Act I The chair scraped across the courtroom floor like a warning. Every head turned as Evelyn Hart rose from the defense table. Her gray suit was pressed, her hair neatly brushed over…

Act I The old man looked like the kind of person the city had trained people not to see. He stood beneath the glass bus shelter in a worn tan jacket, his gray-brown…

Act I The dog was the only one who refused to look away. People stepped around the pile of blankets on the city sidewalk as if it were a broken umbrella, an inconvenience,…

Act I The dog was sitting on the shoulder like he had been told not to move. That was what made Jack Mercer slow down. Not the suitcase. Not at first. Just the…

Act I The dog appeared where no dog should have been. At first, Mara Bell thought it was a shadow moving between the rocks. The ridge was half-swallowed by storm clouds, the wind…

Act I The dog was the only reason anyone looked toward the field. The silver sedan sat almost invisible in the tall dry grass, thirty yards off the rural highway, angled near a…

Act I The red wine hit the little girl’s dress before anyone understood what the bride had done. It splashed across the pale floral fabric in a violent burst, soaking through the front…

Act I The dog reached him before the key turned. Daniel Mercer stood beneath the little roof overhang of the grey suburban house, one hand on the deep blue front door, the other…