Splintered Bones (28 page)

We turned down the drive in front of one of the fire trucks, but we didn't slow at all. Coleman drove like a demon. In the headlights of the car we saw elegantly clad women and men, shoulder to shoulder, working a bucket brigade. The arrival of the fire truck was greeted with a hail of cheers, but even I could see that the stallion barn was a total loss. The roof was collapsing, falling away from the main timbers in huge sheets that burned hotly in the black night.

So far, the fire had not spread to the other buildings, but men and women were evacuating horses from the other barns, moving them to pastures where they bolted and ran to safety.

I got out of the car and ran toward the front of the line. To my surprise Carol Beth was closest to the fire, her beautiful gown ripped and torn. She stumbled toward the blaze with a bucket of water, flinging it, then turned back for another.

I felt something brush my leg and watched in horror as Sweetie Pie made a dash for the blazing barn. I started after her, knowing I would be too late. Harold rushed out of the shadows and grabbed her by the collar.

She tried to break free of him, and when she realized he was not going to let her go, she lifted her head and howled. It was a sound unlike any she'd ever made. It echoed over the night.

"I'll put her back in the patrol car," Harold said, dragging Sweetie past me and Carol Beth.

"Did they get Avenger out?" I asked her.

"I don't know." She rubbed her eyes on her forearm, smearing soot and makeup. "Bud went in to get him, but he hasn't come out." She spoke the words as if the events had happened a hundred years before. "That kid, too. She was standing in the doorway."

Dread is the most peculiar of sensations. It moved from my ankles up my legs with icy fingers, freezing me even as I stood in the intense heat of the burning barn. "The kid?"

"Yeah. Lee's kid."

"Kip?"

Carol Beth nodded. "She just stood in the doorway with the flames behind her. We were all running down here, but we were too far away to do anything. I called out to her. She turned and walked into the fire, like she didn't feel any
of
it. Like she was already dead. That's when Bud ran into the barn."

Another section of barn roof collapsed, sending a shower of sparks in a spiral that was as deadly as it was beautiful.

I grabbed Carol Beth's shoulders and shook her, forcing her to look at me. "Are you sure it was Kip?" Maybe there was a mistake.

"It was her." Carol Beth twisted free of me. "It was her, all right."

"How did the fire start?" I asked.

"The sprinkler system was turned off. Some bastard did this deliberately," she said. "May his soul burn in hell for all eternity." A broken sob escaped her.

I felt a hand on my arm, and Lillian pulled me out of the way as another fire truck arrived.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"I was outside on the patio. I saw the fire." She turned to look at the flames. "I told Bud, and he ran down here while I called the fire department. Everyone came down to help, but it was too late. The whole barn was engulfed. I'm afraid they're dead."

20

L
illian was still standing beside me when Krystal walked up
. Her dress and makeup remained perfect, but her eyes were glazed from what could have been alcohol or shock.

"I can't find Mike," she said in a flat tone. "I've hunted and hunted." She looked beyond me at the barn. "Where in the hell is he?"

"I haven't seen him all evening," Lillian said. "I'm sure he's around somewhere, though."

The fire trucks were bringing the flames under control, but there wasn't going to be much of anything left standing, except the huge support beams.

"Krystal!" Mike came out of the darkness, his white shirt stained with black soot and his eyes and hair wild. He put his arm around his wife. "I was worried sick. I looked for you everywhere."

"Where've you been?" she asked him in a sharp, accusing tone.

Mike's arm tightened around his wife. "Hey, it's okay. I'm fine." He kissed her cheek and whispered something in her ear as his arm tightened around her.

"Bud Lynch is in that barn," Krystal said, shrugging away from him.

Mike made a sound of disbelief. "I heard. Can you imagine that stupid bastard running into a burning barn to save a horse? To save a horse! The damn thing was insured."

Krystal stepped away from him. "You can be such an ass," she said, stalking away.

Mike looked at us and shrugged. "Temperamental artist." He went after her.

I felt as if I were swimming deep beneath the ocean. The fire was a roar in my head, a primal sound like surf. The people around me moved in slow motion. I heard and saw everything, but it was as if some layer of clear, pure water surrounded me, protecting me from the nightmare of the burning barn.

I listened for the sounds of dying horses and heard nothing, thank God. I also listened for the cries of a teenager and the shouts of a grown man. Nothing. The fire had worked its destruction, and all that remained was the charring of the bones.

Another volunteer fire truck arrived. The worst was over. The worst of the flames, that is.

It would be many hours before investigators could begin to sort through the ashes to recover those who'd perished. My God, who was going to tell Lee? She'd lost everything of any value to her.

I walked over to an old oak shrouded in darkness so thick that the flames didn't penetrate it. I needed something to lean against, something solid and permanent to shelter under. The party-goers slowly began to leave. With the flames dying, there was nothing else for them to do.

Carol Beth lingered, her stance somehow defiant and defeated as she stared at the smoldering timbers. At last, Harold appeared at her side and led her away. He was disheveled and filthy, too.

Only the firemen and Coleman remained. He was walking the perimeter, talking with Ory Jones, the Zinnia fire chief.

"Miss Sarah Booth?"

The voice that called me was soft, worn by time. I turned to find old Roscoe standing behind the tree. "Are you okay?" I asked. I hadn't even thought to wonder if he was safe.

He nodded. "I was asleep in one of the other barns. I got the foals out just in case. They got it under control now."

"And Avenger?" When the old man didn't respond, I had my answer.

"I saw Kip. In the barn," he whispered.

How could a name so perky belong to a dead girl?

"She was with Avenger," he added. "She was saddling him up to take him for a ride."

