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By the ti the river, it was too dark to seelot by the Indian ravel up to Cherokee Boulevard A cinder path ran down the center of the boulevard’s median; mileposts ticked off every quarter mile from the lower end of the street, down by the river, to the stoplight up at Kingston Pike Just beyond the 15-e fountain ringed by grass and a traffic circle Normally the fountain shot a pluht and water rationing had dried it up, and tonight the fountain’s built-in lights illuminated stained concrete and empty air Beyond the fountain the boulevard curved away froe and then up a second to the intersection with Kingston Pike Old-fashioned streetlahted the cinder path, and I kept walking, past palatial houses whose pedi trees were lit like Hollywood sets

When I reached Kingston Pike, I turned and retraced my steps, all the way back to the far end of the boulevard, 26 miles away I repeated the circuit twicea step closer to peace But although peace eluded ht, fell onto the bed, and drifted into a fitful sleep, haunted by drea face

The phone woke me

“Bill, it’s Jim O’Conner”

I shook lanced at theand saw that it was still dark outside The digital clock on the nightstand read 4:59 An uneasy feeling grabbed hold ofokay?”

There was a pause, and the uneasy feeling turned into a knot “I…I think so, but we’re not sure yet All hell broke loose up here about an hour ago”

“What? Tell me”

“There was a big explosion and a fire Cabin’s destroyed and the mountain’s on fire I think Hamilton’s dead”

“But you don’t know?”

“We can’t get in there to check for a body yet, but I don’t see how anybody could have survived Couple of the SWAT guys got knocked flat, and they were fifty yards away”

“Co cabin in the mountains to explode, just as an aruy inside? That can’t be a coincidence”

“Hang on, hang on” In the background I heard a crackling voice on a radio, and then I heard O’Conner saying, “You’re sure? Hundred-percent sure?” Then he was talking to“Waylon says he just spotted a human skull Burned, but definitely a skull, and definitely human” My emotions felt like they were on so up and down and around, faster than I could give na to

After a while I noticed the voice in my ear “Doc? Are you there?”

“Yeah,” I ed to say “I’-slow, deep, steady breathing The ride slowed, and I felt my adrenaline subside I also felt my conscious, curious mind start to assert itself “We’ll need to make a positive identification to be sure it’s him,” I said “You want me to come up with a team and do that?”

“Well…” O’Conner paused again, this tier than before His voice sounded measured and careful now “If you’re up to that and feel like you can step back froh to focus clearly, sure, co too h the TBI or the FBI or the medical exaist over there that you trained, isn’t there?”

“There is, but I’ll be fine” I thought of a fire scene I’d worked in West Tennessee a few years before “Listen, Jihters there, ask ’em to take it easy with the hoses,” I said

“Burned bones are very fragile, and the pressure from a fire hose can scatter them all over the place or smash them to bits Wet ash tends to set up pretty hard, too-like concrete, once it dries Do what you need to do to keep things safe, but the less water gets to those bones, the better”

He excused hie into a radio