Chapter 207

• RICHARD'S POV
• The heat from the fire still lingered in the air, and all I could do was stand there, trying to make sense of it all. The smell of smoke, the flashing lights, and the sound of sirens were everywhere, but I felt numb. One of the firefighters had just told me they found a body inside, and my heart sank. I hoped—no, I prayed—it wasn’t someone I knew. Maybe it was one of the staff or some stranger who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• As they wheeled the body out, one of the firefighters, his face grim, stepped toward me. "He didn't burn... the smoke got him," he said, his voice flat, as if he’d said this a hundred times before.