Road to Victory (Dogs of Fire Book 5) (23 page)

“You ungrateful, selfish—”

“Mom, I’m sorry, I have to go.” I didn’t wait for her response before hitting the end call button. My phone buzzed again. Determined to ignore it, I dropped it on the island, and pulled out the chicken I was going to cook for dinner. I didn’t understand why the sudden interest in Gran’s house, but I hoped Mom would take a hint and drop the subject.

* * *

One week later, life had calmed down a little. Knight had essentially moved in, I’d set up an interview with Candace, and I’d warded my mother off with a promise of lunch the following week. All had been quiet on the Fozzie front also. No one had attempted to get near him and I was growing more and more comfortable as the days went on. Stupidly thinking my life was nearly perfect and relaxing into a new normal.

“I’m back, sugar,” Knight called, closing the front door with a slam.

“How was church?” I asked. Wednesdays were meeting nights for the Club and they referred to them as “church.”

He met me in the kitchen where I was attempting to make spaghetti, leaning down to kiss me quickly before grabbing a beer. “Good.”

“Good, good, or good but some issues you can’t talk about?”

He smiled. “Good, good.”

“Oh, yay,” I said.

“How about you? How did your visit with Dani go?”

“Very well. Cash’s so cute.”

“Makes you want one, huh?” he asked, sliding his hand to my waist.

I wrinkled my nose. “Um, no. Not right now, anyway.”

“Carter asked if we want to babysit Maverick next weekend.”

“Fine by me. I love that kid.”

Cassidy had Maverick when she was a teenager, but when she and Carter had gotten married, he’d adopted Maverick. Looking at the two of them, no one would ever guess Mav wasn’t actually his.

“Good, ’cause I already told them yes.”

I giggled. “Of course you did.”

My phone rang just as I dropped the pasta in the boiling water and I reached for it. “Hello?”

“Kim?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Oh, honey, it’s Linda Sadler, I hate to tell you this, but the house is on fire.”

“What?” I snapped. “Are you okay?”

Linda was married with four kids, all under the age of eleven. “Everyone’s out and safe. None of the outbuildings have been touched and the fire department has it under control, but I thought you should know.”

“Ohmigod, Linda, I’m so sorry! Please get a hotel and I’ll pay for it.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I insist. I’m coming over.”

 “Okay,” she said. “We’ll see you in a bit.”

I hung up and turned off the stove.

“What’s goin’ on?” Knight asked.

My stomach roiled and I couldn’t fully wrap my mind around what Linda had just said. “Gran’s house is on fire.” Saying it out loud made it impossible to ignore.

“I picked up on that, sugar. What do you need?”

I bit my lip and stared up at him.

“Kim?”

“I think you’re going to need to drive,” I whispered. “We need to go down there.”

He smiled. “Pretty sure I can do that for you, sugar.”

“Thanks, baby.”

He grabbed my keys and we headed out to the car.

* * *

Knight pulled the car to the curb about a hundred yards from the house and I jumped out and made a run for the fire trucks and cop cars, lights flashing, but no sirens.

A police officer stopped me as I approached. “Ma’am, this is a restricted area. We need you to stay back.”

“This is my house.”

“Kim!” Linda called and closed the distance between us. “She’s our landlord,” she explained to the officer.

“I still need you to step back, Ma’am. There isn’t anything you can do right now.”

“But what happens next?” I asked, looking over his shoulder. Firemen were still spraying the east side of the building. The air around the house was full of either steam or smoke, probably a combination of both, and smelled like burnt wood and plaster. I couldn’t tell how bad the damage was. “It looks like the fire is out.”

He nodded. “They extinguished it, but now they’ll need to make sure nothing flares up. They’ll watch it throughout the night.”

“Do they know what caused it?”

“No Ma’am. They’ve been focused on putting it out, but they will do a full assessment of the cause. Let me get the captain so he can get your contact information.”

The officer waved over a gentleman who appeared to be in his mid-fifties, gorgeous with salt and pepper hair and freshly shaved face. “I understand you’re the homeowner?”

“I am.”

“I’m Captain Bennett,” he said.

I shook his hand. “Kim Church.”

We exchanged contact information and he promised to get in touch with me after their investigation before telling me to go home.

I nodded, but as he walked back to his crew, I covered my face with my hands, suddenly unable to breathe, my heart was racing so fast and I couldn’t seem to focus.

Strong arms wrapped around me again, pulling me close. “Breathe, sugar.”

“Someone could have been hurt.” I sobbed into his chest. “She has little kids. What if I did something wrong? I tried to keep up with the maintenance, but what if I didn’t do it well enough?”

“Okay, sugar, it’s okay.” He rubbed my back. “No one was hurt.”

“But they could have been,” I sobbed into his chest.

“I know,” he said. “We’ll get them settled somewhere safe, yeah?”

“Okay,” I whispered.

He cupped my face and lifted my chin. “It’s okay, Kimmie.”

I nodded as he wiped the tears from my cheeks.

“I’m gonna call the brothers. Get a couple of ’em to watch the house.”

“That’d be really helpful, honey, thank you.”

He kissed me gently and I went to find Linda and her family.

Falling into bed that night, I tossed and turned until Knight literally pinned me to the mattress. “Sugar... if you’re not gonna sleep, we’ll do somethin’ else.”

“I’m too stressed to have sex,” I complained.

“Sex is a great stress reliever,” he said.

I groaned.

