After Rae ended the call, Maya remained in the briefing room with the phone against her ear.
It took her a moment to lower it. She had been listening so hard that silence felt like another sound to interpret.
Imani looked in. “She's with the officer?”
“She's outside. She's calling the assigned line.”
The supervisor nodded. “Come sit near us.”
Maya went back to the operations floor. She didn't take a call. Luis had her queue as well as his own, and another operator had taken part of his work. Maya sat in the spare chair beside Imani.
The Calder radio traffic came in fragments. Crew inside. Location confirmed. An injured man found.
Maya clasped her hands beneath the desk so she wouldn't reach for the console. She was still recused. Knowing that did not make her less hungry for the next word.
At 11:28 her private phone stayed quiet.
For an instant she wanted to call Elias herself. He might not have heard Rae's predicted words. Maybe that meant he'd died before she could say them. The thought came so quickly that she felt sick before she could challenge it.
Nothing on the recording had said he survived. Nothing had said he died. Her daughter had made a different call, and the responders were still inside.
She put both feet on the floor.
Luis wrote something, listened, crossed it out. The pencil moved behind his ear again. This time he got it right.
Imani stood by him.
A minute passed.
Maya watched an ordinary emergency call appear on the neighboring console. A man had cut his foot on broken glass. The operator asked where he was. Somebody at the far end of the room laughed once, then stopped. Maya watched the other operator write down the address.
The radio sounded. A voice said they were bringing Elias through the kitchen.
Maya looked at Imani. The supervisor held up a hand, listening for confirmation rather than giving her the word too soon.
Then she came across the space between the desks.
“He's out,” she said. “Alive. They're treating him.”
Maya inhaled and couldn't finish the breath. She bent forward, hands against her knees, and for a moment could see nothing but the floor.
Imani rested a hand on the chair. She didn't ask Maya to stand or be grateful.
When Maya lifted her head, Luis was looking at her. She nodded. He nodded back and returned to his caller.
Her cell phone rang.
Rae said, “He's out.”
“I know. They told me.”
“He's on the sidewalk. I can see him.”
“Are you with him?”
“Not yet. They're working. His arm—”
She stopped. Maya waited.
“He asked if I came in.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
Rae's voice was shaking now. The control she had kept for the operator had gone.
“He said good. That's all. He said good.”
Maya put a hand over her eyes. “I'm glad.”
“I am too.”
Neither of them could make the word large enough. They said it anyway.
Rae described the scene in pieces. The crew had carried him out because he couldn't walk. His knee had twisted in the fall; his forearm and hand were burned. He had breathed smoke. The medic was asking him questions, and he was trying to answer too many at once. Rae could see his glasses in Jory's hand, one lens clouded and the frame bent.
“All eleven residents?” Maya asked.
“At the café. Ruth keeps counting them.”
“The house?”
“The kitchen's damaged. Smoke upstairs. They aren't going back tonight.”
Maya didn't ask if it would be all right. That question had become too large for anyone beside a truck to answer.
Rae moved closer to the ambulance. Maya heard someone ask who she was. “His daughter,” she said.
Elias said her name, faintly. Not over a recording, not from a minute that might come. Rae told him she was there.
Maya stayed quiet. She could hear him try Rae's name again.
After a little while Rae returned to the phone.
“They're taking him in. I can follow once I've given the sheet to the officer.”
“Do you want me to drive you?”
“I have the van.”
“Rae.”
Her daughter was quiet. “I shouldn't drive yet.”
“I can come when I finish the handoff.”
“Okay.”
Maya looked at Imani. The supervisor nodded. There would be paperwork, a statement about the calls, someone to relieve her properly. It wouldn't take all night. Maya could perform the ordinary actions that let her leave.
“I'll meet you at the café,” she said.
“They're moving everyone to a recreation hall. Ruth's waiting for the transport.”
“Then I'll meet you there.”
Rae breathed out. “Don't bring Dad his phone.”
“Does he have it?”
“I think Jory picked it up. He asked me what to do with it.”
“Preserve it. The files too. Give the officer what they request.”
“I will.”
Maya heard the weariness in her own answer, the practical work coming back before the fear had fully gone. Rae had to do it. So did she. The old file would still need to be kept.
The words were still on her phone. The sound remained on his. A woman intending to come back through the kitchen. A man who had asked her not to.
“I'll see you soon,” Maya said.
Rae said, “Please.”
Maya ended the call and stood. Her legs trembled. She waited until they would hold her, then went with Imani to complete the handoff.