to touch her again, the pain on her face and the anguish in her voice made him want to reach out to her. For a brief second, he pulled her up against him.
“I’m sorry, Ellie. It’s… not your fault. What he did.”
“It is, though. If Vera hadn’t adopted me, he wouldn’t have killed Kim or any of those other children. They were a substitute for me.”
“You were a child. You were helpless. That’s not your fault.”
He knew what it was like to suffer from guilt.
A person could suffocate beneath the weight.
Her body trembled against him, then she pulled away and released a sigh. “I can’t talk about this right now, especially with you. Let’s just focus on the case. Time may be running out for Shondra.”
Especially you. Her words were like a slap to his face.
Before he could respond, her phone buzzed, and she snatched it. “Yes, Heath, what do you have?”
Ellie’s face paled. When she looked up, fear darkened her eyes.
“There’s a fire at my parents’ house. I need to go there now.”
Sixty-One
Stony Gap
Thirty minutes later, as they sped up the drive, Ellie clenched the seat edge in a white-knuckled grip. Perched on a hill with the towering mountains behind it, her childhood home had always looked as welcoming as a Norman Rockwell painting.
But now thick plumes of smoke curled into the gray late-morning skies, and orange, red and yellow flames shot upward, raging above the rooftop and trees as the wind fed the blaze.
A Bluff County fire engine screeched ahead of her, brakes squealing as it slammed to a stop near the burning house. Frantically scanning the property for her parents, Ellie didn’t see them anywhere on the lawn.
Derrick barreled to a stop a few feet away from the fire engine, and the sheriff’s car zoomed up the drive. After swerving to park, Bryce threw his car door open just as she slammed her own shut and ran toward the house.
The wind swirled the fire higher into the sky, wood crackling and popping as the ferocious flames ate at the wood frame. The firemen jumped from the truck engine, the captain barking orders as workers rolled out hoses to try to douse the carnage.
Heat seared Ellie’s skin as she approached the house, and the windows exploded, shattering glass everywhere. “Mom? Dad?” Ellie shouted.
“Stay here, miss,” one of the firefighters yelled as she stepped forward. But if her parents were in there, she had to save them.
Ignoring the warning, she ran towards the back of the house to see if the fire had spread there, but Derrick dragged her away as the roof collapsed in a mind-numbing roar.
Shock robbed her breath, and she gasped, coughing as smoke filled her lungs. Derrick hauled her toward a live oak to the side of the house while two of the firemen rushed up the porch steps, using axes to hack away the door and spraying water as they entered. Bryce stood by the fire truck, swiping a hand across his face as he watched the chaos.
Fear clogged Ellie’s throat, paralyzing her. She’d been so angry at her parents the last few weeks she hadn’t spoken to them.
But she didn’t want them to die.
“I’m going to talk to Waters,” Derrick said. “Stay here, Ellie. Let the firemen do their jobs.”
Dizzy with emotions and from the smoke, she didn’t argue. Her eyes were glued to the door to see if her parents made it outside. Unbidden, images of her past flickered in her head.
Running through the front yard chasing fireflies and collecting them in mason jars. Her father tossing the softball in the yard with her. Digging for worms behind the house to fish in the pond.
Her mother decorating the lawn with silly Christmas blowups in spite of the fact that the other ladies at the garden club had disapproved. Every Easter when she’d begged Ellie to wear a frilly dress…
The memory tickled her conscience with sudden affection for her mother. Vera had actually caved one time, telling her interfering friends that little girls didn’t always have to wear dresses. It had been out of character, but that gesture had given Ellie hope that they wouldn’t always be at odds. A hope that soon fizzled.
Wood splintered and the flames popped, shattering Ellie’s memories. The right side of the house collapsed, her childhood bedroom engulfed in the blaze. Flames licked at the windows and the fire hissed into the night as if it was a live, breathing monster.
Despite being entranced by the horror unfolding, a