He flicked his hand. “He got her out.”
“But…?”
“A beam fell in my path. I—” He swallowed. “He saw. He waved, and then he left.”
My stomach bottomed out. “Left you there to die?”
“I don’t—” He closed his eyes. “Maybe he was waving that he’d send someone in, right?”
I didn’t—for even a scintilla of a second—believe that. Still, I couldn’t know what had been in Marlon’s mind. In his heart. “But you got out.”
“More debris fell on my head and I think Ipassed out.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah. But Miriam and Toby got me out. Or at least that’s what the paramedic said. Leda. Yappy woman. Insisted on talking the entire time.”
“Because she needed you to stay conscious?”
He wrinkled his nose. “I suppose.”
“And you did?”
“Yeah.”
“Did they scan your head?”
“Yeah.”
I waited for more—but nothing was forthcoming.
“Have you seen the doctor?”
“Concussion.”
“Yikes. I’ve never had one.”
“This is my second.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah…second in nine months.”
That had me sitting up straighter.
Slowly, he nodded. “I don’t know if I was blessed before or am cursed now.”
“I’m always hesitant to use the wordcursed.Maybe…unlucky?” I continued to grip his hand. “But there’s more to this story, isn’t there?”
“Yeah. That last concussion? We shouldn’t have been in that mess in the first place. It’s complicated—” He sighed. “Firefighting’s dangerous. I get that…but that shouldn’t have happened, and today shouldn’t have happened either.”
“Marlon?”
“Today? Yeah? Maybe? Giancarlo screwed up in February. But not intentional, right? And a kid died and maybe that’s why he turned to drugs? Maybe?”
“I don’t know. Have you told anyone about this?”
His eyes grew wide. “If I tell Chief, Marlon’s just going to deny it. Say I misunderstood…or made it up or some shit.”
