We all stood there flat-footed for a moment. Andy was the first one who laughed but eventually, uneasily, we all did. I mean, you’re a twenty-year-old guy. What else would you notice?

Late that night I got a text: Curt Cowrie from The American Association of Mental Health Nurses (AMEN). Give me a call. I have an idea. Anytime is ok.

There was one more text, from the area code shared by Black Creek college and the prison nearby. It said,

Longing Esme/broken grace/passion buried/under lace.

She picked up on the first ring. “I didn’t call you,” she said.

“I called you. I have to ask you something. You said you were there that night. Were you Belinda’s girlfriend?”

There was a long, slightly liquid pause. And then, with the kind of little breath catch that a baby makes falling asleep, she said, “Why would you say that?”

“What is this truth you say you know?”

“You can’t call me anymore. I can’t talk to you anymore. Bad things will happen. I’m sorry.”

She hung up.

The phone pinged again. I glanced down, no text. But a few moments later, a voice mail showed up. Was anyone asleep tonight? I put the phone on speaker, then decided against it and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Thea, this is Jill McCormack calling. This isn’t over, Thea. But I’ve decided that there won’t be any more protestors near your house. Good night.”

Good night.

I lay back down and must have slept. When I woke up again, still feeling awful, flu-like, what I could see from my window looked like one of those lurid sunrises that make false promises for the beauty of the newborn day.

But it wasn’t sunrise. I knew that when I heard Molly whimpering and growling and saw the rolling lights of the fire trucks and heard the banging at the front door. I ran down to open it and saw that the rosy glow came from the old Mitsubishi, which was now on fire in the driveway.

8

The fire demolished more than my sister’s vintage junker. It wiped out Stefan’s confidence too.

Heartbroken, I watched as he parked his truck and stepped onto the porch the next morning. He looked to the left and to the right, then ducked inside, glancing around him as he sprinted.

“I’m fine!” he snapped at me before I could say a word.

Jep said he wanted to install alarms and follow lights.