Chapter 15 - A Fire Set for the Second Time
Holt saw them notice the smoke. He looked almost relieved.
"Old wiring," he said. "You know how this building is."
"You're standing next to the electrical room with a gas can," the officer replied.
Holt looked down. The red container was half hidden behind his leg. Then he ran.
The officer followed, ordering him to stop. Victor called the fire department and started knocking on apartment doors. Iris tucked Rosa's bag against her chest and helped Marisol move the nearest family toward the courtyard.
The smoke thickened quickly. Somewhere a glass pane cracked. "Everybody out through the courtyard door!" Marisol called. "Leave your bags. We'll get replacements."
A woman carrying a sleeping boy hesitated beside a suitcase. Adrian took the case from her hands and set it down. "I'll pay for whatever's inside. Please go."
The boy woke crying. He reached for his mother. Iris kept her voice calm and pointed toward Victor, who held open a safe ground-floor exit.
They counted residents beneath the awning. Thirty-nine. Then forty-one. The building manager checked his list. Two people still unaccounted for, both night-shift workers who had gone to collect medication.
"They might be inside," Marisol said.
Fire crews had reached the front of the wing. Their captain took the names and sent a team in breathing equipment. Iris wanted to go back. Every part of her wanted to run into the smoke the way her mother had.
Adrian gripped her arm. "They're trained for this. We tell them what we know and stay out of their way."
She hated that he was right. She handed the captain the floor plan and watched the team disappear.
Then Celeste came staggering from the service corridor, coughing, one gold heel missing. She had gone back for the documents she'd hidden in the executive office. A fire door swung shut behind her and failed to latch. Smoke poured into the hall.
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Celeste fell to her knees. She looked directly at Iris.
"Please," she whispered. "Don't leave me here."
