Covet (3 page)

Now she was completely flabbergasted, and looked around in disbelief to make sure Logan wasn’t trying to prank her around his friends. But no one else was paying the slightest bit of attention to either of them, so she knew he was being serious.

“F-Friday?” she stammered. “Um, I’ve got to work on Friday. I don’t get off until eight.”

Logan shrugged. “That’s not so late. We could catch a movie at nine or even ten. How about it?”

Tessa bit her bottom lip uncertainly. Normally she dashed home right after work to check on Gillian, to make sure she was okay after having been left alone all day. But maybe – just maybe – her mother might be able to rouse herself for once so that Tessa could have a bit of fun. She’d talk to Gillian tonight – or at least try to – and keep her fingers crossed.

“Maybe,” hedged Tessa. “I – that is, my mom hasn’t been feeling very well for the last couple of months so I don’t like to leave her alone at night. But, um, let me talk to her tonight, okay? Can I let you know tomorrow?”

Logan was grinning again, the twinkle back in his green eyes. “Sure, no problem. I’ll get your phone number then, too, okay? Looks like class is getting ready to start now.”

Tessa had to force herself more than usual to concentrate on the geometry test, given her near-giddiness at having just been asked out on a date by
the
Logan Dunbar. She kept fighting off the urge to steal a sideways glance at him, knowing how vital it was that she did a decent job on this exam.

Fortunately, the exam was definitely easier than the dreadful one she’d received a D on two weeks ago, and she felt marginally confident that she would score at least a little higher on this one. She finished the test with a few minutes to spare, and was able to go back and re-check her answers, satisfied that all of the studying she’d crammed in had helped.

And when the test had been turned in and the class dismissed, she couldn’t help but think that the unsettled feeling she’d woken up with this morning had all been for nothing. The day, it seemed, was definitely looking up. After all, the dreaded geometry test hadn’t been anywhere near as awful as she’d feared, and the guy she’d been crushing on for two months had not only noticed her but asked her out on a date. In her P.E. class fourth period, it turned out to be swim day, her favorite sport. And the cafeteria even managed to serve a decent lunch today – chicken chow Mein with vegetables.

But what Tessa didn’t realize, as she sailed through the afternoon in higher spirits than she’d been in for weeks, was that this particular Wednesday was far from over.

“Ready to head home, Tessa?”

Tessa glanced up and smiled at her co-worker Peter Lockwood. “Just need to grab my bag from the locker and I’ll be ready.”

For the past few months she and Peter had had something of an unspoken agreement to walk out to the parking lot together when their shifts were finished for the night. It made Tessa feel more secure, even though she was always careful to park in a busy, well-lit area of the mall.

They rarely spoke during the short walk from the Old Navy store where they both worked to the parking lot. After the first few times he’d rather casually walked out with her, Peter had begun to park his own car as close to hers as possible. For a time, Tessa had wondered if the quiet, introverted Peter liked her, and was trying to work up the nerve to ask her out. But now, more than five months after she’d begun working at the store, Peter had never once indicated that he had any sort of romantic interest in her, and they had yet to have what Tessa would deem a real conversation.

Peter worked the same shift as she did – four to eight, Monday through Friday – and mostly worked back in the stock room unpacking and sorting merchandise, while Tessa was a cashier. They would nod and say hello in passing, and occasionally make polite conversation, but she sensed that he was even shyer than she was, even more of a loner, and he seemed very content to keep to himself as much as possible.

But she was grateful for his nightly escort out to her car, though she doubted Peter’s slight frame would intimidate any would-be muggers. He was around the same height as she was, maybe even an inch shorter, and as lean as a greyhound. She’d never seen him wear anything but baggy jeans, simple T-shirts, and a pair of high-top Converse sneakers. He had shaggy light brown hair, almost long enough to brush his collarbone, and a small gold hoop in his left earlobe. Some of the other employees thought him weird, or kind of geeky, but to Tessa he’d always been kind and she felt something of a kinship with him, understanding his aloofness and obvious difficulty in making friends.

