It was just a matter of time until they figured out I was in here and rescued me. Two minutes, tops. I could last another two minutes. One hundred and twenty seconds. Then I’d be safe.

I began to count.

One… two… three…

I stopped counting at 160.

The flames leaped from the door to the ceiling, and bits of burning plaster flaked down and sizzled in my tub, a rain of fire. I picked up the bath mat, dunked it in the sooty water, and wound it around my head. The shower slowed to a trickle, and then stopped, with my tub only half filled.

A calm came over me, possibly induced by oxygen deprivation. I was going to die. I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I knew that I should be fighting somehow, trying to prevent it. But there was nothing else I could do.

I’d been beaten.

A small part of me didn’t want to accept it and screamed for me to act. Maybe I could wrap myself in wet towels and charge down the stairs. Maybe I could bust the bathroom window and scream until I was noticed, even though that wall was on fire now too.

But the larger part of me recognized those options as futile. I’d live a little bit longer if I waited for death, rather than rushed to meet it.

Once I accepted my fate, I accepted everything that went with it.

I wouldn’t ever know if Herb had cancer or not.

I wouldn’t ever know if my mom came out of her coma.

I wouldn’t ever know if Latham would have called me back.

I wouldn’t ever know who it was that shot at me downstairs, which seemed like hours ago.

Lifetimes ago.

It made me sad.

The bathroom door burst inward, and the last thing I remembered was a large man in a firefighter uniform reaching out for me.

SOME FIRST-DEGREE burns on your left hand, smoke inhalation, and you’ll need stitches in your ear.”

I took another hit from the oxygen mask, my lungs feeling like they’d been scoured with steel wool. I went on another coughing jag, and spit something black and gross into my tissue.

“Stitches?” My voice was low and raspy.

The doctor, whose name tag said Williams, prodded my ear with a wet cotton ball.

“You’re missing a tiny piece on the top. You probably nicked it on something.”

I stayed silent. I hadn’t nicked my ear on anything. That bastard in Diane Kork’s house had shot the top of my ear off.

“Nothing to worry about,” the doctor said. “It won’t even be noticeable after it heals. Well, maybe a bit noticeable. Are you good with makeup?”

While the doc stitched me up, I used his rubbing alcohol and some cotton pads to clean the soot off of my face. My clothes were a disaster, soaked and scorched and garbage. I currently wore a hospital gown, but one of the shift nurses promised she’d find me some pants and a top.

“Are you sure you don’t want a local?”

“I’m fine.”

The Darvocet I’d been given for the pain in my hand had kicked in, and all I felt in my ear was a slight tugging while he sutured.

He knotted it off, and I had to fill out some forms before being discharged – against the hospital’s recommendation. A cute male nurse came in and flushed my eyes with something that helped stop the itching, and while he held my head in his strong and capable hands the shift nurse returned with some clothes.

“Do you think you can squeeze into a size twelve?” she asked.

“Maybe if I suck in my stomach,” I told her.

The male nurse offered me a towel and left, and I dressed in a large pair of khakis and a Bulls sweatshirt. The khakis were so large, I had to keep one hand on the waist to hold them up.

Finally, when I was forcing on my wet shoes, the fireman who’d rescued me poked his head through the curtain.

“Just wanted to check how you’re doing, ma’am.”

He was probably half my age, and his boyish face made him look even younger.

“I’m fine. Thanks again, Peter. You saved my life.”

“Just doing my job. Smart thing you did, hanging the towel out the window.”

He looked pleased with himself, and had a right to be. Saving a person’s life is the best natural high there is.

“Did you find anyone else in the house?”

“No. You were the only one in there.”

“No bodies?”

“Nothing.”

“You check the basement?”

“We checked everywhere. House was empty, thank God.”

I thought about that. I would have bet good money that Diane Kork’s body was somewhere in the house.

“Did you see anyone running from the house before me? Someone in jeans and work boots?”

“I didn’t. But someone was in a hurry to get away from there. Tommy got clipped by a car in the alley out back.”

“Tommy?”

“Tommy Thurston, guy from my unit. He’s just a couple beds down. Broken leg. Want to meet him?”

“Yeah, I would.” I squeezed on my second shoe and stood, one hand holding my pants.

Peter led me down the hall. Tommy lay on his cot, his calf wrapped in a fiberglass cast. His eyes were closed. He looked too young to shave. Where were they getting firemen these days, out of grammar school?

“Mr. Thurston?”

“What? Oh, hey. You’re the one we pulled out.”

I offered a hand. “Lieutenant Jack Daniels. How’s the leg?”

“Tibia fracture. Not bad.”

“I heard you were hit by a car.”

“Damnedest thing. He came screeching out of the alley like Dale Earnhardt. Clipped engine number twelve and the side of a building, and gave me a love tap like I wasn’t even there. Probably didn’t see me.”

“Did you see the driver?”

“No. Too dark. Happened too fast.”

“How about the car?”

“Dark color. Looked new. Could have been anything. Lots of cars look alike these days, don’t you think? Shouldn’t be hard to find, though.”

“Why is that?”

“Guy lost both his side mirrors driving through the gap.”

I nodded. “Any chance you noticed the license plate?”

“Actually, right before it hit me, I did notice the plate. Started with D one.”

“D one? You’re sure?”

“Uh-huh. I remember because when it was coming right at me I thought, I’m the Dead One. D one. Get it?”

“I got it. You don’t remember any other numbers?”

“Nope. There were six or seven of them. Looked like an Illinois plate.” His eyes lit up. “Hey, your name is Jack Daniels?”

“That’s me. Lightly braised, but in the flesh.”

“I like that show on TV that you’re in, that Fatal Autonomy. You’re pretty funny. I loved the one where you were screaming and screaming and screaming for help and that private eye guy took off his dirty sock and crammed it in your mouth.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Yeah. Good episode.”

Peter chimed in. “My favorite is the one where you tracked down that killer and went to shoot him but you forgot to load your gun.” He slapped his thigh, grinning. “Classic.”

“That didn’t really happen.”

“Sure was funny, though.” Peter eyed my outfit. “I think it’s great you’re losing weight. Made my job a lot easier, carrying you.”

I considered telling him that I wasn’t fat, that was only the actress who played me, but I let discretion be the better part of valor.

“Excuse me.” I slid past. “Gotta get home and drink my Slim-Fast shake. Thanks again, guys.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Daniels.”

Since the paramedics had taken me to the hospital, I had to take a cab to my car, still parked on Hamilton. A single fire engine remained on the scene, hosing down Diane Kork’s house. The flames had long since been extinguished, but the heat remained. When the water hit certain spots, it hissed and steamed fiercely.

I wanted to poke around inside, but now didn’t seem like a good time. Plus, I was exhausted. I did drive around to the back alley, and was rewarded with a nice surprise: two rearview mirrors, broken and lying on the asphalt.