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Harry, a hand on each of Dylan’s shoulders, said, “Sometimes these things happen.”

“I thought if the chief was your dad people wouldn’t steal from you.”

Harry smiled. “I wish.”

“So why did you want to talk to me?”

“Sit.”

Dylan sat.

“You know your friend Auden?” Dylan nodded. “Well. there was an accident this afternoon over at his place. Some kind ofmalfunction with the barbecue. A gas leak or something. It blew up. His dad was a little too close, and, well, it was pretty bad, and Auden’s dad was killed.”

Dylan’s face went blank, as though he didn’t quite know what to feel. “Oh,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“That’s really awful.”

“Did you ever meet him when you were over there?”

Dylan’s head went up and down. “Couple of times. He was okay. Auden said his dad drank a lot. Is that what happened? Was he drunk when he was using the barbecue?”

“I don’t know. But I wouldn’t go around repeating a story like that because there might not be anything to it. Anyway, Auden’s going to need his friends in the days and weeks to come. Pretty hard, losing your dad.”

Dylan bit his upper lip. “I worry about that a lot.”

“About?”

“About you. Being the chief.”

“I’m okay. I’m careful.”

Dylan cast an eye at their own barbecue. “We shouldn’t use that anymore.”

“Tell you what. I’ll get it all checked out before we throw any more burgers on the grill. Check the gas connections and everything.”

Dylan nodded slowly. “Okay.” A pause, and then, “Is there anything else?”

Harry shook his head. “If you want to talk about it later, you know, we can.”

The boy nodded and went back into the house as Janice was coming out. She sat. “How’d he take it?”

“I don’t know what I was expecting. I thought he might burst into tears or something, but he seemed okay.”

“It’s a lot to process.”

They were both quiet until Harry finally asked, “So, how wasyourday?”

Janice worked in the offices of Lucknow Power and Light, which supplied electricity to the town and the surrounding region. “SSDD,” she said, short forsame shit, different day. “They had the crew out again trying to track down that drain on the system.”

“Have you told me about this? When I ask what drain on the system, are you going to give me that you-never-listen look?”

“I’m doing it now,” she said, glaring at him.

“So tell me again.”

“You know how last year around downtown, we replaced all the old low-pressure sodium lights in the streetlamps with induction bulbs? That use forty percent less energy?”