Chapter 20

I grabbed my phone and house keys and my fingers shook as I tried to lock up.

“Here, I’ll do it.” Riley locked it with a quick twist and handed back the keys. Then we stepped off the porch. “Are you going to be able to do this?”

Heat flushed my face, and I felt strangely out of my body like my mind had moved too fast and left my physical self back in the house, and I was waiting for it to catch up. “I have to. Riley, I had a vision a while back about another fire. People were killed. So far two things out of that vision have already happened tonight. We have to stop it. Let’s go!”

Riley turned to his house. “Wait. Can you ride a bike? It would be faster.”

“It’s been years, but yes. You got a spare?”

He nodded, racing toward his house and pressing the garage remote on his key. “You can take mine. I’ll take my brother’s.”

While waiting for him to retrieve the bikes from the junk-filled garage, I dialed Mom’s number. No answer. I dialed Talia’s number, but the ringtone shrilled from inside the house. Geez, Talia. There was no response from Sasha’s phone either; she probably turned it off for the performance.

Riley wheeled the bike over to me. “We need to call for help first,” I said. “We should get the police there.” My feet wanted to run or ride, and get there as quickly as possible, but logic told me to take a few more moments to call the authorities and hope like hell they didn’t put me on hold. But what would I say? I had a vision and now it’s coming true? Google told me that Wayne seemed obsessed by fire after his mother died and therefore he must be the arsonist? It sounded ridiculous when put that way, but when I put everything together, all the details, it made perfect sense. I remembered Wayne’s fascination with our fireplace turned bookcase that night he came for dinner for the first time, and I whipped out my phone from my pocket.

“No, you start riding. I’ll call while I ride.” Riley pressed his phone and held it to his ear, then got onto his bike and started pedaling. “Hi, I need police over at the high school hall. I have reason to believe the arsonist is going to strike again,” Riley said as we rode toward town. “What reason? I just came across some information. Look, we need you there ASAP. We believe the arsonist is Wayne Rickers.” He was silent for a moment, and I willed my legs to cooperate and push forward. “Another fire? Where? Never mind, please, just get there as soon as you can.”

“What did they say?” I asked when Riley shoved his phone in his pocket.

“They’re short-staffed. Most of the cops are out at another incident on the edge of town. Another fire on some guy’s property. They said they’ll get to the school as soon as they can.”

I couldn’t see Riley’s expression as my surroundings blurred alongside me while we sped down the street, but I had the feeling it was creased with worry. There was no guarantee we could stop this, no guarantee the police would arrive in time.

We left the bikes in a heap in front of the school hall and dashed toward the entrance. Riley grabbed my arm. “We don’t want to cause a panic. We better walk in discreetly, get your sisters’ attention first, and maybe one of the teachers.

Teachers. Mr. Jenkins. Only moments ago I thought he was the arsonist, and now he could be someone who could help us.

I nodded and sucked in air, trying to catch my breath as sweat dripped down my face. We entered the foyer and passed the two teenage attendants deep in conversation in the food stall, who didn’t even acknowledge our presence. Riley quietly opened the door, and we slipped inside the dark hall to the sound of emphatic voices on the brightly lit stage commanding the crowd. We inched along the sidewall, peering into the audience until Sasha’s sparkly headband caught my eye. She was rubbing her nose. Serena was rubbing her ear, and Talia was fiddling with her hands. Tamara looked like she’d eaten a sour grape. My eyes urged them to look my way. I caught Sasha’s first and waved my hand urgently, instructing her to come over. She nudged the others and they shuffled in their seats, and then crept along in a crouched position so as to not obstruct people’s view.

“What’s going on? Savvy, why are you here?” Talia whispered, placing her hand on my hot head. “You’re burning up. C’mon, let’s get you a glass of water.”

“We’ll all be burning up if you don’t listen to me.” I dragged her out to the foyer and the others followed. “It’s Wayne. Wayne’s the arsonist. Where is he?”

