“Then why is she afraid?” he asked.

“Because the boogeyman has power. It’s going to tear at her mind. It’ll hurt. If she falters, it might be able to hurt her bad.”

Yardly just stared at me for a long, silent moment. Then he said, “You aren’t a con man. You believe it.”

“Yeah,” I said, and leaned back against the wall. It might be a long wait.

“I don’t know what’s scarier,” Yardly said. “If you’re crazy. Or if you’re not.”

“Kids are sensitive,” I said. “They’ll take the lead from their mom. If mom is scared and worried, they will be, too. If it helps, think of this as my way of giving the kids a magic feather.”

Yardly frowned and then nodded. “Like Dumbo.”

“Yep,” I said. “Couple months from now, that will be the easiest way to understand it.”

He let out a short, bitter bark of laughter. “Yeah?”

“Definitely.”

“You do this a lot.”

“Yep.”

We waited in silence for about half an hour. Then Yardly said, “I work violent crimes.”

I turned my head to look at him.

“I helped get my sister set up out here in Peculiar to get her away from the city. Make sure her kids are safe. You know?”

“I hear you.”

“I’ve seen bad things,” Yardly said quietly. “I don’t… It scares the hell out of me to think of my nieces, my nephew, becoming another one of the pictures in my head.”

I nodded and listened.

“I worked this case last week,” Yardly said a moment later. “Wife and kids got beaten a lot. Our hands were tied. Couldn’t put this guy away. One night he goes too far with a knife. Kills the wife, one of the kids. Leaves the other one with scars all over her face…” His own face turned pale. “And now this is happening. The kids are falling apart. Child services is going to take them away if something doesn’t change.”

I grunted. “I grew up in the system,” I said. “Orphan.”