some terrible mistake either—though, even now, her mind clung stubbornly to that unlikely hope. Matt Rhymer had brought the tiger to their door after all.

Or had Anna done that, by replying to Matt’s first email despite his warnings? Initiating the rest of their bizarre dialogue, drawing who knew what other attention in the process. She shook her head, started the truck and pulled down the gravel drive as Thom buckled in. She really hadn’t taken anybody seriously; not Matt or Dusty. Don’t be ridiculous. Anna knows better. Anna will manage it. Cut it out, said her own internal manager. You do know better than to waste energy on this right now.

As they reached the street, Anna saw a mousy tan compact heading toward them, but it was moving very slowly, so she pulled out quickly, hoping not to cut it off. It actually slowed down to give her room. Someone in the neighborhood still drove politely, it seemed. She sent them mental apologies, supposing this must be the car she’d just heard starting up. It didn’t look familiar, which made her wonder which of their neighbors had also lost a car during the big event and was now driving a cheap rental, as she herself might be doing very soon—which, in turn, reminded her of where they’d been about to go just ten minutes earlier.

“Thom, would you get my phone out and call campus security to let them know we won’t be coming for the car this morning after all? The number will be in my Recents, just under Dusty’s call. But please don’t tell them why,” she added as he took the phone from her purse and started fiddling with it. “I don’t want stories flying around before we even know what the story is. Just…make some excuse.”

“Understood. …Have you got this locked up somehow? I can’t seem to turn it on.”

She glanced over to see what the problem was. “Mine’s newer than yours,” she said. “You don’t press the button on top anymore. It’s the one at the bottom now.”

“I know that,” he said patiently. “I’m pressing it, but nothing’s happening. Is it charged?”

“Every night,” she said. “…Just give it to me, okay?”

He handed it to her, and she pressed the button several times herself. Nothing happened, just as he’d said. “Well, this is the best timing ever,” she sighed. “I can’t deal with it now. Can you just call from your phone? The main switchboard, and have them transfer you.”

He already had his phone out, and was frowning down at it as he pushed its button—and pushed again. “Okay…this is too weird, but my phone isn’t coming on either.”

“What the goddamn holy fuck!” Anna snapped, pulling over and jamming the truck into ‘Park’ at the curb, still running. She turned to Thom, as the tan compact passed her and continued placidly down the street. “I’m sorry,” she said more calmly. “Have you got a charge cord in here somewhere?”

“Right here,” he said gently, “plugged into the lighter.” He reached down and attached it to his phone. But, instead of lighting up and binging a charge icon at them, it just sat there, dark and silent. Thom’s older phone used a different kind of charge cord than her new one did, and Anna had left her cord at the house, because her phone should not have needed another charge until that night! She stared down the street, taking a moment to breathe and calm herself, as the brown compact disappeared around a distant corner.

At least it wasn’t dumping rain today. There was that to celebrate.

“Well this sucks,” she said. “Let’s just hope Dusty doesn’t need to call us about anything else before we get there.”

“Seems like a fine plan,” Thom said lightly, offering her just the ghost of a smile. “You’re doing really well, love…with all of this.”

She looked at him, and shoved back another sudden urge to cry. “This,” she said. “This is why I married you.” She drew a deep breath, and shoved down harder on those tears. “You’re in the middle of an entirely appropriate and legitimate panic attack—and still taking better care of me than I am of you.” She leaned over and kissed him, fairly hard. “You’re a fucking stud, Thom Pearson.”

He looked back at her with a wider, if somewhat sadder, smile. “You make it easy, dear.”

She nodded, gratefully. Who else would I want at my side right now? “Okay.” She took another breath, put the truck back in gear and, after a glance at all the mirrors, pulled back into the street. “So…the way I see it,” she said, as they continued downhill, “we’ve got more to work with than a lot of people in this kind of situation. We have some idea who—or, no, I guess, but of what this is about, at least. Right? We have a name to start with: Matt Rhymer. And the note they left asks us to trade Matt for Colleen, so it seems safe to assume they’re planning to give her back, which probably means they’re taking decent care of her.”

“Those sound like fair assumptions,” Thom said quietly.

