part0062

S anchez rapidly took notes as Petra relayed what had happened last night from her perspective. Much of what they knew was from the video the girl had taken, so it was mostly redundant. What hadn’t been known was what had happened before she started recording, and after the phone was destroyed.

“And that’s the last time you saw the professors?”

Petra nodded. “Yes, when they left with my father to see the Bible.”

“And you didn’t see them leave.”

She shook her head. “I do remember hearing the door alarm, so that must be when they did.”

“And that was when?”

She shrugged. “Maybe a couple of minutes before they blew the place up.”

“You didn’t hear any argument between the professors and your father?”

“No tension, no discomfort?”

“No, though Professor Acton seemed eager to see the Bible.”

“A little too eager?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. They’re all geeks. They get excited about boring things.”

Sanchez smiled. “How did your father feel about tonight? Was he happy to be there?”

Petra’s eyes brightened. “Oh yeah, he was so excited. So proud.” Her face clouded over, her voice becoming that of a frightened little girl. “Are my parents going to die?”

Sanchez couldn’t give her an honest answer without devastating her. “I’m going to have to talk to somebody to find out what’s going on. All I know is that before I came in here, I heard they were both alive and in surgery. Don’t give up hope.”

Tears flowed. “If they die, the last things I ever said to them were all in anger because I didn’t want to come. I wanted to go to my friend’s birthday party. They were right, I barely knew her, but I said I hated them.”

Sanchez’s heart ached for the young woman. “I have a daughter about your age, and believe me, we fight. That’s what parents do with their teenagers, especially teenage daughters. But never doubt that we always love you, no matter how horrible the things you say to us are. They know you love them, and I promise you they love you with all their heart. And if one of them doesn’t make it, they would never want you to think that in any way they thought you truly hated them, or that you thought they didn’t love you as much as they did the day you were born.” She patted Petra on the shoulder. “Listen, stay here. I’ll go check on your parents and have somebody let you know what’s going on. I might have more questions for you later, okay?”

Petra wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “Okay. Have you found my brother?”

“No, we’re still searching for him. He wasn’t where you said he was, and there was very little damage there, so that’s a good sign. We think he might just be hiding because he’s scared.”