Chapter 7
THE KIDS were up, dressed, and ready by the time Kevin arrived on Saturday morning. “Where are the dogs?” Grant asked as soon as Kevin came through the door.
“How about I bring them for a visit next time, okay?” He smiled, and Grant seemed happy.
“You got the furniture?”
Willy smiled. “I was able to pay a few of my students to help me out. They needed the extra money, and I got the use of their muscles for a few hours.” The sofa was in great shape, and with the navy slipcover, it worked with the other things he’d found, including a rug and a couple of side tables and lamps.
He had also found a bed and had a new mattress delivered, so at least he had the very basic things.
The one item he was still looking for was a kitchen table and chairs, but he hoped he could find those soon.
“Get toys?” April asked.
“Let’s go see what we can find.” Kevin lifted her into his arms. “Maybe we can find something you like.”
“I want a stuffed lion and a whale and a sheep.”
“Then let’s see what we can find.” They all piled into Willy’s car.
“I checked out a few ads, and there are three sales on the south side of town. We could go there before heading to the north side. I made a list of addresses.” Kevin gave him the first one, and Willy drove over and parked just up the block.
As soon as he got her out, April ran down the sidewalk like she was going to get there as fast as she could to see if there was anything she wanted.
Grant went after her with Kevin close behind.
By the time he arrived, April stood next to a dollhouse with huge eyes.
It had a ton of furniture and a few dolls.
Grant stood off to the side because it seemed there were only girl toys.
“Maybe the next one will have something for you,” Kevin soothed as Grant crossed his arms over his chest. There were times when Grant reminded him so much of himself.
“How much is the dollhouse?” Willy asked as April vibrated with excitement.
The lady came down from the porch. “I’m asking forty dollars for it. It has all the furniture, and if you plug it in, the lights work.” She forced a smile.
“Will you take thirty?” Willy asked, and she thought about it.
They arrived at thirty-five, and Willy bought it.
Kevin maneuvered it into the center of the back seat between the car seats, and they raced home, where Kevin got the dollhouse inside before they returned to the next sale.
It was a total bust, but the third one held gold.
Grant found three trucks, April got a stuffed hippo, and Willy found some books to read to the kids. It was a great stop.
“Daddy, I’m hungry,” April said as she hugged the hippo in her car seat, once everything had been loaded and they were on their way.
“Me too,” Grant chimed in.
“I fed both of them, I swear,” Willy told Kevin softly as he navigated to the next address Kevin gave him.
Once they arrived, he opened the glove box and pulled out a bag of Cheerios, which he handed to April.
“Can you share some with Grant?” She gave him her unhappy face, but as soon as his back was turned, she offered some to her brother.
“I don’t see much here,” Kevin said. “Let me check it out, and if there’s nothing, we can head on.
” He got out, and Willy made sure the kids were okay.
They munched on the cereal and seemed happy enough.
Turning his attention to Kevin, he watched as he looked things over.
As he returned to the car, he answered his phone and hung up again after a brief conversation, then jumped back in.
“What’s up? Do you need me to take you to the station?”
“No. It’s okay,” he said just above a whisper, after glancing back at the kids, who were engrossed in their treat.
“That was Chase. He told me that they were called back to your old building. Someone set what was left of it on fire. This time it was arson. He said the entire place smelled of petroleum when they arrived, with thick black smoke rising up. What was left went up fast and collapsed.” He banged his hand against the dashboard.
“I had hoped to be able to get in there to see what we could find about how the place had been built and maybe some clues to the fire-suppression systems, but that’s gone, along with everything else.
According to Chase, there is nothing left of the structure at all.
We’ll be sifting through ash and debris to find anything. ” He sighed loudly.
“I’m sorry. I wish there was something more I could do to help.”
Kevin grew quiet as Willy made his way to the next sale. This looked more promising, so he got the kids out, and they looked around while Kevin made more phone calls.