She glanced at him again. “You’re looking better. How are you feeling?”

“Frightened,” he said softly. “For Colleen, and…for the rest of us. …But not quite as out of my head as I was at first.” He gave her another tight smile. “I’m gonna be okay. I just needed a minute to take this in.” He shook his head and looked out the window beside him. “I mean, what are the fucking chances? Two people in the same family getting kidnapped? …Separately!”

Anna bit her lower lip. “That must feel…pretty uncomfortable for you. Bringing back a lot of hard stuff?”

He nodded. “But…that’s not the problem, I don’t think.”

“What is it then?”

He stared out the window for a while. “This doesn’t feel…random to me. I mean, I’m sure it is. It has to be. But some bookie way down in my lizard brain is looking at these odds, shaking his head, and saying, ‘Twice, in ten years? Nope. Gotta be a connection here. This has got to be about you, Thom. This has got to be them again—coming back for…something left undone.’” He turned to look at Anna. “I know that’s crazy. But that’s how it feels. And I have no idea what they want—or how many more of us they mean to hurt now.” He turned away again. “I’m sorry to lay all this on you. I know it’s all just paranoia. But you’re gonna see the gears spinning behind my eyes, and we both know there’s no hiding things like that. So why leave you to guess what all those spinning gears are about?”

She nodded. “And that’s why I would marry you again tomorrow. Thank you. For being wise enough to get that, and brave enough to tell me. You know how honesty matters to me.”

He was silent for a long time before saying, “Yes. I do.”

Reaching the onramp at last, Anna was relieved to find only moderate traffic on the freeway. If this held, it might not take as long as she had feared to get there. “The ransom note Dusty described does seem to refer pretty clearly to Matt, though,” she said, still hoping to reassure Thom. “So, if these were your kidnappers, that would mean Matt has some connection to them too. That’s a lot of coincidences. Too many to be possible, don’t you think?”

“Who knows what’s possible?” Thom mused without turning to look at her. “Maybe they’re a kidnapping ring of some kind, grabbing all kinds of people.” He looked at her abruptly. “Your friend’s letter talked about some kind of harvest, remember? You told me how that disturbed you. Maybe this is the harvest they were talking about. Haven’t we all pretty much agreed there’s probably some huge trauma behind this crazy story of his? You’ve said he used to talk about something terrible that happened before he showed up. Something too disturbing to remember. What if he was kidnapped too?” Thom turned away to stare out the window again. “I wonder how many kidnappings there are in this city every year…”

Well, that hadn’t worked very well. Should just have kept my mouth shut. “Yeah, but really, Thom; they kidnap you, and then Matt, who just happens to meet Dusty, who’s going to be adopted by us—years later—and then they grab Colleen who just happens to be engaged to Dusty, and will soon be your daughter-in-law? Really? It can’t be that small a world—even for a kidnapping ring.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I told you that I know this is crazy.”

“I’m talking to your lizard brain, Thom, not to you. I know you already get all this.”

“Yeah…thanks.” He went on gazing through the windshield, but not, it seemed to Anna, at anything actually in front of them. “Maybe so many coincidences could be what finally brings them down,” he said, more to himself than to her. “Three sets of clues might line up to reveal a lot more than just one. …This could actually turn out to be a good thing.” He glanced at her apologetically. “Once Colleen’s back, I mean, obviously.”

She nodded, and kept her mouth shut. These attempts to talk him down were clearly just digging him deeper in. His paranoia is understandable, she reminded herself. Stop managing so hard. He’s a big boy—as you just told him. Let him work this through, for god’s sake.

As they drove, Anna began to think about what in Matt’s correspondence might be of use to the police. As she reviewed the email he had sent her, she was chagrined to realize that the most useful evidence would have been those original letters, which could have contained DNA samples and all sorts of other clues, if only they hadn’t all been…

Lost.

It felt as if someone had poured ice water down her back.

“Thom!”

“What?” he looked over, clearly alarmed.

But she couldn’t say this to him. She mustn’t. As freaked out as he already was, this might push him all the way into an actual heart attack. “I’m…not sure I locked the house up when we left.”

