“Okay, you two go on home and hug those twins of yours. They will sorely miss him.”

“As will we all.” Sam shook his head. “I think I’m in about as great a shock as Mom is. And to find him like that. How horrible.” His sigh carried the weight of gallons of tears. “The chicken coop is locked up. I’ll be over in the morning to do the chores.”

“If you need anything, call me.” Erica rubbed her forehead. “I hope the smoke doesn’t bother you. Oh, I put a bottled water by her bed. There are more in the fridge in her office.”

“Thanks. Glad they caught it before the house ignited.”

“I know, me too.” Sam slid open the door and ushered Erica ahead of him. “Night.”

Amalia carried her case into the bedroom and set it on the chair. Spook thumped his tail from where he was stretched out alongside Ginny’s legs. His eyes begged her to leave him there, so she did. She had no idea if this was permissible behavior but too bad. Today was not a permissible day. They’d deal with that later. She changed in the bathroom and, after standing to watch Ginny in a log state, slipped under the covers. The smoke smell was not severe here but she could guess about the upstairs. Oh, well. If the fire department didn’t exhaust the upstairs, they could call one of the cleaning services in the morning to bring out their huge exhaust fans to clear the air. In reality, everything might need to be scrubbed down to free the house from the nose-biting odor. Knowing the horrors ahead of all the paperwork caused by a death, she figured she could run interference for her friend. Fred most likely had all the info in folders in one drawer of the file cabinet or, if there was a safe, some things in there. That was the way Fred did things.

She drifted off with her usual adaptability, waking every time Ginny made a noise. Once she was sobbing in her sleep, but didn’t respond to any questions. At six, Spook wanted to go out, so Amalia slid the glass door open enough for him to leave and come back. Go back to bed or…Back to bed won out, but an insistent phone soon trumped it. Since it was now eight a.m., she grabbed it before it could ring again.

“Morning, Amalia, everything still all right there?” Sam asked.

“Yes, your mother’s still sleeping. What time do you plan to go to the hospital?”

“I just called in that I won’t be at school today so that is next on my list. Eva said there would be papers to sign.”

“There are always papers to sign. Mike is planning on being here about ten unless we call and set a different time. So you want to go to the hospital after that?”

‘That will be fine. By the way, I was over there early and did the chores so you needn’t worry about that.”