re you okay?”

Sounds were fading in and out, and Brian groaned. He was struggling to get off the floor of the car, his arms still manacled behind his back.  Miles pushed open the door, then opened Brian’s. Cautiously he pulled Brian out and helped him to his feet. The side of Brian’s head was matted with blood that was also dripping down his cheek. Brian tried to stand on his own but staggered, and Miles took his arm again.

“Hold on—your head’s bleeding. You sure you’re okay?” Brian swayed a little as the world around them moved in circles. It took a moment for him to understand the question. In the distance, Miles could see the driver of the van climbing out of his vehicle.

“Yeah . . . I think so. My head hurts. . . .”

Miles kept his hand on Brian’s arm as he glanced up the road again. The driver of the van—an elderly man—was crossing the road now, coming toward them. Miles bent Brian forward and gently checked the wound, then stood Brian up again, looking relieved. Despite Brian’s dizziness, the expression on Miles’s face struck him as preposterous, considering the last half hour.  “It doesn’t look deep. Just a surface cut,” Miles said. Then, holding up a couple of fingers, he asked, “How many?”

Brian squinted, concentrating as they came into focus. “Two.”

Miles tried again. “Now how many?”

Same routine. “Four.”

“How’s the rest of your vision? Any spots? Black around the edges?”

Brian shook his head gingerly, his eyes halfway closed.

“Broken bones? Your arms okay? Your legs?”

Brian took a moment, testing out his limbs, still having trouble keeping his balance. As he rolled his shoulders, he winced. “My wrist hurts.” “Hold on a second.” Miles pulled the keys from his pocket and removed the handcuffs. One of Brian’s hands went immediately to his head. One wrist felt bruised and achy, the other seemed stiff to the point of immobility. With his hand on the wound, blood seeped between his fingers.  “Can you stand on your own?” Miles asked.

Brian knew he was still swaying slightly, but he nodded and Miles went to his door again. On the floor was a T-shirt that Jonah had left in the car, and Miles grabbed it. He brought it back and pressed it against the gash in Brian’s head.  “Can you hold this?”

Brian nodded and took it just as the driver, looking pale and scared, came huffing up.

“Are you guys okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Miles answered automatically.

The driver, still shaken up, turned from Miles to Brian. He saw the blood trickling down Brian’s cheek, and his mouth contorted.  “He’s bleeding pretty bad.”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Miles offered.

“Don’t you think he needs an ambulance? Maybe I should call—” “It’s all right,” Miles said, cutting him off. “I’m with the sheriff’s department. I’ve checked it out and he’ll be fine.”

Brian felt like a bystander, despite the pain in his wrists and head.  “You’re a sheriff?” The other driver took a step back and glanced toward Brian for support. “He was over the line. It wasn’t my fault. . . .” Miles held up his hands. “Listen . . .”

The driver’s eyes locked on the handcuffs Miles still held and his eyes widened.  “I tried to get out of the way, but you were in my lane,” he said, suddenly defensive.

“Hold on—what’s your name?” Miles asked, trying to control the situation.

“Bennie Wiggins,” he answered. “I wasn’t speeding. You were in my lane.”

“Hold on . . .,” Miles said again.

“You were over the line,” the driver repeated. “You can’t arrest me for this. I was being careful.”

“I’m not going to arrest you.”

“Then who are those for?” he said, pointing at the handcuffs.  Before Miles could answer, Brian cut in. “They were on me,” he said. “He was bringing me in.”

The driver looked at them as if he didn’t understand, but before he could say anything, Sarah’s car came to a sliding halt near them. They all turned as she scrambled out, looking frightened, confused, and angry all at once.  “What happened?” she shouted. She looked them all over before her eyes finally locked on Brian. When she saw the blood she went toward him. “Are you okay?” she asked, pulling him away from Miles.

Though still woozy, Brian nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. . . .” She turned toward Miles furiously. “What the hell did you do to him? Did you hit him?”

