Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

across the monitor. “How are you doing?” she asked.
    He shrugged.
    “Why don’t you sit down, so we can talk.”
    Obediently he sank onto the bed and sat with shoulders folded inward, as though he wanted to make himself as small and inconsequential as possible.
    “Do you like it here with Nancy and Patrick?”
    He nodded.
    “Is there anything you need, anything I can bring you?”
    A shake of the head.
    “Teddy, don’t you have
anything
to say?”
    “No.”
    At last a word, even if it was only one.
    “Okay.” She sighed. “Then maybe I should just get to the point. I need to ask you about something.”
    “I don’t know anything else.” He seemed to shrink deeper into himself and mumbled into his chest. “I told you everything I remembered.”
    “And you helped us, Teddy. You really did.”
    “But you haven’t caught him, have you? So you want me to tell you more.”
    “This isn’t about that night. It’s not even about you. It’s about two other children.”
    Slowly his head lifted, and he looked at her. “I’m not the only one?”
    She stared at eyes so colorless they seemed transparent, as if she could look right through him. “Do
you
think there are other kids like you?”
    “I don’t know. But you just said there were two other kids. What do they have to do with me?”
    The boy might not say much, but obviously he listened and understood more than she realized. “I’m not sure, Teddy. Maybe you can help me answer that question.”
    “Who are they? The other kids?”
    “The girl’s name is Claire Ward. Have you ever heard that name?”
    He considered this for a moment. From the kitchen came the sounds of the oven door banging shut, the girls squealing, noises of a happy family. But in Teddy’s room there was silence as the boy sat thinking. Finally, he gave a small shake of the head. “I don’t think so.”
    “You’re not sure?”
    “Anything’s possible. That’s what my dad used to say. But I can’t be sure.”
    “There’s also a boy named Will Yablonski. Does that ring any bells?”
    “Is his family dead, too?”
    The question, asked so softly, made her heart ache for the boy. She moved close beside him, to place her arm around his pitifully thin shoulders. He sat stiffly beside her, as if her touch was simply something to endure. She kept her arm around him anyway as they sat on the bed, two mute companions joined by a tragedy neither could explain.
    “Is the boy alive?” Teddy asked softly.
    “Yes, he is.”
    “And the girl?”
    “They’re both safe. You are, too, I promise.”
    “No I’m not.” He looked at her, his gaze clear-eyed and steady, his voice matter-of-fact. “I’m going to die.”
    “Don’t say that, Teddy. It’s not true, and—”
    Her words were cut off as the lights suddenly went out. In the darkness she heard the boy breathing loud and fast, and felt her own heart banging in her chest.
    Nancy Inigo called out from the kitchen: “Detective Rizzoli? I think we must have blown a fuse!”
    Of course that’s all it is
, thought Jane.
A blown fuse. Things like this happen all the time
.
    The crack of shattering glass made Jane leap to her feet. In an instant she had her holster unsnapped, her hand on her Glock.
    “Nancy!” she yelled.
    Frantic footsteps came thumping up the stairs, and the two girls burst in, followed by the heavier footfalls of Nancy Inigo.
    “It came from the front of the house!” said Nancy, her voice almost drowned out by the girl’s panicked whimpers. “Someone’s breaking in!”
    And they were all trapped upstairs. Their only escape was through Teddy’s window, which led to a two-story drop.
    “Where’s the nearest telephone?” Jane whispered.
    “Downstairs. In my bedroom.”
    And Jane’s cell phone was in her purse, which she’d left in the kitchen.
    “Stay here. Lock the door,” Jane ordered.
    “What are you doing? Detective, don’t leave us!”
    But Jane was already headed out of the room. She heard the door close softly behind her, heard Nancy snap the button lock. That lock was next to useless; it would delay an intruder for only the seconds it would take to kick down the flimsy door.
    First, he has to get past me
.
    Gripping her weapon, she crept up the dark hallway. Whoever had broken the window was silent now. She heard only her own heartbeat and the rush of blood through her ears. At the top of the stairs she halted and dropped to a crouch. This was as far as she’d go. Only a fool