Outside the window, firefighters rushed to the aid of an older woman whom they had watched climb out of the burning house through one of the bedroom windows. The woman was bleeding in several places from where she had hauled herself across shards of glass still fixed in the window that she had broken. She was coughing uncontrollably from the smoke.
‘Hurry up,’ cried one of the firefighters, crouching down beside Phyllis and looking at her worriedly. ‘Bring her one of those insulated blankets. I think she’s in shock.’ He put an arm around Phyllis’s shoulders. ‘We’ll take care of you, don’t worry. My name is Jimmy, by the way. What’s yours?’
‘Phyllis,’ she managed to say between coughs.
‘Okay, well you hang in there, Phyllis. We’ll get you all fixed up.’
Another young man in firefighting gear materialized through the smoke clutching a silver blanket, and handed it to Jimmy. Jimmy wrapped it around the woman’s narrow, shaking shoulders. ‘There you go,’ he said kindly. ‘Now, Phyllis, how are you otherwise? Anything broken? You took quite a tumble from that window.’
Phyllis coughed, and shook her head. ‘It’s all right. I’m okay.’
‘Well, we’ll get you over to the hospital and have them take a look at you when the ambulance gets here. Kheon, where is that damn thing anyway?’
The second firefighter, a broad-shouldered young black man, peered past the phalanx of firetrucks, their red lights blinking, and men in gear training hoses on the house. He looked into the darkness of the street beyond the front lawn. ‘Somebody said they got diverted to a three-car wreck on the highway.’
Jimmy shook his head angrily. ‘That’s typical of this city. They haven’t got enough equipment or manpower to cover all they have to cover.’
‘Amen,’ said Kheon.
Jimmy turned his attention back to Phyllis. ‘Don’t you worry now, Phyllis. They’ll see to you as soon as they get here. Is there somebody we can call for you?’
‘Yes, please,’ Phyllis began to sob. ‘My daughter, Lizzy. My phone is in my pocket,’ she said, rummaging in her pocket and pulling out a phone. ‘Her number is there. I have it listed under “L”. For Lizzy,’ she explained, and then collapsed into a coughing fit.
‘Okay,’ said Jimmy, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, still crouching beside the injured Phyllis. He punched some buttons on the phone and waited. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘is this Lizzy? Yeah, this is Firefighter James Carmichael from the Seventy-second Precinct. Your mother has just escaped from a burning house. She’s asking for you.’
Jimmy listened a second and then put his hand over the mouthpiece and looked up at Kheon. ‘What’s the address here?’
The fireman told him, and relayed the information to Lizzy. ‘Yeah, we’ll be taking her to the hospital but the ambulance isn’t here yet. No, she’s conscious. I think she’s more shaken up than anything. Yeah, you’re not that far away. You have time to get here. Okay. She’s all right. Don’t speed.’
Jimmy ended the call and handed the phone back to Phyllis, who put it into her pocket. ‘You feel a little better now that you got that blanket over you?’
Phyllis nodded.
‘Now,’ he said. ‘This is very important. Were you the only one home tonight? Is there anyone else still remaining in that house?’
Phyllis looked up at him, blinking back tears. ‘No, sir,’ she said earnestly. ‘I was the only one in there.’
The temptation to just fall back to sleep was almost overwhelming. Eden’s eyes were half-closed, and her head was pounding. The idea of giving in to sleep seemed utterly peaceful and appealing. But she knew she should not. Could not. She probably had a concussion from the lamp base. If she fell asleep, she might never wake up. What is wrong with me? she wondered. And then she remembered. She recalled feeling the lamp cord tighten in her fingers. She remembered looking up and seeing Phyllis, hoisting the metal lamp base above her head with both hands.
The memory of it was sickening. She had let herself believe that this woman, who had killed her mother and brother, and tried to kill Flynn, was not a danger to her. How foolish could she have been?
Stop it, she thought. Stop blaming yourself. You were only trying to save her life. Now think! Eden became aware, again, of the commotion outside, but it seemed to having nothing to do with her. And then she forced herself to focus. Get a grip. You’re in a burning building, she told herself. You have to get out of here.