“What the? He’s probably backstage. So is Mom. All of the cast is on stage right now for this scene, except Mom. She’ll be getting ready for her grand finale.”

“Oh no.” I ran a hand through my damp hair, dislodging the strands that had stuck to my face.

“Wait. It’s Wayne? How do you know?” Serena asked.

“There’s no time to explain. We have to get Mom out of here. We have to stop him.”

The door opened and Mr. Jenkins joined us in the foyer. “Is everything all right?”

“Actually, sir, we may need your help.” Riley explained the situation without mentioning anything about the vision, and Mr. Jenkins shot into action.

“I’d had my suspicions about him since he arrived back in town after all these years. Maybe I should’ve told the police.” He shook his head. “Right, you two…” he said as he pointed at Sasha and Serena, “wait outside for the police. And you three, come with me to the side entrance to the backstage area. Wait there and give the police the passcode to get in. It’s…” He glanced around to make sure no one else was listening, “Nine nine seven six two three. Got it? Nine nine seven six two three.” My sisters nodded, but my eyebrows drew together.

“Wait, what about Riley? And what are you going to do?”

“I’ll go backstage and see what’s going on. Riley, you can come with me. But we have to be quiet.”

“No, I want to come in too. She’s my mom, I have to help her.”

“Savannah, we don’t know what he’s capable of. I can’t put you in any danger.”

“I may be a girl, but I can take care of myself.” I planted my hands on my hips. “Now let’s stop wasting time and get on with it.” I marched outside where two of my sisters waited with fearful expressions, and the rest of us dashed around the outside of the building. Mr. Jenkins punched in the passcode and Talia repeated it out loud to memorize it, and the men entered the building.

“You sure, Savvy?” Riley asked, turning to face me.

“There’s no way I’m staying outside. Let’s go.” I walked with them down the corridor and past a bathroom. We stopped and pricked our ears, on the alert for the slightest sound. Maybe we should have brought Serena in.

“This way,” Mr. Jenkins said. “She might be in the far dressing room at the back.” He led the way, and I tried to slow my breathing, still labored from my cold, the bike ride, and the fear.

“Shh,” Riley whispered. “I think I hear something.”

We stood still, ears angled toward the dressing room door.

A weary, muffled voice wafted through the walls. “But why, Wayne? Why?”

Oh no, she knows. She knows she’s in trouble. I forced composure so I could be useful; there was no time to be scared. I had to be ready for action and do whatever was necessary to stop him. I imagined my fear was a clump inside, just like the fear about my aneurysm returning, and blew out all the fragments as quietly as I could. This was it. This was what my visions, our visions, had been preparing us for.

“Don’t you see?” Wayne’s muffled voice said. “This is the only way to make sure we’ll be together forever. You, me, and my mother.”

Oh my God. The man was crazy.

Mom sobbed. “Please, Wayne. If you love me, let me go. Please untie me, please.”

I squirmed at her words.

“No!” he yelled. “This is the only way. This is the final one. The final fire. My mom would be so proud. I’ve kept the fires burning all these years.”

“Final Fire Claims Eight Lives”

The newspaper headline of my vision flashed through my mind. No way in hell was I going to let that come true. I reached for the door handle to the dressing room. Riley grabbed my wrist in a flash before I could touch it.

“Savvy!” he whispered, so quietly it was barely audible. “What if it’s locked? If he knows you’re here he might…he might…”

“He might act in haste,” Mr. Jenkins said. “Just sit tight, let me think.” He glanced around as though a solution might manifest in thin air.

“And the cops will be here soon,” Riley added.

Mom and Wayne continued talking, arguing, and showed no indication they knew we were here.

“Help!” Mom yelled, but the second half of the word was muffled further as though he’d clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Yell out again, and I’ll tape your mouth shut and light this match right now before you’ve listened to my explanation.” His voice was tense, mean, and threatening, and my blood boiled at the sound of it. “Anyway, even if someone were to come, they won’t get through that door. It’s just you and me, baby.”

