Chapter 5
After the firefighters put out the blaze, everyone
gathered outside, covered in soot.
The daycare fire was big news, and a lot of
parents skipped work to rush over.
Even the grandparents showed up, shaky with
worry.
“You need to figure out what caused this! We
deserve answers!”
“It wasn’t just a fire, there was an explosion!”
<
Jennifer stood up, making sure everyone could
hear her, and said, “Mom…Director Davis, it’s
my fault. I found something dangerous in
Tommy’s backpack, I called his mom, but it was
too late…”
The parents demanded to know what she was
talking about.
“Tommy had one of those glow–in–the–dark
hydrogen balloon toys with a battery. But the
battery was leaking!”
Chief Thompson frowned. That was basically a
time bomb, ready to go off!
Jennifer saw the parents were getting angry
and kept going.
“I called his mom as soon as I found it, but it
was too late.”
Chief Thompson walked up to me and Tommy.
“Mrs. Thompson, you’re the one who went to
く
fire academy with me! How could you give your
son something like that!?”
Wearing his fire chief uniform, he was super
convincing. Everyone was ready to blame me
and my son.
Just then, the Fire Marshall arrived with his
crew.
I’d reported that someone had started the fire
and was trying to cover it up. He had to come.
I had also called my friend, Detective Carter. He
was on his way with the police.
Last time, Jennifer and her daughter died, and
Chief Thompson clammed up.
I didn’t push it. This time, I would expose
everything.
The parents closed in on me, but Jennifer
stepped in front of me.
<
“Mrs. Thompson, you need to be more careful.
All those kids almost died, my daughter and I
almost died!”
Director Davis spoke up next. “Mrs. Thompson,
you did wrong and got in the way of the
firefighters, you’re going to be responsible.”
Everyone was mad, and one of the dads
charged at me, ready to hit me!
But someone blocked his arm!
It was the dad who’d helped me fight the fire!
He stood in front of me.
“This guy doesn’t know, Mrs. Thompson got us
started to save the kids and they wouldn’t be
alive.”
Some were still angry. “The director said she
was getting in the way!”
Ashley’s mom stood by me. “Mrs. Thompson
tried to help. I can promise you that!”
く
The parents calmed down a little.
I said to Chief Thompson, “If I was getting in
the way, tell everyone what fire you were
putting out?”
Chief Thompson answered quickly. “A fire is a
fire!”
“You only went to the fourth floor, right?”
“What do you mean, only the fourth floor? We
put out the fire on the third floor, too.”
I laughed. “That was after the explosion. I’m
asking, before the explosion, where were you
fighting the fire?”
“We went to the fourth floor. What’s the big
deal? People needed rescuing!”
“But there wasn’t even a fire up there!”
The more Chief Thompson talked, the clearer it
became.
The parents realized, “So, you’re saying the fire
department screwed up and the third floor
wouldn’t have exploded if it wasn’t the fourth
floor?”
Director Davis jumped in to defend them.
“Don’t blame the fire department, they did what
they had to do. There were people on the fourth
floor that needed to be saved, don’t be selfish”
I glared at her.
“Were you just doing what you had to do or did
you just not tell them about the kitchen? A
wrong decision based on bad information!”
Director Davis looked away. “I…I just spaced it
out…Everyone’s okay, right?”
The parents were losing it. “Director! How could
you do that? The kids almost got blown up!”
<
“Yeah, I’m sure it wasn’t based on her own
daughter!”
I turned to them.
“Even after the fire department knew the third
floor was going to explode, they still stayed on
the fourth floor? Is that right?”
