Snippet #2784463

Anna fought back the urge to grip at the boy's arm, to shake him into clarity, as if that might give her better answers. But even what little he recollected raised questions. How large could the building have been, for him to not find the girl? How had the rest of her family died so swiftly, if the smoke was not so thick to kill the boy himself when he entered the building? But if the girl had not been home during the fire, surely she would have appeared...

But why had the Dogs questioned him in the first place? What had spurred them to investigate the fire? Anna could see suspicions in the event, but the further question was what had driven them to judge it more worthy than the mission they had already been given, even in passing if they'd only intended to spend a short time in town before continuing on. And if so, what had stolen them away so swiftly?

"Richard, do you remember how long the fire was burning before you went inside?" She asked with a feigned smile to the boy, before her gaze flicked up to Margaret, for her to ask any lingering questions of him.