Afterward, he’d go outside, sit on the deck, and stare at the mountains, keeping everything inside, feeling it all build with volcanic tension as he drank one beer after another while he’d demanded God tell him why they had been subjected to so much pain.

One night, before he’d stumbled into bed, he sensed an answer taking shape but before he could seize it, and understand it, it had slipped away, just as he was slipping away, bit by bit.

For with each passing day, Fortin felt he was losing his grip on his life. That fear was hammered home the time he got a call to go to the old Dolan place. Someone had broken into the house and had stolen several items while the Jansen family had been away. When Fortin had first gotten the call he was apprehensive.

Then he grew reluctant to take it.

“What about Timchuk? Can he take it?” he’d asked Control.

“Negative, he’s got court duty in Pincher Creek.”

“McKenzie?”

“He’s assisting on that tractor trailer rollover near Coutts.”

Fortin caught his bottom lip between his teeth then responded.

“Ten four, I’ve got it.”

Fortin adjusted his grip on the wheel and headed for the Big Diamond Farm. He hadn’t set foot on the property since that night and shuddered with a piercing, icy rush when he’d pulled into the driveway.

Peter Jansen was waiting for him, standing on the porch, in the exact spot Lyle Dolan had stood when they’d fired upon each other. Instinctively, before he’d gotten out of his car, Fortin ensured that he could see both of Jansen’s hands and that no one else was standing near him.

“Thanks for coming,” Jansen greeted him. “I’ll take you around the back of the house and show you how they got in.”

It was a rear window on the main floor. The screen had been torn away. The frame was splintered where the window had been forced open.

“They probably used a crowbar. Don’t you think?” Jansen said.

Fortin took pictures with his camera and made notes on his clipboard.

“It happened when we were in Lethbridge at the mall with the girls. No one was home and likely no one saw. After this, we’re going to get a dog and a security system. Let’s go inside.”

Fortin had to work on dealing with the present while battling with thoughts and emotions that were dragging him back to that night. It’s not the same house, he told himself. He’d walked across the porch, the porch where Lyle, Billy, and Daisy Dolan had laid dead while little Lori had tugged at the bodies of her brother and sister.

“Billy, wake up! Daisy, wake up!”