Have to get out of here now. She tried to raise herself up again, but it was no use. She was too weak. Her chest felt constricted by the effort to breathe in the room which was filling up with smoke. She looked around her. There was a chair lying on its side not far from her on the floor. She gazed at it, wondering why it was lying on the floor. And then it came to her. Phyllis must have used it to climb out the broken window, kicking it over as she went. Now Eden had to do the same … She forced herself to summon up the strength and began to drag herself along the floor. Every inch was painful. The thought of it made Eden want to weep. She knew, vaguely, that she should be angry, but all she could think about was all the despair, all the sorrow that had led her here to this moment. To this house where her mother had lived. To this bedroom which had been her mother’s. Suddenly, Tara was all Eden could think about. She felt a longing, suppressed for years, to be sheltered once more in her mother’s embrace. To be held in her arms.
And then, as if Tara were whispering in her ear, Eden heard an inner voice that urged her to move. Pick up the chair. Climb on it. Get out the window. She reached the chair and began to try to right it. Her arms felt weak, but the chair was an antique, and somewhat spindly. She knew she could lift it if she just marshaled her forces. She pulled herself up to her knees and reached out for the back of the chair. It took her several tries to turn it over and get it upright. Once she did, she used the chair to help herself rise to her feet. Once she was standing, she wobbled. She was afraid to let go of the chair, for fear she would collapse. Outside the room, in the hallway, she could hear the fire roar, and she could feel the heat emanating through the door, the flames starting to eat through it.
Summoning all her strength, and using the chair to balance, she kept herself upright. Making snail-like progress, she dragged the chair underneath the broken window. Now, she thought, if I can just get under it, climb up on the chair, and somehow lift myself up over the jagged glass remaining in the window frame, I can escape to the world outside.
Every breath was a struggle now, her chest aching from the effort. She finally managed to get the chair positioned beneath the window. Now, she told herself, climb up on it. Her arms shook as she lifted up one knee and placed it on the needlepoint-covered seat of the chair. Now the other, she thought. Almost there. She was kneeling on the seat of the chair. It felt like a moment of triumph. But there was no time to celebrate. Gripping the back of the chair with her trembling hand, she leaned to one side, and pulled one knee up so that she was in the classic marriage proposal position. Next effort, she thought, was to stand up. Then she would be able to easily lean out of the broken window, and fall over the window frame to the ground below.
She shifted her weight off of the other knee, and lifted her leg. She was in mid-effort when she heard a thunderous roar behind her. She turned quickly, startled. The fire had burst through the door like a rampaging beast. Eden cried out at the sight, and teetered. She tried to regain her balance, but it was no use. Her stockinged foot slipped from the frame and broke through the needlepoint chair seat. She fell, tumbling to the floor, the chair landing on top of her, her leg trapped in the space where the seat had been.
‘Did you hear that?’ Jimmy Carmichael asked to no one in particular.
‘There she is,’ Phyllis cried. She scrambled to her feet at the sight of Lizzy, dodging fire hoses as she ran across the lawn to her mother. Phyllis opened her arms and Lizzy fell into them.
‘Mom, are you all right?’ Lizzy cried.
‘I am now,’ said Phyllis.
‘I was so worried when the fireman called. I came straight here.’
Phyllis shushed her and ran a soothing hand over her daughter’s hair. ‘It’s all right now. Everything’s okay.’
Lizzy pulled back from the embrace and looked her mother over. ‘Are you sure? Is she okay?’ she demanded of the passing fireman.
‘Well, we’re going to send her to the hospital when the ambulance gets here. Just so they can look her over. But I think she’s okay.’
‘Thank God,’ said Lizzy, looking up toward the inky, star-studded sky. Then, she wrapped an arm around Phyllis, who was cloaked by the insulated blanket. ‘I was afraid you were mad at me. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me.’
‘Not want to see you?’ Phyllis exclaimed. ‘That could never be.’
Lizzy gave her mother a tremulous smile. ‘I know.’
Mother and daughter embraced, and then Lizzy pulled away and waylaid a passing firefighter. ‘Excuse me.’
