I locate my phone and find a heavy barn coat on the hooks on the back porch. I put it on over my T-shirt against the chilly fall night. I check on Smokey in the barn, running my hands along his withers, letting the contact soothe me.

What the fuck do I do? I knew this shit was going to catch up with me eventually and now it has. How do I tell people I care about that there's another part of my life that's ruled by insanity? They won't believe me.

But I know one person who did, maybe because he's a little out there himself. Somehow Hugo found a way to tell Johnny about the shifts and Johnny not only believed him, but stuck by him.

I give Smokey one last pat and leave the barn. There's a place on the other side of the barn, where the wall holding back one of the terraces slopes down to the building. The wall gets lower and makes a vee where it meets the foundation of the barn. I go around there and climb into the spot, a familiar place from childhood.

Hugo's number is stored in the phone and it's a little after eleven o'clock in Wellie. Hopefully he's still up and in the mood to help me out. I punch the number and wait, listening to the ringing.

( Weaving's Mortuary. You stab 'em, we slab 'em. )

The sun rises on another hazy day, the sky darker than before. I slide out of bed before Eric wakes up and call Hugo, to make sure he’s around. I tell him I found something interesting that I want to show him. I figure that orc blade ought to get his attention, and hopefully he’ll spill without me having to put on a temper tantrum. I shrug. Either way works for me, I’m in the mood for a fight after yesterday. I find an empty feed bag and wrap the blade in that on top of the plastic. I don’t understand why the thing offends me so much, but it seriously creeps me out.

Eric has to meet the insurance adjuster at noon, so we head back into town about ten thirty. I drop him at the bookstore and he kisses me. He stares at me for a minute. “You’re angry.”

“Damn right, I’m angry!” I gesture at his store. “The people who did that? They’ll pay and I’m gonna make sure of it.”

“Karl . . . be careful.”

“Don’t worry, answers first, then payback.” I wink at him and hug him tightly. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

He lets me go and I turn the truck around, heading for Hugo’s. I park the truck and I’m yelling for him almost as soon as my feet hit the ground. I pick the orc blade up out of the truck bed and make straight for the door.

( “Hugo! Open up, mate!” )

I dragged my sorry, nasty hungover self down to the nearest coffee bar, and who should I meet, but Hugo . . .