Chương 78: Lemon Meringue Season (April) Part 2
He noticed the bare spot moving the woodpile had left; he would have to make sure he doused that area good with gasoline. Make it look like the chainsaw leaked -- that was an excellent idea. The gas tank of the chain saw would give some extra life to the fire later on. The bedroom light upstairs went out. He'd give her a chance to fall asleep before lighting this. He thought he saw something moving over by the garage, but couldn't make out anything. He went back to what he was doing. Shame this was a brick house. It was going to take a while to catch. A gasoline-soaked wood pile ought to do it.
A noise woke Adrianna from a sound sleep. She'd been having a very vivid dream that Pablo Moreno was setting fires with the best fruit wood, but explaining to her that it was Cindy's fault. The hashmarks on the headboard were fires. It was making perfect sense in her dream, but now that she was awake it didn't make any sense at all and made her feel cross and frustrated. She smelled smoke, got out of bed, and went over to the window facing the house. She saw a flicker of flame at the corner of the house and dream clashed with reality. She was instantly furious. Her mother always said that dreams meant things -- she must have dreamed this as a warning. Pablo Moreno liked fire. He'd been accused of setting fires. Now he was a fireman and it would be so easy to set fires just to be a hero and try to impress her. Well, she wasn't impressed. She pulled on her robe and shoved her feet into a pair of sneakers and raced down the garage stairs. She looked out of the garage door windows and tried to get a better look at whatever was going on.
"Ms. DiSanti?" Autumn came into the garage from the pie kitchen, startling Adrianna and averting her gaze just as she'd decided she saw someone moving around over at the corner of the house. The child's pale face made her red hair look redder and somehow more wild, even in the wan light from the streetlight hanging from the garage outside. Her glasses reflected in the dim light, making her eyes look large and opaque, like a comic-strip character.
"There's someone sneaking around the house," Autumn said.
"Autumn, what are you doing here? It's late! Stay in here -- I'm going to go check it out. I think I know who it is." She grabbed a garden rake and went outside. As she got close to the woodpile, which was now somehow right up against the house, she smelled gasoline. She tore around the corner in a hurry.
"Damn it, Moreno -- what do you think you're doing?" she demanded. Then something hit her across the face. She heard the child scream and that was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.
Greg, Keith, Pablo, Franco and Fabian were at the bar in the Tavern. Lately, they'd all become interested in darts and were practicing for a tournament later in the week. Greg's cell phone rang.
"Sorry, guys," Greg said. "I'm on call." He answered, and went pale. Several other phones in the bar began to ring.
"You're kidding, right? Oh God. I'll be right there." He grabbed his jacket as Pablo answered his phone and then did the same.
"Where?" Fabian demanded, frightened by the expressions on Greg's and Pablo's faces.
"You do not want to know," Greg told him. Cold dread clutched at Fabian's stomach.
"Yes I do. I'm coming with you."
"No you're not."
"Then I'll meet you there." Fabian grabbed his own jacket and raced out to his truck.
The man threw the plastic gas can he'd hit Adrianna with toward the burning wood pile and grabbed Autumn by the hair. She screamed and fought back, biting and scratching at him. He twisted her hair around his hand until she finally whimpered and had to submit. She started to cry in helplessness and fury. He tore her glasses from her face and threw them aside. Autumn blinked and got ready to fight again, but he tightened his grip on her hair some more.
"Do you know who I am?" he demanded. "Do you?"
"No," Autumn said defiantly.
"Good. You're coming with me." He dragged her to the orchard. Autumn remembered why she was there and made a small sound. She heard a response and made the noise again, just to be sure. It was effective. Her geese had heard and all awoke in a frenzy. She hid her face. The geese were highly territorial and over the past weeks had claimed the orchard. They attacked the man, hissing, biting and beating him with their wings. He screamed and left go of Autumn to cover his face with his hands. Autumn dropped to the ground and rolled herself into a ball. The man screamed again and apparently tried to run. The next thing Autumn heard was a crash of wooden boxes and an angry buzzing. The man's screams got worse, and Autumn rolled herself up even tighter.
Fabian pulled his truck into the driveway almost to the garage and slammed on the brakes. He rolled out of the driver's side and hit the ground running. He could see flames at the side of the house. He had a key to Lisa's house and fumbled with the key chain as he ran. He finally arrived at the back door. He smelled smoke as he took the stairs two and three at a time to the master bedroom at the top of the stairs to the right. Lisa was curled up, asleep. Buster woke and started barking happily. Fabian went over to the bed.
"Lisa? Honey, wake up."
"Fabian? What are you doing here? Mmmm I was just having the best dream!"
"We'll talk about it later, sweetie. You have to get up now."
"Nooo. Five more minutes."
"Lisa! Get up now!" He didn't mean for it to come out so abruptly, but it worked. Lisa was awake now and looking at him, obviously hurt.
"Your house is on fire," he told her. "You have to leave. Now."
"What?"
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her over his shoulder. He couldn't carry both Lisa and the dog, but Taryn had trained Buster well and Buster followed obediently, even when the smoke detectors started to go off.
She saw the flashing lights as the trucks and ambulance pulled into her driveway.
"Fabian?"
"I told you, honey. Your house is on fire. I was with Greg when the call came in, and I saw the flames as I pulled up. It's right under your bedroom."
"What? No! He wouldn't! He wouldn't!"
"If you mean your uncle, I think he would, and he did. Or hired someone," Fabian told her. He took her out the back door, across the driveway, and set her down in front of the garage. Lisa looked up. The garage and apartment above were dark. Adrianna was usually a night owl.
"Maybe we should check on your sister," Lisa said nervously.
"For now, honey, you need to stay put," Fabian told her as a police cruiser pulled into the driveway and parked near where they were standing.
"That's twice you've saved my life now," she said, her eyes full of tears.
"You save mine every day. I love you. We'll get through this, Lisa." He noticed that she was shifting from foot to foot -- the weather was still a little chilly and she was in bare feet. He kicked off his sneakers and pulled off his socks.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực