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It wasn’t Lila’s name on the readout. “Who’s Justine?”
“Justine?”
I held out the phone and she snatched it out of my hand.
“That’s my neighbor.” She swiped her thumb over the screen. “Hello?” Her face instantly lost all its color. “What? Wait…what?”
I moved in closer and grabbed her flailing hand. “Teag?”
“Fire?” Her huge eyes shimmered with tears. “My house is on fire.”
Three
I took the phone then hauled her against me. “Hello? This is Cooper, a friend of Teagan’s.”
“Oh, I’m so glad she’s with someone. The fire department is here and I was so afraid she was inside.”
“She’s fine. What’s the status of her house?”
“Status?” The woman’s voice faltered. “They won’t let me see anything. They’ve pushed us back. There are two trucks here though. There seems to be a lot of smoke, but I can’t see flames anymore.”
Teagan trembled in my arms. I tucked my chin on the top of her head. “Okay, we’re heading over now.” I slipped her phone in my pocket again then drew her back. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “Can we just go?”
“Of course.” I laced our fingers together and drew her off the patio back inside and through my living room. I called down to the front to have my car brought around then grabbed my wallet and keys from the sideboard. I swiped my fob over the panel, glad that I didn’t have to wait long for the elevator.
I ushered her inside. Instead of twisting her fingers free, she covered our joined hands with her other one. The tremors made me hold on tighter. “It’s going to be okay. The firemen are there already.”
She shook her head mutely. She didn’t start sobbing. It was way worse. Big soul-killing tears dripped down her face.
I couldn’t stand seeing her cry.
I pulled her into my arms and she linked her hands around my back. “I can’t lose my house.”
“Those brownstones are built to last. Let’s just go see what’s what, okay?”
She laid her cheek against my chest. “You’re right.”
It seemed like an eternity later when the doors opened. I took her hand again and we crossed the lobby. Terry was waiting out front, my gunmetal Charger running at the curb.
“Everything all right, sir?”
“I hope so. Thanks, Terry.”
The older man stepped back with a curt nod.
I opened the door for Teagan and she quickly got inside. I gave Terry a stiff smile before I climbed in, never more glad that we had a private garage than right this moment.
I gunned it down Columbus and took every side street I knew to get through midtown. Luckily, it was somewhat slow for traffic in the city. Not that there was any time where things were actually at rest in Manhattan. But getting to Brooklyn swiftly at this time of day was going to take every bit of maneuvering ability I had.
I passed cabbies, cut off cars, and probably had a string of curses following me out of town. Teagan was furiously scrolli
ng on her phone.
I punched it under an overpass and nearly sideswiped a Beemer as I cut across three lanes to get to the turnoff for the FDR. I just had to pray that there wasn’t construction for days.
I thumbed my in-dash hookup to my phone. “Call Lila work.”
