Excerpt: Life and Limb

Around the corner, crouched at the bottom of the stairs, Allie listened to policemen talk. Words like “contusions,” “abrasions” and “blunt force trauma,” rolled over each other until they were a constant, almost comforting sound with no more meaning than the sound of water going over small pebbles in a stream.

It was odd to hear words like that in reference to her brother.