Page 2 of Moonlight Over Montana

The girl stalled as if her feet were welded to the steps from the heat. “Momma, I can’t.”

Her tears were coming faster and Jed could hear the overwhelming panic in her voice. He knew he had to act fast. “Maggie, catch!” He tossed the bag he had over his shoulder and didn’t bother to wait and see if she caught it. Slinging Susie over his left shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes, he yelled above the roar of the fire, “No matter what, don’t let go of me.” He raced down a few stairs and then jumped out as far as he could, away from the flames. He collided with the ground on his right side, taking the full brunt of the impact to protect the girl. He hit so hard it jarred his teeth and the tender bones in his body. He groaned and tried to get up, but Susie hadn’t moved. Was she hurt?

He struggled to his knees, a dead weight on his shoulder. Maggie was pulling at her, crying out her name.

Susie clung to Jed. He got to his feet and set the girl down while she continued to hold on to him. “It’s okay, you can let go now. You’re safe.” Their next most important move was putting distance between themselves and the burning building. A fire truck screeched to a stop and the sheriff’s vehicle pulled up.

Sheriff Blackstone ran over to them. He glanced at the diner before asking, “Is everyone okay? The ambulance is right behind me.”

Maggie nodded and pulled her daughter close to her side. “Scared but otherwise safe, thanks to Jed.”

An arc of water fell on the flames as they continued to greedily consuming the sides of the building.

Sheriff Blackstone pointed across the street. “We need to get out of the way. The fire department needs room to work.”

They hurried across the street. Maggie looked back, horror on her face as firemen laid out water lines and kept the water pumping. From where they stood, the sounds of the building popping and glass shattering filled the night. Jed slid his arm around Maggie’s shoulders as she buried her face in her hands. “This is insane.”

“Jed, can you tell me what happened?” Blackstone looked from Susie to Maggie before looking back at him.

“I was on my way in to The Lucky Bucket when I smelled smoke. As soon as I knew it was the diner, I called it in and then alerted Maggie and Susie.”

“Did you see anyone around?”

“No, the street was empty.”

The sheriff nodded. “Maggie, did you close up at the normal time and anything out of the ordinary happen tonight?”

Susie took a step into the circle of Maggie’s arm. “We had dinner in the diner just like always. You know it get slow after seven. I had a couple of stragglers for pie, and when they left, Susie and I cleaned up and shut down before going upstairs. That was about seven thirty.”

“Did you see anyone loitering?” he asked.

“No, Sheriff. We went up through the inside stairs. It’s a lot easier after a busy day. The fewer steps, the better.” She looked at the alley. “Maybe if we had gone up the back, we would have seen something.”

Blackstone didn’t react to her comment. “I’m assuming you have a normal routine as you shut down for the night, checking the stoves and ovens?”

Jed wasn’t sure he liked where this line of questioning was headed.

She said, “I’ve done the same process ever since I took the place over. All machines are off, doors locked, and I even check the walk-in refrigerator and freezer to make sure no one got stuck in them. Tonight was just like every other night.”

Susie began to cough and Maggie focused her attention on her daughter. “Hey, how are you feeling?”

“My chest hurts,” as she coughed harder.

Jed pointed to the EMTs. “Let’s have you get checked out.”

Sheriff Blackstone said, “You too, Jed. You inhaled a lot of smoke as well.”

“Will do.” He guided Maggie and Susie toward the ambulance as Nina, one of the emergency medical techs, met them halfway.

“Anyone burned?”

“No,” Maggie said. “Just smoke. Can you check on Susie? She’s started to cough pretty hard.” She glanced at Jed. “And he kissed the ground pretty hard with Susie. Jed might need to have his shoulder looked at.”

Nina took Susie’s arm and guided her to the back of the ambulance where Nina had her sit in the open doorway. Joe, her partner, slid three small oxygen tanks in her direction. “Let’s get them on O2 as soon as we get their vitals, and then we can transport them to emergency.”

Within minutes, Jed, Maggie, and Susie’s vitals had been checked and they were wearing oxygen masks. Jed was surprised; it did help with his breathing. But his right side was beginning to ache, and his shoulder had already stiffened.

The way the back of the ambulance was positioned, Maggie watched the fire department working to extinguish the flames. Her shoulders drooped lower with each passing minute. “Our home. Where are we going to go?”

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