Free A City Tossed and Broken by Judy Blundell Page B

and hat from this morning. His clothes were covered in ash and spotted with tiny burn holes. He gave a start when he saw me.
    “Miss Sump! What are you doing here? I put you on the ferry.”
    “I couldn’t get on, so —”
    He brushed past me and went into the study, still talking. He began to go through the desk. With every phrase he opened another drawer, looked inside, and shut it with a bang. I could not get a word in if I tried.
    “Then you should have waited for the next one! You could have been safe across the bay. Now I shall have to look after you, too.” BANG.
    “There’s no telling how badly this will go.” BANG.
    “The Army has arrived downtown and is patrolling, but looters will be out I am sure. Another fire has started in Hayes Valley.” BANG.
    “If the fires join, the entire downtown could be up in flames, and part of the Western Addition, too.” BANG.
    “Do you understand? There’s no water. The water mains are broken!” BANG.
    He turned to me, rising on his toes and back down again, as if to make himself taller as he delivered his pronouncement.
    “Lily — if I may call you that — I am your guardian now. You are my ward. I drew up your father’s will myself. You are the only heir, and my responsibility. The money will all go into a trust, which I will administer until you are twenty-one. Forgive me for speaking of this now, but . . .” He ran his hand through his hair and it came back streaked with gray. He stared at it.
    “Circumstances demand it. I barely got the records out in time. But your father . . . he removed something from the office safe. I don’t know where it is. But your future may depend on it. There is a ledger — a record of our business. Perfectly legitimate, I assure you.” He smoothed his mustache. “It will help me to continue as he would have wished in the next few weeks. See to all his business. Did you ever see him with it?”
    I hesitated, but he barely waited for my response. He turned around and examined the room, his gaze roaming while he spoke.
    “Do you know where he would keep important papers? There were also bonds — almost a million dollars in bonds, Lily. I can’t find them. Do you know if he has a safe?”
    I don’t think he even expected an answer. He began to go through the bookshelves, looking behind the books and opening them, then returning them to the shelves.
    He started calmly enough. But he quickly grew frenzied, pulling books from the shelves and tossing them to the floor. Soon the shelves were empty.
    This was the moment I should have confessed, diary. I admit it!
    But I remained silent. There was something so wild in his eyes. There could be only one explanation for his frenzy — he knew about those columns of bribes in the ledger. He was a crook, too.
    The lie was so enormous I couldn’t believe I could tell it. Every time he had said Lily it was like a hammer against my breastbone.
    But if there was a chance to save my family, I had to take it.
    He ran upstairs to Mr. Sump’s bedroom and I heard things crashing up there as well. But when he came downstairs he was calmer.
    “I will just have to search again,” he said. “If I cannot find them, it is unlikely that a looter will. Don’t worry.” He smoothed his mustache and smiled. “I only have your best interests at heart. You are well protected.”
    That’s when I realized: the smoothing of the mustache, the false smile. That was his tell. That’s what he did when he lied.
    Which meant he didn’t have Lily’s best interests at heart. . . .
    Suddenly a loud blast split the air, and I jumped. He told me that the Army under the direction of General Funston was starting to dynamite buildings to create a firebreak. If the fire couldn’t feed on something, it would die.
    “That’s good, then,” I said.
    “Unless as the buildings go up the wind takes the embers and the next building catches fire.”
    I looked out and saw the trees moving, the wind fluttering the