‘This is Jimmy,’ said Phyllis. ‘He’s been very kind.’
‘Thank you,’ said Lizzy sincerely.
‘Just doing my job,’ Jimmy said modestly.
‘Listen, would it be all right if I took my mother home? If we didn’t wait for the ambulance?’
Jimmy Carmichael looked grave. ‘I cannot recommend that, ma’am. She should be checked out. That’s protocol.’
‘Oh. Okay,’ said Lizzy.
‘I just got word that it’s almost here. Won’t be long now.’
Lizzy sighed, and beamed again at her mother. ‘As long as you’re safe.’ Then she frowned. ‘What were you doing out here anyway?’
Phyllis’s eyes went blank for a moment, and then she recovered. ‘I was looking for you. I thought you might be staying here. When I got here the door was open, so I went in. I was calling for you. Then I smelled the gas.’
‘Oh my God,’ Lizzy exclaimed.
‘What?’ asked Phyllis.
Lizzy turned back to the firefighter. ‘Eden!’ she cried.
‘Come again?’ he asked.
‘Eden Radley was staying here. I saw her here earlier this evening. She told me she was sleeping here. You have to go in and look for her. She might still be inside.’
‘Oh don’t be ridiculous. She’s not in there. You’re asking them to go back in that house and it’s dangerous in there,’ Phyllis protested.
‘Your mother told us that she was the only one in the house,’ said Jimmy. ‘Do you think there might be someone else in there?’
Lizzy bit her lip. ‘Are you sure, Mom?’
‘Of course I’m sure,’ said Phyllis.
‘What if she fell asleep, Mom, and you didn’t see her? It’s possible that she’s tucked away somewhere in the house. I’m sure you didn’t go into every room.’
‘If she’d been in there, I would have known it,’ Phyllis insisted.
‘Still, your daughter has a point. If she saw this young woman here earlier, there’s a chance she’s still inside. We need to go in and check. Hey, Kheon,’ Jimmy called out to his fellow firefighter. ‘There may be someone still in there. We have to go in.’
The other firefighter nodded, as if this was the most natural thing in the world. Jimmy jammed his carbon-blotched helmet back on his head, and headed back toward the house.
‘No,’ Phyllis insisted. ‘There’s no one in there. You’re risking your lives for nothing. There’s no one there!’
Lizzy spoke soothingly to her agitated mother. ‘Calm down, Mom. They’re trained to do this. They know what they’re doing. And if it was me … If there was the slightest chance, you’d want them to go back in, wouldn’t you?’
Phyllis was trembling, and didn’t speak. Her face had assumed a sickly yellow cast, the reflection from the blaze.
‘You know you would. So think of Tara. That’s what Tara would want, if she were here,’ Lizzy crooned, squeezing her mother’s thin shoulders. ‘She would want them to make every effort. Of course she would. That’s her daughter.’
THIRTY-ONE
Someone was holding her hand. Someone was squeezing it gently, and murmuring her name. Eden felt herself swimming to consciousness, although her eyes were not open. She could feel her mouth now, dry and sticky, and she was aware that she was lying on a bed, in a cool, dark room. There was a light burning over her head. She knew all this without opening her eyes. She had been forced to stay awake for what seemed like a long time when she first got to this room. Once she was allowed to sleep, the idea of opening her eyes again seemed like too much effort. All she wanted was to sink back into oblivion.
‘Oh, Eden. Please come back to us. Please, baby.’
The familiar voice jolted her, roused her. Eden blinked and looked up into her father’s worried face. ‘Dad?’ she whispered.
‘Oh, sweetheart. Oh, thank God.’ Hugh Radley enveloped her in a brief hug. Then he drew back and looked into her eyes. His own eyes looked weary and bloodshot, as if he had not slept for a long time.
‘Where?’ she murmured.
‘You’re in the hospital, sweetie. In Cleveland. You were in a burning house. You’ve had a concussion, smoke inhalation and a broken ankle. The firemen went into the house and found you there. Luckily, they got you out of there in time.’
‘What happened?’ Eden asked. But then, she started to remember. The gas spread throughout Flynn’s house. Phyllis, hitting her with the lamp base. The smoke. And then voices near her. Around her. She remembered being lifted up, and thanking God, knowing that she was going to live.
