Chapter 158: A Friend's Tragedy

Sophie was on the computer, checking out her email and also reading the latest news. Warren was in the room, playing with Betsy.

"It got out," Sophie said with a grin.

"What did?"

"Ryan's marriage. It's in the news. 'American Ice Dancer Ryan Killen married his lady love, Jessica Reidel, in a surprise ceremony in Las Vegas.'"

Warren laughed. "We'll have to tell Jess she got her name in the paper."

"Yep," Sophie grinned. She read for a few more minutes, then burst out with, "Oh, wow!"

"What, Pookie?"

"The Westerlund burned down!"

"Really?" The Westerlund was an old, historic skating rink--attached to a hotel--in Colorado Springs. It'd been the center of US figure skating for many decades. Though it had lost its singular prominence, it was still a training center, and events were still occasionally held there.

"Yeah. Burned right to the ground. Doesn't Chris train there?"

Christine Arsenault, Sophie meant. "No, she trains in Denver. She's from Colorado Springs, but she trains in Denver."

"Oh. It says here all the skaters got out. Three firefighters died, though."

Warren looked up. "Oh, shit!"

"What?"

"Christine's brother, and her new boyfriend, are Colorado Springs firefighters."

"Oh." Sophie looked at the screen. "One of the dead firefighters is David Arsenault."

"Aw, fuck. That's her brother. Oh, poor Chris. He's her big brother--she idolizes him."

"Damn. What's her boyfriend's name?"

"Ben something-or-other, I forget his last name."

"The other two weren't named Ben."

"Well, that's good." Warren took out his cel phone. "Hi, Chris? It's Warren. We just heard." He talked to her for a while, then hung up. "She's absolutely inconsolable," he told Sophie. "Completely devastated. One good thing--her boyfriend wasn't on duty. He got called down there, of course, but it was pretty much over by then." Warren took a breath. "Apparently, her brother got four terrified young skaters out of the building--but the smoke overtook him before he could get out."

"Wow."

"Wow is right. He was 31. Left a wife and three small children." Sophie just hissed at that. "I know. Listen, Pookie, you're on the computer--get us some airline tickets to Denver."

"Good idea."

They landed a few days later, and found a hotel. They then rented a car and drove to Colorado Springs. Ellen had kept Betsy for them--she was rather young to be attending a wake and a funeral.

They got into town just in time for the wake, and couldn't believe the number of people lined up to get in. "Well, that makes sense," Sophie said. "Look at all the firefighters."

They got in line to pay their respects. When they got to the front of the line, Christine saw them, and broke down. "I can't believe you two came all the way out here!"

"We had to," Warren said. "How are you holding up?"

"God, it's just awful. Will you guys stick around until after?"

"Sure."

They did, and Jack Garrison and Liz Cushman had also come out, and they stayed as well. "Jason just started class, so he couldn't come, but he wanted me to," Liz told them.

They all went out to a diner afterwards, where they met Christine's boyfriend Ben.

"David was the one that took me under his wing when I first joined the department," Ben told him. "He showed me the ropes." Ben grinned at Chris. "Then he introduced me to his little sister." The grin disappeared. "And now he's gone. I can hardly believe it."

"I don't know what poor Janet's going to do," Chris said. "She's 30 years old, with three kids under the age of 8, and now she's a widow. My little niece is one year old. She'll never know her Daddy." Christine started to sob at that. Ben wrapped his arm around her.

"I enjoy being a firefighter, but this is the downside," Ben said. "It could happen to any of us."

"And that scares the shit out of me," Christine admitted.

"I know it does," Ben agreed. "You think it doesn't scare me? But think of it, Chris. You knew your brother better than I did. He got four young girls out of that burning building. He paid the price, but he got them out. He would've wanted it that way, and we both know it."

"I know," Chris agreed. "Sometimes, that's the only thing that keeps me going, knowing that."

Ben turned to the rest of them with a slight smile. "I got a baby out, about a year ago. Cute little thing, only about six months old. The mother was out in the yard when the house went up. The poor woman was hysterical that she couldn't get back in and get her baby. I got her. She had some smoke inhalation--but she's fine now, I've kept in contact. The thing is--when you're going in to get someone out, you don't think about yourself. You just don't. Not until the person you're trying to get is out and safe. Then you think of yourself. David just didn't have time."

"I understand that," Chris said, "but it's not just yourself. That's the problem. It's the people outside waiting for you. Not me, so much-I had 24 wonderful years with my big brother and I'll always cherish them. But Stephanie, my niece, had one lousy year with her Daddy. Because he wasn't thinking about himself, he wasn't thinking about her. And I know that's horrible. Believe me, I know it. It's very selfish."

"Hey," Warren said, putting his hand on hers, "we're all selfish at times. It's only natural."

They stayed until the funeral, two days later.