I listened for a moment, but heard nothing. I shot a stream of water down the hall and put out the flames that had climbed up the walls and were threatening to spread to the front of the house. When the crackling sound died down, I heard a small sound coming from the bedroom.
“Tony! I think he’s in there!” I shouted, as I yanked on the hose. I kicked open the bedroom door and came face to face with a wall of flame that shot out at us. I quickly raised the hose and opened the valve as wide as I could, hitting the flame with the water and watching as it sputtered out under the weight of the liquid. When it was out, I listened closely and heard a small sound coming from the closet.
I walked over and looked inside the smoke filled space. In the far corner, I saw a fat tabby cat laying on its side, panting with its eyes closed.
“Are you Howard?” I asked, as I reached down to lift the cat up. It opened one eye and hissed weakly at me before he let me pick him up and tuck him under my jacket. I handed the hose to Tony and said, “I need to get him out to the medics; finish putting out the hot spots in here, and I’ll be right back.”
I could feel the cat struggling to draw a breath now, so I quickly retraced my steps and exited the house in a dead run toward the medics. I handed the cat over and headed back into the house wher
e I saw that something had ignited in the living room. The flames had spread across the front of the house, and I had a bad feeling as I pulled my mask down and ran headlong back into the building.
“Tony! Cal! Get your asses in here with the hose!” I shouted, as I looked around the room and saw a space heater still plugged into the wall sparking and smoking. “NOW, Goddamm it! Get in here now!”
The heater was on its side, still running, and I could see that the curtain next to it had started to smoke. I knew better than to get anywhere near it since it contained oil and could explode at any second. Instead, I grabbed the quilt off the back of the couch, and from a distance, tossed it onto the heater, covering it as much as I could. When Tony and Cal hit the living room, I grabbed the hose and aimed the water at the quilt, soaking it completely before I ran over and yanked the plug out of the outlet.
The danger averted, we hosed the rest of the interior of the house down and made sure that the fire hadn’t climbed up into the walls. The guys on the roof had hacked holes in it and vented the building. I knew that the entire place would have to be torn down, and as we packed up our gear, I felt sympathy for the homeowner.
I looked around and saw the blonde woman standing near the ambulance as the medics held a mask on her now very angry cat. I walked over to find out if the cat would be okay, and was surprised when the woman turned around.
“Ms. Fowler!” I said. “I had no idea it was your house. I’m so sorry we couldn’t save it.”
“You saved Howard,” she said, as tears ran down her cheeks. “That’s the only thing that matters to me. Thank you.”
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked, as I watched her wipe away the tears with the back of her hand.
“They said he’s going to need to be in the oxygen tent at the vet’s for a few days, but he should make a full recovery,” she said, as she cast a glance at the charred remains of her home.
“What about you?” I asked. “Do you have a place to stay? Family?”
“Oh, I’ll go with Howard and then figure something out,” she said, smiling weakly as a couple of Red Cross volunteers stood off to one side waiting to speak with her. “It’ll be fine. I need to call the insurance company and find out what to do. But thank you for asking, Mr. Gaston.”
“Blake, please call me Blake,” I said.
“I’m Emily,” she said, holding out her hand. “Thank you for saving him, Blake. He’s an ornery little guy, but he’s all I’ve got.”
“I’m glad we could do something good in spite of all of this,” I said, gesturing to the smoking building.
“Your guys are waiting for you,” she said, nodding at the engine that sat idling in the street with the door open.
“I’d better go,” I said, turning toward the truck. I walked a few steps before I turned and said, “Do you need a ride somewhere after you take care of him?”
“I can call a cab,” she said, waving me off. “It’s all good. But thanks.”
The whole ride back to the station, I couldn’t stop thinking about how small Emily had looked compared to the day I’d met her for the conference. At the conference, she’d been in charge of the discussion and had played into all of the “hot teacher” fantasies I’d had as a high school boy. Today, she looked lost and alone, and I wondered where she was going to go and why there was no one to come pick her up from the vet’s.
By the time we pulled into the station, I’d made up my mind about what I was going to do as soon as I got off shift. Back in the locker room, I grabbed my things, wished everyone a Merry Christmas, and headed straight for my truck.
Chapter Fourteen
Emily
I stared out the back window as the ambulance pulled away from the smoking remains of my home. Everything I owned had been inside. I’d managed to grab a coat and my purse before I’d run out of the house, and the Red Cross volunteers had given me a small amount of cash and a voucher for three nights in a local motel. Unfortunately, I’d left my phone on the coffee table, and I was pretty sure that it had been destroyed by either fire or water.
The EMTs had suggested that they drive Howard and me to the closest vet clinic so that I could get Howard checked out. He wasn’t happy about the fact that the EMT was struggling to keep an oxygen mask over his face, but he wasn’t fighting very hard, and I knew that wasn’t a good thing.
At the clinic, the techs whisked Howard from the arms of the EMT and took him back to the treatment area as the receptionist directed me to the waiting area. She brought me a cup of coffee and said that the doctor would be out as soon as they’d assessed Howard’s injuries. I nodded and sat down in a corner chair.
The quiet struck me as odd until I remembered that this was Christmas morning, and that the rest of Waltham was most likely gathering around their trees to begin their celebrations. A wave of grief flowed through my body, causing me to set my coffee down before resting my elbows on my knees and burying my face in my hands as I cried quietly.