Chapter 14 - Fire in the Yard
I slowed down only because Emma was right behind the glass doors and Claire was unstable enough to do anything.
“Claire,” I called. “Look at me.”
She was crying and laughing at the same time. “You made me into the villain.”
“You did that yourself.”
Her face crumpled, then hardened. “No. You did. Every time you chose her.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“She’s a child who controls you with tears!”
“She controls me because I love her.”
Claire lifted the lighter toward the gas-soaked wood.
“If I can’t have that house,” she said, “nobody gets the sweet little picture.”
Something moved on my left.
Diane.
My mother had stepped onto the patio, hands shaking. “Claire, please. Stop.”
Claire turned on her viciously. “You said he’d understand discipline.”
The words hit like a fist.
I looked at my mother.
Diane went paper white.
Ortiz and the officers were spreading quietly, trying to angle around Claire.
Emma’s voice came faintly from inside. “Daddy…”
Claire heard it.
Her gaze snapped to the glass doors.
That split second was all I needed.
I lunged.
Claire clicked the lighter on at the same moment and flame kissed the gasoline on the steps. Fire jumped fast and ugly up one side of the playhouse.
I hit her hard enough to send us both into the grass. The bottle flew. Ortiz rushed in from the right. Another officer tackled Claire’s legs.
Claire clawed at my face, screaming, “She ruins everything! She ruins everything!”
I tore free and spun toward the fire.
It had already caught the trim.
One officer grabbed the garden hose while another pulled the extinguisher from beside the grill. White foam blasted across the flames.
Smoke rolled thick and bitter across the lawn.
Through it, I saw Emma standing in the doorway to the house, sobbing.
I ran to her, dropped to my knees, and pulled her into my arms.
“It’s over,” I said.
May you like
But behind us, over the hiss of the extinguisher and the snap of wet wood, Claire let out one last scream.
And my mother covered her face because she knew exactly why.