“No,” Miles answered with a quick shake of the head. “There was an accident.”

“He was over the line,” the driver suddenly offered, pointing toward Miles.

“An accident?” Sarah demanded, turning toward him.

“I was just driving along,” he continued, “and when I rounded the curve, this guy was coming right at me. I swerved, but I couldn’t get out of the way. It was his fault. I hit him, but I couldn’t help it—” “Barely,” Miles interrupted. “He grazed the rear end of my car and I swerved off the road. We barely bumped each other.”

Sarah turned her attention to Brian again, suddenly not knowing what to believe.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Brian nodded.

“What really happened?” she asked.

After a long moment, Brian pulled his hand away from his head. The shirt was wet and spongy, soaked in red. “It was an accident,” he said. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It just happened.”

It was, of course, the truth. Miles hadn’t seen the van because he was turned around in his seat. Brian knew he hadn’t meant for it to happen.  What Brian didn’t realize was that these were the same words he’d used when describing the accident with Missy, the same words he’d said to Miles in the car, the same words he’d repeated to himself ad nauseam for the last two years.  Miles, though, didn’t miss it.

Sarah closed in on Brian again, slipping her arm around him. Brian closed his eyes, feeling suddenly weak again.

“I’m taking him to the hospital,” Sarah announced. “He needs to see a doctor.”

With a gentle nudge, she began to lead him away from the car.

Miles took a step toward them. “You can’t do that—”

“Try and stop me,” she cut him off. “You’re not getting anywhere near him again.”

“Hold on,” Miles said, and Sarah turned, looking at him contemptuously.

“You don’t have to worry. We’re not going to make a run for it.”

“What’s going on?” the driver asked, panic in his voice. “Why are they leaving?”

“None of your business,” Miles answered.

• • •

All he could do was stare.

He couldn’t bring Brian in looking the way he did, nor could he leave the scene until the situation there was settled. He supposed that he could have stopped them, but Brian needed to see a doctor, and if he held on to him, he’d have to explain what was going on to whoever came to investigate—something he didn’t feel up to right then. So instead, feeling almost helpless, he did nothing. When Brian glanced back, however, he heard the words once more.  It was an accident. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.

Brian, Miles knew, was wrong about that. He hadn’t been watching the road—hell, he hadn’t even been facing the right direction—because of the things Brian had been saying.

About Sarah. About the blanket. About the flowers.

He hadn’t wanted to believe him then, nor did he want to believe him now. Yet .  . . he knew Brian wasn’t lying about those things. He’d seen the blanket, he’d seen flowers at the grave every time he’d gone . . .

Miles closed his eyes, trying to shake the thought.

None of that matters and you know it. Of course Brian was sorry. He’d killed someone. Who wouldn’t be sorry?

That was what he’d been screaming at Brian when it happened. When he should have been watching the road. But instead—ignoring everything but his own anger—he’d almost driven head-on into another driver.

He’d almost killed them all.

But afterward, even though Brian had been hurt, Brian had covered for him. And as he watched Brian and Sarah shuffling off, he knew instinctively that Brian would always cover for him.

Why?

Because he felt guilty and it was another way to ask for forgiveness? To hold something over Miles? Or had he really believed what he’d said?  In his mind, that might be how he saw it. Miles hadn’t meant for it to happen, after all, so that made it an accident.

As it had been with Missy?

Miles shook his head.No . . .

That was different, he told himself. And it wasn’t Missy’s fault, either.

The breeze kicked up, swirling with light snow flurries.

Or was it?

It doesn’t matter, he told himself again. Not now. It’s too late for that.  Up on the road, Sarah was opening the car door for Brian. She helped him in and glanced toward Miles, not hiding her anger.

Not hiding how much she’d been hurt by his words.

Sarah hadn’t known until yesterday, Brian had said.She never even told me who you were.

At the house only minutes ago, it seemed so obvious that Sarah had known all along. But now, with the way she was looking at him, it suddenly wasn’t so clear. The Sarah he’d fallen in love with wasn’t capable of deceit.  He felt his shoulders give just a little.

