Half-Off Ragnarok
Page 69

“Yeah, they did.” I staggered to my feet, offering her my hand. “Want to go find out who it was, and maybe kick their ass?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Leaving wasn’t quite that easy, of course: if we were seen driving away from the fire, which was most definitely going to be ruled arson, we’d make ourselves suspects. So Shelby and I gathered her things, patted one another’s hair until we were sure it wasn’t going to spontaneously combust, and went to meet with the emergency responders—after a brief stop at the car to drop off our weapons, of course. I was pleased to see that Shelby had managed to grab two guns and a hand-sized sickle in the process of getting her clothes on. Yes, every second had been important while we were still inside, but sometimes you need to be prepared in order to be safe.
Walking hurt, and was probably going to hurt for the next several days, but it was nothing time and some analgesics wouldn’t take care of. Shelby had a nasty burn on one arm that was probably going to scar, and both of us needed haircuts and showers, unless we wanted to walk around smelling like bonfire for the next few weeks.
Shelby’s neighbors had mostly gathered on the sidewalk and the grass closest to it, putting a safe distance between themselves and the building. Shelby looked anxiously around the crowd.
“Is that everyone?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She turned to look at me, eyes wide and sad. “I’ve only been here a little while, and I barely know any of my neighbors. There could be a dozen people burning in there, and I’d have no way of knowing.”
She’d have no way of saving them, either, but bringing that up wouldn’t do either of us any good. I put my arms around her, careful of her burns, and sighed. “We can’t save everything, Shelby,” I said quietly. “But we each saved one person tonight. You should be proud of that.”
“Who’d I save, then?”
“Me. I would have opened that door.”
“. . . and I wouldn’t have woken up until it was too late.” We were surrounded by strangers, but the way she looked at me made me feel like we were totally alone. “You saved me.”
“And you saved me. So see? You did everything you could have done.” I looked at the burning building, and added, “You did everything anyone could have done.”
The arrival of the fire trucks cut off any further conversation. Men in uniform shouted for the crowd to fall back, and the crowd did as it was told, clearly relieved to have someone taking control of the situation. Shelby sagged against me, exhausted. I held her up, scanning the crowd for anyone who didn’t look appropriately upset. There were a few tall, curvy blonde women who looked more annoyed than traumatized, but I dismissed them as dragon princesses and moved on, looking for a better target. Someone who didn’t fit, someone who hadn’t just watched what little they had in this world burn away to ashes . . .
Someone moved at the edge of the crowd, ducking their head and quickly stepping backward into the shadows, where I wouldn’t be able to see their face. I started to release my grip on Shelby, preparing to go after him, and stopped as a familiar face in a blue police uniform stepped between me and my mystery figure.
“So, Dr. Preston, it seems we’re fated to meet again,” said the officer who’d taken my statement after we found Andrew’s body. His gaze flicked to Shelby and then back to me, assessing. “And Dr. Tanner. The two of you sure do show up at a lot of emergencies these days.”
“Dr. Tanner lives here,” I said. “Or lived here, I guess. How bad is the damage?”
Shelby lifted her head, wobbling as she looked at him, like even the air weighed too much for her. I would have applauded her performance, if the situation hadn’t been quite so dire. “Unit 2-L,” she said, voice unsteady. “Officer, what happened? I thought there were fire doors on the stairways to prevent this type of thing.”
“We’ll have a full report in the next few days. Is either of you hurt?”
“A little,” said Shelby, and sniffled, eyes suddenly full of tears. “It’s not so bad I need to bother the EMTs. Can Alex take me to the hospital? Please?”
The officer looked torn. I couldn’t exactly blame him: first we find a body, and then we show up at a suspicious fire. At the same time, we weren’t suspects in anything—at least not yet. Finally, his training won out over his suspicions, and he nodded. “Go ahead,” he said. “Just don’t leave town for the next few days, all right?”
“We weren’t planning to,” I said. “Come on, sweetie.”
Shelby sniffled again and allowed me to lead her away from the crowd and the police, back to the dubious safety of my car.
We had no way of knowing whether the arson had been intended to kill me, Shelby, or both. I searched the exterior of the car thoroughly for bombs or signs that someone had tried to break in and, when I found nothing but a little goose shit from the zoo, I unlocked the doors. Shelby got into the passenger seat, and we drove away.
As soon as we had turned the corner and the apartment building was no longer in view, Shelby straightened, all signs of vulnerability gone. “Where are we going?” she asked, wiping away her crocodile tears. The motion smeared the ash on her face, making her look like a chimney sweep from a modern remake of Mary Poppins—one where Mary was armed to the teeth and out for blood. “Hospital?”
“Not unless we really need to. I don’t know anyone in the local ERs, so we wouldn’t be able to dodge the paper trail, and I’d rather we didn’t wind up as a human interest story on tonight’s news.” I kept an eye on the rearview mirror as I turned down another street, watching the road behind us for a tail. “We’re heading back to my grandparents’ place, as soon as I can be sure that we’re not being followed.”
“I hope you have a truly monumental first aid kit,” she said, wiping uselessly at her face again. Then she winced, as the motion apparently pulled on her burns. “I actually mean that.”
“The first aid kit was enough to stop me being turned to stone,” I said.
“So it’s pretty good is what you’re saying.”
“We do okay.” I drove to the end of the block, pulled off to the side, and turned off the engine.
Shelby blinked at me. “What are you—”