She realized the line of chemicals on a nearby pallet would light up the place like the fourth of July. Her movements became frantic as she ran for a pallet of tarps, roll-out cloth covers, and carpeting they sometimes used at scenes. If she could just smother the flames . . . Sadie reached the bundle and tore at the binding with her fingers. She dragged a heavy bundle toward the fire. With a mighty heave she flung the roll of carpet at the fire and hit the flames dead-on. She went to work stomping the carpeting into the fire, but even as the rug began to effectively put out the flames, she was hit by the toxic smell of the rubber backing on the carpet melting into a noxious black cloud. Sadie’s lungs burned with the need for clean air, and she tried to make her way to the door. But before she could reach for the button to roll up the door, her legs gave way beneath her, and she collapsed in a heap on the hard concrete surface.
17
Sadie clawed at a hand trying to cover her face, even though a familiar voice was cooing words of comfort into her ear. She blinked her eyes open to a paramedic valiantly trying to press an oxygen mask to her face. Zack was there, kneeling next to her. He was speaking but Sadie couldn’t connect his words inside her muddled head. Still, Sadie felt such immediate relief when she saw him, it brought tears to her eyes.
She pushed the oxygen away.
“I’m okay,” she told the paramedic, but her voice came out cracked and raw.
“You’ve got smoke inhalation. We’re taking you to the hospital,” he told her firmly.
“Give me a second,” Sadie told him, sitting up and coughing but holding up a hand to block the mask. To Zack she said, “I guess it was a good thing I was on the phone with you. Thanks for calling it in.”
“You could’ve been killed,” he said, and he shifted his weight onto his good leg as he picked up her hand and pressed it to his mouth. “God, Sadie, that was close. Too close. What the hell’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Spontaneous combustion?” she asked, trying to think about it. “I always said we should keep the cleaning chemicals at a separate location.”
“It wasn’t the cleaning supplies. Someone tossed a Molotov cocktail inside the warehouse and then jammed the door so you couldn’t get out.”
“What?” But it was the last word to leave her lips before the oxygen mask was pressed over her mouth and nose, and she gave in to the wooziness in her head and closed her eyes.
It took a few hours but she finally got the okay to leave the hospital. Sadie dressed, got her personal belongings from the nurse, and headed out. She’d already arranged for a ride. Zack was the first person she saw when she stepped into the waiting room. He was sitting in one of the plastic chairs with his cell phone pressed to his ear. When he saw Sadie he immediately got to his feet and hobbled over.
“I thought they were going to keep you overnight,” he said.
“No. I’m fine. I thought you left.” She didn’t slow down in her walk toward the exit, and he had to practically drag his cast behind him to keep up.
Sadie pulled out her own cell phone and spoke quickly into the receiver. “I’m on my way out now,” she said, and then clicked the phone off.
Zack was talking fast and had an almost giddy undertone to his voice. “When we get home I’m going to order your favorite kung pao chicken from Wong’s while you soak in a bubble bath with a stiff drink.”
She winced because she knew she had to rip the bandage off quickly.
“You can’t stay at the house, Zack,” she said. “Not unless you agree to do something about your pill problem.”
“I keep telling you I’ll stop taking the pills as soon as my ankle’s healed.”
Zack reached to touch her cheek where a spark had caused an angry red blister on her face. Sadie pushed his hand away.
“Sorry. That’s not good enough.”
They were outside now, and Sadie stopped short and looked toward the parking lot. Within seconds a red Ford F-150 pickup pulled up to the curb. Detective Grayson hopped out and quickly came around to open the passenger door.
“Zack,” the detective said, offering him a curt nod.
“Floyd,” Zack replied, mimicking the same abrupt nod. Then to Sadie: “You asked him to drive you home?” Zack demanded, hooking a thumb in the direction of Floyd.
“Not home. Back to the warehouse to get the van,” Sadie remarked. “We were supposed to meet after I left the warehouse to go over a job I was working. Now we can discuss the job as he drives me.”