“Oh.” He gave her a relieved little chuckle. “No, I did.” He looked away again. “Jeeze, Anna, you scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry.”

With everything that had happened since then, she had not given it another thought—until now. She knew she’d brought that letter home with her the night before all hell broke loose. Colleen and Dusty had never found their copy either.

These people had been in their houses. She was absolutely sure of it. That letter wasn’t going to turn up at her office. …Oh god. All this time, in their homes, under their noses from the start. Thom was right to panic—as Dusty had been. She felt every muscle in her body tightening. Did they need police protection? Could they get it if they did? Would they believe the letters hadn’t just been lost? Anna wouldn’t have believed her story either, even just that morning.

“Honey?” Thom said. “Isn’t that our exit coming up?”

“Yes! Thank you.” She needed to get over, quickly. She signaled, looked into the rearview mirror, and there it was, not fifty feet behind her: a tan compact just like the one that had followed her downhill from their driveway. Nearly fifty minutes earlier. Settle down, Anna; there are a million tan compacts just like that one in this city. But she knew in her bones which one this was. She checked her mirrors again and made the lane change. A moment later, it did the same. If that car takes the off-ramp, I’m calling the police. …Except she couldn’t because their phones were dead. Both at the same moment, while that car had been right behind them.

She sped up toward the exit, causing Thom to look over at her strangely. “Honey?”

“I just wanna get there. Dusty needs us.”

He nodded, still gazing at her with concern. “Safely, right?”

“Yup.” She didn’t slow down though. Glancing at the rearview mirror again, she was only slightly relieved to see that the other car had not sped up as well. Maybe she was losing it.

It seemed half an hour before they finally reached the off-ramp. Its downward tilt left her momentarily unable to see the lanes above and behind her in the mirror, but as she rolled to a stop before the light at its end, she saw the tan car crest the ramp as well, and glide slowly into position right behind her. Still gazing at the mirror, she tried to see the driver’s face, but it was just a dark smudge entirely obscured by reflections. She’d heard stories about things like this—from colleagues in third world countries.

“Anna? The light’s changed.”

“Oh! Sorry!” She pulled into the intersection, turning left, as did the car behind her. “Fuck,” she murmured.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Thom asked, unsmiling. “Don’t say ‘nothing.’”

She looked at him, then back at the street. “Thom, I need you to hear this calmly, okay? To be your best, amazing self, and not freak out.”

He grew very still for a moment, then nodded. “I can do that. What’s the problem?”

“I think we’re being followed by that car behind us. It was behind us when we left the house. It’s still there, and it’s doing everything I do.”

He started to look back, but arrested the movement, turning instead to look at his side mirror. “That’s a pretty common car, honey, and a pretty common color too. Are you sure…?”

“Only ninety-nine percent,” she said, relieved that he didn’t seem to be melting down. “I can’t prove it, but see if you can get its license plate.”

Thom turned back to the side mirror as they drove. “It’s too spattered with mud,” he said, turning back to her. “I’m all done panicking, love. I don’t need you hiding anything from me now. Is this what had you so alarmed a few minutes ago, or is there something else?”

She took a breath, feeling her cheeks burn. He’d always seen right through her. And he was going to hear it all soon anyway. “The missing letters. I’m sure I brought mine home with me that day. I don’t think they got lost, Thom. I think they were taken. From the house—and from Colleen’s apartment.”

Thom stared at her for a moment, then turned away. “So here we go again,” he murmured. As Anna made a right hand turn, they both watched the car behind them do the same. “At least we have some warning this time.” Thom looked back at her. “There’ll be police all over Colleen’s place by now. Just stay calm and get us there.” He looked back at the side mirror. “I’ll watch this guy like a hawk. If he does anything but sit and drive, I’ll let you know. If I say to, you just stomp on it, even if we’re at a light. Drive as fast as you can and still control the truck. Run a light or two and, who knows, we might attract a cop even before we reach Colleen’s. …But not unless I tell you to. You okay with that?”

“Thank you for being so calm,” she said, feeling her own panic subside as well. It was easier to share the fear with someone.

“Thank you for trusting me to try,” he said, still looking at the mirror.