“Because of the villagers?” Ben asked.
JoJo nodded.
“Where are Caroline and Charlie?”
The man pointed ahead to the trees. They ran side by side now, their steps synchronized. Along the ring of woods, the trees swayed in time to their pace.
“They blame you for the fire,” Ben said. “For Mark and Liam Swann dying.”
“Mark was my friend.” JoJo shook his head. “They wanted to hurt him. Like they want to hurt yours. I tried to help.”
“So you started the fire to stop them from hurting Mark.”
“They don’t stop,” JoJo said. “Was it wrong?” he asked, looking at him.
Ben saw in his eyes that he wanted a real answer. He could tell that JoJo had been asking himself that question for thirty years.
JoJo blinked. “What I did?”
“I don’t know,” Ben said. He could not say what was right and what was wrong when you found yourself in a place where the only choices left were bad ones.
“Did you set the fire in our shed? Did you leave the deer’s head?” Ben asked.
“Was not safe for them. I didn’t want it to happen again,” JoJo said. “If I scared you, if I scared the boy, you would leave. But you didn’t.”
Ben fell again and landed heavily on his side, sliding a few feet before coming to a stop. Bub wailed in his ear. The ground was as even as a pane of glass. JoJo offered his hand and Ben accepted. When he pushed himself up, he saw that they were on the frozen surface of the lake.
“Thank you,” Ben said. That was what this valley had become to him: A place where the kindest hands belonged to kidnappers. A place where he ran from friends because they had murder in their eyes.
“Careful,” JoJo told him.
The ice creaked underneath them.
“I’m sorry,” JoJo said.
Ben looked and saw that the big man’s eyes were full of tears. “For what?”
“The dog. He didn’t know I was helping. But they couldn’t find me before I helped you.” He pointed to Bub. “When he got sick, I didn’t know how to make him better.”
Ben couldn’t think of what to say. There were no words for this.
They crossed to the far side of the lake. Ben followed JoJo to a thicket of spindly pines not far from where Charlie had built his blind.
“Dad!” Charlie was crouched on the ground behind the trunk of a wizened tree. Caroline sat behind him with her hands on his shoulders. They ran to him, and Ben was so relieved to see them that he nearly lifted them all off the ground with his embrace.
“Thank God you got away from them,” Ben said. He buried his face in Caroline’s hair.
“Why are they after Charlie?” Caroline asked. She and Charlie both looked half frozen.
“They’re crazy.” Ben shook his head. “The whole village. We need to get out of here, but we can’t get to the cars. Bub can’t stay in the cold for much longer, and I don’t know how many of them there are.”
“We heard a gunshot,” Caroline said.
“I think it was some kind of signal.” Ben turned back to the fields and saw three dark shapes moving across the Drop. The shapes were running. The one in front loped through the drifts with a lupine grace.
“If we stay away from the drive, we might be able to get to the county road and meet up with Ted,” Ben said. He turned back to the Crofts to watch the three shadows making their steady way toward them.
“They’re coming,” JoJo said. He pointed to the frozen field.
As Ben watched them, the joy he’d felt when he first laid eyes on Caroline and Charlie turned cold. The men hunting them knew where they were, and Ben knew that his family would never be able to outrun them.
Ben put a palm on Charlie’s head. Even through the boy’s winter hat, Ben could feel the thick thatch of his hair. He savored the texture of it in his hand.
Lisbeth had been right about one thing. You had to keep up the light. And Ben now knew what had to be done. He had promised to be better, and now was his chance.
“Take Mom to the cemetery,” Ben told Charlie. “Can you find your way in the dark?”
Charlie looked at Ben carefully before nodding.
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Caroline asked. “Ben, we have to get out of here.”
“I’m going to talk to them,” Ben said.
“Talk to—are you kidding?” Caroline said. “You said it yourself: They’re crazy.”
“I’ll just tell them that I’m looking for you, too,” Ben said. “It was true enough two minutes ago. While I help them look, I’ll separate from them and get to the car. Wait for me outside the bookstore in Exton.”
“Ben.” Caroline’s eyes were wide with horror.
Ben clutched her arms and leaned his forehead against hers.
“You have to get our sons out of here,” he said. “Charlie will show you the way. He’ll take you and Bub over to the cemetery, then down the Drop as close to the mountain as you can get.” Ben turned to Charlie. “Walk down to the county road, but stay inside the tree line so no one can see you.” He gave Caroline his cell phone. “Call Ted. He can’t be that far now. Make sure he doesn’t go to the Crofts.”
“They’re not going to hurt you?” she asked.
“It’s not me that they want,” Ben said. He turned to Charlie and met his son’s gaze. Though it was dark, Ben could see the silver rims of his irises.
“You have to be careful, okay?” Caroline said. She hugged him with Bub between them. She was crying, but Ben made himself smile. Ben kissed Bub on the head and he suddenly felt light-headed. This is how we say goodbye.
Bub’s mittens had come off, and Caroline worked to put them back on his tiny hands as Charlie moved closer to Ben.
“Need to hurry,” JoJo said. His voice was like thunder beyond the horizon.