No, he knew that Brian hadn’t lied about that. Nor had he lied about the blanket or the flowers or how sorry he’d been. And if he’d told the truth about those things . . .

Could he be telling the truth about the accident as well?

That question kept coming back to him, no matter how much he resisted it.  Sarah turned away and went around to the driver’s side. Miles knew he could still stop them. If he really wanted to, he could stop them.  But he didn’t.

He needed time to think—about everything he’d heard today, about Brian’s confession . . .

And more than that, he decided as he watched Sarah slide behind the wheel, he needed time to think about Sarah.

• • •

Within a few minutes, a highway patrolman arrived—a resident of one of the nearby houses had called the incident in—and began making the report. Bennie was busy explaining his version just as Charlie pulled up. The officer took a moment to talk to him up on the road. Charlie nodded before approaching Miles.  He was leaning against the car, his arms crossed, apparently lost in thought.

Charlie ran a slow hand along the dent and scrape.

“For such a little dent, you look like hell.”

Miles glanced up in surprise. “Charlie? What are you doing here?”

“Heard you were in an accident.”

“Word travels fast.”

Charlie shrugged. “You know how it goes.” He dusted the snowflakes from his jacket. “You okay?”

Miles nodded. “Yeah. A little rattled, that’s all.”

“What happened?”

Miles shrugged. “Just lost control. The roads were a little slick.”

Charlie waited to see if Miles would add anything else.

“That’s it?”

“Like you said, it’s just a little dent.”

Charlie studied him. “Well, at least you’re not hurt. The other driver seems fine, too.”

Miles nodded, and Charlie joined him against the car.

“Anything else you want to tell me?”

When Miles didn’t answer, Charlie cleared his throat. “The officer tells me that there was someone else in the car with you, someone who was wearing handcuffs, but that a lady came and took him away. Said she was taking him to the hospital.  Now . . .” He paused, pulling his jacket a little tighter. “An accident is one thing, Miles. But there’s a lot more than that going on here. Who was in the car with you?”

“He wasn’t hurt that bad, if that’s what you’re worried about. I checked him out and he’ll be okay.”

“Just answer the question. You’re in enough trouble already. Now, who were you bringing in?”

Miles shifted from one foot to the other. “Brian Andrews,” he answered. “Sarah’s brother.”

“So she’s the one who took him to the hospital?”

Miles nodded.

“And he was wearing handcuffs?”

No use trying to lie about it. He nodded shortly.

“Did you somehow forget that you’re on suspension?” Charlie asked. “That officially, you’re not allowed to arrest anyone?”

“I know.”

“Then what the hell were you doing? What was so damn critical that you couldn’t call it in?” He paused, meeting Miles’s eyes. “I need the truth now—I’ll get it eventually, but I want to hear it from you first. What was he doing, dealing drugs?”

“No.”

“You catch him stealing a car?”

“No.”

“A fight of some sort?”

“No.”

“Then what was it?”

Though a part of Miles was tempted to tell Charlie the whole crazy truth, to tell him that Brian had killed Missy, he couldn’t seem to find the words. Not yet, anyway. Not until he’d figured everything out.

“It’s complicated,” Miles finally answered.

Charlie pushed his hands into his pockets. “Try me.”

Miles glanced away. “I need a little time to figure things out.”

“Figure what out? It’s a simple question, Miles.”

Nothing is simple about this.

“Do you trust me?” Miles asked suddenly.

“Yeah, I trust you. But that’s not the point.”

“Before we go into everything that happened, I have to think this through.”

“Oh, c’mon—”

“Please, Charlie. Can you give me just a little time? I know I’ve had you jumping through hoops these last couple of days and I’ve been acting crazy, but I really need this from you. And it has nothing to do with Otis or Sims or anything like that—I swear I won’t go anywhere near them.” Something in the earnestness of Miles’s plea, the weary confusion he saw in his eyes, told Charlie how much Miles needed this from him.  He didn’t like it, not at all. Something was going on here, something big, and he didn’t like not knowing what it was.

