Previously Loved Treasures (Serendipity #2)(71)

After he’d tossed and turned for nearly an hour, he decided a glass of warm milk might help. Wilbur climbed from his bed and headed toward the kitchen. From the hallway he could see a sliver of light coming from beneath Caroline’s door. He smiled. She was still working on her book. With only the dim light of the hall lantern, he descended the stairs and walked toward the kitchen. Seconds after he snapped on the overhead light he heard the voice.

“Rowenaaaa!”

It was not a name, not a word, just a desperate, urgent cry. Wilbur stopped and listened.

“Rowenaaaa!”

Suddenly lights began popping on all over the house. Caroline opened her door and started down the stairs. “What was that?” she asked Doctor Payne who was already in the hallway.

He shrugged and followed her down the staircase. Harriet came seconds later.

When the cry came a third time, Caroline realized who the voice was calling for.

Wilbur did not, so he turned and walked toward the sound.

It was the sight of a man he’d come to detest that caused Joe to strike a match and light the rag in the bottle. After downing all that Jack Daniels he was so drunk he wobbled when he stood, but somehow he found strength enough to draw back his arm and hurl the bottle through the kitchen window.

The explosion shook the house and threw Wilbur to the far left of the kitchen. Within seconds the fire began to spread across the kitchen floor and up the walls, grabbing curtains, dishtowels, cookbooks, and anything else it could find. Black smoke rolled through the kitchen and into the hall.

Caroline ran back upstairs and began pounding on the doors. “Fire! Get out! Get out!” When all the upstairs rooms were emptied, she ran down and caught Max and Laricka already on their way out the door. By then lights had gone on all over the neighborhood, and a patrol car screeched to a stop in front of the house.

“What happened?” a police officer asked, but no one knew anything other than that they had heard a strange yell followed by the sound of an explosion.

In the distance the sound of a fire engine screamed through the night.

Neighbors from several houses now crowded the street, everyone asking everyone else what had happened. Caroline scanned the faces and found Rose clinging to little Sara. The fearful looks they wore said they too had heard the cry.

Caroline pushed her way through the crowd and took Rose by the hand. “Come with me.”

Barbara Ann Percy, an elderly neighbor who Caroline often ran errands for, stood in the crowd of onlookers. When she saw Caroline coming, she stretched out her arms. “Oh, you poor dear—”

“I need your help,” Caroline interrupted. “Take my friend, Rose, and her daughter to your house, go inside, and close the door.”

“But—”

“Please.”

The urgency in Caroline’s voice was argument enough. Barbara Ann gave Rose a nod and said, “Follow me.”

When Caroline turned back to the crowd, she began to look for each of the residents. The upstairs rooms had all been emptied out, but Wilbur was nowhere to be seen. “Have you seen Wilbur?” she asked Doctor Payne. When he shook his head she asked Max, Louie, Harriet, and Laricka. No one had seen him.

By then the fire engine had arrived.

“Wilburrr!” Caroline screamed. “Wilburrr!” When no answer came, she turned and started toward the house.

A tall redheaded fireman dropped the hose he was unfurling and grabbed her by the arm. “You can’t go back in there!”

Caroline struggled to get free. “Wilbur, I’ve got to get Wilbur!”

“Somebody’s inside the house?”

“Yes, Wilbur!”

“Do you know where?” the fireman asked. He kept his hold on Caroline. “Do you know where he is?”

Her tears overflowed. “No one’s upstairs. He’s got to be in the kitchen, the dining room, or the parlor.”

Standing within earshot, Louie said, “He ain’t in the dining room or the parlor. I come through that way, and ain’t nobody in there.”

“Then he’s in the kitchen,” Caroline said. She explained in a shaky voice that the kitchen was in the right-hand corner at the rear of the house. “Around the stairs, then straight back.”

The redhead turned to his partner. “Come on, George, let’s get this guy.” The two firemen unfurled a lengthy stretch of hose and carried it inside the house.

Once inside, seeing became impossible. The redheaded Calvin had hold of the nozzle so he was in the lead. Staying close together, they felt their way along the right side of the wall. Following Caroline’s description of the kitchen’s location, they moved quickly through the hall and felt their way past the staircase. Then they crossed into the kitchen.

The moment Calvin stepped through the door he spotted the flames. George saw it also. He pressed the button on his radio. “Charge the hose!” The flat grey hose swelled with water as the two men inched forward. The smoke was so thick neither of the men could see one another, but they both held tight to the hose.

“Wilbur?” Calvin called out. “Wilbur, are you in here?” When there was no answer, Calvin passed the nozzle to George and began to feel his way along the right wall. With a heavily-gloved hand he moved around the bulk of the refrigerator and then the stove. He could see nothing. The smoke was so dense all he could do was feel.