Chapter 11 - The Escape from the Flames
Sirens wailed in the distance as red and blue lights flashed through the tall stained-glass windows of Blackwood Manor. Julian half-carried, half-dragged both women down the crumbling staircase as emergency crews battered down the heavy front doors. Firefighters rushed past them with hoses, filling the entrance hall with dense steam and water. Out on the front lawn, paramedics immediately draped shock blankets over the two identical women, sitting them in separate ambulances parked thirty feet apart. Julian stood in the cold rain, his tuxedo soaked and ruined, holding little Mia close to his side. An investigator approached him through the mist, holding a charred metal safety deposit box recovered from the master bedroom.