But. . .

Despite his better judgment, he sighed and pushed away from the car. He said nothing at all, nor did he look back as he left, knowing that if he did, he would change his mind.

A minute later, almost as if he’d never been there at all, Charlie was gone.

• • •

In time, the highway patrolman finished the report and left. Bennie, too, drove off.

Miles, though, stayed at the scene for almost an hour, his mind a tangled mess of contradictory thoughts. Oblivious to the cold, he sat in the car with the window open, absently running his hands over the steering wheel, over and over.  When he realized what he had to do, he closed the window and turned the key, heading onto the road again. The car barely had time to get warm before he pulled off to the side again and got back out. The temperature had warmed slightly and the snow was beginning to melt. Drops fell from the branches of trees with steadyplink s, like the ticking of a clock.

He couldn’t help but notice the overgrown bushes along the side of the road.  Though he’d passed them a thousand times, until this morning, they’d meant nothing to him.

Now, as he stared at them, they were all he could think about. They blocked his view of the lawn, and one look was enough to tell him they were thick enough to have kept Missy from seeing the dog.

Too thick to charge through?

He paced the row of bushes, slowing when he reached the area where they assumed that Missy had been hit. Bending down for a closer look, he froze when he saw it. A gap between the bushes, like a hole. No prints were evident, but black leaves were matted on the ground and branches had been torn away on either side.  Obviously a passageway for something.

A black dog?

In the distance, he listened for the sound of barking. He scanned the yards, looking there as well.

There was nothing.

Too cold to be out today?

He’d never checked for a dog. No one had.

He looked up the road, wondering. He pushed his hands into his pockets. They were stiff from the cold, difficult to bend, and as they warmed, they began to sting. He didn’t care.

Not knowing what else to do, he drove to the cemetery, hoping to clear his mind.  He saw them even before he’d reached the grave. Fresh flowers, propped against the headstone.

His mind flashed to Charlie and something he once had said.

Like someone was trying to apologize.

Miles turned and walked away.

• • •

Hours passed. Dark now. Outside the window, the winter sky was black and ominous.

Sarah turned from the window and paced her apartment again. Brian was home from the hospital. The cut wasn’t serious, three stitches only, and there were no broken bones. It had taken less than an hour.

Despite the fact that she’d practically begged him, Brian hadn’t wanted to stay with her. He’d needed to be alone. He was back at home, wearing a hat and sweatshirt, hiding the injuries from his parents.

“Don’t tell them what happened, Sarah. I’m not ready for that yet. I want to be the one who tells them. I’ll do it when Miles comes by.” Miles would come to arrest Brian. She was sure of that.

She wondered what was taking so long.

For the past eight hours, she’d veered from anger to worry, from frustration to bitterness and back again, one right after the other. There were too many different emotions for her to begin to sort through.

In her mind, she rehearsed the words she should have responded with when Miles lashed out at her so unfairly.So you think you’re the only one who got hurt here? she would have said.That no one else in the world can understand it? Did you stop to think how hard it was for me to bring Brian by this morning? To turn my own brother in? And your response—oh, that was the kicker, wasn’t it? I betrayed you? I used you?

In frustration, she picked up the remote and turned on the television, scanned the channels. Turned it off.

Take it easy, she told herself, trying to calm down. He’d just found out who’d killed his wife. Nothing harder than that, especially coming out of the blue the way it had. Especially coming from me.

And Brian.

Can’t forget to thank him for ruining everyone’s life.

She shook her head. That wasn’t fair, either. He was just a kid back then. It was an accident. She knew he’d do anything to change what happened back then.  Back and forth it went. She circled the living room again, ending up at the window. Still no sign of him. She went to the phone and picked up the receiver, checking to make sure it had a dial tone. It did. Brian had promised to call her as soon as Miles came over.

