Page 111 of In Cold Blood

Within minutes, a couple of firefighters took over, providing medical attention to Ed before an ambulance arrived to race him to the hospital.

Among the slew of emergency personnel and flashing strobe lights, Callie emerged.

Noah was crouched near the dock, watching the cabin collapse in on itself. He phoned Alicia to deliver the unfortunate news. Insurance would cover it but it was still a kick to the gut.

“Noah. Are you okay?” Callie asked, making her way over.

“Yeah,” he said, rising to his feet.

She looked back at what remained of the structure. Now it was just a blackened mess of flames and smoke as the firefighter’s unleashed ropes of water into the hellish blaze.

“Anything important inside?”

“Nothing that can’t be replaced. I’m more worried about Ed.”

“Come on, let’s head to the hospital. We’ll check on him. If they can stabilize him, maybe he can shed some light on what happened.”

As they rolled out, Noah stared into his rearview mirror as the last of the flames were doused. He could only imagine who was responsible. What was to be gained by burning down Alicia’s cabin? Did the arsonist think vital evidence was contained within, evidence Luke had accumulated?

Or worse — did they think Noah was inside?

29

Answers to the arson wouldn’t come in the manner they expected.

Ed was far from being capable of answering questions. He’d suffered a bad concussion and had been given strong pain medication. Blunt force trauma was what the doctors called it. They weren’t sure if he would pull through because of his age but then again, they’d never met Ed. He was a tough SOB.

The hospital advised returning in a day or two.

With the cabin gone, Noah thought about checking into a motel for the remainder of his stay, but with Kerri having offered, he made the call.

“Of course you can stay,” Kerri said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s all being handled.”

“There’s a key in the hanging basket at the rear of the house.”

“Thanks.”

“And Noah.”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything. For helping with Axel. Taking a risk to help with the case.”

“You just look after those kids and rest.”

After he let himself inside, Callie followed him in, a small bag in her hand.

Luke’s home was warm and inviting, the way it had been in the past when he’d seen it. Except without him, it was missing an essential part — his laughter. Axel immediately darted into each room as if expecting to see the family. Finding no one, he wandered over to a bed and curled up.

“You know you really don’t need to do this,” Noah said.

“With all that’s happened, we can’t afford to have another BCI investigator end up in the hospital or worse — dead. It’s fine. I’ll sleep in the spare room. I’m a light sleeper.”