Page 129 of Forever Dark
“It has nothing to do with this!”Finally, a reaction.
First defensive answer.Quick enough to be honest maybe.Or rehearsed from years of private shame.
“I never said it does.”
“Well, it doesn’t.”
Connor straightened a little and looked around.He knew he was tall.Sometimes that was enough to add a little pressure on a suspect.He took one step closer, not enough to crowd Nolan, enough to make him feel helpless.
“What happened with the fire?”
“Nothing.”
“Doesn’t Elias tell you to never lie?”
Pruitt’s jaw worked once.“It was a house.”
“Whose house?”
Silence.
Connor waited.
At length Pruitt said, “Nobody died.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It was a long time ago.”
“So was the Civil War.People still talk about it.”
That earned him the faintest flare of irritation from the other man, which was useful.Irritated people got sloppier than frightened ones.
“I was a kid,” Pruitt said.“Trouble happened.It got handled.What the hell does this have to do with anything?”
“What kind of trouble?”
Pruitt looked up at last.Fear lived in his face now, yes, but so did something else Connor couldn’t yet name.Not guilt exactly.Something bruised and hidden and old.
“It has nothing to do with this!”he repeated.
“Maybe not.”Connor closed the notebook without writing anything more.“But if you think of it, we’re homing in on someone attached to the revival as the killer.Previous for burning down a building might be seen as early distrustful behavior that could later escalate into violence.You understand why I’m interested in that, don’t you?”
Pruitt stood from the bed because sitting seemed unbearable now.He took two steps toward the keyboard, stopped, and put both hands on the stand as if steadying it.
“I play music,” he said.“That’s what I do.I keep to myself.I had nothing to do with those women.I’m not good at talking to people.Never have been.”
“Preacher Croft does enough of that for both of you, I guess?”
A bitter little smile touched Pruitt’s mouth and disappeared.“I suppose so.”
Connor followed the thread.“You comfortable behind an instrument?”
“Yes.”
“More than with people?”
“Yes.”
