Page 63 of What We Keep
“Oh, I’m sure it’s something in the kitchen.” She peered into the kitchen, turning to glance over the waist-high door. “Huh, don’t see anything.”
As my gaze arced about the space, I noticed smoke seeping through one of the vents to the upstairs.
“Where are the stairs?” I practically barked out. “And we need to—” The smoke alarms began blaring. “Get everybody out. Now. Who’s upstairs?”
“Janet, I think. I don’t know!” Casey spun in a circle.
“You get everybody out. Where are the stairs?”
Casey pointed me toward the back, and I bolted, rushing around the counter into the kitchen.
“Stairs!” I called to Luna, who looked at me with wide eyes. “Help Casey make sure everybody gets out of here. I think there’s a fire upstairs.”
The smoke was thick in the stairwell as I dashed up.
“Janet!” I called when I heard her coughing as I crested the top of the stairs.
“I’m fine!” she yelled out.
I strode quickly down the short hallway up there. The smoke was thick and hot. I scooped Janet into my arms. “Wait!” she demanded.
“We can wait after I get you out of here.” I shouldered my way down the narrow hallway and down the stairs.
Once I set her on her feet outside, she looked up at me, her eyes wide with worry. “My cat! I?—”
“Where’s your cat?” I asked as I passed her over to the EMTs, who must’ve zoomed down here from the station. Considering they were housed less than half a mile away, it was possible.
“In my office in the back,” Janet said between coughs.
I turned right back around and went in. No one else was left inside, which meant Luna and Casey had hustled everyone out. Thank God.
Blessedly, wherever the hell this cat was, it had things to say and was meowing wildly, its annoyance clear. I found the cat pressed up against a window in a tiny office at the back of the upstairs. I scooped the cat into my arms. I could barely breathe. The smoke was thick and the heat intense as I raced down the hallway again.
When I got outside and Janet saw her cat, her eyes welled with tears.
“He’s not thrilled with the situation,” I said.
Janet wiped at her tears while Dana, the EMT, continued checking her over.
“He seems fine,” I offered. I glanced toward Firehouse Café while Janet focused on her cat.
“She’s good to go,” Dana offered.
I glanced at Dana. “Pretty sure Janet is indestructible.”
Janet glanced between us. “Of course I am.”
“They’re going to put the fire out, but there will be some damage,” I commented, glancing over at the town’s fire truck. The local crew was fast at work, containing the fire.
“All these years, and I’ve been so lucky.” Janet sighed as she stroked her cat.
“What do you mean?”
“No kitchen fires, nothing. And now this.”
“Do you know what started it?” I asked.
She shook her head. Dana had rounded the ambulance to check on something in the front, and I rested a hand on the back door as I studied Janet. “You’re feeling okay?”
