Karin could see her mother’s apartment in her mind…”the fire
department? Really, Virginia?” she thought out loud. “Maybe she left a towel on
the stove or dirty laundry too close to an outlet. Maybe it was just a freak accident and had nothing to do
with her at all.” But, Karin knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Nothing ever was
with Virginia. Her problems were always complicated and her solutions were
always even more so. She couldn’t just be a quiet alcoholic, happily drinking
herself into oblivion. She had to be a
loud and obnoxious drunk, regularly causing a disturbance in the neighborhood.
These were the calls that Karin usually received concerning Virginia.
“Ms. Anderson, your mother’s in the backyard naked again.”
“Ms. Anderson, your mother and her boyfriend are having an
all out fight on the front lawn.”
“Ms. Anderson, there is a lot of noise coming from
Virginia’s apartment. It sounds like someone is throwing things against the
walls.”
Virginia was always drinking, but she wasn’t usually belligerent at ten
in the morning. She wasn’t generally out of bed at ten in the morning.
“Maybe a fire started somewhere else in the building,” Karin
thought. “Maybe my mother was sleeping. Maybe it’s an electrical problem, maybe
it’s the furnace, maybe she was up and burned her breakfast, maybe she was
drinking and passed out with a cigarette, maybe she started the couch on fire
in some kind of delirium, maybe one of her crazy boyfriends came by to get
revenge and burned the house down, maybe he murdered her and burned the body to
cover up the crime.” Karin shook her head. “It’s amazing the things my mind can
come up with in a six minute drive.”
She turned the corner and saw smoke in the sky. Well, that
was more than nothing, she thought. Karin felt her heart jump in her chest when
the fire trucks came into view on the street in front of her mother’s house.
Karin parked her car at the end of the block. She could see
the house as she walked toward it. The firefighters were obviously still trying
to put out the flames, but all she saw was the blackened side of the house. The
vinyl siding was melted and the windows were all broken. She could smell burnt
plastic.
The street was filled with people standing outside watching
the firefighters work, or watching the building burn, she didn’t know which.
But, it occurred to her that fire always seemed to attract onlookers; strangers
curious to see the path of destruction.
“Ma’am, you can’t come any closer,” the police officer said
to her as she approached the front of the crowd.
“I’m the property manager,” she said. “Is there someone who
can tell me what happened here?” she asked.
“Not now,” the officer said. “but, wait here. We’ll want to
talk to you.”
“My mother…” Karin began. “She lived downstairs.” Karin
said, but the officer wasn’t listening anymore. She scanned the crowd for
anyone she recognized; other tenants, neighbors, anyone who might be able to
tell her what happened.
“Camilla,” Karin called out and waved to her tenant.
“Oh, Ms. Anderson, isn’t it just awful?” Camilla said as she
approached Karin.
“Do you know how it started?” Karin asked as the two stood
across the street looking at what was left of the building. The fire was pretty
much out and people were starting to head back into their homes.
Camilla shook her head. “No, not really. I could hear the
smoke alarm going off downstairs, you know, from your moms place, and I thought
she was burning something on the stove and I banged on the floor to get her to
turn it off, but it just keep beeping. Then, I could smell smoke, so I came
outside and saw flames through the window of her apartment and I called the
fire department.” Camilla shifted her feet and looked down at the ground.
“Ms.
Anderson, I’m really sorry. I tried to knock on the door, but she didn’t
answer. The EMT’s took her away in an ambulance, but I don’t think anyone could
have lived…” Camilla noticed that Karin was staring at her and she stopped
talking.
“I’m really sorry.” She said again after a few moments.
Karin shook her head.
“It’s not your fault. You did the right thing.” Karin turned
and started to walk back to her car. Then, she remembered the police officers
instructions and turned back around. “Camilla, do you have somewhere to go?”
“Um, yeah, I can stay with my parents.”
“Okay, call my office and leave your parent’s number so I
can get a hold of you. And, if anyone needs me, I’ll be at the hospital with my
mom.” Camilla nodded and Karin walked back to her car.
It took Karin less than ten minutes to get from the house to
the hospital, but her mind was racing as she ran through all the possible
scenarios. When everything was settled, she would have to report to John
Kinsmore, the attorney for the Marquette estate. Even though she had intimate
knowledge of Virginia’s problem behaviors, and she fully knew the risks of
continuing to rent to her, she did so anyway. Karin had started paying her
mother’s rent when she was sixteen and Mrs. Marquette had given her the
opportunity to work off the past due amount and prevent her family from being
evicted. It was like a habit she couldn’t break and she was still paying the
rent on the apartment, and she was the manager of the building. She was doubly
responsible. There was no way around that.
“I came as soon as I heard,” Michelle said when she walked
into the hospital waiting room where Karin was sitting.
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