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that night.

    As he knelt down to help the girl who had been driving, he watched the other one hurry over to where the boy was sprawled out on the gravel. He was saying something to her, though Mikey couldn’t hear a word of it.
    He heard the sirens coming from the end of Banner, a good four minutes away.
    The girl standing over the boy was yelling at him.
    â€œI hate you. I wish I’d never met you,” she said.
    â€œHelp me,” said the girl in his arms. “Help my sister. My boyfriend.”
    Mikey tried to soothe her. His brain was fried and it was so hard to concentrate on what was happening. The smoke. The headlights still on, punching through the blackness of the night. The sirens getting louder and louder.
    â€œThey’re okay.”
    â€œIt’s all my fault,” she said.
    He patted her hand. “It was an accident. You were probably going too fast for the Jump. It happens.”
    â€œAre you sure they are okay?”
    He looked over at the other girl. She was yelling at the boy.
    â€œGoddamn you! I hate you!”
    What he saw next would haunt him forever. The other girl clenched her hands around the boy’s neck.
    â€œYou’re a piece of shit, Jason!”
    â€œWhat’s happening?” the first girl said.
    â€œI don’t know. Nothing!”
    The lights of the sirens came down the hill like fireflies on steroids.
    He looked over and the boy had stopped moving. The other girl’s eyes locked on Mikey’s and she came toward him.
    â€œYou say anything and you’re dead. I’ll make sure the sheriff blames you for all of this. That you crossed the center line and forced us into the ditch.”
    â€œYou’re a crazy little bitch,” he said.
    â€œI’ve seen you around. You’re Mikey Walsh. You’re trailer trash, a drug addict. A loser. No one would ever believe you over me.”
    The girl went over to her twin, leaned close to her ear, and whispered something. A moment later, a deputy sheriff and the commotion that comes with the sirens and lights arrived.

    It was late evening and the silhouette of Blake Island was outlined by a halo of lights from Seattle on the other side of Puget Sound. Kendall tightened her frame to stay warm as she sat on the old madrona stump with a glass of wine. She’d been quiet since coming home from the sheriff’s office. In fact, she’d been quiet the last few days. Steven brought the bottle and a glass outside in search of his wife. It was a cool night, but late spring in the Northwest guaranteed such weather. A sweater and a blanket were kept in a storage bin by the back door.
    â€œI haven’t seen you like this in a long time,” he said.
    Kendall looked up and smiled.
    â€œI’m sorry. I guess I’m not good company.”
    â€œYou’re always good company, honey. But sometimes you’re very quiet company. What’s going on with you? Is it the case?”
    The case.
    Those words were often volleyed among the spouses of those in law enforcement when they tried to dig into the source of whatever it was that had stolen all the attention. Steven didn’t mean it in that way, of course. He’d long accepted that Kendall had a purpose in life nearly as great as mother and wife—putting away monsters so they’d never hurt or kill again. It was that simple. It didn’t matter one bit if the victim was a child, an old man, a person of wealth or not. All were equal in her mind.
    He sat next to her and poured himself a glass. “Want more?” He extended the bottle and Kendall nodded.
    â€œI’m trying to sort things out.”
    â€œCan I help?”
    â€œNot really.”
    She wanted to say something more; she wanted to tell her husband that she was wrapped in lead-lined clothing and she could barely breathe. But she didn’t. She just couldn’t.
    â€œMake a wish,” he said, looking at the quilt of stars over the