Free The River Is Dark by Joe Hart

all too much—”
    Dani stood and gave him a halfhearted smile. “I’ve never started a drawing I didn’t finish.”
    Liam grinned for what felt like the first time in years.

CHAPTER 6
    The rain began to fall as they turned into Allen and Suzie’s driveway.
    Fat droplets splattered against the windshield, and the sky cleared its throat loud enough to be heard over the hum of the Chevy’s engine. On the short drive over, Liam filled Dani in on Shirley Strafford and the altercation at the front of the hotel. Dani’s reaction surprised and heartened him.
    “Good, I can’t stand it when she’s on.”
    The mood abruptly changed as they pulled down the long drive and the house came into view. Liam parked a few paces from the closed garage door and shut the truck off. Rain washed down the windshield, obscuring the world outside like an oil painting splattered with turpentine. Lightning cut a jagged gash across the sky, which healed with the sound of repeated thunder.
    Liam glanced at Dani and saw that her eyes hadn’t left the home since it came into sight. He reached out and placed his hand on hers. “You don’t have to come in.”
    Finally, she tore her gaze away and looked at him. “No, it’s fine. It’s just strange, you know? I’ve been here dozens of times and it was always a happy place, fun and warm. It always gave me a good feeling to come here and see them. But now, it’s like a place I’ve never been to before. It’s horrible.”
    Liam squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right next to you the whole time, okay?” Dani nodded. “Okay, let’s get inside before the storm gets worse.”
    They left the truck and hurried through the heavy rain to the front door of the house. Liam dug the keys out from his pocket and selected the correct one on the first try. The doorknob turned, and they stepped inside, out of the storm.
    The smell met them in the entryway.
    It was a raw scent, its edge dulled a little by the hours that had passed between what caused it and now, but Liam still recognized it. Blood. Old or new, the scent was always easy for him to detect. It was like breathing the metallic air of a loose-change jar. Dani put a hand beneath her nose and closed her eyes before sidling up next to him.
    The living room stood before them, and Liam noticed that much had changed since his last visit. The entire house looked redecorated, with walls that didn’t match the colors of his memory, along with new floor coverings. The hardwood that used to stretch to the kitchen across the room was now a creamy-white carpet. Leather furniture graced the room’s edges, and a massive flat screen hung from the far wall. Liam reached out and flicked a switch on his left, which turned on two overhead lights. Dani blanched.
    Crusted bloodstains marred the carpet everywhere, with chunks of matted gore thrusting from their centers, like ebony volcanoes oozing rivers of tissue. A wide fan of dried blood lay close to the middle of the room. Pieces of tape marked the outer edges of the stains, no doubt corralling the area for the forensics team to measure and document evidence.
    “My God,” Dani said.
    Liam didn’t move his eyes from the scene before him. “Are you going to be okay?”
    She swallowed loudly. “Yes, I’ll make it.”
    Liam stepped into the room and knelt before the edge of the nearest blood spatter. He began to map the area in his head, relying on the notes he had read earlier and the taped perimeter. In his mind he saw a mangled body on the floor. His imagination tried to coalesce his brother’s face onto the shape, but he shoved it away, effectively making the corpse anonymous. He looked to his left and saw the outline of a severed arm; to his right, entrails spilled like a pile of skinned snakes. Within the largest spray of blood, he saw a severed head pressed on its cheek, the print on the carpet confirming his assumption.
    Liam stood and walked to the doorway that led to the hall and bedrooms beyond. A pool