2.

Three in the morning, and we flew back.

Gerard Lawrence, the property manager, was still waiting at the foot of our building with a handful of neighbors. The second we climbed out of the taxi, they all closed in on us.

The moment Paulette saw my mother, she jerked backward and let out a scream.

It was the kind of scream you'd give if you'd seen a ghost.

The whole crowd froze and turned to stare at her.

Paulette went rigid. Two or three blank seconds passed before she caught herself, and she forced out a smile uglier than crying. "Susan, how are you back? I thought you were…"

She let out two dry little laughs.

I looked straight at that guilty face of hers and said nothing.

The manager shoved a folder right at us.

"Phyllis Fox, right? There was a gas leak in your unit that started a fire. Lucky Aunt Paulette caught it in time and called it in, or the whole building would've gone up with you."

"You'd better thank Aunt Paulette right now, and pay for the damages to the three units downstairs. Their walls are all smoke-blackened."

My mother heard that and panicked.

"That can't be right, Manager Lawrence. Before we left I checked it over several times, everything was shut off properly."

I clamped a hand on my mother's shoulder and pulled her back behind me.

"Manager Lawrence, what caused the fire? Has the fire department's investigation report come out?"

Gerard blinked. "Not yet."

"The fire department hasn't issued a report, the police haven't ruled on anything," I cut in.

"And you, a property manager, are standing here making the call for the police? Who gave you the authority to rule on this incident? Who made you qualified to demand I pay up and say thank you?"

His lips trembled under the hit. He jabbed a finger at my nose. "Twisting the facts! People like you are a menace to this whole complex! Today it's your place that burns, tomorrow it could be someone else's!"

The second that landed, a few of the neighbors who'd taken damage couldn't hold back.

The woman on the third floor, the one whose balcony railing had been scorched, spoke first. "Exactly! Our balcony railing was brand new, over three thousand dollars!"

The old lady on the fourth floor crossed her arms. "Scared awake in the middle of the night, my heart condition acted up. Who's paying for the emotional distress?"

Everyone talking over each other, working themselves up more with every word.

Before I could get a word in, an old, frail voice suddenly came from the edge of the crowd.

"Phyllis! Susan! Are you two all right?"

My grandmother pushed through, leaning on her cane. She had on her thermal underwear with a padded jacket thrown on any which way over it, the look of someone woken in the dead of night and rushing over.

The moment Paulette spotted the old woman, her face lit up.

She crossed the distance in two quick steps and slipped her arm through Grandma Joanna's, her voice soft and full of concern. "Joanna, what are you doing out here? The night air's cold, and your health isn't good. Go back and rest. I've got things covered here."

Grandma Joanna clutched her hand, gazing at her with gratitude. "Paulette, we owe you so much! If it weren't for you, who knows what state Susan's place would be in!"

Paulette patted the back of the old woman's hand. "Joanna, don't say that. You've always been so good to me, always sending things over. I've thought of you as my own mother for a long time now."

As she spoke, her eyes reddened at the rims.

Grandma Joanna was near tears, gripping Paulette's hand and refusing to let go.

Paulette saw the moment was ripe and put on an air of noble understanding. "Joanna, let's settle today's business like this. Susan and her family don't have it easy either."

"I'm willing to help cover part of their losses. I know money's tight for you two, and Phyllis just started working, she's not earning much yet. Whatever I can take off your shoulders, I will."

Grandma Joanna nodded and nodded, deeply moved. "Paulette, you have such a good heart!"

Then Paulette shifted her tone. "It's just, Joanna, you know how it is. I'm in the middle of divorcing that animal, and I've got nowhere to go."

She paused, watching the old woman carefully.

"Joanna, since you've been so good to me, would it be all right to add my name to the deed? Think of it as me helping Phyllis and her mother with the compensation, fair and square. I promise, I'll look after you in your old age!"

Grandma Joanna's mind had gone muddled with age.

After the years Paulette had spent sweet-talking her, she believed whatever Paulette said.

"Yes, yes, yes, add it!" She patted Paulette's hand. "You're even more devoted than Phyllis. If you're living in that house, I can rest easy!"

Something in my scalp went hot.

"Paulette!" I lunged forward. "Don't you dare take advantage while everyone's down! The gas valve was shut off tight when my mother and I left. You know exactly what happened with that fire, don't you?"

"You came to make a scene at our door in the daytime, and that night our place goes up in flames. Care to explain that?"

