you've got a better chance. And because," he added, "the letter was
addressed to the Quinns. He's one of us."
"I'd rather burn it," Phillip muttered. "But you're right."
"We'll all tell him," Cam agreed.
"I'd like to do the talking."
Both Cam and Phillip stared at Ethan. "You would?"
"He might take it easier from me." He looked over as Seth came through
the door. "So let's find out."
"Mother Crawford put on extra hot fudge. Man, she just poured it on.
There's about a million tourists up on the waterfront, anda"
His excited chatter trailed off. His eyes went from gleeful to wary.
Inside his chest, his heart began to drum. He recognized trouble, bad
trouble. It had its own smell. "What's the deal?"
Anna took the large bag from him and turned to set the plastic-topped
dishes of ice cream out. "Why don't you sit down, Seth?"
"I don't need to sit down." It was easier to get a head start running if
you were already on your feet.
"There was a letter came today." It was best, Ethan knew, if hard news
was delivered fast and clean. "From your mother."
"She's here?" The fear was back, sharp as a scalpel. Seth took one quick
step in retreat, going stiff as a board when Cam laid a hand on his
shoulder.
"No, she's not here. But we are. You remember that."
Seth shuddered once, then planted his feet. "What the hell did she want?
Why's she sending letters? I don't want to see it."
"Then you don't have to," Anna assured him. "Why don't you let Ethan
explain, then we'll talk about what we're going to do."
"She knows Ray's dead," Ethan began. "I gotta figure she's known right
along, but she's taken her time getting to it."
"He gave her money." Seth swallowed hard to gulp down the fear. Quinns
weren't afraid, he told himself. They weren't afraid of anything. "She
took off. She doesn't care that he's dead."
"I don't suppose she does, but she's hoping for more money. That's what
the letter's about."
"She wants me to pay her?" Fresh and bright fear exploded in Seth's
brain. "I don't have any money. What's she writing to me for money for?"
"She wasn't writing to you."
Seth took a ragged breath and concentrated on Ethan's face. The eyes
were clear and patient, the mouth firm and serious. Ethan knew, was all
he could think. Ethan knew what it was like. He knew about the rooms,
the smells, the fat hands in the dark.
"She wants you to pay her." Part of him wanted to beg them to do it. To
pay her whatever she wanted. He would swear in blood that he would do
anything they asked of him for the rest of his life to honor the debt.
But he couldn't. Not with Ethan watching him, and waiting. And knowing.
"If you do, she'll just come back for more. She'll keep coming back."
Seth rubbed the back of a sweaty hand over his mouth. "As long as she
knows where I am she'll keep coming back. I have to go someplace else,
someplace where she can't find me."
"You're not going anywhere." Ethan crouched so they were closer to eye