Free The River Is Dark by Joe Hart Page A

of blood no larger than a dinner plate lay in an equally round shape on the floor. He knelt again. This was where Suzie fell, he was sure of it. The scene began to gain motion and life in his mind as he stood and made his way into the kitchen. The dark tile on the kitchen floor looked clean and tidy. After snapping on another light, he saw no footprints, not even a hint of dirt anywhere. Suzie had been meticulous about keeping the house spotless; he remembered that from his short visit before his brother’s wedding day.
    Liam moved to the door that led to the garage and studied the splintered jamb where the lock had burst through. He opened the door and looked at the jagged tear in the metal exterior near the handle. Leaning nearer to the puncture, he saw that the shining edge looked slightly red. When he placed a finger to the hole, it came back a deep burgundy. Rust.
    Liam walked slowly back through the kitchen until he could see Dani again. “The killer must have followed Allen inside the garage when he got home that night, since the report didn’t say anything about forced entry through the exterior,” Liam said, stopping at the boundary of the living room, his eyes scanning the floor. “He broke the door open with the murder weapon, I’m almost sure of it. There’s a hole in the door where he hit it with something hard and heavy.” Liam stepped back and drew a line on the floor with a pointing finger. “He came in this way, fast. Allen met him here.” Liam motioned to the border between the kitchen and the living room. “He overpowered Allen right away, probably with a blow from the weapon. Then, I’m guessing, Suzie came into the room.” Liam moved to the circular bloodstain. “He hit her once, like I said, meaning more to knock her out than to kill her.”
    Dani took a tentative step into the room but stopped short of the first piece of tape on the carpet. “But why? Why would he do this much damage to Allen and only try to knock out Suzie?”
    “Because he had something against Allen that had nothing to do with Suzie.”
    Dani frowned. “But what would that be? What enemy would Allen share with the Shevlins? And what could Eric have done to someone at eleven years old?”
    Liam rubbed the side of his face. “I don’t know, but it’s obvious someone hated them. Hated them enough to do this.” He let his hand fall away, and for a moment the professional detachment he held before him like a shield cracked, and the realization of whose blood coated the floor hit him like a punch.
    His throat tightened at the memory of Allen helping him tie his shoes one afternoon when he was five, before they went to see their father at his shop. How he felt a sense of wonder at seeing his brother’s fingers, the strong fingers of a man already, looping and twisting the laces without effort. He remembered Allen glancing up at him, and for a split second being caught off-guard by the look of admiration on his younger brother’s face. A tenuous string of connection there and then gone, as Allen stood and turned away, telling him to hurry and not make him late.
    Liam clenched and unclenched his hands until the moisture at the corners of his eyes receded. He pivoted away from where Suzie had fallen, knowing that if he looked again he would surely cry.
    “Do you think they were looking for something? I know the reports said that nothing seemed to be missing, but maybe it’s still here, hidden somewhere?” Dani said.
    Liam shrugged. “I don’t think so, just because of how fast it appears to have happened. If they were looking for something, there would have been a drawn-out process, torture, that type of thing.” Even from across the room, he saw Dani shudder. “But let’s check out the other rooms just in case, okay? Look for a safe or a hidden panel in the closet, something like that,” Liam said. Dani nodded and walked well around the stains on the floor to meet him near the hallway.
    They searched the