Chapter 59 first quarter

Decker sat numbly on the rammed mound of Lindo Road, his back leaning against the right rear wheel of an ambulance, an oxygen mask over his mouth.The air he inhaled felt dry and bitter. Perhaps the bitterness was caused by the smoke he inhaled into his lungs, but he couldn't tell anyway.He heard the hiss of an oxygen tank beside him, and a paramedic was checking the pressure scale on it.He heard the rumble of car engines, fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles.He heard firefighters yelling at each other as the spigots sprayed on the still smoking ruins of Beth's house.

My fault, Decker thought, all my fault. He must have said it because the paramedic asked, frowning in concern, "What?" and took the oxygen mask off his face. "How are you feeling? Feeling sick?" Decker shook his head.With this shaking, his head hurt even more, and his body shrank into a ball. "What do you want to tell us?" "nothing." "No way," said Esperanza, next to him, "you say, 'It's my fault, it's all my fault'." The officer also removed the oxygen strapped to his nose and mouth. The oxygen mask left an oval mark on his soot-covered face. "Stop blaming yourself, it's not your fault, and you couldn't have predicted it."

"Bullshit, I'm worried she's in danger because she's with me," Decker argued.The mucus in his mouth was tinged with soot. "I shouldn't have let her go home, damn it, I shouldn't—" "Don't move," said the paramedic.He rolled up Decker's trousers and was examining the skin of his calf. "You're lucky. The flames scorched your trousers, but didn't burn them. The hairs on your legs, arms, and hair were all burned off. If you stayed in there for a few more seconds, then... . . . I'm not sure I'd be so brave myself."

Decker's tone was self-deprecating. "What about being brave, what about being desperate, I still couldn't save her." "But you almost tasted death, you did your best," Esperanza emphasized. "Full strength?" Decker coughed heavily in pain. "If I had thought better, I would have kept her in the hospital for protection." "Come on, drink this," said the ambulanceman. Decker drank the water from the bottle, and the water dripped down his chin, leaving black and white marks on his smoky face. "I should have expected how easy it would be for them to get into her place when everyone was looking at my house. If I went in with her when I was taking her home, we would both catch the explosion at the same time. "

Decker's words made Esperanza feel uneasy, and his dark brown eyes were very sad.Just as he was about to say something, another police car and a fire truck came to the scene with sirens on, distracting him. Decker drank some more water, then watched the firefighters scramble to spray the wreckage with their spigots. "My God." He threw away the water bottle, covered his face with his hands, his shoulders heaved, and tears of sorrow welled up in his eyes.He felt like he couldn't breathe, and his heart was like a knife. "Oh, dear, Beth, what shall I do without you?"

He felt Esperanza wrap his arms around him. "It's all my fault, it's all my fault," Decker said through tears. That's when he heard a paramedic whisper, "We'd better take him to the hospital." "No!" Decker said firmly. "I'm going to stay here and help find those bastards who are doing bad things!" "See how the bomb went off?" Esperanza asked. "What?" Decker was a little confused.He tried to focus on Esperanza's problem.He warned himself that he must concentrate and control himself, because it is impossible to find the murderer by hysterical attacks. "Maybe a remote control device."

"An electronic detonator activated by a radio signal." "That's right." Decker wiped tears from his red, swollen eyes.He thought of Beth.Oh my God, what would I do without you?It's all my fault. "It can't be a timer because they don't know what time to set it, when there are people in the house." Esperanza looked even more disturbed. "There must be someone outside the house with a detonator, waiting for the right moment to press the button," Decker said. "Maybe someone is hiding on Mount Sun with a telescope, maybe one of them is pretending to be interested in last night's explosion." , walking up and down the road."

"I've sent the police to talk to everyone in the area," Esperanza said. "It's too late, the person who pushed the button has long since disappeared." "Maybe there was an electrical signal in the area that just happened to be on the same frequency as the detonator was programmed to, and that happened to detonate the bomb," Esperanza said. "No. The detonator has to have a sequence of two different frequencies for the bomb to go off. They're never set on a frequency that's commonly used locally." "You seem to have studied this very well," Esperanza said.

"I've read about it, but it's just common sense." "yes?" At this time, someone came towards them with heavy footsteps.Decker looked up to see Sanchez parked in front of them. "The fire chief said the temperature of the wreckage had cooled and it was accessible," Sanchez told Esperanza. "He didn't think it would be possible to start a fire like this unless it was an incendiary bomb." "I already guessed that." Esperanza struggled to his feet.His long hair was charred, and his jeans and cotton shirt were covered in dirt and had tiny holes burned by sparks. "Can the fire chief tell us something we don't know yet?"

"He and his team have already started looking for the bodies. He said that because the walls are made of adobe bricks and the floor is made of red bricks and ceramic tiles, it is easier to find them than a wooden house that burned so badly. So far So far, they haven't found any trace of her." "Anything else?" Esperanza sounded frustrated. "Yes, but—" Sanchez glanced at Decker, apparently finding it inconvenient to speak in front of him. "What?" Decker suddenly stood up, and the adrenaline in his body suddenly increased a lot. "What do you have to say?"

Sanchez turned to Esperanza. "Maybe we should get in the patrol car. I have something to talk to you about." "No," Decker said. "You can't hide anything from me. Say what you have to say here." Sanchez couldn't make up his mind for a moment, looking at Esperanza. "do you think it's okay?" Esperanza shrugged. "Maybe if we don't carry his back on something, he will also not on us. What do you know?" "An incredible thing. You asked me to arrange for the police to question people in the area - maybe a neighbor was standing outside, maybe someone was passing by, maybe a nosy person was curious about what happened last night , happened to be strolling around, maybe someone witnessed the explosion." Esperanza asked hopefully: "Have we found someone who can help?" "Oh, I think it's more complicated than helping," Sanchez said. "Stop rambling, what the hell do you know?" Decker took a few steps towards him. "What are you trying to hide from me?" "A woman was looking for her lost dog along the Fort Connor Trail, the lower street behind these houses. Just before the explosion, she was startled by a person hurrying out of the bushes and down the slope. Jump." "It's the guy who set off the bomb," Decker said. "Did the woman give him a look?" "Yes, the person she met was also a woman." Decker felt as if someone had stabbed him. "She was carrying a suitcase," said the policeman. "what?" "She is very attractive, in her early 30s, with long blonde hair, wearing a pair of jeans and a jumper. Her right arm is wrapped in the jumper and appears to be injured." Decker leaned on the ambulance with one hand.The ground seemed to tremble, and he felt dizzy, his legs were weak, and his mind was in a trance. "But what you're describing is—" "Beth Dwyer, that's her," Sanchez said. "The woman who was looking for the dog said there was a car parked on Fort Connor Drive with a man in it. When he saw the woman carrying When the suitcases came, got out of the car, put her suitcases in the boot of the car, and helped her into the car. Just then, the bomb went off. They got in the car and drove away." "I don't understand," Decker said, "it doesn't make sense, how—" A firefighter walks up and removes his wide-brimmed metal helmet, revealing a face covered in soot.Wiping off his sweat, he reached for a bottle of water from the paramedics and said to Esperanza, "There is still no sign of the victim." Decker's heart beat faster and he felt like throwing up.His mind was in a mess. "But why... Bess is still alive? What is she doing on the slope? Who the hell is that in the car?"