The Between Years

light either. The entire street was illuminated at 11:00 PM.

    When I stared up at the sky, I saw two figures shrouded in light floating above the house. One floated towards the other and the joined hands as they floated up into space. Judging by the hanging jaws, the cops had seen what I had, but I doubt if they scribbled that into their report. Eventually, the light died off and the night returned. The fire department and ambulance had arrived on the scene by that point as well. Once the house's activity died down, the police felt safe to enter the house.

    And when they did, I sprinted up to them and told them I wanted to go in with them.

    The first officer I met held me back. His nametag said Daniels. “Ma'm you're going to have to stay back,” he said. “This is now officially a crime scene.”

    “ But that was my husband in there!”

    His look switched to a much more compassionate expression. “I understand that, Mrs. Fuller, but I really have to insist that you stay back here. We'll be running some police tape around the place to close it off shortly. Now Officer Reddon will see that you get home safely.”

    I turned away from him and struggled to keep my temper in check. At first, I had no intention of staying back and doing what I was told. That was for weak people and I thought I'd taken enough power back from Randy that I didn't need to feel weak anymore. Why I could have charged right past them and into the house if Daniels didn't like it. The worst they could have done was arrest me. But I also knew that an aggressive behaviour wasn't going to make anything better after what had just happened.

    Besides, I understood Daniels' position, that he had a job to do and that's what we taxpayers are paying for, so I told Reddon that I could drive myself home. He didn't mind that at all. I made it back in the door by 1:00 AM, and can you guess how much sleep I got? That was fine; I felt as wired as I would after a couple of pots of coffee and knew I wouldn't get a wink of sleep anyway.

    The next morning, Daniels arrived at my house with a detective named Sergeant Roberts just as I was finally falling asleep. How's that for timing, eh? I invited them in, served them coffee and asked them how things were at the house.

    “ We've begun the initial cleanup process,” Daniels said, “but there's an awful lot that needs to be uncovered. Might take us a couple days.”

    With Sergeant Roberts' discretion, we decided that what we'd seen last night would be best left ignored for now. Daniels told me not to like per se, and he wouldn't either, but he said that no one in their right minds would believe our story. Therefore, he said it would be best if we treat the incident as an explosion that could have been caused by a gas leak. What we'd seen float into the sky was a figment of our imagination.

    “ Is there any chance your husband could have caused this explosion on purpose?” Roberts asked.

    “ How do you mean exactly?” I asked.

    “ Well, things weren't exactly perfect between the two of you. Is there any chance that he could have become unstable? Maybe he wanted to take his own life?”

    I shook my head. “Not my Randy. I know he changed a lot since our son died, but I still say he was one of the most stable people you'd ever want to meet. That's the most I can tell you without returning to a topic we can't discuss.”

    Roberts glared at me like a customs officer ready to pounce on a cross-border shopper as if they belong to Al Quada.

    “ Besides,” I continued, “how can you prove that he caused it? We're treating it like an explosion possibly caused by a gas leak, right?”

    Roberts continued to scribble on his pad, and I knew he would include what he wanted and do the same for what he wanted to leave out. By that point, I was physically exhausted, emotionally drained and this questioning would be over by my doing if not by theirs.

    “ So, are we just about finished here?” I let it sound like a question, but it really wasn't.

    “ For today,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately, we're going to need your cooperation for the new few days, or however long it takes to get this mess sorted out.”

    “ I know you can't let me in the house, but can you tell me something?”

    Roberts stood up and threw his coat on. “I will if I'm allowed to.”

    “ What did my husband's body look like? Was he badly injured? Did he look normal?”

    Roberts paused but his expression never changed. “We