“Well, here we are again. Drive safely, okay?”

She nodded as she unlocked the door to her car. “You, too. Have a good one.”

They said virtually the same thing to each other every night, and Tessa noticed that Peter always waited until she was safely buckled inside before he got into his own car. As she drove off, she wondered idly where he lived or went to school, knowing that she’d never seen him in her own neighborhood or around campus. She knew that he was a year older than she was, and was due to graduate high school next year, but that was just about all she knew.

Her tummy began to rumble with hunger pains as she drove, and she reached into her backpack, rummaging around until her hand closed over a protein bar. At a traffic light she tore open the wrapper and took a bite. Usually she tried to eat a small snack after school before her shift at the store began, but she’d stayed at school longer than usual to finish up a homework assignment in the computer lab. She had lost a few pounds over the past couple of months, largely due to the stress of taking care of her mother and the apartment, all while working two jobs and trying to keep her grades up.

But when just over a mile remained until she arrived home, the rumbling in her tummy only increased, despite the bar she’d just consumed. And this time Tessa knew the unsettled feeling had nothing to do with hunger. Rather, it was that all too familiar sensation of dread, the fear that something bad was about to happen. She had just about convinced herself that she’d been imagining things this morning, especially since the day had gone so well overall.

And then, as she turned the corner onto her street, it became all too apparent why she’d been right all along to have a very, very bad feeling about this day.

Even through her closed up car windows she could smell the acrid, pungent odor of smoke, could still see ribbons of the ugly black stuff spiraling into the night sky from what
had
been the apartment complex. Wooden barricades that had been hastily put in place, plus a variety of emergency vehicles, prevented her from driving any further down the block, and she quickly pulled into a parking space before sprinting from her car towards the disordered scene.

It was like something out of a nightmare, she thought wildly, or some sort of disaster movie. Firefighters were still spraying water over the smoldering flames, though it appeared that the fire had more or less burnt itself out by now. What had been a twenty four unit apartment building had been burned to the very foundation, and from first glance it didn’t appear as though a single stick of furniture had survived the blaze. A variety of other emergency responders – police, paramedics, additional firefighters – were milling about the scene, trying valiantly to prevent anyone who wasn’t authorized from crossing the barricades. Amid the chaos, Tessa also noticed a couple of news crews and a large red and white vehicle with the Red Cross emblem emblazoned on its side.

Wildly, she looked around for her mother, recognizing some of the other tenants as well as the apartment manager among those wandering about the scene. It was the latter to whom Tessa made a beeline, figuring that Mr. Sharma would surely have some idea of where Gillian might be. But when she saw the expression on his kindly face as she approached, her heart began to sink with each step she took. She had initially worried that the paramedics on scene would have taken one look at Gillian’s state of mind and immediately had her whisked off to the hospital for a psychological evaluation. But now, from the look on Mr. Sharma’s face, her worry quickly morphed into full blown panic.

The wizened little Indian man placed a comforting hand on Tessa’s shoulder as he shook his head sadly. “Tessa, I am so sorry. Such a terrible, terrible tragedy this all is. It happened so quickly, spread so fast, that it’s a wonder more of the tenants didn’t get hurt.”

Tessa felt tears well in her eyes, and her legs began to tremble as she fought off a rapidly rising sense of panic. “Mr. Sharma, where – where is my mother? Did they take her somewhere? Can someone help me find her?”

Mr. Sharma opened his mouth to speak, then gave a brief shake of his head. “Better that you speak to the policeman over there. He’s been looking for you, and can give you the information you need.” He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. “I am so sorry, my dear.”

But as she would have pushed him for more information, he turned to speak to one of the firefighters, leaving Tessa no other recourse but to approach the uniformed police officer that Mr. Sharma had pointed out.

“Ex-excuse me,” she began haltingly as the youngish, dark haired officer glanced up from the clipboard he’d been studying. She was relieved to notice the kind, compassionate expression on his face. “I, um, was told to ask you about my mother. By Mr. Sharma, that is. The apartment manager.”

