Tender Is The Night(48)

"Lindsay," Eileen called. "Where are you?"

Lindsay? It was the first time Eileen had said her daughter's first  name, and Kate's stomach churned. Lindsay was the name of the girl in  the St. Bernadette's yearbook.

As Eileen headed toward a dark hallway, the front door slammed shut.

Kate whirled around to see a slender brunette in her mid-twenties,  standing in front of the door that she'd now dead-bolted shut. In one  hand was a long match. In the other was a box with more matches.         

     



 

Kate's heart leapt into her throat.

"Lindsay," Eileen said, coming back into the living room. She saw her  daughter with the match and froze. "My God, what are you doing?"

Everything suddenly clicked into place for Kate.

Lindsay was friends with Baines.

Lindsay was Eileen's daughter.

Lindsay was the arsonist.

"It was you," Kate said. "You set the fires."

"What are you talking about?" Eileen asked, her gaze moving from Kate to  Lindsay. "Lindsay, what is she talking about?" She started toward her  daughter, but Lindsay motioned her back.

"Don't move," Lindsay said.

"I don't understand. Lindsay, what are you doing?" Eileen asked.

"I'm going to burn the apartment down. Isn't it obvious? Our beautiful  home is going to explode and burn to the ground, and we're going to be  in it when it happens." Her gaze moved to Kate. "You escaped last  night's fire. You won't be so lucky today."

"Lindsay," her mother said. "This is crazy."

"Well, I'm crazy. And you know why, so you can stop acting surprised."

"I don't know why." Eileen looked at Kate. "I don't know what's going on."

"Lindsay set all the fires," Kate said, her gaze on Lindsay's stoic, cold eyes. "Why did you do it, Lindsay?"

"Because I had to escape from him."

"From who?" Kate asked.

"My father, of course."

"Oh, Lindsay," Eileen said in a pleading voice. "I told you that I didn't know he hurt you, that I was sorry."

"Actually, you never said that, Mother. You said you thought I  misunderstood. You said sometimes Dad does things he doesn't mean to  when he gets drunk. You said you would have done something if you'd  known. But that isn't true. You always knew. You just didn't want to  admit it."

"I didn't know. I swear it. I told you that when you talked to me after he died. I wish you had come to me sooner."

"When would I have done that? You were gone all the time. And when you  went to meet your clients at night, he would come into my room. He would  tell me that I had to make him happy, because you were gone. You liked  historical houses more than him, more than me, so we had to take care of  each other." Lindsay drew in a breath. "He abused me for years, and no  one would listen to me."

Lindsay's wavering voice gave Kate hope. If she could keep the young  woman talking, maybe she could distract her and take her down before she  could light the match in her hand. But while she had no doubt she could  overpower Lindsay, she was worried she wouldn't be fast enough, that  the flames would hit the gasoline and injure Eileen and possibly all of  them before they could get out.

Devin would come as soon as he got her text. She had to give him time to get there.

"The peace sign," she said, interrupting their conversation. "I saw it  in the window of the bookstore across the street. Is that where you got  the idea for the fire pattern?"

Lindsay's gaze swung to her. "I looked at that neon sign every night  when he was in my room. Peace. I wanted that peace. But I didn't know  how to get it. I went to the counselor at school. I told her my father  was doing things he shouldn't, and she said she'd call my mother, and  she'd call the police. But she didn't call anyone. She left for  maternity leave. She went to have her baby while I was being hurt."

"Was that Marion Baker?"

"No, it was the other one."

"Is that why you set the first fire at a school?"

"Yes," Lindsay said. "I knew you were figuring it out when that guy  chased me away from the rec center fire. How did you know I was going to  go there?"

"We knew it had to be one of a few buildings within that area. Did you  try to get help from someone at a community center, Lindsay?"

The girl nodded. "But I couldn't ask them, because there were other kids  around, and I didn't want anyone to know. I tried to hint, but they  didn't get it. I didn't have any way out of my horrible life. I was  burning up inside. And then one day my friend was playing around with  matches, and he started a fire in a wastebasket, and in those flames, I  saw the papers crumple into ashes, and I thought I could do that, too. I  could make that happen. I knew I wasn't going to escape unless he went  away."

"Oh, my God," Eileen breathed, her hand going to her mouth. "No,  Lindsay. You weren't home that night. You were at your friend's house."

"For some of the night, I was. I waited until he got drunk and passed  out, and then I came back, and I lit the apartment on fire. I watched  him burn, and I felt the most incredible release. Everything was gone.  All the pain, all the anger. I was free. And he was dead. It was the  best night of my life."         

     



 

Eileen looked like she was going to pass out. "They said it was cigarettes. He was smoking on the couch."

"He was always smoking on the couch. It was easy to make it look like that."

"Did Rick teach you how to set fires?" Kate asked, stunned to hear  Lindsay confess to killing her father. The fires had started much  earlier than she and Devin had imagined.

Lindsay nodded. "Rick wasn't supposed to die, but he wanted to be a  hero. He figured out what I was doing, and he wanted to stop me so the  fire department would let him in. He told that FBI agent where I was  going to go next. I had to take them both down."

"So now you're going to kill me?" Eileen asked in shock. "I'm your mother. I love you. I want to get you help."

"You never wanted to before."

"I didn't know," Eileen said in a broken voice. "I swear it. I didn't know."

"You're really good at lying to yourself. All these years, I kept  waiting for you to notice that the fires were hitting all your  buildings, but you never did. You thought it was Gerilyn's husband."

Kate was beginning to realize that every fire had been a call for help.  Lindsay had wanted her mother's attention, and she'd finally gotten it.

"The fires started five years ago," Kate said. "Or is that not true? Were there others before?"

"I thought I could stop after he died. It was better for a while. I went  away to school. I thought I could be normal. No one would ever know.  But after I graduated, after I came back, and I saw her with another  guy, another guy who looked at me the way he did-"

"Who?" Eileen broke in. "You're not talking about Jeff, are you? He didn't touch you."

"I didn't give him the chance. Once that house burned down that you were both working on, he left town."

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"You're not going to have time to be sick, Mother," Lindsay said in a  harsh, unforgiving voice. "And you don't even know what it feels like to  be really sick, to puke your guts out, because your own father is  hurting you."

Lindsay lit the match with one quick strike.

"Lindsay, you were abused. You need help," Kate said. "You don't need to set any more fires, or hurt any more people."

"It's too late for me. I killed Rick and that woman. I tried to stop  after that, but I couldn't. The pain just got to be too much. The only  thing that makes it go away is fire." She lifted the lit match in front  of her eyes.

Kate suddenly realized that Lindsay didn't just want to kill her mother; she wanted to kill herself.

"It ends now," Lindsay said. "It ends where it started. Then I'll finally have peace."

"Wait," Kate said. "Tell me about the St. Christopher medal. Why did you leave it at the fires?"

"St. Christopher?" Eileen muttered.

Lindsay looked at her mom. "Why don't you tell her?"

"Someone tell me," Kate said.

Lindsay's gaze swung back to her. "He wore it around his neck. It would  hit me in the face when he got on top of me." She looked down at the  match, the flame nearing her fingers. "St. Christopher never protected  me."

Devin's voice suddenly rang through the air. He was in the hall.

"Open up, Lindsay," he said, pounding against the wood.

Kate's heart jumped in relief. Devin had come.

"Of course he came to rescue you," Lindsay said. "I watched you together  at the book signing. He looked at you like he loved you. But he's not  going to be able to get through the door in time. Maybe you can try to  stop me, but you won't be able to get out before the fire starts. You  should say good-bye. You have about one second."