Against the Fire (19 page)

“Some…things have been happening. Dev was looking into it for me. He came across your address on the internet.”

She started frowning. “Your brother was searching for information about me?”

“Not you, exactly. He was looking for information on Clay. He found out the two of you were getting a divorce and that you had moved to Dallas. He thought it might have some bearing on my…problems.”

Her lips tightened. “I should have known this wasn’t a social call. You and I didn’t exactly part on friendly terms.”

She had slashed his tires, he remembered, then cried and begged him to forgive her. “We were never really friends. Our relationship was too hot for that. I suppose that was part of the problem.”

“I was in love. All you wanted was sex.”

“I was young. I wasn’t ready for anything more.”

“And now?”

The question took him by surprise. Maybe Jackson hadn’t been that far off the mark. “Now, what I’m interested in is finding Clay. Do you know where he is?”

With a sigh, Rachael leaned back in her chair. “I don’t know. Wherever he is, I hope it’s a long way from here.”

“Why did you move to Dallas, Rachael? Why not somewhere else?”

Her gaze darted away. She toyed with the tie on her midriff top. “I’ve never been completely on my own. First I lived with my parents, then you and I were together, then I married Clay. When my parents died, I decided to make a fresh start. I knew you moved to Dallas after we broke up. I heard you’d never married. After I left Clay, I thought maybe…I don’t know. I guess I thought if something happened, you’d be nearby in case I ever needed anything.”

“You came because I was here. Why didn’t you ever call?”

“I meant to. I started to call a dozen times, but after all that, I couldn’t work up the courage. Still, it was good to know you were here.”

And if she had called, he would have helped in any way he could. He had always been the protective sort and she had always been needy. Apparently that hadn’t changed.

“Clay knows you’re here?”

She nodded. “He came by a couple of times when I first moved in. He tried to get me to come back to him. I told him I wasn’t interested.”

“Did he threaten you?”

She shook her head. “Not exactly, but he was really upset. I’ve never seen him in quite such a frenzy.”

“If you read the newspapers, then you know that two of my building projects have burned down in the past few weeks.”

“I saw the articles. I meant to call you, but…” She shrugged. “I wasn’t sure I should.”

“Is there any chance Clay could be the one who set the fires?”

Rachael sat up straighter in her chair. “That’s why you’re here? You think Clay set the fires?”

“Did he?”

“I—I don’t think he’d do something like that, but…”

“But what?”

“But he kept asking me why I picked Dallas. I told him I had a lead on a job through a friend—which was true. I’m not sure he believed me.”

“Anything else you can tell me?”

She shook her head, shifting her honey-blond hair across her shoulders. “I wish I could help. But that’s all I know.”

Gabe rose from his chair and Rachael stood up, too. He pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it over. “If you hear from Clay, give me a call.”

She looked down at the card. “If you…um…ever want to get together…”

Gabe just shook his head. “One thing I’ve learned. It’s best to let the past stay in the past.” Turning, he walked to the door, pulled it open and stepped out on the porch.

As he strode toward his truck, he thought of the years since he had left the service. Rachael had come to Dallas because of him. There’d been a time he would have been flattered, would have taken her up on her invitation. But he was older now and wiser. And as beautiful and sexy as the lady still was, he just wasn’t interested.

Thoughts of Mattie slipped into his head but Gabe ignored them, fixing his attention instead on the problem at hand. Clayton Sanders was the best lead he’d come up with. He would call Captain Daily and fill him in, put the police to work trying to find him. But finding Clay Sanders if he didn’t want to be found wouldn’t be easy.

He was Force Recon and he was smart.

Smart enough to know how to torch a building.

Smart enough to get away with it.

Eighteen

Monday morning, Mattie opened the door and welcomed Gabe into her apartment. She guarded her privacy. Friends from work had been there, of course, but she had never invited any of the few men she had dated into the sanctuary of her home.

Now Gabe was there and it made her nervous. He glanced around the open, high-ceilinged living room with its industrial windows and exposed brick walls, and she found herself holding her breath, waiting for his reaction, certain he would hate the spartan environment.