“Two birds with one stone and all that,” Floyd said to Zack as he opened the passenger door for Sadie. “You understand.”
Zack looked furiously from Sadie to Floyd. With a sigh Sadie stepped toward Zack and whispered in his ear.
“I’m sorry but this doesn’t change anything. Thank you for rescuing me. You’ve developed a habit of doing that but now, well, you’ve got to rescue yourself. You still have issues to work out, and until then, I don’t want you in my house. When I get back in an hour, I don’t want you there.”
Tough love. Sadie’s stomach knotted in pain and the hurt in Zack’s eyes crushed her, but she didn’t let him see that. Instead, she turned to Floyd and said, “Thanks for coming.” And she stepped forward and hopped into his truck.
Floyd slammed Sadie’s door shut, and once he was back behind the wheel Sadie offered him an embarrassed look,
“I am so sorry to put you in that position,” she said. “I thought he’d already left the hospital. I told him not to wait.”
“No problem.” He turned the key in the ignition and pulled away from the curb. “Sorry to hear about what happened at your warehouse, but I gotta admit I’m just glad you’ve got a real good reason for standing me up. I waited at Roxy’s for over an hour without eating. It just about killed me.” He chuckled lightly and reached over to pat her leg. His hand remained on her thigh a moment longer than necessary.
They drove back to the warehouse mostly in silence with Sadie speaking only to provide directions. When they were a few blocks from the facilities, Floyd interrupted Sadie’s thoughts.
“So-o-o,” he began. “You going to tell me what’s up with you and Bowman? I thought you two were, like, a sure thing but now I’m guessing that’s not the case.”
“It’s complicated,” Sadie said quickly, but then realized she owed him something as an explanation. “I guess you could say we broke up.” She smiled drily at that. “That sounds awfully high school for two people in their thirties, but I don’t know how else to say it.”
“Breaking up is the same no matter what the age,” Floyd said sagely. After a moment’s pause he added, “You should know that Bowman is gonna see this little drive as more than a slight betrayal. On account of our past, he figures I owe him. And he’s probably right.”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“His partner? The one he took the bullet for a few years back?”
“Yeah?”
“That was me.”
Oh, no! Sadie inwardly cringed.
“And I was the one Zack called to drive him to the recovery center after he’d traded his job and life for booze and pills.”
“I’ve put you in a lousy position,” she said. “I am so sorry.”
“It’s just a ride,” Floyd said, and shrugged. “He’s using again, isn’t he?”
Sadie just nodded.
“I can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice,” Floyd said. “That’s a real shame. How long?”
But Sadie couldn’t answer that question and was grateful she didn’t have to try. They were in front of Sadie’s burned-out warehouse now, and Floyd pulled around all the investigative fire team vehicles and managed to park his truck alongside the Scene-2-Clean van. They got out of Floyd’s truck and walked over to the van.
“I don’t think you’re going to be going anywhere in that van of yours, though.” The detective nodded toward Sadie’s company vehicle. It was where she’d left it, parked right outside the roll-up doors of her warehouse. It had obviou
sly suffered from being too close to the fire, or else the same accelerant had been poured along one side, which had melted from the heat. The rear tire was melted goo and the back fender was warped.
“Shit,” Sadie moaned. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”
Floyd and Sadie spent a few minutes discussing the situation with the fire investigation team, who told Sadie the vehicle wasn’t drivable and also needed for evidence.
“Well, this isn’t so bad after all,” Floyd said, walking Sadie back to his truck.
“It isn’t?” Sadie asked, thinking her life was about as bad as it could get.
“Nope, because here I was trying to figure out how to tactfully remind you that you weren’t getting out of our lunch date just with a simple case of smoke inhalation.” Humor creased the corners of his green eyes. “I’m hungry and, the way I see it, I might as well feed you since you’ve got nothing better to do anyway.”
“Nothing to do, huh?” Sadie laughed at the absurdity of his remark. “I have to call the insurance company, for the warehouse and for my van.” She glanced down at herself. “Not to mention the fact that what I’m wearing is a little charred as well as smoky.”