“Daddy!” A happy cry went up as April hurried across the yard to a plastic grocery cart filled with plastic food and other items. She immediately began wheeling it around the yard.
“My daughter played with that for hours sometimes,” the lady said. “But she outgrew it.”
Willy’s own daughter was halfway across the yard. “April, please come back.” He hadn’t even had a chance to check the price.
“She can have it for five if it makes her that happy,” the lady said, and Willy nodded.
“We lost everything when our apartment building burned, and I’m trying…
.” He hadn’t meant to say anything, and the words got caught in his throat.
He thought they had been moving on, but it still sucked that everything they had was gone.
Dammit, April shouldn’t have to be so excited over an old play grocery cart. “And thank you. I’ll take the cart.”
Kevin got out of the car and joined him, his expression confused and maybe a touch angry. He came right over and slipped his arm around Willy’s waist. “Grant, did you find something?”
He sat on the ground looking in a box, his eyes wide.
“I was coming out here and found that on my way,” the lady said.
“This was my mother’s home, and she had a ton of things for the kids.
She was always buying things she thought they might like and then putting them away…
and forgetting about them. That was in the front closet, probably for my sister’s boys. Who knows.”
Grant raced over and took Willy by the hand, too excited for words. “Legos,” he said, and Willy looked inside the box. There were a couple of building sets and a bunch of loose building blocks.
“I was going to put twenty on that, but take it for ten,” the woman said as other people pulled up. Willy got his money out for what both kids wanted, and Kevin carried their treasures back and placed them in the trunk.
“Can we eat now?” Grant asked as soon as the car doors were closed.
“Yes. We can get something to eat,” Willy said. “What do you want?”
“Chickens,” Grant declared. “Wendy chicken with sauce.”
April was quiet, and Willy figured she would be happy with a few french fries, so they drove to Wendy’s and got a small order of chicken nuggets and a small french fry. Kevin ordered what he wanted while Willy got the kids settled in a booth.
“I got you something too. I know you take care of the kids and forget about yourself.” He placed a full order of nuggets in front of Willy and offered some of his fries.
“Thanks.” He hadn’t even realized he was hungry until he took the first bite. The kids were busy eating, so Willy felt like he could relax a little. “Is everything all right?”
“No. I keep going over things and coming up empty. Why would someone set fire to a burned-out shell?”
“Because they thought there must be something for someone to find. I know that the building is gone, but I had a few friends there. I could call them so you and Chase could talk to them as well about what it was like to live there. I’d also talk to the maintenance guys for the complex.
They had to deal with the building in a way no one else did.
They might be able to help you. It’s not like they built the place or anything, but they did have to deal with whatever messes the people who built the place left behind. ”
“The police would have spoken with them already, I’m sure.”
“True, but they would question them like police. Did they see anything and stuff like that. If you talked to them, you would ask questions like a fireman. A big difference, I think.”
Kevin leaned over the table and kissed him. “You’re a genius, you know that?”
“Ewww,” came the chorus from next to them.
“Daddy and Kevin, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g,” Grant sang. There were times when Willy hated preschool.
“That’s enough. Your daddy was being brilliant,” Willy said. “Now finish eating. You were so hungry.” He fake glowered at them, and they giggled and each picked up a fry.
Kevin made a call, probably to Chase, and they talked briefly.
“He’s going to set up a meeting with them for early next week.”
“Good. I keep wondering if there really is something so bad that someone would set fire to what was left. I mean, really, I wonder if they realize that by doing this they’re drawing attention to themselves….” He chewed on a nugget but barely tasted it.
“What are you thinking?” Kevin asked.
“Well, there was a fire and the building burned down. Plenty of questions have arisen, and people want answers. That’s reasonable. So burn down what’s left and make getting them even harder while at the same time convincing everyone that there’s something to find?”
Kevin nodded. “That’s a theory.”
“Yeah, sure. But we already knew there was something there to find.”
“Proof that construction was faulty,” Kevin supplied, but Willy shook his head. “You don’t think so?”