Nick was still in the bedroom, heading for the hall, when he suddenly paused in midstride.

That ominous silence he had noticed downstairs struck him again, only stronger this time. His head felt strangely full. He wondered for a moment if he hadn’t accidentally drunk something alcoholic after all, even though he knew his uneasiness had nothing to do with booze.

A seed of fear began to form deep in his mind. The feeling of heaviness, inside and out, was not entirely new to him. He had experienced it once before, two years earlier. But that had been in the middle of the night in a dark alleyway after a gang fight that had bought his best friend a switchblade through the heart.

He had not thought of Tommy since he had moved to this new neighborhood. Why now? He did not know. He did not care. He just wanted to get out of the room, back to the others.

Nick strode into and down the hallway. He didn’t pause at any of the doors along the way.

He had reached the top of the stairs when the shot exploded in his ears.

No, Lord, please, no.