The day passed in a blur of worry. As Wren bagged groceries, he barely spoke to Sophia or Chuck, the cashiers with whom he worked. He said, like a robot, “Thank you and have a nice day” and “Do you need any help out with that?” to all the customers who passed his way, never raising his eyes to meet theirs. They could have been elephants standing in front of him and Wren wouldn’t have noticed.
His mind was elsewhere, conjuring up horrific mind movies of Rufus out at night along the lakefront, walking through the darkness, when a shadow emerged from behind a tree or sprung up from the boulders lining certain sections of the water, moving with lightning speed to plunge a knife into his back. Or that same faceless dark wraith would grab Rufus from behind by his hair, yank his head back, and d
