Blue Willow Read Free Page B

blood had dried at the corner of her lips. Her torso was oddly distorted, like a doll who’d been crushed by a careless foot.
    His baby sister. The loss was so stunning he had no words, no tears, only a lethal sense of fury and determination. He would break down after he sorted through the horror and found the cause. Cassandra and Michael wore shattered expressions. Elizabeth sat by Julia’s head, sobbing as she gently stroked both hands over her sister’s blond hair.
    Artemas moved leadenly. He had given so many orders, directed so many terrified people, tried to organize the chaos. He had to go back to Lily, who was still searching through the debris.
    Lily. Julia. James. The rest of his family. All the others who needed his attention, who’d come here at his invitation. He was being torn apart. He could only move from one scene to the next, as if there were some way he could give them equal time, equal heartache. He walked a few feet away, where James lay on a stretcher. Alise was huddled beside him, one hand on his forehead, her gaze fixed with abject terror on his groggy, half-shut eyes and the oxygen cup that covered his mouth. Paramedics were bundling him in blankets and pulling straps tight across his body James’s right leg was bare to the thigh, the trouser leg cut off. Blood seeped onto the stretcher under its twisted wreckage.
    The sight of his proud, vigorous younger brother lying maimed and helpless made bile rise in Artemas’s throat. Helooked down into James’s eyes. James raised a hand and, fumbling, pushed the oxygen mask aside. His lips moved faintly. “Why? How ? Who did this … to us?”
    Artemas touched James’s cheek, leaving a stain of blood. “I’ll find out. And destroy them.”
    “Make them pay … forever.…” James’s voice trailed off. A paramedic slid the oxygen cup back into place.
    Artemas found himself back with the others, dazed, not quite knowing how he’d returned. His muscles felt slack. Words came like dream-induced thoughts. “I have to stay here,” he said. “One of you should go to the hospital with Alise and James.”
    He didn’t know if they heard him. He walked away, pulled his blood-and-dust-stained jacket off, dropped it on the floor, and continued onward, absently wiping his bleeding fingertips on his shirtsleeves. A policeman ran up to him and asked a question about the building’s exits. Artemas’s gaze went to Oliver Grant. The contractor sat limply on a chair by one wall, his head in his hands.
    Artemas strode to him, lifted him by the lapels of his dinner jacket, and slammed him against the wall. “Why did this happen? I want answers.”
    Grant was crying. He stared at Artemas blankly, shaking his head. The policeman wedged himself between Artemas and the contractor. “He’s in shock, Mr. Colebrook.”
    Artemas shook Grant, then let him go. The man slid down the wall and sat down limply on the floor. Artemas bent over, wrenched his chin upward with one hand, and looked into his eyes. Grant’s expression quickened with horror; he stared up at Artemas’s deadly expression in fear. Artemas said, “You help this officer. He has questions about the building. Help him, or by God, you’ll be sorry.”
    Grant finally nodded.
    Artemas walked away. Can Grant tell you why this happened? Who’s responsible? Is he the one? Or, God, Stockman and  …  Porter. Lily’s husband .
    The terrible idea would have to be dealt with later. Artemas skirted the mountain of steel and concrete in thelobby, sidestepping crying people, police, and paramedics, and workers guiding the crane’s claw onto a lopsided boulder.
    He was jolted by the sight of Lily and several men halfway up the side of the jagged mound, frantically shoving at the smaller slabs of concrete. Barefoot, her hose ripped to shreds, she was balanced precariously on the uneven surface, her feet braced apart. She’d ripped the skirt of her gown up the front to her knees to free her movements. The