The Unburned

Elliot Marsh, who writes for men the state is about to kill, is assigned Dell Kroft, sentenced for a house fire that killed six members of one family. Kroft speaks of heat as if it were music, yet never of that house.

Only the eldest daughter survived, away on the night shift. Convinced she should have died with them, she has bought a seventh plot beside the six graves. It’s hers.

But this case is personal: fire has already found Elliot. At a fatal fire, a stranger signs the cause “accidental” and hands him a card from the ashes. It is his, with his address on the back in someone else’s hand. Then, at 3:10 a.m., he wakes to his heater on high, unsure whether he touched the dial.

A sergeant shows him the stranger’s license number, and Elliot sets out to learn who the man works for. That night a car idles in his lot. Nobody gets out.