questioned, probed, and needles inserted into lower arm veins. Didn’t pass go. Didn’t collect two hundred dollars. Far as I know, there’s no community chest card in the game of Monopoly that reads you’ve been hurt, stay in the hospital, be on TV.”
“Good night, ladies,” Penny said before a retreat to depart.
“Jerk,” Sarah said softly.
“Hey, you two.” Melissa rustled the Sunday paper. “Need photo help.”
After page two passed around, Sarah gazed at Melissa. “I might know one or two guys that could be.”
Two
Five days after the fire, an overcast gloomy Wednesday, Rob, senior Boulder Isle Planning and Zoning Commission staffer, rewound a hundred-foot metallic tape measure. By nine a.m., he’d already completed half the mayor’s assigned task to sketch The Abbey site in preparation for rezoning. He paused when a late-model Chrysler 300 disturbed concentration and parked across the street. A pair of shapely feminine legs swiveled out of the opened driver’s door and strode in his direction.
“Carol, what brings you out here?” He hadn’t expected a Malone—at least not one foolish enough to walk through ashes wearing a cocktail dress puffed out by petticoats and open-toed sling-backs.
“Should ask you the same.” She glanced at a glistening dewdrop on a toe.
“Partly reminiscing,” Rob replied. While partially true, he couldn’t admit his boss’s directive. “Read this morning where old-timers recounted number of family generations baptized, confirmed, and/or married in The Abbey’s Sacred Heart Chapel. Perhaps you recall Nancy and I were married in the chapel.”
“Vaguely, but me, too.” Left hand swiped stray brunette hair off her forehead. “Nancy impressed me as a good person. Its been what, how long since she disappeared?”
“Five years.” He rubbed his wrist. Boorish to mention he pondered dating Melissa after Nancy’s disappearance. Although he never found the courage to approach Melissa, he once mentioned possibility to a friend. “You’re going to need to watch your step with those shoes.”
“You’re right.” She smiled. “Decided at the last minute to stop, expect questions at today’s women’s luncheon.”
Rob fully understood Carol and Melissa traveled in higher social circles. Without being deluded the rich and powerful considered him an equal, he attended, in his city position, lavish community functions. The bluebloods and self-made elite only consulted him when useful for pet building projects.
“Other than memories, you must have another reason for being here.” Her piercing eyes probed with an underlying skeptic force.
“Mayor asked me to inspect site after fire chief reported cooled debris.”
“That’s strange, but plausible, I guess.”
He needed to shift the conversation off his duties. “My best wishes for both your sister and dad. The paper carried a nice story about him.”
“Thanks. Rebuilding The Abbey would be Dad’s best medicine. Shortly, hope to have two options for his consideration.”
Rob fidgeted; extracted measuring tape and let it snap. He didn’t wish to antagonize Carol nor have created ire upset her injured father. Aleck Malone’s donation, he had seen, topped the mayor’s 2009 campaign contributor list. “I’m not saying it’s impossible, but...” He rubbed a wrist. Could he excuse himself after he’d almost committed himself to a contrary position?
Carol’s right forefinger and thumb at her bodice’s center tugged upward. “There’s insurance and the fund-raiser treasurer protected the gala receipts. Adding future Abbey friend contributions and community fund-raisers will cause The Abbey to parallel the fabled Phoenix rise from the ashes.”
Rob gazed away as Carol slid hand across neck and under dress at the shoulder. Counted silently to ten and faced her. “You have to consider that it’s likely the fire will be ruled arson. Many people will object to your family receiving the multiple building and zoning variances that permitted The Abbey to exist as and where it did.” Carol shook head no. He continued, “Governed by impartiality and existing zoning interpretations, can’t conceive of any possible way how any staffer, including myself, would be able to recommend to the city zoning commission that The Abbey be identically rebuilt.”
Carol gazed beyond yellow crime scene tape toward a collapsed wall disfigured by fire. “This is sacred ground. Can’t fathom the city would penalize us because we were crime victims. In addition, my family’s buried here beginning with my great-great-grandfather.” Her voice rose with defiance; eyes sparked with anger. “Nobody will take this land and dream from us.”
Neck and shoulder muscles tightened. “What you talking about?” Her instantaneous scowl and his knotted stomach alerted him to expect an outburst as her eyes slowly filled with a controlled rage. “This isn’t a cemetery.”
“Yes, it is.” Her voice filled with disdain. “Would show you if we could walk behind that police tape.” She pointed two fingers toward a debris heap that the previous week had been the chapel.
“Don’t want to argue.” He glanced toward a ten-foot pile of embers, stone, and empty metal window frames. “But if your family has graves here, I’m sure the city would be more than willing to assist in their relocation. We’ve done that before when, for example, a contractor unearthed a burial site when excavating for a new building.” She folded arms beneath breasts. “Not every settling pioneer family could foresee their prairie homestead would some day mushroom into a town.”
“My Dad’s fighting for his life. Melissa lies in a hospital bed. I’ll warn you and the city right now. This family will neither relinquish the resting place of our ancestors nor renounce my father’s hard work.” Her eyes reddened. “Boulder Isle won’t take advantage of our family misfortune to throw us out.”
Rob had never before seen Carol tear up.
“I live near Menard, out in the country, because I chose to, not because an arrogant bureaucracy dictates. If my stable were to burn down, it would be rebuilt exactly where it now stands using the first contractor’s plans.”
He contemplated the passion in Carol’s eyes before his gaze averted hers. Rob heard rumors the doctors transferred her father to a specialized university burn unit. Bull said Melissa hospitalized in Boulder Isle. If he’d learned anything in handling zoning appeals, it had been to regard patience as a virtue. With his former job in public sanitation, he could be arrogant and obnoxious. He’d threaten a citizen if they didn’t conform to the rules they’d have their garbage left smelling at the curb.
Zoning decisions weren’t as clear-cut. Oftentimes the end result defied what should have been the logical application of crystal clear rules. With the Malone family, he realized the city faced clout wielded by strong, well-respected, local celebrities. Community gossip labeled Carol easier to deal with then the younger Melissa. In the last two years, Melissa emerged to be the publicly visible Malone family persona, assuming reins as the father aged.
Rob gazed into Carol’s eyes. “Don’t know the seriousness of your father’s injuries nor how long Melissa might be hospitalized. This fire created a dreadful tragedy for the entire community.” He dropped crossed arms to have body language express he wasn’t totally hostile. His