"How did the fire start?" I asked.

He looked around, as if he expected someone to be listening. "In the hayloft. I smelled it first. Then I went to check and saw the flames. It was in the hay. Someone lit it."

"You're positive the fire was deliberate?"

He looked around again. "I smelled gasoline."

"Who started it? Did you see?"

He shook his head. "No, I didn't see anyone. But I have something for Miss Lee. Will you give it to her?"

"Sure."

He held out his hand in a fist. I held mine out, palm open. The thing he dropped into my hand was light, and he closed my fingers around it. When he turned my hand loose, I opened it. Examining the thing by feel, I recognized it instantly. It was a butterfly hair clip that Kip had worn a lot.

"Give it to Miss Lee. It'll mean a lot to her."

"I will," I said.

He backed away. "Come see me tomorrow. Come by yourself."

He disappeared into the night.

I
found Tinkie
sitting on the front steps of the house. She held a damp washcloth that someone had given her clenched in her hand as the tears slipped down her face.

"Oh, Sarah Booth," she said. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know." I sat down beside her. I heard footsteps behind us and looked back to see Oscar, her husband. He was as disheveled as everyone else. Concern for Tinkie was evident in his eyes, but he nodded to me and went back inside the house. Like I could offer comfort to anyone.

"How did Kip get here?" Tinkie asked.

"She stole a car from the Winslows. She went over there to spend the night with Amy." I was miserable. "That's it, down by the show barn." It was easy to see since all the other vehicles were gone.

"They said she walked right back into that burning barn." Tinkie was in shock.

"I'm sure she was trying to save Avenger." I thought of Tony LaCoco and his cruel threat to Kip. I wanted my shot at him before Coleman got there.

"Who would burn a barn?" Tinkie asked. "Especially a barn with a horse in it. As awful as it is, it's lucky only Avenger was stabled there."

Tinkie daubed at her eyes and held the cloth out for me. I wiped my face and gave it back to her. "Did you see anyone here who might be capable of doing this?"

Tinkie drew in a deep, ragged breath. "No. I was keeping an eye on Carol Beth. I thought she might try to kill Bud." Tinkie sighed. "It's like we were all playing some kind of stupid parlor game while real danger was waiting just outside the door."

"I know." I still held Kip's hair clip in my hand, and I pressed it deep into my flesh, imprinting it in my palm. The job of telling Lee was one I couldn't begin to imagine.

"Are they sure the fire was deliberately started?" Tinkie asked.

"I believe someone did it deliberately. Carol Beth said the sprinkler system was turned off. Someone meant to kill Avenger. Bud and Kip just got caught up in it. They were at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Why kill a horse? Who could hate Lee that much?"

I knew the answer to that, and I suddenly knew where to start looking for the culprit. "Because Avenger was insured," I said, slowly rising to my feet. "That horse was insured, and I'll bet it was for a considerable sum of money. That's what that creep Tony LaCoco was saying. If the horse died, there would be money to pay Kemper's debts."

"What are you going to do?" Tinkie asked, rising also.

"Tell Coleman. Tell him some things I should have told him long before now."

When
I
got
back to the place where Coleman had parked the patrol car, I found that he had left me and Sweetie Pie in Harold's care. Coleman was gone, headed into the night to do God knew what.

Harold had found a piece of rope and was using it as a leash to keep Sweetie Pie from trying to hurl herself into the still-burning remains of the barn. He pushed my hair back from my face and leaned over to kiss my cheek. "I'd offer you a drink, but I think a hot bath would be more helpful."

"Harold, how much money would it take to pull Swift Level out of the red?" I asked.

Even in the unreliable light from the fire I could see that my question had startled him.

"I don't think Lee can make it without Avenger. I don't think she'll want to try without Kip. My God, this is awful, Sarah Booth. It's going to kill Lee."

I simply could not allow myself to think about Kip or Bud or I would start to cry. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop. "What about another one of the horses? One of Avenger's sons?" I asked.

Harold seemed to understand my need to veer away from the horror of the deaths. "I'm not sure. Lillian's right over there. Ask her."

Lillian was sitting in the open door of Cece's car, her feet still on the ground and her head bowed. It seemed only her indomitable will kept her from falling over.

"Lillian." I spoke softly so as not to startle her.

She slowly looked up. "I thought when Father had to sell our farm that that was the worst thing I'd ever face. Maybe time has dulled the horror of it, because this is surely more awful." She brushed a tear away. "Kip and Bud. Avenger. It's just too hard."

My own eyes were filling with tears, and I struggled to maintain control.

Harold put a hand on Lillian's shoulder, giving her a sympathetic rub. "With Avenger gone, can Lee reorganize and build on one of Avenger's sons? I'm sure she must have some colts by him."

Lillian looked out toward the dark pastures. "It all depends on the horse," she said. "The problem is the time. She's spent nine years promoting Avenger's reputation in the ring, buying the right mares, breeding them, raising those foals, getting them in the right position to show that his traits have been passed on. It would be like starting over, almost. It would take years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars." She made a derisive noise. "It wouldn't matter if she had Trigger, Silver, and Black Beauty. Without Kip, Lee won't last a week out here. This is the end of Swift Level."

"Would you like me to take you home?" Harold asked her.

"No," Lillian said. "I'm waiting on Cece. She's got that awful man, Nathaniel Walz, with her. I wonder if it's too late to throw him into the fire."

"Lillian!" Harold said with feigned shock. "What has poor Nathaniel done to earn your ire?"

"He breathes," Lillian said, pushing herself up onto her swollen feet. "He breathes, and there's a horrible chance he might reproduce. At least that won't happen with Cece."