“My officers will get them,” Pierce said, but the sound of shattering glass from the floor below cut him off.

“The fire started in the basement,” Marcus said, looking at his security monitor feed on his tablet before the screen went entirely black. “The gas line has been severed.”

We rushed out of the library into the smoky corridor.

The emergency lights along the baseboards were dead.

I could hear the girls screaming from the far end of the hallway.

“Emma! Lily!” Benjamin cried out, coughing as the smoke hit his lungs.

Through the haze, a figure appeared at the end of the hall.

The person was wearing a dark winter coat, their face obscured by a hood.

In their hand, they held a silver canister.

They turned and vanished into the guest wing before we could reach them.

“Marcus, go!” Benjamin yelled.

Marcus sprinted down the hall, his flashlight beam cutting through the thick smoke.

I followed Benjamin and Detective Pierce toward the girls’ bedrooms.

My lungs burned with every breath.

We reached the door to Emma and Lily’s room.

The handle was hot to the touch.