Free Very Bad Things by Susan McBride Page A

sleep.”
    Joelle walked out with a
clip-clop
of heels. The bathroom door slapped closed, leaving Katie standing there wondering what the heck had just happened.
    He’s not the one who likes it rough
.
    Who was Joelle talking about? There were at least forty guys in their graduating class alone. But the first name that came to mind was
Steve Getty
.

K atie hurried back to her room fit to bursting, expecting to find Tessa at her desk. Her friend’s laptop sat open, but Tessa was nowhere in sight. Katie tried not to worry. Tessa had always been restless, and it had gotten worse since The Box.
    She leaned across Tessa’s desk to glance out the window. It wasn’t long before she spotted the police cruiser. As she watched it ease past the dorm, Katie jostled Tessa’s MacBook and woke the screen. “Three Dead in Local House Fire” read the headline. It was an article from the
Barnard Gazette
dated ten years back.
    Katie glanced toward the door, then opened the window full screen.
    Emergency responders were called to a burning house on Mayfield Avenue in Barnard at 1:45 a.m. A spokeswomanfor the Barnard Township Fire Department said two engines attended the scene, adding that “the fire was well developed on arrival.”
    According to Barnard Fire Chief Wilson Bradford, the house was centuries old with a wood shingle roof, which fed the flames. When the fire was finally extinguished, the remains of two adults and one child were recovered from the rubble. A little girl was found crying in the backyard but appeared unhurt. A neighbor, John Shillings, spotted her wandering around in her pajamas, barefoot. “It was chaos by the time the fire trucks arrived,” Mr. Shillings said. “There was so much smoke you could hardly see the end of your nose. How that child made it out safely, I don’t know. She must have a guardian angel.”
    The fire chief noted that the house suffered “irreparable damage” and would almost certainly require condemnation, as the structure was unsafe. An investigation will be conducted into the origin of the blaze.
    The homeowners, John and Tanya Lupinski, had two adopted children, Peter, 12, and Tessa, 7. Mr. Lupinski, 62, had recently retired as head groundskeeper for Whitney Preparatory Academy. His wife, 50, had worked in food services at the private boarding school. According to neighbors, their children were adopted from an orphanage in Russia five years prior.
    Tessa Lupinski appears to be the only survivor of the fire.
    Funeral service arrangements are said to be pending.
    Katie scrolled down to find a brief mention in the
Gazette
dated a week later:
    The fire that destroyed the Mayfield Avenue home of John and Tanya Lupinski is being investigated as a possible arson. An accelerant was apparently used to intensify the flames, possibly to cover up a home invasion. The bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Lupinski and their 12-year-old son, Peter, were recovered, but the exact cause of death will be difficult if not impossible to determine due to the extremely poor condition of the remains, according to Barnard County medical examiner Dr. Albert Arnold.
    “At this point, we’re unable to tell if anything was stolen from the house prior to the fire. Evidence gathering is difficult at best considering what we have to work with,” said Chief Walter Henderson of the Barnard PD. “We have asked neighbors to report any suspicious activity, and we urge anyone in the area who thinks they may have seen something to call the department and report it.”
    Virginia Cottingham, a longtime neighbor, said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the boy started the fire. He was always causing grief for those poor people, stealing things, running away, bringing home all sorts of riffraff. They did everything they could for him and his sister but those kids were damaged goods from day one. It’s a tragedy it had to end this way.”
    The surviving member of the family, Tessa Lupinski, 7, has been placed in the care of the state