Kotowski sat with Coffin’s mother in her room at Valley View Nursing Home, watching the big, flat-screen TV Coffin had bought for her at Best Buy in Hyannis. Kotowski often stopped in to see her before the “art for seniors” class he’d been teaching at Valley View for the past eight years. Film of the condo fire played over and over on the Boston FOX affiliate. A banner scrolled across the screen that said, P ’TOWN FIREBUG STRIKES AGAIN. A blond news model was interviewing a TV minister from South Carolina, who seemed to think that God’s judgment was finally being visited on Provincetown. “Look at that fat dickwad,” Coffin’s mother said, black eyes glittering, bright and empty as a doll’s. “What’s he grinning about?” “He sure seems happy,” Kotowski said. “What’s up with his hair? It looks like molded fiberglass.” “Somebody ought to set fire to this place,” Coffin’s mother said. “Put the drooling idiots out of their fucking misery.” She looked at Kotowski.