“So what? All of that can wait. Food is more important.”
As if to illustrate his point, Floyd’s stomach growled noisily.
Sadie burst out laughing. “Fine. Let’s go grab a sandwich.”
Sadie thought her appetite was long gone, but the smell of Roxy’s fresh bread and fixings had her mouth watering before they sat in one of the small booths. Floyd got a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and Sadie had a turkey club. Around mouthfuls of food they talked about casual things like the upcoming ’Hawks season and how they were going to show no mercy toward the Buffalo Bills. Eventually their conversation wound its way back to Ocean View School.
“I know you can’t discuss the case, but I heard rumors Murray Thompson, who’s got a kid in the third grade, was the one who killed Virgil Lalty.”
“Rumors, huh?” Floyd sipped his Budweiser and took another bite of his sandwich.
“Yeah.”
“Well, guess it doesn’t matter. We’re already closing in on Mr. Thompson. He was one of the first people we looked at. We connected visitors to the kiddie site with parents at the school, and his name cropped up.”
“Oh.”
Floyd nodded. “Most people don’t know this but a lot of pedophiles are just as happy with viewing pictures of kids at play. Girls swinging on swings with their little dresses fluttering in the air. Little boys on the monkey bars with their shorts riding a little high. Not porn but sick just the same, and there are a ton of sites raking in viewers to see these kids and pay for their own albums. Sickos are sending them close-ups of the innocent kids next door, and the seller rakes in dough while the perverts fantasize about destroying that innocence.”
Sadie shuddered. Floyd seemed to sense her discomfort and smoothly directed their conversation back to the Seahawks. They had cleaned every crumb from their overloaded plates and finished off their beers when Sadie realized she should be getting back home.
They continued their casual conversation in Floyd’s truck. It turned out the Seahawks were not the only interest they had in common. Floyd was a jogger who put in a dozen miles each week, and he also had a fondness for rabbits, since his sister’s kids had two Holland Lop bunnies as pets.
He pulled in Sadie’s driveway, and she was immensely relieved to find Zack’s Mustang wasn’t there. She sat in Floyd’s truck and their conversation continued, delving into gardening and house decorating, and Sadie was acutely conscious that she didn’t want their afternoon to end.
“Don’t suppose you’d like to come in and meet Hairy?” Sadie asked, nervously aware she was offering more than a chance to pet her rabbit.
“I’d like that,” Floyd replied, his voice was light but his eyes were dead serious.
Sadie let him in the front door, relieved she’d at least vacuumed and dusted the living room only that morning. Hairy hopped over to greet them and skidded humorously on the laminate as he tried to stop at Sadie’s feet. Sadie laughed.
“Detective Grayson, I’d like you to meet Hairy,” Sadie said formally as she scooped her rabbit up from the floor and lifted him up to Floyd. “Hairy, this is Detective Grayson. Be nice and he might be able to hook you up on a hot date with a couple of Holland Lops.”
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Hairy,” Floyd said. He took the rabbit from Sadie’s arms, stroked him gently on the back, and then placed the rabbit on the floor. When he straightened, he took a step closer to Sadie and took her hand in his. Bringing her wrist to his lips, he brushed a tender kiss on a small angry red patch that had been singed by the heat of the fire.
“I must look a mess,” Sadie said, her voice small. “I should have a shower.”
“You smell like a summer campfire,” he murmured against her forearm as he planted more kisses in a trail there. “And you’re so hot I could roast a marshmallow or two off your skin. Right here.” He leaned in and planted a warm kiss on her forearm. “And here.” He kissed a line along her collar-bone and up the side of her neck while Sadie bit her lower lip. “Oh, and definitely here.” His voice was husky with need as he kissed her ear, pulling the lobe gently into his mouth and sucking it for a second.
The smoke-tinged aroma around her was nothing compared to the inferno of need that roared inside Sadie’s belly. As she moaned softly, his lips found hers and Sadie melted her mouth against his.
