Free Save Me by Lisa Scottoline Page B

there was faulty wiring, maybe something left off the punch list.”
    “Where’d you hear that?”
    Rose hesitated, sorry she’d mentioned anything, but Kristen answered, “I told her.”
    Mr. Rodriguez turned to the teacher, his eyes hardening. “Kristen, this is a difficult situation, with three fatalities, and there shouldn’t be any idle speculation about its causes, especially from my own staff. The cause of the explosion and fire haven’t been determined as yet.”
    Rose interjected, “I asked her. She wasn’t speculating.”
    “Just the same.” Mr. Rodriguez’s gaze bored into Kristen, then shifted back to Rose, his brow relaxing just a little. “We’ve all been instructed by legal counsel not to discuss the particulars of this tragedy with anyone. You can imagine, with three families grieving and two children in the hospital, even Melly, that we need to keep an even keel, going forward.” Mr. Rodriguez squared his shoulders. “Rose, I have my work cut out for me, this weekend. I’d like to say hello to Melly, if that’s okay with you, and then we’ll go. Kristen, you’ll leave with me, please.”
    “Sure.” Kristen nodded, nervously, and Rose couldn’t process it all fast enough. Everybody lawyering up. Amanda, dying upstairs. School, opening after the weekend. It was a lot to wrap her mind around, and it would be even harder for Melly.
    “Right, let’s go see Melly,” Rose said, summoning her composure and leading them to the door, but when they opened it, Melly was sound asleep.
    Mr. Rodriguez looked over, a twinkle in his eye. “Usually this happens after I speak,” he said, with a tight smile.

Chapter Fifteen
    “Sure you’re not thirsty?” Rose asked Melly, sitting at the edge of her hospital bed, when they were alone. She felt devastated that Amanda had been given last rites, but she masked it for Melly, who was waking up, having napped only briefly.
    “No.”
    “No water?”
    “I drank some.” Melly touched the oxygen tube under her nostrils with her fingernail, polished pink, now chipping. “Did Ms. Canton go home?”
    “Yes. She told me to say good-bye. Mr. Rodriguez came to meet you, but you were asleep, so I didn’t wake you.”
    “Maybe because she’s sick. That’s why she wasn’t in school.” Melly let go of the oxygen tube. “Do you have my DS?”
    “No. It’s in the bag I left in Leo’s car, with the book. Sorry. I don’t have my laptop either.”
    “It’s okay. I miss my friends on Club Penguin. We always talk on Saturday morning.”
    “I know.” Rose limited Melly’s time on Club Penguin, a safe chat site for children, though for a kid self-conscious about her looks, the site was a godsend.
    “Can we watch TV? Cartoons are on.”
    “No, let’s not.” Rose didn’t want to take a chance that any newsbreak or screen crawl could update the school fire, especially the fatalities.
    “So what can we do?”
    “I can run down to the gift shop and see if they have any magazines, and we can read together.”
    Melly brightened. “Do they have Teen People ? It’s my friend’s favorite magazine.”
    “Which friend?”
    “A girl on Club Penguin. She likes all those magazines. She likes Harry Potter, too, but she only read Chamber of Secrets. ”
    “Okay, I’ll go get the magazine.” Rose rolled the night table out of the way and stood up, just as the door opened. It was Leo, and he had John asleep on his shoulder, in his yellow onesie and a white receiving blanket. Oddly, Leo looked dressed for work, in the white oxford shirt, tan Dockers, and penny loafers of the American lawyer on a Saturday.
    “Hey, boys! Let me see my Johnnie Angel.” Rose got up and took the sleeping baby, who filled her arms. John was big for his age, making a nice warm bundle, and he resettled his head on her shoulder. She was happy to see him, even if it wasn’t the greatest idea to bring a sick baby to a hospital. She stroked John’s tiny back in the soft blanket,