rescued, was lying on a gurney when he heard his mother. He yelled, “Mum, over here.”
Mum rushed over. “For the love of Mary, ‘tis a nightmare. What happened to you?”
“It is what it is,Mum. I broke me leg.”
Mum’s date, James, caught up with them. He seemed to be out of his comfort zone, and didn’t know what to do.
“James,” Jacky acknowledged, “take hold of Mum, I need to tell her somethin’.”
James took Mum by the arm, and she jerked it away. “Tell me what?”
“I think Katz is injured — ”
Mum shrieked and ran over to the two firefighters standing outside the classroom door. “Don’t you just stand there. Do something! My two girls are inside the house. Help them!”
Chapter Fifteen
It started out being a quiet, relaxing day , the chief thought, riding in Officer Troy’s cruiser to the pink mansion. He’d gotten up before his wife, Connie, and surprised her in bed, with a tray of pancakes and locally made maple syrup — her favorite. Then he had mowed the grass, played with their six-year-old GermanShepherd, Riley, and helped Connie plant two rose bushes in the garden.
Later, when the couple arrived at the armory for Jake’s and Katz’s wedding reception, they were pleasantly greeted by two ten-year-old twins dressed in tuxedos. The boys — Jake’s cousins from Ohio — handed out wedding mementoes: A photograph of the bridal couple, taken in the mansion’s parlor, each bound in a gilded frame. The chief chuckled when he realized the picture also included the couples’ seven cats.
Entering the main floor, the chief and his wife moved from table-to-table, searching for their names on engraved place cards. “Oh, we’re right here,” Connie said. “Isn’t it cool that Jake and Katz are at the next table?”
After seating Connie at the table, he’d moved over to the bar and ordered two Mai Tais, a cocktail they’d fallen in love with on their trip to Hawaii — a trip paid for by Katz. Returning to the table, he’d found that another couple had been seated. Mark Dunn, Katz’s former estate attorney, was sitting next to his girlfriend, Detective Linda Martin. They chatted about old and new times, as they casually waited for Jake and Katz to arrive and “start the wedding reception show.”
Then, all hell broke loose. With the sound of the explosion, the chief sprung out of his chair and rushed to the front entrance. Officer Troy had pulled up, and shouted through the opened window, “It’s the pink mansion.”
Getting into Officer Troy’s cruiser, he had barked rhetorically, “Is the damn arsonist setting off bombs now?”
Officer Troy replied, “A bomber in Erie. That’s a first.”
A worried voice had come over the police radio, and announced the grave news. “Woman down,” the dispatcher said. “512 Lincoln Street. Basement.”
The chief said, “How could a woman be down, when everyone left for the reception?”
“Or did they,” Officer Troy offered.
Katherine Kendall , the chief thought with a heavy heart. The first time he’d met her, it wasn’t under happy circumstances. She’d just moved from New York City into her late great-aunt’s house. Dear old Orvenia had the whole town up in arms when she left her fortune to a great niece she’d never met. Poor Katz moved to a small town, where she didn’t know anyone, and had to contend with people who were angry about not getting money that Orvenia had promised them. Then, within the first week of living in the pink mansion, Katz had found two people murdered in the basement.
At the time, he had predicted that the normal gal from out-of-town would have booked it back home, but not Katz. She was tougher than nails, but unfortunately, a magnet for murder. He admired her courage, and her ability to bounce back when these terrible things happened. Now with the explosion, he shuddered at the thought of what he’d find.
He
Mum rushed over. “For the love of Mary, ‘tis a nightmare. What happened to you?”
“It is what it is,Mum. I broke me leg.”
Mum’s date, James, caught up with them. He seemed to be out of his comfort zone, and didn’t know what to do.
“James,” Jacky acknowledged, “take hold of Mum, I need to tell her somethin’.”
James took Mum by the arm, and she jerked it away. “Tell me what?”
“I think Katz is injured — ”
Mum shrieked and ran over to the two firefighters standing outside the classroom door. “Don’t you just stand there. Do something! My two girls are inside the house. Help them!”
Chapter Fifteen
It started out being a quiet, relaxing day , the chief thought, riding in Officer Troy’s cruiser to the pink mansion. He’d gotten up before his wife, Connie, and surprised her in bed, with a tray of pancakes and locally made maple syrup — her favorite. Then he had mowed the grass, played with their six-year-old GermanShepherd, Riley, and helped Connie plant two rose bushes in the garden.
Later, when the couple arrived at the armory for Jake’s and Katz’s wedding reception, they were pleasantly greeted by two ten-year-old twins dressed in tuxedos. The boys — Jake’s cousins from Ohio — handed out wedding mementoes: A photograph of the bridal couple, taken in the mansion’s parlor, each bound in a gilded frame. The chief chuckled when he realized the picture also included the couples’ seven cats.
Entering the main floor, the chief and his wife moved from table-to-table, searching for their names on engraved place cards. “Oh, we’re right here,” Connie said. “Isn’t it cool that Jake and Katz are at the next table?”
After seating Connie at the table, he’d moved over to the bar and ordered two Mai Tais, a cocktail they’d fallen in love with on their trip to Hawaii — a trip paid for by Katz. Returning to the table, he’d found that another couple had been seated. Mark Dunn, Katz’s former estate attorney, was sitting next to his girlfriend, Detective Linda Martin. They chatted about old and new times, as they casually waited for Jake and Katz to arrive and “start the wedding reception show.”
Then, all hell broke loose. With the sound of the explosion, the chief sprung out of his chair and rushed to the front entrance. Officer Troy had pulled up, and shouted through the opened window, “It’s the pink mansion.”
Getting into Officer Troy’s cruiser, he had barked rhetorically, “Is the damn arsonist setting off bombs now?”
Officer Troy replied, “A bomber in Erie. That’s a first.”
A worried voice had come over the police radio, and announced the grave news. “Woman down,” the dispatcher said. “512 Lincoln Street. Basement.”
The chief said, “How could a woman be down, when everyone left for the reception?”
“Or did they,” Officer Troy offered.
Katherine Kendall , the chief thought with a heavy heart. The first time he’d met her, it wasn’t under happy circumstances. She’d just moved from New York City into her late great-aunt’s house. Dear old Orvenia had the whole town up in arms when she left her fortune to a great niece she’d never met. Poor Katz moved to a small town, where she didn’t know anyone, and had to contend with people who were angry about not getting money that Orvenia had promised them. Then, within the first week of living in the pink mansion, Katz had found two people murdered in the basement.
At the time, he had predicted that the normal gal from out-of-town would have booked it back home, but not Katz. She was tougher than nails, but unfortunately, a magnet for murder. He admired her courage, and her ability to bounce back when these terrible things happened. Now with the explosion, he shuddered at the thought of what he’d find.
He
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