He opened the back door.
"Hey!"
A figure turned.
For one moment, Walter saw a face illuminated by the porch light.
Then the man ran.
Walter shouted.
"Get off my property!"
The figure disappeared into the darkness.
A second later, flames appeared near the barn.
Walter froze.
Then he understood.
Fire.
He grabbed the extinguisher near the kitchen door and ran outside.
Sarah was already calling emergency services.
The flames spread quickly along the wooden siding.
Walter directed the extinguisher toward the base of the fire.
But the wind pushed the flames upward.
Duke barked furiously.
"Get back!" Walter shouted.
He tried to reach the barn door.
Then he heard Sarah screaming.
"DAD!"
A burning piece of wood fell from the roof.
Walter jumped backward.
His foot slipped in the mud.
He fell hard against the ground.
Pain shot through his hip.
The extinguisher rolled away.
The fire grew.
Then headlights appeared along the driveway.
Motorcycles.
The Iron Vultures.
Gabriel was first.
He jumped off his bike and ran toward Walter.
"Are you hurt?"
"My hip."
"Can you move?"
"Get the fire!"
Gabriel shouted for Doc.
The riders immediately began organizing themselves.
Some moved the vehicles away from the barn.
Others brought the garden hoses.
One called the fire department again to confirm the location.
Nobody entered the burning building.
They concentrated on preventing the flames from spreading to the farmhouse.
Within minutes, the first fire engine arrived.
The firefighters took control.
Gabriel helped Walter to his feet.
Sarah rushed toward them.
"You're bleeding!"
Walter looked down.
A cut above his eyebrow was running with blood.
"Nothing serious."
Sarah grabbed his arm.
"Don't say that!"
Walter looked at her.
Then he noticed the fear in her face.
"I'm all right, sweetheart."
She began crying.
Gabriel turned toward the barn.
His expression was dark.
"Somebody did this deliberately."
Walter nodded.
"Yes."
A firefighter approached.
"We've contained the fire, but the barn has suffered significant damage."
Walter looked at the building.
The roof was partially collapsed.
The old tractor was still inside.
So were Eleanor's gardening tools.
And several boxes of photographs.
He felt something inside him break.
Not because of the money.
Not because of the damage.
Because the barn had been the last place where he could still hear his father's voice in his memory.
He stood silently.
Sarah held his hand.
Sheriff Carter arrived twenty minutes later.
She examined the scene.
A firefighter pointed out a container found near the barn.
It smelled strongly of gasoline.
Another officer found tire tracks near the eastern fence.
Evelyn looked at Walter.
"Did you see anyone?"
"Two figures."
"Could you identify them?"
"One of them looked familiar."
"Who?"
Walter hesitated.
Then he said:
"Martin Shaw."
Gabriel turned sharply.
"You're sure?"
"No. But I think so."
Evelyn wrote it down.
"Did you see the vehicle?"
"Not clearly."
The sheriff examined the ground.
"All right. We're going to preserve the area and collect evidence."
Gabriel looked toward the burned barn.
"This has gone far enough."
Evelyn turned.
"Mr. Callahan."
"I know what you're going to say."
"Then say it before I have to."
He took a breath.
"We're not going after anybody."
"Good."
"But we're not leaving Walter alone."
"That's reasonable."
Sarah looked at the sheriff.
"Can they do this?"
Evelyn nodded.
"We can arrange additional patrols. But I also want your father to stay somewhere secure until we know more."
Walter shook his head.
"I'm not leaving."
Sarah looked at him.
"Dad."
"I won't."
Evelyn studied him.
"Mr. Briggs, this is no longer just a property dispute. Someone has attempted to intimidate you through an act of arson."
Walter looked toward the barn.
"I know."
"Please let us protect you."
He finally nodded.
"All right."
The next day, the county fire investigator confirmed that the fire had been deliberately started.
The accelerant had been poured near the rear entrance.
Investigators also recovered a piece of black plastic believed to have come from a vehicle's fuel container.
A camera belonging to a nearby farm had captured a dark SUV traveling along the road shortly before the fire began.
The image was blurry.
But the vehicle appeared to match Victor Hale's.
Evelyn arranged for the footage to be examined.
Meanwhile, Walter was staying temporarily in a guest room at the Iron Vultures' clubhouse.
He hated it.
Not because the riders were unfriendly.
Quite the opposite.
Doc brought him breakfast.
Tommy helped him arrange his medications.
A young member named Ethan offered to take Duke for a walk.
Everyone treated him with respect.
But Walter missed his kitchen.
He missed the view of the orchard.
He missed sitting beside the fireplace with Eleanor's photograph.
Most of all, he missed feeling that he was in control of his own life.
On Tuesday morning, Gabriel found him sitting alone.
"Can't sleep?"