Flashover by Dana Mentink

Author:Dana Mentink [Mentink, Dana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Suspense, General, Christian, Romance, Religious, Love Stories
ISBN: 9780373443246
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2009-01-13T05:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Tim got there first. Her door was ajar. He motioned to her to stay put as he crept over the threshold. She waited as long as she could and then followed him.

The place was completely upended, in much the same way Moe’s had been. Drawers emptied, the area rug rolled up along the edges, kitchen cabinets disgorged onto the floor. The radio was playing, no doubt to cover the sound of the intruder’s actions. Without a word she went into her tiny bedroom and found a similar mess, her clothes closet and drawers dumped onto the carpet in colorful piles. She made her way to the closet.

A figure in a ski mask exploded from the closet and knocked her backward as she screamed. In spite of her shock, she managed to reach out and grab his ankles as he went past. The man fell with a crash, knocking over the pitcher on the bedside table. Ivy hung on to his ankle until a hard kick made her let go.

She heard a shout from the living room, followed by another crash. Ivy managed to get to her feet and stagger down the hallway to find Tim on the floor, struggling under the weight of an upended bookcase.

“Tim, are you all right?” She scooped books away from his flailing legs while he shoved the bookcase off and sat up.

“I’m okay.” His eyes were frantic. “Are you?”

She gave him a shaky nod. “I think so. He was hiding in the closet.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I heard you scream and came running, but the guy managed to get by me and knock over the bookshelf. Who was he? Did he look familiar?”

“I’m not sure. He’s stocky and strong, like the guy who tried to take my purse. I couldn’t make out the hair color—did you?”

“No.” He was silent for a moment. “Whoever it was is getting more desperate.”

The whole thing seemed suddenly too much. Ivy turned away so Tim wouldn’t see the tears forming in her eyes. “I’m going to see if anything was taken.”

She returned to the bedroom.

With her breath in her throat she stepped into the closet and found her turnouts, lying in a pile, all the pockets inside out. She examined them from top to bottom, but they hadn’t been damaged. Gathering them up, she pressed the yellow neoprene, still permeated with the faint smell of smoke, to her face.

Tim looked in cautiously. “Is your gear okay?”

“Yeah.” She retrieved the boots and radio and put them in a neat pile in an empty closet corner. “At least I’ve still got that.”

Detective Greenly came shortly. He wore jeans and a T-shirt and smelled like charcoal.

“Barbecue duty at my kid’s high school. Some sort of wrestling team bonding thing, which ends with everybody sleeping on the gym floor tonight. Not me. I said I’d cook but leave the lying on the cold floor bit to the young bucks.” He looked around. “Anything taken?”

“Not that I could tell.” Ivy told him about the strange message she’d received before her humiliating trip to the fire station.

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