On top of his concern for her, he felt he owed it to Jeremy to help right his world, if possible, simply because Jeremy was incapable of coping with such unusual events on his own. Isaac had once been that vulnerable. He’d been five at the time, but what would he have done without Tippy? Where would he be today?

“Are you okay with staying behind?” he asked Claire before he left.

He could tell she wasn’t happy about it, but she nodded. “I guess.”

“We can’t leave Jeremy alone. He’s too agitated.”

“I know. It’s just that…I want to ask my father why he’s been calling Don. And I want to see his face when he answers.”

Isaac wanted the same thing, too. But why drag Tug from his bed? “He’s not going anywhere. It can wait until tomorrow.” Right now, Isaac needed to take a look at the Salter home, and he preferred to do it at night, when he had a better chance of going unobserved.

“Okay,” she agreed. So he left her and Jeremy in separate rooms at the Cabinet Mountains Motel and headed back to Pineview.

Jeremy paced the motel room Isaac had rented for him. The lights were off, but he hadn’t removed his clothes because he didn’t plan on going to sleep. He couldn’t stay the whole night. He had to leave, go as far into the wilderness as possible—someplace no one would find him.

But he couldn’t go alone. That would be too frightening. He’d heard about Isaac’s bear story, seen the scars on his arm. Everyone asked to see those scars whenever Isaac came into the Kicking Horse. His father had told him that.

Jeremy imagined himself trying to fight off a wild animal, but he didn’t think he’d be able to. He wasn’t good at fighting, not like Isaac was. That meant someone had to go with him, and he didn’t want anyone except Claire. She’d shoot anything that tried to hurt him, and he’d do the same for her. He’d brought his father’s gun from above the fridge and everything.

Pivoting at the foot of the bed, he went back toward the closet. How was he going to convince her? She wouldn’t leave Isaac behind, not willingly. He’d seen the way the two of them kissed when Isaac left the motel, heard the way she’d asked him to be careful.

She was in love.

But she couldn’t be all that much in love. She’d forgotten him once before, when she got back together with David. Isaac was just a stand-in for her husband. And why should he get David’s spot? Jeremy had loved Claire longer than anyone. He’d only been in second grade when some other boy pushed him off the swings and she came over to help him to the nurse’s office. Ever since then, he’d lived for her smile, her touch, even the sound of her voice.

If she went back to Pineview, she’d be killed, anyway. It wasn’t safe for her there. Look what had almost happened in the fire.

Jeremy couldn’t let her get hurt. He’d promised her mother he wouldn’t. He couldn’t stand the thought of it himself.

But if he took her with him, Isaac would come after them. Isaac wouldn’t let her go. And Jeremy would never be able to fight someone like Isaac. He’d seen what Isaac had done to anyone who bothered him, especially when they were in high school.

So—Jeremy returned to the window—what if Isaac couldn’t come after them? What if Les Weaver got rid of Isaac like he got rid of David?

Jeremy had heard his father on the phone, pleading with Les for it all to be over. He’d said he didn’t want anyone else hurt. But it didn’t matter what his father said because Les started the fire, anyway. He didn’t want to go to prison. He didn’t want to have his block knocked off, either. So he’d do anything. Even kill Isaac.

Jeremy understood. Because he’d do anything before he’d be raped in the butt—or dragged off to the cuckoo hospital. His father had told him too much about both places.

He’d do anything before he’d lose Claire, too.

He needed to call Les and tell him where Isaac was. That was what his father would do, wasn’t it? Yes. He’d done it before. Jeremy wasn’t sure Les would be close enough to fix anything. He lived far away. But if he set the fire, maybe he wasn’t so far away right now. Maybe he could get to Pineview in time.

Taking a deep breath, Jeremy crossed over to the phone. He had a lot of numbers in his head from all the messages he’d taken in the past week. But he knew one of them belonged to Les. And he knew which one. It started with three extra numbers.

A man picked up almost immediately.

“Is this Mr. Weaver?” Jeremy asked. He figured that was more polite than calling him Les.

“Who is this?”

He hadn’t spoken very clearly. He had his fingers in his mouth, chewing on his nails. He forced himself to stop. “Jeremy. Don Salter’s son.”

“What do you want? Where’s Don? I’ve been trying to reach him.”

Jeremy wondered if he had the right Mr. Weaver. “Are you Les?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes! Where’s Don?” he asked again.

His impatience reminded Jeremy of his father. “He’s dead.”

“What? How?”

“He killed himself. With a gun. But I have a message for you.”

“What kind of message?” He didn’t seem to care that Don was dead. He didn’t act all that surprised or ask any more about it. That didn’t make him a very nice friend.

“Isaac Morgan will be at our house soon. And he’ll be alone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He owned the cabin you burned down.”

“I didn’t burn anything down!”

Maybe he didn’t. Maybe he only shot David. Jeremy didn’t argue. He was getting too nervous. “Okay, well, anyway, no one else will be home.”

There was a long silence. “Are you kidding? This is like taking instructions from a ten-year-old! How can I trust you?”

“I’m just trying to help,” Jeremy said.

“Fuck!” he screamed, and hung up.

“That’s a bad word,” Jeremy said, but there was no one to hear him.

By the time he put the receiver down, he was breathing hard. He didn’t want Isaac to be shot, to have his brains all over the wall Jeremy had just cleaned, but…he wouldn’t think of that. It would all be over soon. Then Isaac would be buried and he wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore. Jeremy had no choice. He had to leave now. Claire would get over Isaac. Once she understood that Isaac was dead, she’d have to get over him just like she’d gotten over David.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be your sweetheart,” he whispered.

The thought of finally touching her, of kissing her with his mouth open like Isaac, made Jeremy’s whole body tingle.

He’d only been able to dream about kissing her in the past. Now it would be real. And they’d be together forever.

He wouldn’t let her leave him like his parents had.

Claire sat up straight, feeling as if she’d been wide-awake all along. She heard a noise at the door, thought maybe it was Isaac. Even while she slept she’d worried about him, kept dreaming that he was in a car chase or a gunfight or lay bleeding somewhere and she couldn’t get to him.

“Isaac?” She was so eager to have him back with her, she got up and went to the door, although she knew he’d taken a key card.

“It’s me.” Jeremy. She frowned as she recognized his voice and peeked through the peephole to see a somewhat distorted view of his head.

What did he need now? He’d had such a hard time going to his own room when Isaac left. He hadn’t wanted to be alone, but Isaac wouldn’t let him stay in their room, and she was glad. He was acting so strange; it was starting to creep her out. The way he stared at her, how quickly he agreed with anything she said, how loudly he laughed at any joke, no matter how lame, she could usually tolerate. But something had changed…?. Still, Alana and Roni, as well as her father, had warned her not to mistreat him, even when she didn’t want him following her around, and she heard their voices in her head now. His life was hard enough, especially with some of the other kids’ cruelty. She didn’t want to be unkind.