“Sugar, we can watch TV or fuckin’ play Monopoly if want to, I don’t care, but I’m not lyin’ in this bed with you tossin’ and turnin’.”

“I don’t have Monopoly,” I retorted. “But I do have Boggle.”

“So fuckin’ funny,” he said, kissing my collarbone, then moving down my body.

“Okay, maybe I’m okay with sex,” I breathed out when his mouth covered my core and he sucked at my clit. Moving back up to my breasts, he linked his fingers with mine and held my arms above my head as he slid inside of me.

“Baby,” I whispered, letting my worries fall away as he brought me to a sweet climax. “I love you.”

He grinned, sliding out of me and pulling me against his chest. “Yeah?”

I shoved at him gently. “Oh, don’t get all smug on me.”

“Can’t help bein’ right all the time, sugar.”

“Suck it.”

“Just did that.”

I giggled. “Yeah you did.”

“Feel better?”

“Kind of.” I took a deep breath. “I’m worried about what the fire investigators are going to find.”

“I get it, but there’s nothin’ you can do right now.” He kissed my temple. “Not sleepin’ will only make you more stressed.”

“I know, but I’m not sure how not to worry.”

He chuckled. “Boggle it is.”

I sat up on my knees. “You’ll really play Boggle with me?”

Knight smiled dragging his hands down his face. “You wanna play Boggle, sugar, we’ll play.”

I scrambled off the bed and headed toward the bathroom.

“Naked Boggle, Kimmie, or no deal,” he called.

I grinned. Naked Boggle it was.

Kim

T
HE NEXT MORNING, I contacted the insurance company and initiated the claim. Then the fire investigator called to let me know he’d be over just after two that afternoon to discuss what they’d found.

I was a bundle of nerves and I’m pretty sure I must have paced my apartment a hundred times before the investigator arrived. Knight let me pace, occasionally handing me water or something to eat, letting me prepare for the news in my own way.

The front desk security guard called up to the apartment at two-ten.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Church, there’s an Inspector Wallace here. Portland Fire Department?”

“He’s expected. Thanks, Frank.”

“No problem.”

I hung up and turned to Knight. “He’s on his way up.”

He stepped out from behind the kitchen island and wrapped his arms around me. “Deep breath, sugar. It’s gonna be fine.”

The doorbell pealed and I let Knight answer the door. After introductions were made, we sat at the dining room table and the inspector opened a file. “Well, Ms. Church, it looks like a pretty clear case of arson.”

I gasped, my stomach roiling. “What?” I’d been so concerned about a maintenance issue I could have prevented that I hadn’t allowed myself to consider arson.

Knight gave my hand a squeeze before sliding the file towards him.

“Initial evidence shows an accelerant,” Inspector Wallace continued, “probably gasoline, but we’ll test it, and the fire was set in the sunroom, away from where the bedrooms are, so it’s possible they were trying to get someone’s attention, and not actually hurt anyone. Regardless, someone went to a lot trouble and risk to set the fire. This type of residential arson is usually not random.” He plucked a notepad and pen from his pocket. “The procedure in a case like this is to get a list of possible suspects and go from there. If you or your tenants have been involved in any altercations or disagreements with anyone you suspect might want to hurt or financially impact you, now’s the time to come forward.”

“Her mother and uncle,” Knight answered before I could.

“I don’t think either of them would set fire to the house they grew up in, Aidan. What could they possibly gain from doing that?”

“Your mom just made a play for the house last week.”

“She didn’t make a play, honey.”

“Agree to disagree,” he said.

Inspector Wallace flipped open his tablet. “Can you give me their full names and contact information and we’ll contact them?”

“I have Mom’s number, but I don’t speak with my uncle. She’ll have it though.” I thumbed through my cell phone until I found Mom’s contact information, and then slid it to the inspector.

“Cynthia Weston Church,” the inspector read out loud. “
The
Cynthia Weston Church?”

I nodded.

“Your uncle’s Bart Weston?” he asked.

I nodded again.

He let out a whistle. “Well, this means we need to proceed very carefully.”

“That would be a good plan,” Knight agreed.

I sighed. “I’m sure you’ll figure out how best to proceed, but my uncle is an evil man, so yes, please be careful.”

The inspector smiled. “Your uncle doesn’t scare me, Ms. Church. I can’t be bought, so be assured we’ll do everything we can to get to the truth.”

“I appreciate that,” I said, secretly wishing I wasn’t afraid of my uncle. “I’ve already contacted the insurance company, but I’d like to get some contractors out to bid the repairs. Can I start that process now?”

“We haven’t cleared the scene just yet. But we’ll call you as soon as we’re done.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Inspector Wallace gave me his contact information, before saying, “If you need anything, please let me know.”

I thanked him and walked him out before turning to Knight. “Well, that was a waste of time.”

“Give it more than a minute, sugar.”

“That poor man is going to get nowhere with Mom. If she had anything to do with it, she’ll be neck deep in lawyers before he even calls!”

“So you think there’s a possibility now?” he challenged.

I rolled my eyes. “Mom isn’t evil, honey. I can’t imagine she’d purposely hurt someone, but I’ll concede that Bart may have.”

He glanced at his phone and then back at me.

“What are you doing?”

“Gettin’ Booker to do some diggin’.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea.”

He smiled. “Ya think?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Smartass.”

Knight chuckled. “Let’s go ride.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, please.”

Looking forward to anything that would help me get my mind off of the fire and subsequent investigation, I followed Knight out of the apartment and down to the car.