“Get your hands off me,” Mom warned with a determination in her voice I hadn’t heard before.

“We were meant to be together, you and me. When I heard that a new family had moved into my house, I kept an eye on it. Imagine my surprise when I saw that a beautiful woman with five beautiful daughters had taken residence within its troubled walls. And with no garage, it was so easy to mess with your car so you’d have to come into the only mechanic’s garage in town.”

“You did that on purpose?”

Realization dawned inside. So he was the hooded figure I’d seen moving away from our house not long after we moved in.

“It was the perfect excuse to meet you and ask you out. And when you told me you were performing in this play, our fate was sealed. I knew this would be the ideal scene for my final act. Schools cause nothing but trouble. No one came to my rescue when kids bullied me because I had a drug addict for a mother.”

“Wayne, I’m sorry you had a hard life, but it’s not my fault, it’s not—”

“Shut up, Rose.”

I flinched.

“You moving into my house, it was destiny. It was as though my mother had chosen you for me. And in a moment, you’ll be able to meet her.”

Mom sobbed again.

A moment? I eyed Riley and Mr. Jenkins with urgency. We had to do something, or the police would arrive and it’d be too late.

Mr. Jenkins moved slowly along the hall, mouthing “shhh” as he went, and then peered around the corner into what looked like a storage area. He motioned for us to join him. At least it was farther away from where Mom and Wayne sounded like they were, and they shouldn’t be able to hear us conspiring.

Mr. Jenkins pointed to a door. “This is a two-way closet. Wayne probably doesn’t know that. Before we extended the hall, this used to be the door to this dressing room. It was converted into a storage closet, one on each side. If I remember correctly, there should only be a thin sheet of plywood separating us from them. If I can lift that out of the grooves, I’ll be able to get through the door on the other side.”

Hope swam inside me, and I was so grateful to have Mr. Jenkins around. Having worked at the school all his life, he knew the place inside out.

“Let’s get the ball rolling,” Wayne’s gritty voice traveled through the walls, muffled but just loud enough to make out. I could also hear the sound of liquid splashing on the ground. “All I have to do is light a match and the beautiful, magnificent flames will engulf us. It’ll be quick, I promise you. And then we’ll be together forever, bound by destiny.”

“Your destiny is in a prison cell, dickhead,” Riley muttered.

Absolutely. No way was I prepared to lose both my parents. Mom needed us, and I would not stand back and let him take her from me. “Let’s do this,” I said with my hand on the doorknob.

“Savannah, maybe you should go wait outside. Let Riley and me handle it.”

I pressed my lips together. “I said, let’s do this.”

“Okay.” He sighed. “When I open the internal door, you and Riley help Rose. Untie her and get her out. I’ll get Wayne.”

Riley stared at Mr. Jenkins. “No offense, sir, but I think I should handle him. You help Mrs. Delcarta.”

Mr. Jenkins eyed Riley’s muscular frame, and then his own slight build, and nodded. “You’re right. As long as you’re up for it?”

“One hundred percent. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him get away with this.” A fierce determination sharpened his face.

“Just be careful. And whatever you do, don’t let him light a match.”

“One last kiss, Rose. One last kiss,” Wayne said, and Mom’s sobbing intensified.

I felt sick in the stomach.

Hang in there, Mom. We’re coming. In my mind I called for Dad’s help, his guidance, to help us get through this. Don’t let him take her, Dad, don’t let him. I hoped the element of surprise at us barging through a door he thought was just a closet would stun Wayne long enough for Riley to tackle him to the ground.