“Nice,” he said, his gaze taking in the cone-shaped chairs at each end of the sofa in front of the glass-and-black-iron coffee table. “Good clean lines, great layout.” He looked back at her. “It fits you.”

She released the breath she’d been holding, surprisingly relieved. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Personally, I prefer a little more clutter, but for you…yeah, it’s a good fit.”

She wasn’t quite sure that was a compliment but she thought that maybe it was. “Coffee?”

“No, thanks, I’ve had plenty already.”

Just then Tigger meandered into the hallway. The cat stopped in front of Gabe, lifted his head and gave him an imperious stare. Mattie hurried over to pick him up, certain Gabe wouldn’t want anything to do with him, but he simply reached down and scooped the big orange tom up in his arms.

“Hey, big boy.” He ran the tips of his fingers gently back and forth beneath the cat’s chin and Tigger raised his head for more. Tigger, who never let anyone pick him up but Mattie, began to purr.

“He’s going to get fur on your clothes,” Mattie said, trying not to think of those same masculine fingers stroking over her naked body, trying to ignore how sexy he looked in his body-hugging navy blue T-shirt and faded blue jeans.

“What’s his name?” Gabe asked.

“Tigger. Sort of an offbeat version of tiger, I guess.”

He increased the rhythm and the cat’s eyes closed in ecstasy. “Every guy needs a little morning rub, hey buddy?” Gabe’s eyes locked with hers. Though neither of them had mentioned what had happened at his condo Saturday night, sexual tension arched between them like lightning in the summer air.

Mattie did her best not to look down at the fly of his jeans and Gabe seemed to be fighting to keep his eyes off her breasts.

But finding an arsonist was more important than a fresh round of sex and both of them knew it—though it would certainly have been more entertaining.

Gabe set the cat on its feet, made a quick perusal of Mattie’s white jeans and red-and-white tank top, and cleared his throat.

“My…um…brother, Dev, called. He managed to dig up some info that might help us. I thought we’d do some follow-up today.”

For the next few minutes, Gabe explained that the ex-wife of a former marine named Clayton Sanders, once a friend of Gabe’s, had recently moved to Dallas. Though their friendship had ended long ago, a good deal of animosity remained, at least on Sanders’s side. Devlin Raines thought the fact that Rachael Sanders was in Dallas, combined with her petition for divorce, might have sent Sanders over the edge.

“Clay’s the best lead we’ve got,” Gabe said as they stepped out of the elevator and crossed the underground garage to the guest spaces where his truck was parked. “The police are looking for him as a person of interest, but I thought we might prowl around a little ourselves.”

Mattie paused next to him at the passenger door and cast him a sideways glance. “There’s more to this than you’re telling me, isn’t there? Otherwise it doesn’t make sense. This has something to do with you and the woman, Clay’s wife.”

Gabe looked away. Mattie could see he didn’t want to tell her. He helped her climb into the truck, went around to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel. He turned to face her with a look of resignation.

“Rachael and I were involved years ago when I was still in the marines. Before she and Clay got married.”

Mattie felt a sinking in the pit of her stomach. “I think I’m beginning to understand. You’re the reason she moved to Dallas, right? Now that she’s single again, she wants the two of you to get back together.”

Gabe started shaking his head. Fierce blue eyes fixed on her face. “Maybe that’s what Rachael was thinking when she came here, but not anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because yesterday I went to see her. I told her as far as I was concerned the past was exactly that. The past.”

Mattie studied his expression. She wondered if he was telling her the truth. It didn’t matter, she told herself. She was only using him for sex. All that hot male flesh, all those incredible muscles, were just a way to satisfy her recently awakened sexuality. If he was lying to her, she would end it. As Tracy had said, she could dump him whenever she wished.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” His jaw flexed. “You must have known some real losers, honey.”

Mattie jerked her gaze away. Mark was the worst, but there had been other men, guys she had begun to trust before she found out they were users and liars just like Mark.

“I’m not lying to you, Mattie.” More gentle now, Gabe’s voice washed over her. “Until yesterday, I hadn’t seen Rachael in nearly ten years. I’m not interested in seeing her again.”

