Newton Neighbors (New England Trilogy) by Suzy Duffy Read Free Book Online

house? I’d love to check my cell phone just to see if I have the same contact numbers as the ones Cody here gave us and also to see if they’ve maybe called me.”
    “I can take you back in, but it’s real noisy in there.” Then he looked at Noreen. “You live next door?”
    “Yes. What can I do?”
    “Well, could you maybe hold the baby for a moment while I take this young lady in to get her phone?”
    “I’d be delighted. Or better yet, I can take Cody and Alice to my house.” She pointed to the building just next door. “It’s so noisy out here and much quieter inside. Cody knows my kitchen well, as do Todd and Mitch. Alice has been in there with her mom plenty of times, too. We can have cookies and milk, and you can join us in a few minutes if that works for you.”
    “Shouldn’t we get Todd and Mitch back to their parents?” Jessie asked.
    “I’m Todd’s grandma. I’ll phone his mother now, and I see Mitch’s dad standing over there. They live two doors down from me.”
    Jessie looked behind her. Where a few curious people had stood a short while ago, now the entire neighborhood had poured out to have a look. “Oh,” she said and gave a weak wave. She even got a few waves back.
    “Let me take Alice, and then you go into the house and get your phone with this nice fireman. Cody, you take Orga with us.”
    Jessie wondered if this lady was perhaps a little too elderly to take charge of Alice, but what choice did she have? The baby seemed happy to go with her, and it would only be for a few minutes.
    “Thank you so much. What did you say your name was?”
    “Noreen.”
    “Thanks, Noreen. I really do need the help.”
    Then Jessie headed into the blaring house with Dan the fireman to find her phone. He checked the alarm system while she moved back outside with her cell, but there were no new messages. Then she tried both parents with the numbers in her phone but had the same luck as before. She left them each a second voice mail, and then she was all out of ideas.
    She went to look for Dan inside but the shrill of the alarm was too loud and they both headed back outside. That’s when Cody reappeared, waving a piece of paper over his head. “Mrs. Palmer thought you might want this. It’s the fire alarm code. Mom gave it to her once.”
    Dan grabbed the note and was back in the house playing with the key panel on the wall in seconds. Jessie and Cody were only steps behind. She watched him press the buttons and couldn’t help noticing the tattoo on his muscular forearm. It was a falcon with outstretched wings swooping down, like it was about to attack. Jessie gave an involuntary shiver. His entire body looked strong. All in all, Dan seemed to be in good shape. As he tapped the last digit of the code into the keypad, the shrilling fire alarm subsided. Almost immediately, it started back up again.
    “What now?” he yelled in exasperation and read the small LED panel above the keys.
    Jessie read it, too. “I don’t believe this. Intruder alert?” She remembered the firefighters opening every window in the house. The phone began to ring again. Jessie ran back outside with Cody just as she’d done a little earlier and answered it.
    “Hello, ma’am. This is Newton Emergency Services. We have notification of an intruder alert in your home. Can you appraise me of the situation?”
    “It’s okay,” she shouted into the phone. “It was a fire—well, not a fire, just smoke, but all the windows were opened. The house alarm was on at the time, so we’ve tripped that. Can you switch it off?”
    “No, ma’am, you have to do that. Do you have the intruder alarm cancellation code?”
    “No, I don’t!” she wailed. “I’m just the minder.”
    “Very well, ma’am. Sit tight. I’m going to send a unit over.”
    Jessie looked at Dan. “Here we go again,” she said, looking miserable.
    But he smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye. “Yep,” he said. “Here we go again.”

Chapter Four
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