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.I think he's going to arrest you if you show up.""I just have to keep looking," I said."If you hear anything--anything--let me know.""I will," she said.I slipped the phone back into my coat and sped out of the lot, heading for home.* * *I was worried Duckworth or other members of the Promise Falls police might be watching my place, so I parked around the corner and walked up.I saw no suspicious cars on the street.After a while, you get to know the cars of your neighbors and their friends.Nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at me.I came down the side of the house and entered through the back door.As I'd suspected, I'd left it unlocked.I came in through the kitchen.The house was in darkness, and I was reluctant to flip on a light just in case someone was out there that I'd missed.But I needed to let my eyes adjust to be able to see where I was going.I knew my way around in the dark, but there were still several boards out of place.The house was full of booby traps, and I was suddenly worried that if Ethan had come home, he might have caught his foot in one of the holes where boards were missing."Ethan!" I said."It's Dad! It's okay! You can come out!"Then I listened.I stood there, just inside the door, and held my breath, hoping to catch some faint sound of movement in the house."Ethan?" I called again.I let out a long, discouraged sigh.And then thought I heard a board creak, overhead, in the area of Ethan's room.I went through the kitchen, stepping carefully.Dad had put all the boards I'd ripped up to one side, and pried the nails from them, but he hadn't covered over the long, narrow holes I'd left behind.I went through the living room to the stairs and mounted them slowly in the dark."Ethan?" I said.Surely Ethan wouldn't be moving through the house in total darkness.After all, he was still a little boy, and, like most kids, had a fear of the dark, even in his own home.Are you up here?" I asked.The door to Ethan's room was ajar.Sidestepping the few openings in the floor of the upstairs hall, I got to the door and pushed it open.A glow from a streetlamp fell through Ethan's window.There was a dark shadow on the far side of his bed.Someone was standing there, someone far too tall to be Ethan.I reached over to the wall switch and flipped it up.It was Jan.The shock of seeing her, standing there, was overtaken by the shock of seeing the gun in her hand, which she was pointing directly at me."Where's Ethan?" she asked."I've come for Ethan."FIFTY-THREEEthan's dresser drawers were open and his clothes had been tossed onto the bed, next to a soft-sided flight bag, the one we kept in his closet for trips.I couldn't recall Jan ever looking worse.Her hair was scraggly, her eyes bloodshot.It had only been two days since I'd seen her, but she looked as though she'd lost ten pounds, aged ten years.The gun was shaking in her hand."Put that down, Jan," I said."Maybe you'd rather I called you Constance, but it's hard for me to think of you as anyone but Jan."She blinked.The gun didn't move."Or maybe I've got it wrong, and Constance isn't your real name, either.""No," she whispered."That's my real name.""I guess I can understand why you never wanted to introduce me to your parents," I said."One set was fake, and the other was dead."Her eyes widened."What?""Martin and Thelma? Your real parents?" Something in her eyes said yes."You don't know? Someone killed them a few years ago.Slit their throats."If she was troubled by this news, she didn't show it."Where's Ethan?" she asked.I said, "He's not here.""Is he with Don and Arlene?""No," I said."Oh no.," she said."No, no."I took a step closer to her."Put that gun down, Jan."She shook her head."No, he has to be here," she said dreamily."I've come for him.We're going away.""Even if he was here," I said, "I would never, ever let you take him.Give me the gun." I inched closer."We have to find him," Jan said."I know," I said."But you're not going to be looking for him with a gun.""You don't understand," she said."I need it.I need this gun.""You don't need it with me," I said, taking another step toward her."What do you think I'm going to do to you? I'm your husband."Jan stifled a laugh."I think you'd probably like to do plenty to me.But you're not the one I'm worried about.""Who are you talking about?""So my parents are dead," she said, ignoring my question, her mind drifting, a slightly crazed look in her eye."He must have thought they knew something.He must have thought they'd know where I was.He must have killed them when they couldn't tell him anything.""Are you talking about who killed your parents? Is that who you're worried about?""I did a bad thing," Jan told me."I did something.""What did you do? What's all of this about?" I was less than two feet away from her now."Everything's been for nothing," she said."The diamonds weren't real.""Diamonds?" I said."What diamonds?""They were worthless
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