It felt so good to feel something besides the pain of Zack’s betrayal and the agony of loss around her dad, but as good as Floyd’s kisses felt, she pushed him away.
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Floyd replied, clearing his throat. “Timing and all that, right?”
She nodded, and he kissed her chastely on the cheek before leaving her house. Sadie shut the door and then leaned back against it, blowing out a relieved breath.
“Damn. Damn. Double damn.”
Hairy hopped over and Sadie glared down at him. “Don’t look at me like that. This is all your fault. If you weren’t so desperate to meet those Holland Lops, I wouldn’t have invited him in. No yogurt treats for you.”
Sadie took a shower, and when she stepped out she heard her phone ringing. She answered the call in her bedroom.
“Oh, good, you’re home!” was Dawn’s response to Sadie’s hello.
“I, um, had a situation at my warehouse so I had to finish up my job early,” Sadie said quickly, cringing at the almost lie. “I was just going to call you.”
“Well, it’s a little late for lunch.” Dawn chuckled and Sadie squinted at her bedside clock that glowed just after seven. “But if you’ve got nothing else planned, how about coffee and cookies? I just baked your favorite, oatmeal chocolate chip.”
It sounded like a bribe, and Sadie began to wonder why her sister was so determined that they get together. Then she realized it might be her sibling’s way of hanging on to that connection they felt saying their so-called good-bye to their dad.
“I don’t really need cookies since I haven’t jogged in a couple days,” Sadie stated, trying to snap up the top button on her jeans. “But I can always use a cup of coffee, although maybe I should make it.” She pulled a long-sleeved tee over her head. “Do you need anything? Want me to stop at the store for milk or something?”
“John’s out doing our weekly shop now,” Dawn said.
Sadie heard Dylan begin to cry, and the sound quickly reached a crescendo.
“And Dylan should be going down for the night any minute.”
“I’ll see you in about half an hour,” Sadie promised, and disconnected.
She spent a few minutes filing paperwork and realized her home office answering machine had two messages from Principal Tu. The most recent call had come in just minutes ago, while Sadie was in the shower. She’d forgotten to call Tu back with an update as she’d promised.
Quickly
Sadie dialed the woman’s number. “Sorry I didn’t call you earlier,” Sadie told her when she picked up. “I had a crisis at my warehouse.”
“How is the school coming along?” Ms. Tu asked.
“Good. The drywaller and carpenter will be in touch with you. I have an air purifier still running, but we can meet tomorrow and I can go over everything with you.”
“Oh, good.” Ms. Tu sounded relieved. “The board wants to go through the school tomorrow afternoon, so it’ll be perfect timing if you and I can meet earlier.”
They arranged to meet at the school in the morning, and Sadie left her house to go to Dawn’s place.
18
When Sadie arrived at her sister’s house, the first thing she spotted was her mom’s car in the driveway. Sadie scowled angrily at the car. She didn’t like being ambushed. Then she thought maybe she should give Dawn the benefit of the doubt. It could be that Mom just popped in for an unexpected visit.
“Screw that idea,” Sadie mumbled to herself. Her mother had never popped in unexpectedly anywhere ever. She was a big believer in calling ahead. With both trepidation and resignation in her step, Sadie walked to the front of the house and rapped softly on the door.
“Hey, you made it!” Dawn exclaimed in an excited whisper.
“Dylan’s asleep?” Sadie asked.
“Yes, finally,” Dawn replied.
“Too bad, because I’d like to scream at you for inviting Mom over without telling me.”
“Mom, look who’s here,” Dawn called quietly over her shoulder, pulling Sadie roughly inside. “It’s Sadie.”
“So she didn’t know either?” Sadie asked. “Great. Just great. What’s this all about?”
“I’ll get your coffee,” Dawn said, ushering her into the living room. “Have a seat.”
Sadie sat down in a chair across from her mother. Mom sat on the sofa, looking at the ceiling, and then at the TV in the corner, and finally at her hands folded in her lap. Anywhere but at Sadie.
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