Gordon said, adding a belated, “Please.”
“You don’t want him to know a juvenile pyromaniac is running around the community?”
“I’m not... I mean, you can’t call the police.”
“Why not?”
“I’m...” Gordon’s voice trailed off.
“Yes?” Jubal said, and raised his eyebrow.
“I’m...on probation,” Gordon admitted with obvious reluctance.
“Burn someone else’s house down?”
“No!”
“Anyone missing you right now?”
“No.”
“Why don’t I believe that?” Jubal said.
“My sister doesn’t give a shit what I do. She’s too busy...”
“Too busy doing what?”
The boy’s lips closed.
“You’re not getting out of here until you tell me where you live.”
The defiance in Gordon’s eyes faded away. “She’s the new doctor.”
Jubal studied him for a moment. “I’ll make a deal with you.”
“What?” Gordon said cautiously.
“Give me her address. I’ll drive you there, watch you go inside whichever way you got out. In return, you’ll give me ten hours of work. Productive work, and I decide what counts as productive.”
The kid looked disbelieving. “Ten hours?”
“You think it should be longer? Maybe you’re right.”
The kid looked trapped.
“You have a choice,” Jubal said. “I can call the police chief. I imagine you’ll be charged with arson. That won’t be the least of your problems if, as you say, you’re on probation.”
The last remnant of defiance drained from the kid’s face. “What’d you want me to do?”
“I’ll think of something. Yard work. Painting the dock. You start tomorrow. Be here at two p.m.”
Jubal watched the calculating look on the boy’s face. Despite his abject firebug skills, the kid wasn’t dumb. All he had to do was point out a house, then make a dash for an alley and disappear.
“I’m a hell of a lot faster than you,” Jubal said, checkmating that particular scheme. He kinda liked the kid. He didn’t give up. And he wasn’t afraid of former SEAL Jubal Pierce. Damn, had he changed that much?
“Who are you?” the kid asked.
“Name’s Jubal. Jubal Pierce.”
“That’s a dumb name.”
Jubal shrugged. “My dad was a rodeo rider. Jubal wasn’t all that unusual among that set.” He had no idea why he explained that, except maybe it would make an impact on a kid.
Gordon’s face showed more interest. “You ever ride in a rodeo?”
“Nope. And no more diversions. Deal or no deal?”
The kid nodded sullenly.
“A deal’s a deal,” Jubal said. “You break it, there will be consequences.”
“Why do you give a shit about a tiny fire?” The kid tried one last tact.
“Because I live here, and while I live here, I respect the property and the man who loaned it to me. It’s a matter of, shall we say, honor.”
“You come from the dark ages, man,” Gordon retorted.
Jubal shrugged. “Come on, let’s go. And take your wet clothes with you.”
The kid almost tripped over the dragging legs of Jubal’s sweatpants, but he followed Jubal to his Mazda. At least he couldn’t run, not without tripping.
He asked the kid for directions and retraced one of the routes he ran earlier. Gordon slouched in the corner of the car, his sullen voice barely audible.
“That’s it,” the kid said, pointing at a neat two story house. When Jubal stopped, Gordon opened the door.
“I want my clothes back,” Jubal warned. “Washed.”
“Whatever,” the kid said.
“Don’t use that word with me again,” Jubal warned. “It’s offensive and stupid.”
The kid’s lips clamped shut, then, carrying his wet clothes, he walked to the side of the house and disappeared in the back.
Jubal waited several minutes, saw a light go on upstairs, then decided the kid really did live there. He said his sister was the doctor, and he believed that. It would be too easy for him to check it out, and Covenant Falls was not big enough to hide in. He did wonder, though, if the kid would show up tomorrow, or was it today now?
Jubal also wondered what in the hell he was doing. He’d planned to leave in the next day or two. He was starting something he couldn’t finish unless he hung around longer than he intended.
He always finished what he started if humanly possible. It was in his DNA.
So why had he started something that might keep him here longer than planned?
The answer came too quickly.
He recognized that kid. It was him twenty years ago.
LISA WOKE TO SILENCE. No sound of heavy trucks passing or the blaring of a horn. It took her a moment to realize where she was.
The flower print on the wallpaper was not the comforting light blue of her former bedroom. New house. New town. New job. She should be excited. She wasn’t. She was too worried about Gordon.
She looked at the clock. A little after seven a.m. That was late for her. She thought about the day ahead, mostly about Gordon.
Gordon had appeared at dinner yesterday and shoveled down his share of a casserole Lisa had found in the fridge along with eggs, milk, cheese, bacon and other basic items.
Although he ate well, he did it with a scowl and grunts when she’d asked him whether he’d met anyone his age yesterday afternoon. Then, completely ignoring both his sisters, he disappeared into the bedroom with his phone and tablet.
She’d checked on him at ten before she went to her own bedroom. His light was off.
She’d