“There shouldn’t be much stuff in the closet. Most of the equipment would be on or near the stage, so hopefully there’s room to squeeze through.” Mr. Jenkins twisted the door handle and pulled back the door. He paused when a slight creak sounded, then eased it open more slowly. Wayne was still going on about destiny and other crap, and I couldn’t wait to get my poor mother out from under his hold. Mr. Jenkins stepped into the narrow closet and ran his hands over the plywood partition at the back. He pushed it slightly and it wobbled a little, creating a small gap on both sides for his fingers to slip through and take hold. It was attached via horizontal grooves at the top and bottom, so Mr. Jenkins gripped the side edges and shifted it back and forth, trying to budge it from its position. Riley took one side, while I stood back to give them room. The thin sheet of wood lifted just out of the top groove, enough to tilt it downward and lift it from the bottom groove. As the wood was placed to the side, the sound of Wayne’s voice grew louder now that there was less of a barrier separating us.

“Tomorrow’s my birthday, Rose. Did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t,” Mom’s shaky voice replied. “Why don’t you celebrate and think things through? I can help you,” she pleaded.

“I would have been forty-five. I told myself forty-five was it. No more. I’ve had enough, Rose. It’s time to leave where I don’t belong and go somewhere I do. Where we do.”

“But Wayne, I belong here with my girls. They need me.”

My heart ached and I fought back tears. There’d be time for them later. “Ready?” I asked.

They nodded. Riley took the front position, as the priority was to get to Wayne first. Mr. Jenkins was next, then me, lucky last.

“Now, you’ll have to think and act fast, Riley. Go straight for Wayne. Get him to the floor if you can.”

He nodded. “Looks like my martial arts training might come in handy for the first time in my life,” he said, and my sense of hope returned. He’d never told me he had those sorts of skills. Hopefully Wayne didn’t have them to match.

“Okay, on the count of three,” Mr. Jenkins whispered. “One, two…three!”

Riley barged through the door and we followed. I only saw a flash of Wayne until my eyes darted to Mom, tied up on a chair, her eyes red and swollen, and her mouth gaping in shock at our sudden entrance. I rushed to her side. Mr. Jenkins was already working the ties on her arms, and I dropped to the slippery floor to attack the ones around her ankles. I was so focused on my role, I couldn’t see how Riley was going; but grunts and shuffles and thumps filled the room, along with Wayne’s almost demonic yelling for Riley to get away.

“Hurry, hurry!” Mom exclaimed, as a box of matches landed near my foot. I grabbed it and put it in my pocket.

Mom’s arms were freed, and she put her hands desperately on my head as I untied the second rope around her right foot. I flicked the loose restraint away and Mom stood, sobbing and shaking and flinging her arms around me. No sooner had she done that then Mr. Jenkins shoved us through the closet door.

“Go, get out of here and tell the police to hurry!” Before we left I saw him charge at Wayne on the floor, and with Riley’s help, twisted his arms behind his back as Riley held the man’s face to the ground.

“Oh, Savvy, you’re here! How did you…” Her words were interrupted by footsteps down the hall, and two cops came in, weapons at the ready.

“He’s in there!” Mom pointed. “He tried to kill me!”

“Both of you, outside now,” one of the cops said, and we ran as fast as we could down the corridor and out of the building that had become our worst nightmare.

“Mom!” Talia ran into Mom’s arms, and Tamara grasped my shoulders.

“What happened? Are you all right? Where’s Wayne and Riley and Mr. Jenkins?” Tamara’s eyes were wide and worried.

“They’ve got him on the ground. I think it’s over. I think we stopped him,” I panted out the words and collapsed into my sister’s arms, adrenaline and illness making me a trembling mess.

Mom fell to the ground, Talia and Tamara and myself wrapped around her. Sasha and Serena ran over, along with the two teenage attendants from the food stall.

“Oh my God, Mom.” Serena, in tears, attached herself to all of us, followed by Sasha. I could have sworn I felt my father’s arms around us too. I could smell his comforting aftershave, taste the sweet chocolate treats he used to buy, hear his addictive laugh, and see his beaming smile. There we were, all connected as one. Five sisters. One mother. And Dad’s memory. A family. Safe, together, where we belonged.