Free 44 by Jools Sinclair Page B

when Jesse and I helped him down at his garage and he taught
us about the different tools.
    “Well, I came home for a little lunch and I saw you
out here and wanted to say hello. You know, I’ve been meaning to
get over to see how you’ve been doing and all, just been so darn
busy down at the shop.”
    “Oh, yeah. Don’t worry about it,” I said.
    “It’s sure good to see you up and around, Abby,” he
said. “You know, I call your sister every once in a while.” He
tugged at his beard. “To check on you, see how you’re doing. I hope
she passes along my hellos.”
    I nodded, even though Kate hadn’t ever mentioned
that he had called. But given the crazy hours she worked, she
probably had forgotten. I looked over at Jesse, who was climbing
out of the car.
    “Later, Craigers,” he said, heading up to the porch.
Wow. Things really had gotten bad between them.
    “Well, it was good to see you, Mr. Stone.
Really.”
    “Oh, yes, Abby. Please drop by again. Here or at the
shop. I’d love to talk when you have more time.”
    “I will,” I said. “Bye.”
    I looked over at Jesse, who was waiting for his dad
at the front steps. I hadn’t realized there had been so much
tension between them and wondered if maybe that was why he was
goofing off at school. Sure, I knew he was taking the Mt. Bachelor
bus up to his job and needed rides around town, but he was always
kind of joking about it.
    I had been an idiot. I only had known Jesse like
most of my life, of course not having his car would be a huge
deal.
    I texted him after I got home.
    “Take the Jeep whenever,” I wrote. “Anytime.”
    Jesse texted back a happy face. I grabbed my
backpack and started my homework.

CHAPTER 20
     
    As I was trying to do algebra, Kate called and told
me that the authorities found the dead arsonist, not too far from
the woods and the fire.
    “They say he suffocated, and they are thinking it’s
murder,” Kate said. “Also, I did drop some hints about him setting
the fire so they’ll check his clothes. He was a construction worker
it turns out. Actually, we found out that he was one of the workers
who built that house.”
    “Weird. Did he set it for revenge or something?” I
asked.
    “I don’t know. I have a call in now to the
contractor. I’ll know more later.”
    “At least they think it’s murder,” I said.
    “Yeah,” she said. “Abby, be careful. Are all the
doors locked?”
    I hadn’t thought too much about what Kate was
implying. The killer hadn’t seen me in the visions, so I felt safe.
But maybe I was wrong.
    “Yeah, everything’s locked up,” I said.
    “So he’s killed a homeless guy, a receptionist slash
bartender, and now a construction worker,” she said. “Do you see
any connection at all?”
    “No,” I said. “Not yet anyway. Maybe the opportunity
just presented itself, like maybe he was just ready to kill and
they wandered into his path.”
    “Yeah, except for Lana Chang. She was at home, in
the bathtub,” Kate said.
    True. The other two would fit the random theory, but
not Lana.
    “There must be a pattern, something we don’t see
yet,” she said. “At least I’m getting stories in the paper about
it, Not the ones I would like to write, that there’s a serial
killer in Bend. Boy, that would freak everybody out.”
    “It would,” I said. “But that’s what happening.”
    “It seems like the public has a right to know,” she
said. “I’m trying to talk Tony into letting me write that story, at
least question the possibility that the deaths are linked. But he
says not yet. He’s reluctant to get everybody upset with
circumstantial evidence. I wish I could tell him about your
visions.”
    “Kate, no!”
    “Relax, I wouldn’t do that, Abby! Come on now. You
know Tony. In a million years he would never believe it anyway, let
alone run a story based on it. I was just thinking out loud. But I
do wish I could get him to at least consider a story in that
direction. We really should