Fire Angel by Susanne Matthews

her head.
    â€œNo one knew that your uncle abused alcohol until James and your Aunt Emily were killed about a year after you left; it changed him. He was busted up pretty badly, but the real shame came in the public humiliation that followed. He was lucky that he didn’t end up in jail; the only thing that prevented that was the ‘old boys’ network’; after all, it could have been any one of them. He aged, lost his congregation, and joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Now he runs a private clinic over on Clear Lake where he works with recovering alcoholics and drug abusers.”
    â€œI don’t care if he was nominated for the starring role in the Second Coming; I’m not sure I can ever forgive him for what he did to me or for what happened to me afterwards. I need to tell you the rest, Jake, so you can understand why I have to do this.” He sat up straighter as she shifted her body so that she could look at him. He saw a hardness about her that hadn’t been there earlier.
    â€œI snuck out of the house that night and walked to the truck stop near Calvin. I was terrified that someone would realize that I’d gone and come after me. Earlier in the evening, James had grabbed me and tried to have his way with me; I fought back, and bit him. He punched me. I had a lulu of a shiner, but it actually helped me. I was able to get a ride to Toronto with a lady trucker. She sympathized with me, gave me a couple of hundred dollars for food and arranged for a room at a hostel.”
    Jake listened attentively. How she had found the courage to do what she had amazed him.
    â€œWhen the money ran out, I lived on the streets, begging, stealing, and sleeping in shelters. That’s where I met Jeanne, a social worker who took me to Sanctuary. They fed me, clothed me, and got me back into school. I lived with this wonderful Chinese family in an apartment in Chinatown above a small Asian food store.
    â€œOne night, after everyone had gone to bed, someone firebombed the store. The police believed it was one of the Triads, but they were never able to prove it. I was almost sixteen, and Mamma Chang had gotten me a job working at a coffee shop with her step-son, Joseph. We were on our way home when we saw the flames. Joe and I rushed in and up the stairs trying to get to the apartment to save them, but the place was engulfed. I fell to the bottom of the stairs and the firefighters managed to get me out before the smoke got to me, but I had some significant burns that took a long time to heal. Joe didn’t make it. For months after the fire, I had terrible nightmares. The scars and the asthma are permanent reminders of that night.” She stopped talking as the police car came to a halt.
    Jake thanked Pierre for the ride and offered him breakfast, but he declined, saying that he needed to get back. The young officer looked sympathetically at Alexis.
    â€œI couldn’t help but overhear some of what you said.” She blushed, and Jake realized that she had forgotten about the officer.
    â€œRest assured, Alexis, your secret is safe with me. I was bullied as a child; it’s the reason that I went into police work in the first place.” He got into the cruiser and drove away.
    The sun was just peeking over the horizon, bathing the clear sky in a rosy hue. The air was crisp and clean. Jake took her arm in his and turned towards the cabins.
    â€œCome on; I’ll walk you back to your room. Besides, you can’t leave me hanging; how did you get from there to here? Where did you go after the fire? How did you pull off the vanishing act?” As much as she might not want to finish the story, he needed to know the rest of it.
    â€œThey wanted to send me back here, but I refused to return. I threatened to run away again if they forced the issue. Since I was sixteen, there were alternatives. Jeanne got involved and did some background checks; she managed to trace my mother’s biological