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.From there, she had plunged into the woods and hiked half a mile to her hiding place fifty yards from the Glenn house, on the shore of Pokegama Lake.She hunkered down near the water and studied the activity around the house.Police officers patrolled the backyard, and she knew they were hunting for her.She didn't care.Her goal was the side door leading into the garage, where the yard was unlit.No one would see her breaking from the woods, and she only needed a few seconds to get inside.Then she could wait for the right moment to move deeper into the house.With the snow silencing her footsteps, she zigzagged to the edge of the forest bordering the rear lawn of the mansion.Despite her care, she flushed a rabbit that shot noisily from the brush and made tracks across the open snow.She froze, sheltered behind the bushy arms of a spruce.A policewoman near the corner of the house spied the rabbit and scanned the forest where it had emerged.She studied the darkness, staring right at Kasey.Her hand rested on the butt of her gun.The policewoman wandered closer and stopped twenty feet away.Kasey tensed.In her head, her breathing sounded loud.The cold made her shiver, and the branches swayed where her body touched them.Water dripped from her red hair.Behind the policewoman, she could see the dark recess of the doorway leading inside the garage.It was only a few steps away across a trail of flagstones.The policewoman lost interest in the rabbit.She dug in her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, then blew her nose loudly and unleashed a hacking cough.She took a last look at the woods before turning on her heel and disappearing around the front of the house.Kasey waited to make sure the cop didn't return.The strip of ground between the woods and the garage was dark and empty.The lake wind had blown the snow into drifts by the side of the house, leaving most of the stonework clear.Taking a breath, she bolted from the trees and across the flagstones and ducked inside the doorway.When she looked back, she saw that she had left two footprints near the edge of the forest.They were barely visible, but if she looked closely, she could see them in the snow near where the policewoman had stood.Two boot marks four feet apart.She couldn't worry about them now.Kasey slid the key from her pocket.It was warm in her hand.With a cautious glance in both directions, she pushed the key into the dead- bolt on the side door and turned.The key didn't budge.She jiggled it and tried again, twisting furiously, but the key didn't fit.She yanked it out and squeezed it in her fist and shut her eyes.In frustration, she threw her shoulder against the door, but it was locked and solid.She cursed silently and spun round.She had to retreat to the woods, but she ran out of time before she could move.As she stood in the doorway, paralyzed, she heard the scrape of footsteps on rock.The policewoman was back.Kasey squeezed her body hard against the door, but she couldn't hide.As soon as the cop glanced in her direction, she would see her, no more than six feet away.She watched the woman get closer, and she slid the gun out of her belt and nestled it in her sweaty hand.The policewoman's eyes were focused on the forest.If she looked closely at the snow, she would see the footprints emerging from the woods.And then she would turn around and spot Kasey in the doorway.Kasey held her breath.Her mouth was open.Her eyes were scared and wide.The cop's body swung toward her, and Kasey coiled like a spring, ready to pounce.She had to be on top of her before she could shout.Then, in the moment before their eyes met, the cop stopped and sprinted back toward the front of the house.Kasey knew why.In the driveway around the corner from where she was, a woman was screaming.'Where is she?'Valerie didn't wait for the car to stop.The wheels rolled as she scrambled out of Serena's Mustang.She screamed Callie's name and ran for the door and pounded until a police officer let her inside.Serena got out of her car and held up both hands to calm a policewoman who appeared from the side of the house at a run, her hand on her gun.'It's OK,' she told her.'Everybody's fine.Don't worry, this is a good thing.'She followed Valerie into the house.Upstairs, through the open door of Callie's bedroom, she heard wrenching sobs of relief.Serena made no move to join her.It was a private moment for mother and child.It was also one of those rare moments in her life when she believed that there really was some justice in the world.Marcus Glenn, still dressed in his bathrobe, joined her in the foyer.He heard the noise of his wife upstairs and glanced at the bedroom door.'So she didn't go through with it,' he said.'You must be relieved.''Yes, of course.'Serena didn't hear relief or joy in his voice.He frowned, as if he could read her mind.'I'm trained to consider what might go wrong,' he told her.'I didn't think this situation would end happily for any of us.''But it did,' Serena said.She wanted to add: No thanks to you.She stared at the surgeon as he waited by the banister at the stairs and realized that the naked outpouring of emotion they could hear above them was painful for him.He preferred an environment that was as sterile as his operating room.Clinical.Passionless.That was what made him so easy to dislike.That was why he was capable of doing so much damage.More quickly than Serena expected, Valerie reappeared in the hallway.Callie was in her arms, wrapped in a heavy coat, her small hands in mittens and pink boots on her feet
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