‘You were in a fire. At your mother’s old house. Do you remember that?’
Eden nodded slightly, and closed her eyes for a moment. She licked her dry lips. ‘I remember.’
Hugh reached for a small, wedge-shaped sponge on a stick. He dipped it in water and applied it to her parched lips. Eden sucked on it gratefully. ‘There was a lot of confusion at first,’ he said. ‘But they got it sorted out. They checked your phone. I guess you called the fire department and told them that someone had spread accelerant all over the house. It was that woman, Phyllis. Who turned out to be Flynn’s mother. Did you know that?’
Eden nodded. ‘She wanted to burn it down.’
‘Well, she succeeded. They’re still sorting through the rubble, but they found the source. There was gasoline spread through the house. Apparently, she put a lit cigarette between the pages of a newspaper, and when the cigarette burned down to the newspaper, it caught on fire and ignited the gasoline around it.’
‘No! She couldn’t have. I was with her the whole time,’ Eden said. And then she remembered. Phyllis had gone to get her a can of ginger ale because she had vomited. Phyllis must have done it quickly, lighting one of Flynn’s cigarettes in the living room on her way back from the kitchen, stuffing it in the newspaper. Carrying back a can of soda.
‘You could have been killed,’ Hugh said, and his voice was torn by a sob.
‘I’m okay,’ said Eden. ‘I’ll be okay.’
Hugh nodded and composed himself. ‘Anyway, this Phyllis, who, apparently, is Flynn’s biological mother, was arrested. She kept insisting that the house was empty. Luckily, her daughter knew that you were in there, and asked the firemen to go back in and look for you.’
‘Lizzy?’
‘Yes. I think that’s her name. Lizzy.’
‘She killed Mom. And Jeremy,’ said Eden.
‘Who did? This Lizzy person?’ he cried.
Eden shook her head. ‘Flynn’s mother.’
‘But why? What the hell …’ Hugh looked at his daughter and then raised a hand as if to signal a halt. ‘Never mind. I don’t want you to get upset. We can talk about this later. There’ll be time for that. You need to rest. We’ll talk about this, and everything else later.’
Eden wanted to protest, but the truth was that she felt herself slipping. ‘What will you do?’ she whispered.
‘Oh, I’m okay. Gerri came out to Cleveland with me when I got the news. I was a basket case. A
nyway, she’s been with me the whole time. We’re staying just across the street. Don’t you worry about us. You just get well.’
‘Dad … Thank you. Thank you for being here.’
‘Where else would I be?’ he said. ‘You rest.’
Eden drifted back into sleep and then woke again, numerous times. Nurses woke her with medication, and doctors woke her to ask her questions and examine her injuries. Twice her father was there when she opened her eyes. She didn’t know if it was day or night when she awoke. She didn’t care. She went immediately back to sleep, drinking in the slumber like it was the elixir of life. When finally she opened her eyes and knew that she was truly awake, it was daylight outside. There was faint, milky sunshine coming through the windows of her room.
Eden blinked and looked around. There were bouquets of flowers along the windowsill. An iPad was sitting on the bedside table. It was not her iPad, but then again, how could it have survived the fire? Her father must have bought this one for her to replace it. She picked it up and checked the date. Three days had gone by since she had last been out in the world. Three days, she thought. Where did they go? She tapped on a few keys. The new notebook seemed to be programmed and ready to go.
Eden moved her feet under the sheet and blanket and felt a shooting pain up her leg. She threw off the sheet and looked. Her ankle was in a cast. She picked up a mirror from the bedside table and looked at her face. There was a long bruise on the side of her pale face, and there were circles under her eyes. She looked about as bad as she could ever remember looking. But she felt better. That was a comfort.
‘Oh good. You’re awake. I was hoping I wouldn’t disturb you.’
Eden looked up and saw Gerri coming into her room, her eyes alight with pleasure. Eden smiled. ‘I am awake.’
Gerri enveloped her in a hug and then pulled back to look her in the eyes.
‘You’ve had a quite a time,’ she said.
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