“The fire was an accident. I was using the basement even back then for my studio. I used to make a fire to give me light at night, but that night, some rags caught fire and I couldn’t put it out, and with all the flammable paint supplies . . . it spread so fast, but it wouldn’t have been so devastating if I hadn’t kept all my supplies in the empty freezer.” He pointed at the dark, cave-like area her father was apparently sleeping in. “The heat grew and grew and grew until it was like a bomb, and just, kapow”—he extended his one usable arm as if to illustrate—“it blew. And poor Tim was inside the building.”
“Wow.” Ellie was nearly speechless. It all made sense. Well, how the fire happened and even how Tim died made sense, but not what it had to do with her father or her sister being shot. “So, my dad . . .”
Collin had snuck past them as Caleb told his story and disappeared into the room where her father was sleeping. It was a relief to know Collin was checking on him because, even if she wasn’t ready to trust him as her fiancé, she would always trust him as a doctor.
“Your dad. Yes. Okay, I’ll get to that part now.” Caleb seemed to sense her urgency. It wasn’t just getting her father out; actually, it was this new desire to know what else was different about this story she thought she knew verbatim. “Your dad was barely chief back then. When the call came in, it was just a smoke sighting, and they’d had problems with homeless using the Emporium as a temporary shelter when the days got shorter and colder. So he sent two firefighters to check it out. That was Tim, of course, but you probably don’t know who the other one was.”
“No, this is the first I’ve heard any of this.” Ellie gave up on her defensive pose, sincerely invested in hearing Caleb out. She stumbled backward over a few small rocks until she found one large enough to sit on.
Caleb nodded. “Yeah, Ellie, that was on purpose. No one’s heard this before. No one but your dad and me and the other firefighter who was there that night—Steve.”
Steve. She had expected to hear his name mentioned that morning as Caleb tried to explain away his participation in that crazy robbery plan, but not in conjunction with a fire. Especially not this fire. Why hadn’t he mentioned this before? Why hadn’t Amelia? Then a strange sour feeling developed in Ellie’s stomach. Amelia probably didn’t know either.
“Steve and Tim came out to check the smoke report. Steve saw me running away and chased me through the Carters’ fields and tackled me. We were fighting when, apparently, Tim went inside to check out the source of the smoke. He wasn’t wearing full gear. He wasn’t even fully trained. The floor fell in, and Steve and I saw it from the field. We didn’t know about Tim yet.
“Steve let me go and I ran away, but Chief Brown showed up on my doorstep the next morning with Steve by his side. They both explained that if the real story ever got out about the fire, we would all be in trouble, your father for not following procedure and meeting his men at the call, Steve for letting Tim go into that building alone, and me for inadvertently causing the death of a firefighter. I think your dad would’ve taken the blame if it wasn’t for you girls. He agreed to Steve’s plan to protect you and Amelia, I’m sure of it.
“So, your dad and Steve both had copies of an official report, the real official report about what happened at the fire. They both agreed to keep them under lock and key, and I promised to never tell with the understanding that I had the most to lose. So I kept quiet. And I’ve done whatever Steve Saxton told me to do every day from that moment forward. Until yesterday when . . .”
“When Randy shot Amelia, right?” Ellie didn’t wait for a response. She could tell from the look of confusion on his face that she had stolen his big reveal and it was time to do what she came here for—to bring Caleb in. “I know it wasn’t you. I think you’ll be treated very fairly if you stop running away.” She took a gamble and stood up, bypassing the rocks she had tripped over earlier.
Caleb didn’t make eye contact, and the closer she got, the more his spine curved in and his healthy hand curled into a fist. She continued with her attempt to convince him to turn himself in. “Look, you ran away the night of the fire, and it changed your whole life and not for the better. Don’t run anymore. Walk out of here with me, and we will make all of this right.”
Ellie batted at a strand of hair that had broken loose and was sticking to her forehead. Somehow she was cold and hot at the same time. Then she put out her hand, close enough that Caleb could take it. The idea of his hand in hers was unnerving but also the only way she thought she could possibly get him out of the safety of his underground dwelling and into the open air. He didn’t take her hand. He didn’t even acknowledge it before Collin emerged from the other room, supporting her father’s frail form.
“Daddy!” she called out, forgetting her fear of loud noises in the unstable structure. Ellie’s father looked up like he remembered her by just her call. Maybe he did. Chief Brown was still wearing his BFD sweatpants and had a loosely knit yellow-and-gold blanket from his house wrapped around his shoulders. His feet were bare, and with each step Ellie wanted to cry, knowing the floor was filled with rubble and sharp bits of metal that could pierce her father’s tender skin.
She was about to run to him but instead fell to the ground and untied her shoes, each set of laces needing a hard pull to get them to release. Her shoes would be too small for her father’s feet, but he could at least wear her socks. She peeled them off her feet, glad she’d worn the ones that went up to her midcalf rather than the ankle socks she used when she worked out. Her sweaty feet were difficult to wedge back into her athletic shoes, so she pushed as hard as she could but then let her heels press down the back lip. The socks were still warm when she scrunched them into a ball and rushed over to where Collin and her dad were making very slow progress across the room.
“Stop. Let me put these on him,” Ellie ordered. Collin’s feet stilled, and he gave a few short nods. She’d been around him enough to know that he was concerned but not rushed or annoyed. Chief Brown smiled as Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck. “Hi, Daddy,” she whispered in his ear as she gave him an extra squeeze and kissed his stubbly cheek. “I sure missed you.”