Page 58 of Burn It Down

My sister throws her arms around our dad and tries to get her sobbing under control. I throw my pliers in my toolbox and follow behind them.

Standing inside the shop are two uniformed officers. My immediate thought is that they’re here to investigate the vandalism, but why would that make Cassie cry?

With an arm still around my sister, my dad speaks. “What can we do for you, officers?”

The shorter of the two steps forward and offers a hand to my dad.

“Mr. Ryder, I’m Officer McKey, this is Officer Dowdy. We’re letting folks along the street know there was a shooting this morning.”

“What? Where?” I ask alarmed.

“Just down the block. It seems things have really begun to escalate around here and we’re wanting people to stay vigilant.”

“We always are, but who was it?” my dad asks. When the officer looks like he’s about to say something along the lines ofwe can’t share that information,my dad says pleadingly, “Please, Officer. The people on this street are like family.”

He gives a curt nod and says, “Glynda Waters.”

“Oh, fuck. Is she okay?” I whisper, too stunned for my voice to be full volume.

“She was taken by EMS to the hospital in critical condition. That’s all I know.”

My dad squeezes my shoulder and looks at the officers. “Please finish talking with my son. I need to check in with Glynda’s husband.”

“What the fuck is being done about it?” I ask angrily. It’s not like they could be bothered to help get the vandalism under control. It’s their fault this has escalated.

“We’re setting up patrols of the area, working on pulling camera footage, and talking to witnesses. Which is really why we’re here.”

I scoff as I guide my crying sister over to the worn couch in the office. “You’re going to ask me if I’ve seen anything out of the ordinary? Yeah, I have. Like the brick that came flying through our window a few weeks ago, the cock and balls on the Rogers’ shop doors, their slashed tires, the paint on our bay doors.” I list off the most recent acts of vandalism and watch as the officer winces.

He looks more than uncomfortable. He looks like he wants to say something but an invisible padlock on his mouth is preventing him from doing so. In my state of rage, I call him on it.

“You have something else to say, Officer?” Hearing my sister’s quiet sobs, I move around the uniformed man to thewater cooler and pour Cassie a cup. I don’t know why everyone goes for water when someone’s upset, but I don’t have any Cuervo, so this’ll have to do.

“Thanks,” my sister says quietly, taking the cup from me and wiping her eyes.

“I just need to know if you heard the gunshot or saw anything related.” The officer is standing poised with his notepad and pen.

“No. We didn’t.”

In my mind, I can’t help but think,we never do.

“Alright then. Mind if I take a look at your camera feeds?”

I eye him suspiciously, my mind working overtime.

Nodding slowly, I decide to only show him the feeds of the visible cameras: the ones in the garage bays and out back. They hang in the corners of the shop like you’d expect, bulky and very noticeable.

The new cameras are on a different program that goes directly to our phones, so when I use the computer to pull up our original cameras, only the three I’m after show up.

Officer Dowdy clicks through a thousand images of my dad and I working. The program holds on to images for five days and then automatically begins to delete anything that doesn’t have a star marked on it.

“These the only cameras you’ve got?” he asks.

I hesitate ever so slightly before nodding. “Yes, sir.”

He eyes me back warily, like he knows I’m lying.

I’m not entirely sure why I lie anyway. They won’t find anything on the other camera feeds either. Nothing other than Cassie and our customers, but I’m getting a vibe from Officer Dowdy I don’t like. I can’t quite put my finger on it yet, but it’s there. A faint warning bell telling me to hold my cards close to my chest with this one.

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