Chapter 18 #2
The kid shook his head, that same little tremble that suggested he couldn't stop watching what was happening across the road.
Luke decided not to ask him any more questions, but stayed with him, a hand on Noah's shoulder, until wailing sirens preceded the fire trucks, which arrived in a rush.
It hadn't been been more than seven minutes since he'd called them, but the fire had visibly spread, its heat melting the plastic tenting and shattering scaffolding in places.
Even once firefighters poured into the site, Noah refused to go anywhere, his hands knotted and his whole body tight with worry.
A little belatedly, Luke realized that while he didn't know Noah's mom's phone number, he did know she owned a massage therapy clinic on the town square. He looked its number up and called. Noah's mother answered with a cheerful greeting on the first ring.
"Hi, Mabs, this is Luke Jones from the Jones B&B?"
"Oh, hi, Luke. Do you need an appointment?"
"Hi, yeah, no, not booking an appointment.
I'm up the road with Noah, who is absolutely fine," Luke emphasized as Mabs gave a dreadful gasp.
"He's fine. He just stopped on his way to school because he noticed there was a fire at the train station.
We called the fire department and they're here, dealing with it, but I thought I should let you know where he was in case the school calls. "
"Oh my God. He's okay?"
"He's completely fine. Nowhere near the fire. It started at the back and he's out on the other side of the street with me. But he saw it first and asked me to call the fire department, so we're here together, okay?"
"I'll be right there," Mabs said weakly. "Thanks."
"No problem at all." He hung up and called Sabrina, who picked up with a grim, "I know."
"I—oh. Okay. Yeah. I'm right outside the site," Luke said helplessly. "The firefighters are taking care of it."
"I'm around the corner," Sabrina said, and when he glanced back toward town, it was to discover she meant it literally: she was now striding up the street toward them, her expression stressed, worried, and angry all at once.
Noah didn't even glance her way, all his attention still completely focused on the fire, and from the strain in how he leaned toward the site, Luke thought he still shouldn't let the kid go.
"I think it only just started," Luke said as Sabrina hurried up to them. "Noah was watching when I got here, but I called the fire department less than ten minutes ago, and they're here already."
"I guess this answers how upset some people are about the train coming back," Sabrina said in a low, tense voice.
"They don't need to be," Noah said in a similarly strained voice. "Nothing is ever going to hurt Virtue."
The two adults exchanged looks over Noah's head, and Luke squeezed his shoulder again. "I'm sure you're right, buddy. Look, your mom's on the way, okay? Why don't we step back a little?"
"Not until the fire is out!"
Sabrina wrinkled her forehead at the kid, then at Luke, who shrugged and stayed put, making sure Noah didn't throw himself forward the way he seemed to want to.
His mom, a short, purple-haired woman, arrived a few minutes later, breathless and with a toddler in tow.
The little one threw herself at Noah with a happy shriek.
He hugged her, but still refused to stop watching the fire, even when Mabs tried to draw him away.
After a couple of tries, she, like Luke, kind of shrugged and gave up, choosing to hold onto the kids instead of fighting over Noah's insistence.
She also murmured, "Thanks," to Luke, who nodded and took a cautious step back, not wanting to get too far away in case Noah needed collaring again. Mabs wasn't much bigger than Sabrina, and already had a three year old to contend with. Luke figured his longer reach might be useful.
All at once, though, Noah relaxed so completely he almost fell, and his mom caught him in a hug before finally convincing him to come with her.
"No, you don't have to go to school," she said to Noah's murmur, and cast one more thankful smile at Luke.
They made their way down the street as somebody from the fire department approached Luke and Sabrina.
"Chief Brady," he said to both of them, and offered a hand first to Luke, then to Sabrina before saying, "You're the construction lead here?"
Sabrina shook her head. "I'm the architect. The construction lead is Tiffany Wright, with Wright Construction. But we had a late start time today, so I'm praying nobody was on site?"
"Not a soul. You called it in?" he asked Luke.
Luke wobbled a hand. "I called it in, but Noah Brannigan saw it first and told me to."
"That kid probably saved half the town," Brady said bluntly. "There's accelerant all over the place in there. If it had gone up, the wind would have carried it everywhere."
"Accelerant," Sabrina said faintly. "You mean arson?"
"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry, Ms…?"
"Keep. Sabrina Keep."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Keep, but your building site is a crime scene now."