The policeman nodded. “Right. Would you possibly be Tessa Pedersen? From Apartment 3H?”

“Yes, that’s me. I – I just got home from work, and I’m trying to find my mother. Her name’s Gillian Pedersen. Do you know where she might be?” asked Tessa, not even trying to disguise the panic in her voice.

The young officer hesitated, glancing around the hectic scene uncertainly. “Uh, was there anyone else living in the apartment besides yourself and your mother? Or do you have another family member you can call?”

She shook her head. “No, to both questions. Only the two of us in the apartment, and no other family. We just moved here in the spring.”

The officer, whose name badge proclaimed him to be Brian Alvarez, gave her a look of kindly compassion. “How old are you, Tessa?”

Tessa froze, not at all sure why he would be asking that question, but sensed that the answer she gave him would have a direct impact on what happened next. Without giving it further thought, she blurted out, “Nineteen. I’m nineteen years old. Why?”

Officer Alvarez nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer. Tessa offered up a silent thanks that she tended to look a little older than her actual sixteen years, due mostly to her height and curvy figure. She’d also dressed up a bit for work today, having changed from her jeans and T-shirt into a cotton blouse and skirt, and had pulled her hair back into a sleek ponytail. The fact that the spot where they presently stood was unlit also played to her favor, since the police officer wasn’t able to get a clear look at her face.

“I’m afraid I have some rather bad news for you, Tessa,” the officer told her gently. “From what we can determine, the fire started in the apartment right next to yours – in 3G – and it spread very, very quickly to the surrounding units. Your mother – by the time the firefighters could reach her, she’d already been overcome with smoke inhalation. I’m very sorry, but they weren’t able to revive her.”

She stared at him in horrified disbelief, hearing the words he had spoken but not truly comprehending them. “She – she’s dead?” she whispered brokenly. “My mother – died?”

“Yes.” Officer Alvarez nodded sadly. “I am very sorry for your loss, Miss Pedersen. I’ll have you speak further with the firefighters who found her body, but from what I know she would have died quickly, without pain. I realize that’s small consolation at this point, but – well, it’s something at least. Look, are you sure there isn’t anyone I can call for you? If not a family member, a friend, co-worker, someone.”

Crazily, the only name that came immediately to mind was Peter’s, but since she didn’t have his phone number she could only shake her head. “There’s no one, no. We – I haven’t had time to make many friends as yet. It was really just my mom and me and – oh, God! I guess now it’s just me, isn’t it?”

The realization that Gillian was dead – really dead – suddenly hit Tessa with the force of running headfirst into a brick wall. The tears that had slowly been trickling down her cheeks became sobs, and within seconds her entire body was quivering from the force of her weeping.

She was barely aware of Officer Alvarez taking her by the arm and gently guiding her over to some big white van – the one with the Red Cross emblem on the side door. After that, Tessa felt as though she’d been enveloped in a thick, dense haze, her mind and body completely numb, hearing voices as though she were stuck in an underground tunnel. Through her tears, she answered questions that a Red Cross volunteer asked her – did she have any family or friends she could stay with; was there anyone they could call for her; had she been able to grab any items before evacuating the apartment. And each time the answer was no – she had no one and nothing save for the clothes on her back and the things she’d left in her car – her backpack, the clothes she’d worn to school this morning, her gym bag.

While the volunteer made a couple of phone calls, one of the firefighters approached and rather hesitantly filled in the blanks about their futile attempts to save Gillian.

“She was curled up in a ball on the bed when we were finally able to break inside,” the man told Tessa regretfully. “It was almost like she never heard the smoke alarms go off, or even realized the place was on fire. It doesn’t appear that she even tried to get out.”

Tessa nodded sorrowfully. “She – she’s been ill. Not physically. Depression. My – my mother suffered all her life from bipolar disorder. She – she was going through a bad patch these past few months, sleeping a lot. That’s probably why she didn’t – oh, God.”