Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas

high, made of stone and mortar. He nearly ran into it in his haste to reach Danny. At the last moment he sensed the obstruction and veered away, running paral el with it toward the cries.
    He was getting closer to the sounds of the screams and cal s. He heard Inez trying to calm everyone. He heard someone shout for a rope. The river, rushing over the rocks, added to the chaos in the heavy fog. “Danny!” Matt cal ed again, trying to beat down his fear for his brother. Danny would have heard him, would have answered.
    Right in front of him, Donna, the owner of the local gift shop, suddenly appeared. Her face was white and strained. He caught her shoulders. “What happened, Donna? Tel me!”
    She grabbed both of his arms to steady herself. “The wal gave way. A group of the men were sitting on it. Your brother, the young Granger boy, Jeff’s son, I don’t know, more maybe. They just disappeared down the embankment, and al the rocks fol owed like a miniavalanche. We can’t see to help them. There were some groans, and we heard cries for help, but we can’t see them at al . We tried to form a human chain, but the bank is too steep.
    Jackson went over the side by himself. He was crawling. I heard a terrible crack, now he’s silent. I was going to try to find a telephone to cal for help. The cel phones just won’t work here.”
    “What was Jackson doing here?” He knew the deputy never participated in the town pageant. “Is Jonas here?” As he talked he was moving along the wal , feeling with his hands for breaks, taking Donna with him.
    “Jackson happened to be driving by when the fog thickened. He was worried about us, I think, so he stayed. I haven’t seen Jonas.”

    “Don’t wander around in this fog. Hopeful y, Kate and her sisters wil move it out of here for us.” He patted her arm in reassurance and left her, continuing the search for the break in the wal with an outstretched hand. When he found it, he swore softly. He knew the section of wal was over a steep drop and the river below had a fast-moving current running over several submerged boulders. The bank was littered with rocks of every size, with little to hold them in place should something start them rol ing.
    “Danny! Jackson!” His cal was met with eerie silence. He began to crawl down the bank, distributing his weight, on his bel y, searching with his hands before sliding forward. It was painstakingly slow. He didn’t want to displace any more of the rocks in case his brother or any of the others were stil alive and in the path of an avalanche.
    Matt’s fingertips encountered a leg. He forced himself to remain calm and used his hands to identify the man. Jackson was unconscious, and there was blood seeping from his head. In the near-blind conditions, it was impossible to assess how badly he was injured, but his breathing seemed shal ow to Matt.
    Something moved an arm’s length below Jackson. Matt fol owed the outstretched arm and found another body. The Granger boy. Matt knew him to be sixteen or seventeen. A good kid. The boy moved again, and Matt cautioned him to stay stil , afraid he would disturb the rocks.
    “You okay, kid?” he asked.
    “My arm’s broken, and I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, but I’m al right. The deputy told me not to move, and the next thing I knew he was somersaulting and smashed hard into the rock right there. He hasn’t moved. Is he dead?”
    “No, he’s alive. What about the others? What about Danny?” He crawled around Jackson to get to the boy, to take his pulse and run his hands over him to examine him for other injuries.
    “Tommy Dockins fel too. Danny tried to push him clear when the slide started. We didn’t real y have any time. I didn’t see either of them, but Tommy’s yel ed for help a couple of times. I couldn’t tel from which direction though.”
    The kid sounded tinny and distorted in the fog, and his voice shook, but he lay quietly and didn’t panic. “Your name’s Pete, right? Pete Granger?”
    Matt asked.
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Wel , I’m going to slide on around you and see if I can locate Danny and Tommy. Don’t move. The fog wil be gone soon, and Jonas is on the way with the rescue squad. If you move, you’l send the rest of those rocks right down on top of the others and me. Got it?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “I’l be back as quick as I can.” Matt glanced in the direction of the cliff house, where the Drake family had lived for over a hundred years. He