The Bone House - Brian Freeman [40]
'What happened here, Harris?' Reich asked.
Harris Bone shook his head and murmured, 'I'm sorry.'
'Were they inside? Was your family inside?'
'I'm sorry,' he repeated, continuing to watch the fire as if it were something distant and detached.
Reich heard Peter Hoffman bellowing behind them. 'YOU DID THIS! YOU DID THIS!'
Before Reich could stop him, Pete had Harris on the ground. The old man had the younger man's throat in his grip, and he hammered his son-in-law's skull against the rocks as he squeezed off the air from his windpipe. Harris barely struggled to save himself. Reich grabbed Pete's shoulders and threw his friend bodily away and stood in his way to block him as he charged for Harris again.
'Pete, stop'.'
Crying, breathing hard, Pete backed off and stood with his hands on his knees. Reich took Harris and pulled him up by the collar of his shirt and held him. Without thinking, he made a fist with his left hand and crashed it into Harris's face, where he heard the snap of cartilage breaking. The man's nose erupted in blood, and Harris staggered back and sank to his knees.
Reich rubbed his knuckles, which were bruised and raw. He cursed himself under his breath for losing control. Pete watched him, saying nothing at all.
That was when Reich heard it. A tiny voice, hidden under the roar of the fire. 'Help me!'
He looked up with a sudden urgency.
'What the hell was that?' Reich asked. 'Did you hear that?'
Pete shook his head. A mile away, they both heard the sirens of the fire trucks growing louder.
'Someone's alive,' Reich told him.
He marched into the grass, dodging pockets of smoldering fragments blown from the house. He scoured the burnt yard, pushing through tall weeds. He listened but didn't hear the voice again.
'Hey!' he called. 'Hey, where are you?'
No one answered.
Reich tramped toward the woods on the west side of the house. He made his way around the burnt shell of the old garage, which had disintegrated except for one wall that seemed to defy gravity and cast a shadow into the meadow. He squinted, trying to see through the darkness. The field was a mess of brush and flowers, but just outside the spotty clusters of flames, he saw a flash of pink huddled amid stalks of Queen Anne's lace.
As he watched, the pink bundle moved. He saw a girl's face. Scared eyes. The fire was moving closer to her.
Reich ran.
'I don't want to hear you talking about the fire,' Reich told Peter Hoffman.
Pete nodded slowly. 'I hear you, Felix.'
'Mark Bradley didn't pay for what he did to Tresa, but he sure as hell is going to pay for what he did to Glory. So it's not going to help I anybody if you and me start dredging up the past.'
Reich smoothed his uniform and headed for his Tahoe, leaving Pete alone on the trail, looking out on the water. Before he could climb into his truck, he heard Pete calling after him.
'Felix?'
Reich stopped. 'What is it?'
'You know it doesn't matter what we say or don't say. Somebody's going to make the connection to the fire anyway.'
Reich said nothing. He knew Pete was right.
'They'll say it was Harris Bone who did this to Glory,' Pete went j on, and his voice was broken and old. 'They'll say he finally came back.'
* * *
PART TWO
THE GHOST
* * *
Chapter Fourteen
Five years ago, the buzz around Hilary Semper's high school in Highland Park was about the hot new substitute teacher who'd joined the district. The grapevine already had him pegged: six feet tall, buzzed brown hair, a golf pro who'd given up the tour because of an injury. Loud, confident, funny. Married once, divorced quickly,