I blast the extinguisher until it runs out. Can’t see anybody inside. I toss the extinguisher down and grab the door handle. Scalding hot. I pull on it anyway. The door falls open. I lean into the front seat, feel blindly with my hands.
I feel something solid and wet. The smoke clears just enough to reveal a body. Or what’s left of a body. Broken. Bloody. Torn apart.
The sleeve on one arm is blown back.
I see a tattoo, barely scorched.
“Anna!”
Lights and sirens surround me. Firefighters jump off their rigs with huge extinguishers. A paramedic runs over and slings his backpack down alongside the car. He elbows past me. “Out of the way, please!”
I hold him back and shake my head. “No. It’s no use. She’s DRT.”
Dead right there.
CHAPTER 83
I’M SITTING ON MY back steps, holding Willow tight.
She’s still in her pj’s, her head buried in my chest.
The smoke has mostly cleared. But horrible smells hang in the air. Yellow tape runs all around my yard.
My home, my castle, my refuge.
Now a crime scene.
The street is jammed with fire apparatus, police cruisers, a bomb squad truck, and a bunch of unmarked vehicles with flashing lights in their radiator grilles.
And a coroner’s van.
I didn’t watch when they took her out of the car. I couldn’t.
I’m thinking about the way she was last night. Sitting at the picnic table right over there. Smiling, laughing, watching our kids play.
In a little while, I’ll have to go to Anna’s house and tell her two beautiful children that their mom isn’t coming home. Not ever.
“John! John!”
I look up. Bree Stone is just outside the yellow tape.
I stand up and wave her through. She comes over, gives me a quick hug, then wraps herself around Willow.
“Aunt Bree,” Willow says, sobbing. “It was so scary.”
Bree squeezes her tight. “I know, I know. But you’re safe now. I promise. Why don’t you go upstairs, get your clothes and your backpack, and come home with me again, okay? Nana Mama misses you already. Ali and Jannie too.”
Willow looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “Is that okay, Daddy?”
I nod. “Absolutely.”
An officer comes over and escorts Willow into the house.
Bree gives me another hug, a longer one this time. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Not true. “Thanks for coming over.”
“I came the second I heard.”
