Only the Women Are Burning. Nancy Burke
is Lila?” he asks.
“Darkroom,” I say. “I need a hug.”
He lifts a tee shirt from the bed and grabs the lower hem in his teeth while his hands reach inside to the sleeves and he slides into it. He says, “I’ve had a tough day too.”
“I need to tell you,” I say.
He pauses. He sits to slip on his shoes and his eyes are on his laces.
“Cindy is dead,” I say.
“Cindy? Your old friend Cindy?” He looks up. “I’m so sorry.”
“And I watched a woman burn to death on the train station platform this morning,” I said. “She died. Cindy died in a fire. Three women died today in Hillston in fires.”
“That must have been awful. I’m sorry.” He stands up. He comes to me and puts his arms around me. He kisses my cheek. He releases me before I can lift my arms to encircle him. He is out the bedroom door.
I call after him. “Pete, it was just like Banhi.”
He returns. “Cassie, the Bangalore police said Banhi ran away.”
“And Rehani said she set herself on fire. And the women all around that shack, we know they turned their backs. But I know better. I saw her arm with the earlier burn. I saw her in flames in that shack.”
“I thought we left this in Bangalore…in the past.”
“But a woman burned today right before my eyes. Two more women too. Cindy was one of them.” I lifted my hands flat, palms up, then clasped them together. “I tried to extinguish the flame. This time I had a chance to save her. But it didn’t work.”
“What do you want me to say?” he said.
“Say you believe me. You never said that about Banhi.”
“There was no body Cassie. When the police got there, there was no body. There were no burn marks in that kitchen.”
“I saw her. Somehow, they moved Banhi, hid her body, cleaned up. When I got back with the police, it was as though nothing happened.”
“And her husband said she must have run away,” Pete said.
“And you believed him and not me, Pete. How do you think that makes me feel?”
“Did this morning really happen?” Pete asked. “Or are you having problems again?”
“Didn’t you see the news vans outside?”
He went to the window. I followed. The street was now empty of vans. “They were all over the street earlier. It is on CNN. It is on the radio news. It’s real, Pete. Don’t you dare make insinuations about whether it’s real or not. You’re my husband.”
“I think it flashed across the screen at the airport,” he said, “now that I think about it.” He sat on the floor and extended his legs to stretch. “They didn’t say the women’s names. I thought maybe it was a stunt, you know, like the women in China a few years ago. That was a cult, wasn’t it? Falun Gong or something?”
“A stunt? That’s an awful way to characterize it.”
“Women trying to draw attention to something…a cause or something.”
“I still don’t think we should call it a stunt.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m trying to tell you that I was there. She was right behind me as I was stepping onto the train…and it’s scary…I’m upset…I need some time to talk about it. She caught fire and died. I just need you here. I’m terrified it can happen to me…to Lila…to anybody. Can you stay please?”
He leaned back on his elbows and stared up at me. “It must have been terrifying. I can’t imagine.”
“I think I fainted after it was over.”
“Wow.”
“The EMT’s gave me oxygen. There was nothing left of her to help.”
“Cassie, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you were there. Maybe take some time off from that job. Maybe that would help?”
“I called out today. I spent the day at home watching the news and waiting for Doug to come.”
“Doug?”
“The reporter.”
“Did you call the paper?”
“No, he called me.”
“What did the police say? What did the fire department say? I’m sure you called them. I’m sure they were at the scene.”
“I called 911. By the time they got there, the fire was done. She was dead.”
“This does sound very familiar.”
“The conductor and I tried to save her. He grabbed the fire extinguisher, but he didn’t know how to use it.”
“And you did.” He leaned forward and hugged his knees.
“Yes.” My inner glow of pride that at least I’d tried faded under his scrutiny. “You can read the news tomorrow. The reporter got here later, after he…”.”
“Here?”
“Yes, he called. Then, the other fires happened. And he didn’t come right away, but he came later. Lila brought home a notice from school that it happened to someone’s mother. Turned out it was Brandon’s mother. Cindy. My Cindy. Doug told me on the phone.”
“Doug? You sound like you and he know each other well.”
I ignored that. “The reporter…when he called back because he was late... told me it was Cindy.” I realized I was back in Bangalore in my mind. I heard myself pleading with him to believe me like I pleaded with the police back then.
“This feels like a horror movie.”
“It feels very much like…”
He stood up. “We promised that, when we came here, you would not talk about that.”
“I know…but…”
“Do you want our marriage to fall apart like it almost did back then?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then let the police and fire department deal with this, okay? I don’t want you to start butting in with their work.”
“But Pete…we’re in Hillston. There is no cultural context for women to set themselves on fire here, unless it’s some sort of protest…not a stunt. I thought it could be that, a protest, then I heard about Cindy and I knew it was something else. She would never kill herself.”
“So then it is someone murdering them?”
“Nobody knows anything. Nobody has any conclusive proof of what and how this happened.”
“It’s going to turn out to be some kind of serial killer. Remember that sniper in the D.C. area? He was a sharp shooter from the Special Forces, picking off people from nearly a mile away. They figured it out.”
“Nobody can set somebody on fire from a mile away. That was a gun, this is burning to death.”
“Watch. The police will investigate. There will be some connection between the three of them.”
“Well, maybe. If they do, at least it won’t feel like we’re all in danger, like the mayor said.”
He kissed me on the cheek. “I’m going for my run,” he said. “Let’s just have a peaceful family dinner with the kids.”
“You can’t skip your run for once?”
“What do you want me to do?”