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“Look,” she said, this time with forced calm. “I don’t want to argue. If there was a candle there, I don’t remember it. When I left the house, I was sure everything was properly turned off. If I was wrong, I
apologize. I truly appreciate everything you did.”
That seemed to mollify him. “Well, it’s over now. Just don’t ever repeat the mistake.”
“I won’t.” She swallowed her irritation. “May I go inside now?”
“Yeah. We opened all the windows, so the smell of smoke should clear out fast. We deactivated the smoke detector, so once the house is clear of smoke, make sure the battery is in place and the thing is working right. Don’t do any cleanup for a while; the mantel’s still pretty hot. But otherwise, you’re good to go.”
As he spoke, the second firefighter emerged. He was younger and a little less gruff than his partner.
“Hi,” he greeted Gia. “This your place?”
Mutely, she nodded.
“Well, it’s in good shape. Fire’s completely out. No major damage. Just remember that candles should be extinguished before you leave the house.”
It was all Gia could do not to scream and remain calm. “Your partner already cautioned me about that,” she replied. “I won’t make the same mistake again.”
The firefighters drove away, Gia thanked Mildred profusely, insisted on taking her out to lunch soon, and promised to come over for a cup of tea—just not right now. Right now, she needed to go inside and reassure herself that her home was intact.
Fortunately, Mildred understood. Exhausted from the events of the past hour, she admitted that she needed a nap, then went off to take one.
Gia waited until she was sure she was alone. Then she squatted down at her own front door, scrutinizing the lock. There was no sign of tampering. Then again, she hadn’t thrown the deadbolt when she left, and a basic lock was easy enough to pick. Was that what had happened? Or had the intruder come through a window? Those, Gia rarely locked. Then there were her sliding glass doors off the dining room—she couldn’t remember if she’d flipped the lock on those. Her neighborhood was so safe and so densely packed with townhouse units that Gia was pretty lax about this stuff. Obviously, too lax.
In any case, someone had gotten inside. The facts were the facts. A candle that didn’t exist had appeared in her home and nearly burnt it to the ground. Someone had planted it there and set the scene. He wanted that photo album destroyed and he was ensuring that it was.
But why not just take it? Why go to all the trouble of setting a fire and incurring all the risks that might come with it?
There was only one answer Gia could come up with.
They wanted to scare the shit out of her. Just the way they had with Dani. There was no denying what was staring her in the face: someone wanted to keep the two of them apart.
Why?
Straightening, Gia glanced at her watch. Dani would just be landing. As soon as she checked out her home, Gia would send her a text and ask her to call the second she stepped off the plane.
A warm June cross breeze greeted Gia when she walked inside the house—a reminder that all her windows were open, diffusing the acrid smell of smoke still permeating the place.
She gazed around, taking in all the downstairs rooms. Other than the cluttered debris on her living room mantel, everything looked so untouched, so normal—when, in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth.
With her customary do-it-now attitude, Gia crossed over and scanned the mantel, remembering not to touch anything as she did. There were traces of candlewax alongside a clutter of burnt picture frames and the singed photos inside them.
Most important was the totally destroyed photo album that lay closest to the trail of wax. Gia could still make out frayed pieces of the album cover. But the contents were reduced to a pile of ashes.
Trying to keep it together, Gia took out her phone and sent a brief, pointed message to Dani: Call me the second you get this. It’s urgent.
* * *
Dani rolled her carry-on down the exit ramp and into the waiting area. As always, she stopped there to check her texts and emails for anything urgent. She wasn’t expecting anything.
She was wrong.
Every hair on her body stood up when she read Gia’s message. She yanked her luggage to the nearest chair, sat down, and called.
“Thank God,” Gia answered. “I don’t think I could have dealt with this alone much longer.”
Dani’s panic intensified. Gia was freaked out in a way Dani had never imagined her to be. This was going to be bad.
