The Bodies Left Behind

affect them?”
    “Nope. Not a bit. You might not be allergic but you don’t want to take a chance.”
    Hart hadn’t known that. “What were you, a Boy Scout?”
    Lewis laughed. “Funny, hadn’t thought about that for years. But, yeah, I was. Well, not really in them. I went on a couple camping trips then kind of dropped out. But I know that’s poison ivy ’cause my brother threw me in a patch once. And that fucked me up good. I never forgot what it looked like.”
    “You were saying you have two? Brothers?”
    “He was the older one, what else? I’m in the middle.”
    “He know it was poison ivy?”
    “I don’t think so. But something I always wondered about.”
    “Must’ve sucked, Lewis,” Hart said.
    “Yup . . . Oh, ’bout that. My friends call me Comp. You can use that.”
    “Okay, Comp. Where’s that come from?”
    “Town where my parents lived when I was born. Compton. Minnesota. My parents thought it sounded, you know, distinguished.” He snickered. “Like anybody in our family was ever distinguished. What a joke. But Daddy tried. Give him that. And yours’re both dead? Your folks?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Sorry about that.”
    “Was a while ago.”
    “Still.”
    They continued on through the tangled brush in silence for what seemed like two miles though it was probably a quarter of that. Hart checked his watch. Okay, he decided. It’s time.
    He reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone he’d been carrying. He pushed the ON button, and it went through that electronic ritual they all did nowadays. He figured out the settings and put the ringer on vibrate. Then scrolled through recent calls. The one on top was “Home.” He noted that the call had lasted eighteen seconds. Long enough for a message was all.
    He wondered how long it would take before—
    A light flashed and the phone buzzed.
    Hart touched Lewis’s arm and motioned for him to wait, then lifted his fingers to his lips.
    Lewis nodded.
    Hart answered the call.

    GRAHAM FELT HIS scalp crawl when Brynn’s mobile actually began to ring, rather than go right to voice mail.
    It clicked. He heard the rustle of wind and his scalp stopped tensing but his heart took over, thumping hard. “Brynn?”
    “This’s Officer Billings,” said the low voice.
    Graham frowned and glanced at Anna.
    The voice asked, “Hello?”
    “Well, this is Graham Boyd, Brynn McKenzie’s husband.”
    “Oh, sure, sir. Deputy McKenzie.”
    “Is she all right?” Graham asked fast, chest throbbing.
    “Yessir. She’s fine. She gave me her phone to hold.”
    Relief flooded through him. “I’ve been trying all night.”
    “Reception’s terrible up here. Comes and goes. Surprised when it rang just now, to be honest.”
    “She was due home a while ago.”
    “Oh.” The man sounded confused. “She said she called you.”
    “She did. But her message said she was coming right home. It was a false alarm or something.”
    “Oh, she was going to call again. Probably couldn’tget through. About the case, turned out it wasn’t a false alarm, after all. Was a domestic dispute, pretty ugly. Husband tried to downplay it. Lot of times that happens. Deputy McKenzie’s talking to the wife right now, getting the facts sorted out.”
    The relief was so thick Graham could taste it. He smiled and nodded to Anna.
    Billings continued, “She left her phone with me, didn’t want any distractions. She’s calming the situation down. She’s good at that. That’s why the captain wanted her to stay. Oh, hold on a minute, sir . . . Hey, sergeant? . . . Where’s Ralph? . . . Oh, okay . . .” The trooper came back on the line. “Sorry, sir.”
    “Do you know how long she’ll be?”
    “We’ve got to get Child Protective Services up here.”
    “Lake Mondac?”
    “Near there. Could be a few hours. Bad situation with the kid. Husband’s going to spend the night in jail. At least the night.”
    “Few hours?”
    “Yessir. I’ll have her call you when she’s free.”
    “Okay. Well, thanks.”
    “You bet.”
    “’Night.” Graham hung up.
    “What?” Anna asked and he explained what was going on.
    “Domestic situation?”
    “Sounded pretty bad. Husband’s going to jail.” Graham sat on the couch, staring at the TV screen. “Why’d she have to handle it, though?”
    Not expecting an answer. But he was aware that the knitting needles had stopped and Anna was looking up from the scarf she was knitting. The colors were three