So where was Miles, and what was he doing? Calling for reinforcements?

She didn’t know what to do. Couldn’t leave the house, couldn’t use the phone.

Not while she was waiting for the call.

• • •

Brian spent the rest of the day hiding in his room.

In his bed, he stared at the ceiling, his arms at his sides, legs straight, as though he were lying in a coffin. He knew he’d fallen asleep at times, because the shifting light made things look different in his room. Over the hours, the walls turned from white to faded gray, then to shadows as the sun traveled slowly across the sky and finally went down. He hadn’t eaten lunch or dinner.  Sometime during the afternoon, his mother had knocked at his door and come in;

Brian had closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He knew she thought he was sick, and he could hear her as she crossed the room. She’d put a hand to his forehead, feeling for a fever. After a minute, she’d crept out, closing the door behind her. In hushed tones, Brian had heard her speaking to his father.  “He must not be feeling well,” she’d said. “He’s really out.” When he wasn’t sleeping, he thought about Miles. He wondered where Miles was, he wondered when Miles would come. He thought about Jonah, too, and what he would say when his father told him who had killed his mother. He wondered about Sarah and wished she hadn’t been any part of this.

He wondered what prison was like.

In the movies, prisons were worlds of their own, with their own laws, their own kings and pawns, and gangs. He imagined the dim fluorescent lights and the cold permanence of the steel bars, doors clanging shut. In his mind, he heard toilets flushing, people talking and whispering and yelling and moaning; he imagined a place that was never silent, even in the middle of the night. He saw himself staring toward the tops of concrete walls covered with barbed wire and seeing guards in the towers, holding guns pointed toward the sky. He saw other prisoners, watching him with interest, taking bets on how long he would survive.  He had no doubt about this: If he ended up there, he would be a pawn.

He would not survive in a place like that.

Later, as the sounds from the house began to settle down, Brian heard his parents go to bed. Light spilled under his door, then finally turned black. He fell asleep again, and later, when he woke suddenly, he saw Miles in the room.  Miles was standing in the corner by the closet, holding a gun. Brian blinked, squinted, felt the fear constrict his chest, making it difficult to breathe. He sat up and held his hands in a defensive posture before he realized he’d been mistaken.

What he’d thought was Miles was nothing but his jacket on the coat rack, mingling with the shadows, playing tricks with his mind.  Miles.

He’d let him go. After the accident, Miles had let him go, and he hadn’t come back.

Brian rolled over, curling into a ball.

But he would.

• • •

Sarah heard the knock a little before midnight and glanced through the window on the way to the door, knowing who had come. When she opened it, Miles neither smiled nor frowned, nor did he move. His eyes were red, swollen with fatigue. He stood in the doorway, looking as if he didn’t want to be here.  “When did you know about Brian?” he asked abruptly.

Sarah’s eyes never left his. “Yesterday,” she answered. “He told me yesterday.

And I was as horrified as you were.”

His lips, dry and cracked, came together. “Okay,” he said.  With that, he turned to leave, and Sarah reached out to stop him, taking hold of his arm. “Wait . . . please.”

He turned.

“It was an accident, Miles,” she said. “A terrible, terrible accident. It shouldn’t have happened, and it wasn’t fair that it happened to Missy. I know that and I feel so sorry for you. . . .”

She trailed off, wondering if she was reaching him. His expression was glazed, unreadable.

“But?” he said. There was no emotion in the question.

“No buts. I just want you to keep that in mind. There’s no excuse for him running, but it was an accident.”

She waited for his response. When there was none, she let go of his arm. He made no move to leave.

“What are you going to do?” she finally asked.

Miles glanced away. “He killed my wife, Sarah. He broke the law.”

She nodded. “I know.”

He shook his head without responding, then started down the hall. A minute later, outside the window, she watched as he got into his car and drove off.  She went to the couch again. The phone was on the end table and she waited, knowing it would ring soon.