I watched Mr. Warren, my eyes unfocused and my mind reeling. Who would do something like this to me?
“Which is why I’m here,” Detective Kent interjected. “I need to ask you a couple of questions.”
I nodded, not able to get words from my brain to my mouth.
The detective sat up straighter and readied his pen. “For starters, you said when you first woke up you remembered your fire alarm hadn’t gone off. Did you service it recently or was it malfunctioning at all?”
I immediately shook my head to the second question and finally formed the words I needed to. “No, it never malfunctioned. I don’t know if either of you know this but my dad was Chief Aaron Harding for Station 8 for almost two decades. He taught me proper fire safety, and fire alarms were no joke in our family. I changed the batteries regularly and always tested it afterward. It should’ve worked.”
The detective wrote as I talked. “So you also think it’s possible it was tampered with?”
I nodded. “It had to be. If someone intentionally set that fire then they would want to make sure I didn’t wake up in time. I had a long shift at the hospital and was dead on my feet, but I’m a light sleeper when it comes to noise. It wasn’t until I was choking on smoke that I woke up.”
He jotted that down. “Do you have a pretty regular schedule at the hospital?”
Again, I nodded. “I’m not an on-call nurse. I have set hours that rarely change because my patients have strict routines. I don’t often miss work so, yes, my schedule is regular and routine.”
Detective Kent’s brows furrowed. “It’s entirely possible whoever did this knew your work schedule. Did you smell gas when you came home?”
I shook my head no. “Not a single thing was off. I did my usual thing of letting my cat out, then going to bed after he’d had his nightly romp around the back yard. I locked all the doors and there are decorative metal bars on all the windows so those are never locked.”
He wrote some more. “Then this assailant had to have come in while you were sleeping, dump the gas, then light it and get out before you even knew he was there. The fire alarm could’ve been tampered with at any time, meaning it’s also possible this person either had a key to your home or knew how to pick locks.”
It was then I remembered something. “My back sliding door was unlocked when I got home.”
The detective wrote that down. “You’re sure you didn’t leave it unlocked by accident?”
“Positive. I was too tired at the time to really think about it, but I definitely remember locking it before going to work and after I brought Smoky back inside before bed. I’m really good about that.”
“Good chance the alarm had been tampered with before you even went to bed then,” the detective commented.
This was all so unbelievable. What kind of psycho plans this sort of thing? I didn’t know anyone who hated me that badly or had a grudge with any of my family. Kaden hadn’t lived here in years, and Dad had been gone for over a decade. So why me?
“Last question,” Detective Kent stated. “Do you have any enemies? Do you owe anyone money or have you maybe had a disgruntled family member of a patient you lost?”
All of it was a no. I’d lost many patients to their burns before, but none of their family had ever blamed me or any other staff for it. They always knew we did our best, and we were there for them during their time of grief.
“I just don’t know who would do this,” I sniffed, feeling the burn of my eyes as tears fell. Darren reached over and took my hand. Alden and Porter wandered over and stood behind the couch, both putting a hand on each of my shoulders, rubbing at them to comfort me.
“I think that’s all for now. But if you think of anything,” Detective Kent stood and handed me a small card. “You call me. The tiniest detail could help.”
I took it and thanked him.
Mr. Warren stood and also handed me a card. “We’re still going through the evidence, so try to be patient. I know it’s difficult, but we promise the fire department and police are working together to find who did this.”
I thanked him as well and bid goodbye to them as they shook the guys hands and left the house.
Lifting my chin with his fingers to turn and look at him, Porter asked softly, “Do you need anything?”
“A glass of water would be nice. Thank you.” He rubbed his thumb gently down my cheek then walked towards the kitchen.
“Don’t worry, Soph,” Alden said. “We’re not going to let anyone get to you. This house has a pretty great security system and several fire alarms set up. No one is getting in and no one is going to catch us off guard,” he assured me pointedly.
I relaxed a little knowing that bit of information. Porter returned and handed me my water. Just then, his phone chimed loudly with an incoming call.
He walked away to answer it and began speaking with someone in hushed tones, a wide grin appearing on his face. After a few moments, he hung up and went to the door and began putting his shoes on.
“I’ve gotta take care of something real quick, but I’ll be back soon,” he told us. He scanned his watch then pointed at me. “You need your bandages changed by the way. You’ll help her out?” He looked at Darren.
