“It belongs here in your house now.”

I picked up the heavy watch and felt the steady, quiet tick of the brass gears inside through the cold metal case.

“Thanks, Dad,” I said.

“The sheriff’s deputies will be parked out front at five o’clock,” my father said, glancing at the tall grandfather clock in the corner.

“We ought to have his one box of clothes waiting on the porch.”

At ten to five I carried one medium-sized brown cardboard box out to the front porch and set it down by the top step.