Blindside

pillow she was holding against her face and ran with him down the long hallway. She stumbled on the stairs, and Miles picked her up and pulled her against him to keep her on her feet.
    They ran into the entryway where Mr. Boone and several deputies were crowded together, right inside the front door. Katie said, “I see you can breathe again, Mr. Boone. Just maybe you don’t need Reverend McCamy’s laying on of hands.”
    “This is one too many burning houses, Sheriff,” Charlie Fritz, one of her deputies said. “The fire department wants us out of here right away. Let’s go.”
    Elsbeth’s face flashed in Katie’s mind. Had she just given up and chosen to die with her husband? No matterwhat she’d been a party to, Katie didn’t want her to be dead. Too many were dead already.
    When they were near the road, they looked back to see the beautiful old Victorian lit up from its bowels, turning the black sky orange, spewing flames upward. Its old wood exploded in shards everywhere. It was an incredible sight, as long as you were away from the devastation.
    Katie stood next to Miles, aware that his arm was holding her close, for warmth, for comfort, to make the world real again, to right the madness. He said, “Reverend McCamy went into that sex room and pulled a bottle full of gasoline out of one of the drawers beneath that marble altar. He lit the wick and threw it at me. It hit the bed, and the flames shot up in an instant.”
    “What happened to your face?”
    Miles touched his fingers to the slash along the side of his face, from his temple to his jaw. “He pulled a whip off the wall and slashed me with it.”
    “And you shot him?”
    “I tried to grab the whip away from him, but he fought me. I could hear the fire, knew time was growing short, and then he tried to grab the gun.
    “I swear to you, Katie, there was madness pouring out of him, and a frenzy that seemed to unleash all the strength inside of him. He was grinning and moaning at the same time. I felt my blood freeze.
    “And then there you were with a pillow over your face.”
    “You never saw Elsbeth.”
    He shook his head. “I heard her voice, but no, I didn’t see her.”
    “She preferred to die with that man rather than survive,” Katie said, shaking her head. She looked up at Miles and shook her head again. “I think we’re going to need a paramedic.” She began to examine the cut and changed her mind. “It doesn’t look at all deep, but no paramedics this time. I want to take you to the hospital.”

    Wade was standing next to them now. “The firemen are already bitching at all this work, Sheriff. Now you want to piss off the paramedics?”
    Miles laughed, he threw back his head and really laughed. He looked up at the burning house. “It’s over,” he said, “it’s finally over. It seems like it’s been going on forever—and it’s been only days. Amazing.”
    Katie nodded and smiled at him. She grabbed Miles Kettering and hugged him to her.

34
    A t ten o’clock Thursday morning the rain had lightened to a thick gray mist, mixing into the low-lying fog that crept up the sides of the mountains, blanketing the land.
    “Do you really think it’s over?”
    Keely pursed her lips, looked doubtful. “I don’t know, but I sure hope so. Last night was real scary, Sam.”
    Sam sighed, thought that every night since early last Friday morning had been scary, and leaned in more closely. “Yeah, I know, but your mom and my dad, they took care of us.” He sighed again, deeply. “But since everything is over now, you know what that means, Keely.”
    “Yeah, I know. You’re gonna have to leave and never come back.”
    “I’ll tell Papa that I don’t want to leave, okay?”
    “Do you think he’ll let you stay here and live with Mama and me?”
    “I want him to stay, too,” Sam said, and pulled Minna’s soft wool blanket more closely around both him and Keely because it was getting colder.
    “If your papa doesn’t want to stay, what are you going to do, Sam?”

    “I don’t know,” Sam said finally and he fisted his eyes. “I’m only six. Nobody listens to me.”
    “They listen to you even less when you’re five. I heard my grandma talking to Linnie just a while ago. She told Linnie that your papa and my mama should get married and that would be that.”
    “What would be that?”
    “Well, I guess it means that if you leave, I get to leave with you.”
    “Oh. Well, that’s good.”
    “Your father would be