There Was an Old Woman

Chapter Fifty-nine


Mrs. Yetner refused Evie’s help as she held on to the banister railing and used her cane to feel her way down the steps, resting on each tread before taking the next. Evie couldn’t tell if she was even aware of Frank Cutler and Mrs. Yetner’s nurse, who were watching from the kitchen. Ivory was meowing at the foot of the stairs. Evie picked up the cat and followed Mrs. Yetner out.

On the sidewalk Mrs. Yetner held her head high and leaned on her cane, staring into the middle distance. Water hissed and steam billowed as firefighters turned hoses on the smoldering embers. There was no way to tell if Mrs. Yetner’s house was salvageable, and it broke Evie’s heart to think of that perfectly lovely interior in ruins.

The wind blew a particularly sharp scent of fire over them, and Evie gagged.

Mrs. Yetner held her hand over her own nose and mouth. “Brings it all back, doesn’t it?”

It certainly did. Evie remembered standing in just this spot, watching her parents’ house burn. That house now stood unscathed on the other side of Mrs. Yetner’s.

“It was such a hot day, remember?” Mrs. Yetner said. “Windy, too.”

“Like today,” Evie said, burying her face in Ivory’s soft fur. She’d been wearing a sleeveless top and shorts and her feet were bare. The crowd then, just like the crowd now, had been mostly strangers who’d looked on with disappointment as firefighters doused the last vestiges of fire. “Ginger was there, and so was my mother. And all I could think was that Blackie and her puppies were inside and there was nothing I could do.”

“We all felt helpless.”

Evie turned to face Mrs. Yetner. “The weirdest thing happened. When I was in your bedroom, I opened the bedroom closet door and I had the sensation that I’d been there before, only I was inside the closet looking out.”

Mrs. Yetner pursed her lips and nodded. “You and Ginger had gone into your parents’ closet with the dogs to hide.”

“We did?”

“I was the one who found you there and got you out.”

“You? But I thought my mother—”

“I was sitting out on my back porch when I smelled smoke. I banged on the door but no one answered. I ran down the street to pull the alarm, and when I got back, your mother’s car was there. She was frantic. The house was burning, and she couldn’t find you or your sister anywhere. The fire trucks hadn’t gotten there yet. Someone had to go inside, so I went.” Mrs. Yetner’s eyes went wide as she remembered. “I found you and Ginger in the closet in the downstairs bedroom. You’d been playing dress-up and trying to smoke your mother’s cigarettes. You were still wearing her high heels.”

“Trying to smoke? Me and Ginger?” It took a moment for the realization to hit Evie. “You mean my mother didn’t start the fire?”

“That’s what she let everyone think. She didn’t want you girls labeled as fire starters. I think she especially didn’t want your father to know, him being a firefighter and all. But really, you were just children, and much too young to have been left alone. It’s a lucky thing I was there.” Mrs. Yetner touched the scar on her face.

Evie remembered after the fire had been mostly put out, watching in agony, worrying about the dogs. Finally, one of the firemen had gone inside. What felt like hours later, he’d come out carrying Blackie and her pups. They were alive, but barely. She’d watched as a medic held an oxygen mask over Blackie’s snout. She’d promised God that she’d be good, really she would, if only Blackie didn’t die.

It had been quiet then, just as it was quiet now. Evie realized the fire hoses had been turned off. A moment later there was a crash as the roof of the house next door to Mrs. Yetner’s caved.

Firefighters in dark turnout gear broke down the front door and went into Mrs. Yetner’s house. When one of them came out later, carrying three inert bundles, Evie was grateful that Mrs. Yetner couldn’t see that they were cats. White cats. They must have been hiding when Evie had gone in, looking for Mrs. Yetner.

“Another crazy cat lady,” the firefighter said to one of his buddies as he lay a tarp over the three little bodies. “And no batteries in the smoke alarm. That house is a hoarder’s nightmare.”

Of course, that was how it was supposed to look. Evie was about to go over and set them straight when she saw Finn emerge from the crowd of bystanders, vault the police barrier, and race toward her. Evie had to hold on to keep Ivory from leaping out of her arms as Finn flew past and up the steps of Frank Cutler’s house.

Cutler was standing behind the screen door. Finn yanked open the door, grabbed him by the shirt, pulled him down his front steps. Mrs. Yetner’s nurse came running out and tried to pull Finn off. Finn pushed her away. She staggered back a few steps and went down hard on her tailbone, stunned.

“This your idea of a business deal?” Finn yelled at Cutler. “You promised. You said no one would get hurt.”

“You said do what it takes,” Cutler spat back.

“You moron. I didn’t expect you to try to kill people. You and your goddamned shortcuts.” Finn turned to one of the policemen. “I’m getting myself an attorney. And then I want to talk to a police detective. My cousin here does, too. He just doesn’t know it. Not yet.”

Evie felt as if the air had been knocked out of her. Frank Cutler was the cousin Finn had been talking about? The one who was helping him right the wrongs done to their great-grandfather?

Finn turned to Mrs. Yetner and gave her a pleading look. “I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but I am sorry. I never meant for any of this”—his gaze slid over to Evie—“to happen.”

Evie couldn’t bear to even look at Finn. The deception had been there from the very moment she’d set foot in Sparkles Variety. It was there when he’d stood on her mother’s front steps like a goofy overgrown puppy, wooing her with a six-pack from Bronx Brewery. Just weeks before, his cousin Frank had seduced her mother with gifts and the promise of a steady stream of cash and then accelerated her death with “vitamins.”

She heard Finn’s voice as he went on explaining, as if there could be an explanation, but she tuned out. Instead, she focused on the minivan that had pulled up at the corner, which Ginger had just gotten out of. Her arms were folded tight across her chest, and as she got closer Evie saw that her face was puffy and her eyes red.

Evie handed Ivory over to Mrs. Yetner and ran over to Ginger. She didn’t need to ask. She knew their mother had died.