I hadn't finished when Grandma Joanna's cane swung around and cracked hard against my arm.

"Shut your mouth!" She was shaking with rage. "Phyllis, when did you become so unreasonable?"

My arm burned where she'd hit me.

Behind the old woman, Paulette's mouth twitched up at the corner, quickly pressed back down.

She steadied a hand on Grandma Joanna's shoulder and put on a pained look. "Joanna, don't hit the girl. Phyllis is probably just frantic. I don't blame her."

"Phyllis, let your aunt tell you something straight from the heart. It's burned this badly. Even if the fire department comes, they won't find anything."

"Take one piece of advice from me and settle this privately. For the sake of being neighbors, people will still cut you some slack. But if you insist on blowing this up, there'll be no way to clean it up after."

I pulled her hand off and stared straight into her eyes.

"Whether they can find anything or not isn't for you to decide."

For an instant, the smile on Paulette's face froze.

"Paulette, this isn't about you feeling sorry for us." I said it one word at a time. "You're afraid the police will come and find out you're the one who set that fire."

4.

Grandma's cane went up again, and this time it came down on my mother's arm.

She pointed the cane at my mother's face, so furious the wood shook in her grip.

"This is the daughter you raised! Look at the state of her! Paulette here helped you put out the fire, offered to pay for the damage out of the kindness of her heart, and this is how you repay her. Bite the hand that feeds you!"

My mother clutched her arm, opened her mouth, her eyes already rimmed red. "Mom, just listen to Phyllis, please!"

Grandma sprayed spit as she shouted. "I've lived over seventy years. I've crossed more bridges than you've walked roads! You think I can't tell what kind of person Paulette is? She's a hundred times better than the two of you put together!"

Paulette rushed forward to steady her, rubbing slow circles up and down her back, still murmuring soothingly. "Joanna, don't work yourself up. Phyllis is young, she doesn't know any better. I won't hold it against her."

As she said it, she lifted her head and looked at me, a thread of smugness in her eyes.

I knew that look too well.

In my last life, the day the house was signed over, when she came to the hospital and pinched off my oxygen line, that was the exact look on her face.

The old woman from the fourth floor piped up again, her voice thin and shrill. "Say, can you people sort out your family drama some other time? Our walls are all smoke-stained! Are you paying for this or not?"

Gerard took a step forward, stomach thrust out, a lot more sure of himself than a minute ago.

"Phyllis Fox, I'm telling you, if you don't settle this today, then I'll do things by the book."

He pulled a sheet of paper from his folder. One glance told me it carried the property management seal, but more than half of it was blank, obviously printed on the spot.

"Under the community management regulations, when a fire caused by a resident results in damage to common areas and other residents, property management has the right to take enforcement action against the responsible resident."

He gave the paper a shake and raised his voice. "If you don't agree to a compensation plan today, I'll seal your unit! Cut your water and power! You don't deserve to live here!"

The crowd of neighbors broke into cheers.

"That's right! We're behind Manager Lawrence!"

"Throw her out already, before she causes any more trouble!"

My mother panicked, forgetting the pain in her arm, and turned to tug at Gerard's sleeve. "Manager Lawrence, listen to me, we really did have the gas checked, it can't be coming from our place, just give us a few more days."

Gerard flung her hand off and sneered. "Checked it? Then show me the proof!"

My mother stumbled back from the shove and nearly hit the fire hydrant behind her.

I caught her, steadied her on her feet.

Then I walked up to Gerard and lifted the so-called enforcement notice right out of his hand.

Gerard blinked. "What do you think you're doing?"

I looked down at it and smiled.

"Manager Lawrence, that's a nice, clean stamp you've got there. Still says property management office, too."

"But do you know that a property management company only has the right to provide services, not to enforce the law? Sealing a unit is up to the police and the courts. Who exactly do you think you are?"

Gerard's face froze.

I went on. "Cut the water and power? What's this, Manager Lawrence, since when does your property company sit above the law?"

Gerard's lips trembled twice, his face flushed a dark liver red.

"You, you can quit throwing law at me! Right now it's your place that caught fire and burned other people's homes! And you've still got the nerve to argue!"

"Whether it's arson is for the fire department to rule on. Whether there's compensation is for the courts to decide." I waved the paper in my hand. "You're a property manager. You're not the fire department and you're not the court. Standing here waving a worthless scrap of paper, playing the big bad wolf. Feeling pretty mighty, are you?"

I folded the paper in half, and in front of everyone, I tore it.