Chapter 2

The crowd was furious, and someone finally started cursing out loud.

"What kind of person is she? We're all standing here trying to save her, and she's worried about compensation? Has she lost her mind over money?"

"Right? Fine if she wants to roast herself to death, but she has to do it in someone else's car? It's over a hundred and ten degrees out here and we're breaking our backs trying to save her life!"

"She's got a heart like a snake. Even if we smash the glass, she'll probably turn around and blame us. If something's wrong with her afterward, she'll say we didn't get her out in time."

"Forget it, forget it. Let her die!"

...

A few of the onlookers stormed off in anger, and the security guard didn't dare do anything more on his own, so he just called the police to handle it.

Ten-odd minutes later, the officers arrived.

By then the old woman's face was flushed a deep red, soaked through, sweat smeared all over her.

There was no water in the car, and the back window was crammed with stuffed toys and throw pillows. You could imagine how hot it was in there.

Yet even in a moment like this, she was still thinking about grabbing whatever she could.

She'd bundled those pillows against her chest and stuffed them into the bag she used for scavenging, trying to take them all home.

She hadn't spared the charms, decorations, trinkets, or air freshener up in the front seat either.

She'd even gone through the box in the armrest, taking someone else's whole pack of cotton swabs, everything clutched to her chest.

"What are you doing? Put those down, now! That's all cotton, it holds heat, don't hug it to your chest!"

The officer shouted too, frantically gesturing for her to let go, but she only shook her head and held on tighter.

Then she put on that smug, shameless little look, playing the victim with a face made for moral blackmail, trying to make all of it hers through sheer nerve.

"She's about to lose her life and she's still scrounging for scraps?"

The officer was nearly out of his mind too. He tried a few more times to talk her out of it, and got nowhere.

"This won't work. The temperature's only going up. We have to break the window, even if it means paying for it."

I walked over, wearing a troubled expression, to explain to the officer.

"You can't. My mother-in-law is a woman who saves every penny like her life depends on it, and she's got a strange temper. If you smash the glass, she'll pick a fight over every shard, and she will never let it go. I know exactly how she operates."

"And honestly, I really don't want to cause you all trouble. This is a tricky situation. How about I call my husband and have him talk to her?"

The officer agreed and told me to go call, quickly.

It took three tries before the call connected. Leon James's lazy voice came through, like he'd just woken up.

"Hello? Leon, Mom's trapped in someone else's car and the doors won't open. What do I do?"

I said it in a rush, but Leon didn't want to hear it, didn't want anything to do with it. Worse was what he said without thinking.

"Your mom's stuck in someone's car? Then go find someone else! What good does calling me do? I'm away on a business trip, what am I supposed to do?"

I froze. He thought it was my mother trapped in the car.

"But Mom's so hot she's about to pass out—"

"There's nothing I can do about that either, calling me is useless, figure it out yourself! I refuse to believe there's a car door that can't be opened. If all else fails, why don't you just smash it?"

Leon laughed at me, mocking, and couldn't resist a couple of jabs.

"You come to me over a little thing like this with your mom? I'm only her son-in-law, not her real son. No need to drag me into every single thing! And let me be clear up front: if you break the car, don't come asking me to pay. My means are limited, and I don't want to pay."

"Look at my mother. Day in and day out she scrimps and saves at home, won't even turn on the air conditioning, all for the good of the two of us. Your mother should be even less inclined to cause us trouble."