Davy finished out the first verse of the song he was singing. He had been singing the same song for the past half hour, trying to get it just right.

“That sounded better, Dave,” Peter told his friend, sticking the thumbs up sign at him from the keyboards.

Mike glanced at Peter with a knowing look. “Yeah,” he agreed. “A lot better. Wanna take a break?”

Davy grinned, but his ego was unsatisfied. “I dunno,” he replied with a slight frown. “It still sounds off on that first verse. I’m not sure I like it like…” he trailed off.

Mike frowned. “Davy? Something wrong?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Davy mumbled slightly. He shook his head. “We’ve got a problem,” he told his friends in a clearer voice. Then he turned and ran out the door. “C’mon,” he called over his shoulder.

Micky paced back and forth through the waiting room. Jenny would be okay, the doctors had told him, but she had been badly injured.

He was grateful for her safety, but he was worried. Paranoia was beginning to set in. What if Jenny’s “accident” was not so accidental?

The door to the waiting room swung open, and Davy stood in the entrance to the room. Mike and Peter, who had been running behind him, were forced to stop short behind him, and nearly fell over their shorter friend.

“What happened?” Davy gasped. Behind him, Mike and Peter attempted to stand up straight again. Everyone could tell from Micky’s face that the three visitors were unexpected.

“How did you?” Micky wondered, but stopped. It wasn’t really a question that needed to be asked.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Davy asked. “What happened?” He stepped all the way into the room, and walked over to his friend.

“There was an… accident,” Micky explained with a slight bitterness in his voice. “Somehow a fire got started in the kitchen. She was trying to put it out, but a fire got started in the front while she was working on the one in the back.” He shook his head slightly. “I’m not sure it was an accident.”

Peter and Mike stared with wide eyes. “A fire? In the new house?” Mike repeated, stunned. Micky nodded.

“I’m not so sure it was an accident,” he repeated with a steely anger in his voice. His teeth were clenched, and his hands were balled into fists.

“You think it’s related to the note,” Mike stated. It wasn’t a question.

“It probably is,” Peter agreed before Micky could speak. “It’s too much of a coincidence not to be.”

“But why?” Micky wondered. He stepped away from the others and began to pace again. “Why would she hurt Jenny?”

“Maybe it’s not Maggie,” Davy suggested in a low voice.

Peter and Mike were silent. Davy had taken a brave step. Micky had been adamant against such a suggestion in the first place, but to actually speak her name? It was certainly not something that could have good consequences.

Micky stopped pacing. His shoulders slumped, and his head drooped down to his chest. He sighed.

The door opened. “Sir?” a nurse asked, popping her head in. “You can see her now.”

Micky sat next to Jenny in the hospital room. She was covered in bandages – more than he’d ever seen on one person before. With a deep breath, he gently grabbed her hand, holding it lightly.

Davy stepped back from the glass window and looked at his friends. “She’s lucky,” he commented. Jenny had been burned badly, and she would probably be unconscious for several days, but she was alive.

Peter and Mike nodded in agreement. “That was brave, Davy,” Peter told his friend, referring to his bold suggestion earlier.

Davy nodded. “’E’s got to accept it,” he replied. “’E can’t keep running from it forevah. Soonah or latah it’s going to catch up to ‘im, an’ then it’ll be worse.”

Mike and Peter remained silent; Peter because he knew that Davy knew what he was talking about from experience, and Mike because he was lost in thought as he had been since the frantic drive over to the hospital.

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