She watched his face and a heavy weight eased off her chest. Gabe wasn’t lying. She was almost sure. “It really isn’t any of my business.”

He cocked a dark brown eyebrow. “Or maybe it is.”

She tried not to be warmed by the words. She didn’t want more from Gabe than she was already getting. Well, maybe a little more of that hot, unbridled sex. Still, she couldn’t stop the faintest of smiles.

“Now, can we get going?” he asked. “I know a couple of friends of Clay’s from when he was in the service. It was a long time ago, but you never know. If he’s here, he might have gone to see them.”

“Sounds like a good place to start.”

He pinned her with a glare. “I have no idea why I’m letting you come with me—aside from the fact I like being with you and I want to take you back to bed.”

She grinned as he reached for the key in the ignition but his phone started ringing before he had time to start the truck. Gabe pulled his cell out of his jeans pocket. “Raines.”

Mattie could only hear one side of the conversation, but her stomach knotted as Gabe’s expression darkened and she began to suspect what the call was about.

“Last night? Jesus, where?” He paused. “I’m not that far away. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Gabe hung up and turned to face her. “That was Captain Daily. There’s been another fire. They aren’t sure yet if it’s the same guy who set the first two, but they think it could be. We need to get over there and find out what’s going on.”

“Where was it?” Mattie asked.

“Just off the North Stemmons Freeway.” Gabe started the truck, backed it out of the guest parking space and drove toward the exit. “A wholesale clothing store, Artie’s Men’s Wear.”

“At least it isn’t a project you’re involved in.”

Gabe cast her a glance. “I worked on that store three years ago, a fairly large remodel.”

“Oh, my God,” Mattie said.

Gabe set his jaw and kept driving.

Fire trucks surrounded the smoldering, three-story, metal-roofed building. Hoses snaked out of the back of the vehicles and the asphalt gleamed with puddles of water. Exhausted firemen stored their gear and continued mopping up after they’d put out the blaze that had started last evening.

Gabe and Mattie climbed out of the truck and Gabe rounded the hood to where she stood waiting. Across the parking lot, Captain Daily walked toward them, silver-streaked hair mashed down from the helmet he carried in one hand.

“Thanks for coming,” the captain said.

“Thanks for calling.” Gabe inclined his head toward the petite, auburn-haired woman beside him. “This is Mattie Baker. She’s a friend.”

“We met at the station,” Mattie said. “I talked to you about a boy named Angel Ramirez.”

“I remember.”

“What happened here, Captain?” Gabe asked.

“We don’t know all the details yet. It’s still too hot for the fire dogs to go in, but the arson team’s been working. They’re taking samples now. They’ve already reported finding multiple points of origin. The way the accelerant was used was similar to the fire at McKinney Court. That’s the reason I called.”

Gabe’s jaw hardened. “So it was definitely arson.”

“It looks that way. But it doesn’t look like the blaze was directed at you, the way the other two fires seem to have been.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not so sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know Artie Roser. I did an extensive remodel on this building three years ago.”

Daily hissed in a breath. “That certainly throws a different light on the matter.”

“Not a good one, either.”

“It’s worse than that. A body was found in the office at the rear of the building. Mrs. Roser says her husband always worked here Sunday evenings. He did bookkeeping, inventory adjustment, that kind of thing. She hasn’t seen him since he left the house after supper last night.”

Gabe felt sick to his stomach. “I don’t know what to say. Artie was a nice enough guy. Easy to work for.”

“His wife’s pretty upset. I think she’s fairly sure the man we found is her husband.”

“Where is she now?”

“She’s home with friends. I told her most fire victims don’t suffer. They die from the carbon monoxide before the flames ever reach them.”

He swallowed. The information didn’t make him feel any better. “I didn’t know Lucy Roser very well. Artie handled the details of the remodel. I only met her a couple of times.”

“Like I said, she seems pretty shook up.”

“Any word on Sanders?”

“None so far. The police will be looking for him a whole lot harder now that there’s a possible homicide involved.”

Gabe just nodded.

“I’ve got to go,” Daily said. “I’ll let you know what else we turn up.”