'Jesus Christ,' Wallace said. 'You're sure you found this in that house?'
'Sure as the day is twenty-four hours.'
Amanda said, 'You could just say yes, you know.'
'Yes,' I said. 'I'm sure.'
'And I saw Henry take it,' she added. 'And I can vouch for what we saw there.'
'We need to find out whose name that house is registered under,' Wallace said. 'We need to get the cops there to search the place. My goodness, if this is all true…'
'Does this mean I'm back on the story?' I asked.
'One step at a time, Parker,' he said. I knew this was as good as a yes. 'Right now, all we need to do is…'
Just then a loud commotion began outside the conference room. We turned around, could see cops running, grabbing equipment, heading out the door. They looked panicked.
'What the hell…?' Curt said.
We got up simultaneously and headed outside. Half a dozen cops jogged by us.
'What's going on?' Amanda asked nobody in particular. We saw the fat cop from earlier rushing past. Wallace managed to get his attention.
'Officer, what's going on?'
'Four-alarm blaze,' he said. 'Possible survivors trapped inside the building.'
'Oh, God,' Amanda said.
'Where?' Wallace asked.
'Not sure exactly,' the cop said. 'Somewhere off
Huntley Terrace.'
'Huntley Terrace,' Amanda said. 'Isn't that…?'
I nodded, a chill running through my blood. 'That's the street where we followed Petrovsky.'
Wallace stood rigid. 'Come on,' he said. There was urgency in his voice, but something else as well. Something scared.
We ran outside. Wallace led us to a brown Volvo. We piled in; he and Curt in the front, Amanda and I in the back.
He pulled out of the lot and followed the caravan of HCPD police cars as they peeled out, sirens blaring.
The silence in the car was deafening. Nobody wanting to state what was clearly on all our minds. What we were all praying wouldn't be true.
After several miles the caravan made a right onto
Huntley Terrace. Amanda nudged me. I nodded back to her.
I felt her hand take mine. And squeeze.
'This is where we were last night,' I said.
Wallace just drove.
A few miles along Huntley Terrace, we noticed the flashing lights multiply. I heard the familiar siren of a fire truck. Then the horrible stench of smoke filled the car, and we could see a thick, black cloud rising above the treeline.
We parked the car outside the road the cop cars had turned onto. There was a small wooden sign outside the gravel road that read '482.' It had been too dark to see any signs the other night. We got out and began to tentatively walk down the road to see what was going on. There was shouting, cursing, and there were more sirens on the way.
My heart was hammering in my chest. We all stayed close together. And then there they were. The same metal gates we'd climbed over last night. Beyond that the very house where we'd barely escaped with our lives.
Only now the house was engulfed in a horrific plumage of red flames. Burning that home right to the very ground.
24
The minivan pulled into the parking lot at a quarter to four in the afternoon. Caroline watched as Bob Reed pushed open the driver's-side door, then paused a moment to let the muscles in his arm and shoulder stretch. He gingerly stepped out one foot at a time, then threw his arms back in an exaggerated stretch, yawning at the top of his lungs.
The were outside of some sort of hotel or motel.
Caroline could see other people entering and exiting. She didn't know where they were or why they were here, only that Elaine and Bob had spent nearly the whole car ride in a chilly silence.
When Bob regained his composure, Elaine was out and opening the minivan's door. Caroline watched as Elaine unbuckled Patrick's seat belt, then picked her child up and held him fast in her arms. Caroline felt a longing as she watched this intimate act, and even though both Elaine and
Bob smothered her with kisses and presents, they always felt somewhat odd, forced. Last night, when Elaine entered her room with the curt instructions to get ready for a long car trip, Caroline didn't know what to think. She was too confused to be scared, and she hadn't been in that house long enough to really miss it. After placing Patrick on the ground, Elaine came around to her side. She stroked
Caroline's hair, her fingers gentle, and Caroline smiled at the warmth of her fingertips. She gently kissed Caroline's forehead, then turned her attention back outside.
'Mommy?' Patrick said.
'Hey, sweetie,' Elaine said. 'Did you have a good nap?'
Patrick nodded, then buried his face back in her shoulder as she leaned down. Elaine stroked his hair, that strawberry-blond lock that confused Caroline. Neither
Bob nor Elaine had red hair. She'd asked Elaine how they could have a boy with different color hair, and she just said,
God makes us all unique.
Elaine turned to Bob, who was digging a pack of gum from his pocket, and said, 'You want to get her?' Caroline assumed she was the 'her' being referred to.
Bob looked at Elaine, then turned toward the van, in no real rush to say yes. Caroline had noticed that Bob had become more and more reluctant to spend time with her over the past few days. In the beginning he came into her room often, even helped her set up that beautiful new dollhouse. But he'd withdrawn recently, and sometimes even seemed afraid to touch her.
Thankfully, the coughing fits had passed. Bob and
Elaine seemed relieved at this. Bob had said something strange that Caroline remembered.
We're supposed to take care of this girl, not kill her.
Elaine had marched out of the room, slammed the door and didn't speak to him until dinner. And now they were parked at some strange building, after having left that house in a matter of minutes.
With a great sigh, Bob went around to the passenger side, climbed in and unhooked Caroline from her harness.
His fingers weren't nearly as gentle, as if he were unpacking a box rather than handling a human being.
'Ow,' Caroline said as one of Bob's fingers accidentally jabbed her ribs.
'Christ, Bob, she's not a piece of meat,' Elaine reprimanded. 'Be careful.'
'Sorry,' he muttered.
'Honey, make sure to bring Boo Boo. You don't want to lose him.'
Caroline picked the small brown teddy bear off the seat and held it fast to her chest. That bear was the only thing she'd come with. Elaine had thrown together a bag of clothes, but the bear was the only thing she wanted.
It had a goofy smile and button eyes, fur that was soft to the touch. Out of all the presents the Reeds had bought her over the past few weeks, this was by far her favorite.
