Chapter 3

The moment I ran through the complex gate, the fire alarm split my ears.

My heart dropped straight to the bottom, and my legs turned to lead.

Building 12.

A long yellow line had already been strung up at the foot of our building.

Thick black smoke rolled out of our window.

"What a disaster! The whole building's going to pay for this!"

I hadn't even gotten close when my neighbor, Victoria Lambert, spotted me.

She rushed over and jabbed a finger at my face, cursing.

"Agatha Fox! What kind of mother are you!"

"Can't even shut off the gas before you leave. Fine, you want to kill yourself, but you're going to take the whole building down with you!"

"Don't you know my old man's still up there in bed!"

My vision went black and I dropped to the ground, a scream tearing out of me.

"Little Bo!"

The crowd was shoved roughly aside, and Russ pushed his way out.

His face was smeared with black soot, his hair a mess.

He charged up to me, eyes bloodshot.

"Crack!"

A slap landed hard across my face and snapped my head sideways.

"Agatha! Why were you gone so long!"

Russ grabbed me by the collar, hauled me up off the ground, and shook me like a madman.

"When I texted you, you said you were almost home!"

"You did this on purpose, didn't you? You wanted Little Bo dead! You poison of a woman!"

He was sobbing, tears running down his face.

I held my swelling cheek, staring at him, shaking all over.

The warning cues drifted slowly above Russ's head.

【He came running down ten minutes ago and stood at the foot of the building watching the show.】

【The soot on his face he rubbed on himself just now, from the dirt in the flower bed, while everyone was distracted.】

【He never set foot in the fire.】

The crowd started turning on me, all one way.

"What a cold-hearted mother, gone over an hour just to buy groceries."

"Poor father, he was so frantic he almost threw himself into the fire, the firefighters had to hold him back."

"A woman like that doesn't deserve to be a mother!"

Russ let go of me, covered his face, and crouched on the ground, moaning in agony.

Just then his mother arrived too.

She plopped down on the ground and started wailing.

"My poor grandson! What a terrible way to die!"

"I always said this woman was bad luck. She's looked down on us for being poor all along, and now she's actually done something this vicious!"

Sobbing, she crawled over and dug her fingers into my thigh.

"Murderer! You pay for my grandson's life! You poison of a woman!"

Then came a burst of hurried footsteps from the stairwell.

Two firefighters in full gear came running down from above.

Faces grave, they walked straight to the officer in charge and said something in a low voice.

My heart plunged into ice.

The officer turned around, his gaze locking precisely onto me where I sat slumped on the ground.

He started forward, walking toward me.