Page 83 of Grounded
On the car ride over, Beulah prayed aloud, “Dear God, please keep everyone safe.”
Annie prepared herself to see the house in a smoldering pile of stones, but when they arrived, she could see the flames were contained in the second-floor room.
“It might be saved,” her grandmother said, telling Annie she had prepared herself for the same thing.
A water truck was parked in front of the house with two hoses attached. Men were pulling the hoses off the side of the truck to position them according to the directions of one of the firefighters. Annie’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Jake, in jeans and a T-shirt, his muscles glistening with sweat from the heat. He worked alongside the men holding the hose as water surged in an arc to the fiery hole in the roof. Joe was there too, helping to feed the hose so they could move in any direction needed.
Annie could feel the intensity of the flames, even from the safe distance where they parked. The men were much closer, taking the brunt of the heat. Steam rose from the house as water doused the wood rafters. Annie watched, mesmerized. The roof over the second-floor room was completely gone, giving it an eerie look under the bright spotlights. Was Stella inside?
Betty met them at the car.
“Joe saw it just as it started,” Betty said, her white teeth glowing in the firelight and a bead of sweat on her nose. “He was faced toward the house while Jake was pulling the calf.”
“Tell Beulah what you saw, Joe,” Betty said as Joe joined them.
“We were near the fence between you and Evelyn when I noticed flames licking up inside the upstairs window.”
“And you didn’t see Ms. Hawkins?” her grandmother asked, her voice getting hoarse.
“Her car is gone,” Annie said.
“Looks like they’re about to get in. Then we can see what’s what,” Joe said.
“Joe Gibson, don’t you go in there,” Betty called after him.
“Lord Jesus, please let every living thing be out of that inferno,” Beulah prayed aloud.
“Amen,” said Betty.
A state police car pulled up. Detective Jeb Harris got out. “Everybody all right?” he asked.
“Jeb, we’re all white-eyed!” Betty said.
He addressed Beulah. “When I heard it was your place, I called in to see if anything came up on those plates. One of the boys ran them while I waited. The car is registered to Stella Hawkins, Chicago, Illinois. She’s a missing person.”
“What do you mean?” Annie said. “Did she do something wrong?”
“We don’t know yet. We have a call into the Chicago PD to get more details. First and foremost, we want to make sure she’s not in the house. Let me talk to the chief over here and see how things are coming,” Jeb said, making his way over to an older man in a fire hat and large coat.
The men were making headway with the fire, and in a few minutes, they had it out. A spotlight shone on the house from the fire truck, lighting the way for the men as they worked. In the place of licking flames up to the heavens, a smoldering billow of smoke drifted upward and the stench of water-soaked burned wood filled the air. The house would survive this night, but not without significant damage.
A generator powered two spotlights that shone on the site and when Annie saw Jake go into the house with two other men, her heart lurched, feeling the same fear Betty expressed. Was it safe? Even though the fire was in the upstairs room, couldn’t timbers fall and hurt someone downstairs? Annie chewed on her lip until she saw Jake follow another man out the door a minute later. Across the span of the yard, their eyes met. He turned to one of the men and said something, then walked toward them. Annie noticed his shirt was soaked through with sweat, soot smeared his forehead and his dark hair curled around his temples.
“Jake, did they find anybody?” Betty spit out the question on all their minds.
Jake took a deep breath. “Nothing yet, but it’s too soon to tell. They’re going to put a guard out here and leave it until morning.”
“We’ll go on back to the house and put on some coffee. Tell the men to come by as soon as they finish,” Beulah said.
“I’m sure they’ll appreciate that,” Jake said. He nodded at Annie and turned back to the house. Her legs felt like butter and she sunk back into the driver’s seat of the car.
Back at the house, Betty put on a kettle for tea and made two pots of coffee. Jake came in with two of the firemen and it took everything Annie had not to go to him. Instead, she filled his coffee cup, black as she knew he liked it, and handed it to him without a word.
The conversation went on in subdued tones with her grandmother sitting at the kitchen table, her leg stretched out on an empty chair.
“Too hot tonight ….”
“Good sign we didn’t find anything so far ….”
