Rizzoli & Isles 8-Book Set

The boy remained motionless as she swung open the door, asshe stepped outside into a pitch-black night. She stumbled into thigh-deep snow. Staggering back to her feet, she found herself facing the utter blackness of woods. Behind her, the fire glowed invitingly through the open doorway. Glancing back, she saw the boy standing there watching her, the firelight silhouetting his shoulders. She looked ahead again, at the trees, took two steps forward, and stopped.
I don’t know where I am or where I’m going. I don’t know what waits for me in those woods
. She saw no road, no vehicle, nothing but the claustrophobic trees surrounding that miserable little hovel. Surely Kingdom Come must be within walking distance. How far could one malnourished boy have dragged her unconscious body?
    “It’s thirty miles to the nearest town,” he said.
    “I’m going back to the valley. That’s where they’ll look for me.”
    “You’ll get lost before you get there.”
    “I have to find my friends.”
    “In the dark?”
    She glanced around at trees and darkness. “Where the hell am I?” she blurted in frustration.
    “Safe, ma’am.”
    She faced him. Steadier now, she moved toward him, reminding herself that this was just a boy, not a man. It made him seem less threatening. “Who are you?” she asked.
    The boy was silent.
    “You won’t even tell me your name.”
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    “What are you doing out here by yourself? Don’t you have a family?”
    He took in a breath and it came out in a heavy sigh. “I wish I knew where they were.”
    Maura blinked as wind swirled snow into her eyes. She looked up as flakes began to fall, as fine as dust. The snow landed on her face like cold needlepricks. The dog emerged from the hovel and waded across to lick Maura’s bare hand. His tongue left slicktrails that cooled and chilled her skin. He seemed to be asking to be petted, and she laid her hand on his thick fur.
    “If you want to freeze to death out here,” the boy said, “I can’t stop you. But I’m going in.” He looked at the dog. “Come on, Bear.”
    The dog went stock-still. Maura felt the fur on the back of his neck suddenly bristle as every muscle in his body seemed to tense. Turning toward the trees, Bear gave a low growl that sent a chill whispering up Maura’s back.
    “Bear?” the boy said.
    “What is it?” she asked. “Why’s he doing that?”
    “I don’t know.”
    They both stared into the night, trying to see what had alarmed the animal. They heard the wind, the rustle of the trees, but nothing else.
    The boy began to strap on a pair of snowshoes. “Go inside,” he said. Then he and the dog walked off into the woods.
    Maura hesitated only a few heartbeats. Much longer, and she would have been left too far behind to locate them in the dark. Heart thumping, she followed.
    At first she could not see them, but she could hear the creak of the snowshoes and the thrashing of the dog through the underbrush. As she moved deeper into the woods, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to make out more details. The looming trunks of pines. And the two figures moving ahead, the boy striding purposefully, the dog leaping to clear deep snow. Through the trees ahead, she saw something else: a faint glow that was gauzy orange through the falling snowflakes.
    She smelled smoke.
    Her legs were wobbly from the effort to keep up, but she kept struggling ahead, afraid to be left behind, wandering and lost. The boy and dog seemed tireless and they kept moving, covering what seemed like endless ground as she fell farther behind. But she would not lose them now, because she saw where they were headed. They were all being drawn to that ever-brightening glow.
    When at last she caught up, the boy was standing very still, his back turned to her, his gaze focused down on the valley.
    Far below them, the village of Kingdom Come was ablaze in flames.
    “Oh my God,” whispered Maura. “What happened?”
    “They came back. I knew they would.”
    She stared down at the twin rows of flames, as orderly and regular as military campfires. This was no accident, she thought. Those flames did not spread from rooftop to rooftop. Someone had deliberately set the houses on fire.
    The boy moved to the edge of the cliff, so close to the drop-off that for a panicked moment she thought he was about to leap off. He stared down, hypnotized by the destruction of Kingdom Come. The seductive power of fire trapped her