Rizzoli & Isles 8-Book Set

gaze as well. She imagined the flames licking at the walls of the house where she had sheltered, turning all to ash. Snowflakes fell, melting on her cheeks to mingle with her tears. Tears for Doug and Arlo, for Elaine and Grace. Only now, as she watched the fires burn, did she truly believe they were dead.
    “Why kill them?” she whispered. “Grace was only thirteen—just a girl.
Why?
”
    “They do whatever he wants.”
    “Whatever
who
wants?”
    “Jeremiah. The Prophet.” On the boy’s lips, the name sounded more like a curse than a name.
    “The man in the painting,” she said.
    “And he shall gather the righteous. And lead them all to
hell
.” He shoved the fur-trimmed hood off his head, and she could see his profile in the gloom, his jaw squared in anger.
    “Whose houses were those?” she asked. “Who lived in Kingdom Come?”
    “My mother. My sister.” His voice broke and he lowered his head in mourning for a village that was now engulfed in flames. “The chosen ones.”

W HEN J ANE , G ABRIEL, AND S ANSONE PULLED UP AT THE ACCIDENT site, they found the search team already waiting for them at the side of the road. Jane recognized Sheriff Fahey and Deputy Martineau, as well as that old crank Montgomery Loftus, who owned the land and greeted the new arrivals with a grudging nod. At least this time, he wasn’t brandishing a rifle.
    “Did you bring the items?” asked Fahey.
    Jane held up a satchel. “We took a number of things out of her house. There are pillowcases and some clothes from her laundry hamper. It should be enough to give them the scent.”
    “We can hold on to these?”
    “Keep them. As long as it takes to find her.”
    “This is the logical place to start.” Fahey handed off the satchel to Deputy Martineau. “If she managed to survive the crash and wandered away, they may be able to pick up her scent down there.”
    Jane and Gabriel moved to the edge of the road and lookeddown at the ravine. The wrecked Suburban was still wedged there, its charred surface now covered with snow. She did not see how anyone could have survived this accident, much less walked away from it. But Maura’s luggage had been in that vehicle, so it was only logical to assume that Maura herself had been riding in the ill-fated SUV when it plunged off the cliff. Jane tried to imagine how that miraculous survival could have happened. Perhaps Maura was thrown from the vehicle early and landed on soft snow, saving her from incineration. Perhaps she’d wandered away from the wreckage, dazed and amnesiac. Jane scanned the rugged terrain and felt little optimism that they would find Maura alive. This was why she had not informed Daniel Brophy about their return to Wyoming. Even had she been able to penetrate the wall of seclusion that now cloaked him, she could offer him no hope of a different outcome, no possibility that this search would change the ultimate answer. If Maura had been in that Suburban, she was now almost certainly dead. And all they were here to do was find the body.
    The dogs and searchers began their hike down to the wreckage, pausing every few yards as the dogs sniffed the area, seeking the scent they’d now been primed to follow. Sansone moved down with them, but he stood apart, as though aware the team considered him an outsider. And no wonder they did. He was a man of few smiles, a dark and unapproachable figure to whom past tragedies seemed to cling like a cloak.
    “Is that guy another priest?”
    Jane turned to see Loftus standing beside her, scowling down at the invaders on his property. “No, he’s just a friend,” she said.
    “Deputy Martineau told me you came with a priest last time. And now this fella. Huh,” Loftus grunted. “Interesting friends she had.”
    “Maura was an interesting person.”
    “So I gather. But we all end up the same way.” He yanked down the brim of his hat, gave them a nod, and started back to his pickup truck, leaving Jane and Gabriel alone at the edge of the road.
    “He’s going to take it hard when they find her body,” said Gabriel, staring down at Sansone.
    “You think she’s down there.”
    “We have to be prepared for the inevitable.” He watched as Sansone moved steadily down the ravine. “He’s in love with her, isn’t he?”
    She gave a sad laugh. “You think?”
    “Whatever his reasons for being here, I’m glad he came. He’s made things a lot easier.”
    “Money usually does.” Sansone’s private jet had whisked