Page 29 of Reaper
“The supper club?”
Her shoulders start to shake and my stomach drops.
“Not it, too?”
She shakes her head, but then nods. “It’s not as bad as the house, but it’s bad. To do the repairs properly, it’s probably best to also level it and start anew.”
A few more tears escape as I stared at her in shock. “How?”
Ma’s jaw hardens and her eyes flash in anger. “Both the firefighter and police chiefs were in earlier today. They found piles of what they thought were rags in multiple places around the house and the supper club. There were also heavy traces of accelerant in each spot. Riggs suspects that accelerant was sprayed on the walls of both buildings due to how fast thefires spread. They didn’t stand a chance, especially with how old they both were. Also… they suspect that the windows were all tampered with. That would explain why we couldn’t get the windows in Mom’s room open or why you couldn’t open the ones in your room. Riggs also found that our fire detectors were tampered with which explains why they never went off.” She takes a deep breath as she pauses, and it’s then that I realize the firefighter that got to me first must have told his chief that I was struggling to open my windows when he found me.
Anger builds in me as I fist the sheets. Who could have done this? And why? We all could have died tonight.
“We weren’t the only ones who were hurt tonight. There were five other fires, and ours wasn’t even the worst, but that’s only because we all survived.” She pauses again as she glances down, picking at her nails as she swallows thickly. “All of them were old buildings. Leyton’s Grocery, though that probably has the least amount of damage from what I’ve heard; the bar Khloe likes to go to a lot, The Dive; and then three other houses on the outskirts of town like ours—the Millers’, Adairs’, and Sharpes’.”
Realization hits me hard, and I lick my even drier lips as acid churns in my stomach. “And did you tell them that the Cox family has been pressuring all of us and a lot of the mom-and-pop businesses around town to sell to them so they can build their precious condominiums, strip malls, and resort?”
My mind goes to Aiden and Kelly, and even though I’m mostly over what they did to me, I still feel a pang of betrayal whenever I think about them or see them. They were married a few months after Aiden and I broke up on the fourth of July, and a month later, Kelly gave birth to their little girl.
Then Kelly had to go one step further and drive another knife into me. The fucking bitch named her daughter Grace. She knew that when I had a daughter in the future that I wanted toname her Grace. Once again, Kelly’s betrayal had stabbed clear through me.
However, things are not all happy in the Cox household. Just a few weeks ago, there were rumors circulating around town about Aiden and Kelly. That they fight all the time, and that Aiden is already back to his old tricks. If the rumors are to be believed, he’s already stepping out on Kelly. Or as Granny would say, chasing skirts.
Lately, whenever I see Kelly, she’s always dressed to the nines, wearing fancy jewels, expensive shoes and purses, but there are dark circles under her eyes, and her smiles are fake and forced. She’s fucking miserable, and a part of me rejoices in the fact that she didn’t get her happily ever after.
Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long for Kelly to hire a nanny for little Grace. Sadly, I know that it’s the nanny who’s raising Grace and not Kelly as she’s has never had a maternal bone in her body the entire time that I knew her. I just pray that her daughter turns out to be nothing like Kelly when she’s older.
“Yeah, I did,” Ma says in a hard voice, bringing me out of my thoughts and I internally shake myself. “So far, there is no evidence to show that any of them did it. They were all photographed last night at some gala up in Green Bay. Even Kelly and Grace,” she says with a sympathetic look.
Ignoring her sympathy, I frown. “Except Richard has so many people in his pockets that he could have easily paid people off to set all those fires. Hell, he probably told them to tamper with the windows to so that we all died and then he could sweep in and buy our land.” My throat tightens as I once again realize how close we came to dying, and it tightens further as another thought suddenly hits me. “No one... died... tonight. Did they?”
Ma’s gaze lowers and I swallow down the bile that rises. “Who?” I ask, but as the words leave my mouth, I rememberher telling me earlier that ours wasn’t the worst since we all survived.
“The manager at The Dive, Ricky, ended up succumbing to his injuries. He got everyone out, but at the cost of his own life. Bill Sharpe also succumbed to his injuries. Edna was also badly burned, but not as badly as Bill. However, with how close those two were, I wouldn’t be surprised if she lets go soon to join him. A few other people had minor injuries and burns. Your burns and injuries are the worst among the survivors, with Edna’s being next.”
My heart breaks at that. Bill and Edna were relationship goals, along with my own grandparents. But I could definitely see Edna not wanting to live if Bill had passed on. I just don’t know if her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids will be enough pull to keep her here among the living or not. My mind goes to Granny at that thought. Even knowing how much they loved each other, Granny would never let Pappy’s death be what pulled her to the grave. Granny is the most stubborn woman I have ever met. If she doesn’t want to do something. She. Will. Not. Do. It.
Closing my eyes, I grieve for my old friends. Ricky Valentine, not that that was his real last name, of course, it was Merser, but that’s what he told everyone. Bill and Edna. And the firefighter that I still don’t know the name of. At that, my eyes, er eye, flies open again.
“Wait. The firefighter that saved me. How is he?”
Once again, Ma looks away briefly before looking down at her nails and sniffling. “I heard from his mom that the blow to his head caused him temporary deafness. Or at least, they say it should be temporary.”
My chest tightens and I can’t stop the sobs that come forward.
He was hurt saving me.
I also know enough to know that if a firefighter can’t hear, then he can’t be a firefighter anymore.
Ma’s arms gently wrap around me and she holds me as I sob.
Because of me, someone else was injured and will most likely end up losing his job. God, he’s going to hate and despise me. Both him and his family. I’m almost sure of it.
Chapter 13
Lark
OneMonthLater~October 7th, 2022
