by Lisa Jackson
“You miserable son of a bitch,” Chase said, his anger finally exploding as he crashed a fist into the wall. A painting slid to the floor with a thud, the expensive frame splintering apart. “Why did you drag me into all this? Why didn’t you leave me the hell alone?”
“Because I didn’t want to die without seeing you. Some day you might have children of your own. Then you’ll understand,” Caleb predicted.
“But all this plotting and sneaking around.” Chase rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to stave off another wave of fury. He wanted to crash his fist into Caleb’s smirking face but realized that injuring a seventy-year-old man would prove nothing. He was shaking with rage, his voice low and firm as he pierced Caleb with eyes so like the old man’s.
Dani shuddered and backed out of the room.
“Listen to me, Johnson, I don’t want to talk about this . . . I don’t want to think about it! I just want to find Dani’s boy!”
“I have no idea where that kid is—”
“Let’s go!” Chase said, grabbing Dani’s arm and propelling her to the door.
Dani glanced at the letters on the floor, the photograph on the table and Caleb’s ruddy face. “No,” Dani said, holding up her hands and backing toward the door. “I think you should stay here and work this out. He’s your father, Chase. Your own flesh and blood!”
Stunned and bewildered, she tried to make some sense of it all—deal with the emotional onslaught that twisted her into a thousand little pieces. Chase—Caleb’s son? She was numb with shock and didn’t think she could stand another. “I’ll go home and wait for Cody—”
She raced for the door and ran outside, grateful for the cool air as it pushed her hair from her face. The wind was lashing furiously at the house and rain was peppering the ground in thick drops, settling the dust and splattering on the flagstone walk.
“Dani—” Chase called after her and followed her into the stormy night. He caught up with her at the pickup, his hands jerking on her shoulders and forcing her to face him. “Where are you going?”
“To look for my son!”
“I’ll drive—”
“Don’t you think you’d better stay here and work things out with your father?” she said sarcastically. “How long have you known about this, Chase?” she demanded, knowing she was being irrational, but losing all control of her emotions. “First I thought you worked for Caleb, then I found out that you were his partner, but it’s more than that, isn’t it? You’re his son, Chase. His son! ”
He looked at her as if stricken, his blue eyes filled with shock and rage. “You think this was some kind of plot? That I was involved?”
“Oh, Chase,” she moaned, rain drenching her hair and shoulders, drops streaming down her face. “I don’t know what to think,” she admitted, “but I can’t worry about it. Not now. Not until I find Cody—”
The sound of an explosion ripped across the land, and Chase reached for Dani, pushing her hard against the pickup, protecting her body with the strength of his.
“Oh, God, what was that?” she whispered, clinging to the rough fabric of his denim jacket.
“No!” Chase let go of her suddenly and ran to the fence on the south end of the parking lot.
Her heart slamming in her chest, disbelief and horror wrenching her face, Dani followed him and looked down the hill to her property and saw a blaze of fireworks reaching up to the black heaven. Orange flames stretched upward like a hand from hell and scraped at the black, smoke-filled sky;
“Oh, God . . .”
“It’s the storage shed . . . where you keep the tractor,” Chase said, pulling her away from the terrifying spectacle. “Come on.”
Caleb had come out and was standing on the back porch. “Call the fire department! Send them to the Hawthorne place,” Chase commanded, yelling over the storm. “And find someone to take care of Dani!”
“You’re not leaving me!” she shouted, her eyes round with horror. “I’ve got to go home.”
“There’s nothing you can do—”
“Let go of me!” she hissed, running to the pickup and wrenching open the driver’s door. “Cody might be down there!” She jumped into the pickup and reached into her pocket for her keys.
His jaw tight with determination, Chase climbed in after her, ignoring her protests while he started the truck and drove down the rain-slickened drive toward Dani’s house.
She stared at it with dull eyes, her heart filled with dread as she tried to cling to the hope that Cody was far away from the inferno.
The house was illuminated by the orange and red flames that licked up to the sky.
“We can’t get any closer,” Chase said, maneuvering the truck through the first open gate to a field several hundred yards from the house and keeping the lane free for the fire trucks.
“I’m going up there!”
“No way—”
“Cody might be there!”
“I’ll go look for him! You stay here.”
“Not on your life!” She shoved open the passenger door and Chase jerked her back into the cab, her hair flying into her face, her eyes wide with fear and anger. “Let me go! Chase, I have to—”
“Dammit all anyway!” With a curse, Chase drove up the rest of the driveway. The pickup bounced up her lane and before Chase stopped the vehicle, Dani jumped from the cab. Heavy black smoke filled the air while the rain still poured from the sky.
“Cody!” she screamed, swallowing back her fear and desperation. “Runt!” God, where was the dog? Shimmering heat radiated from the buildings behind the house; even the driving rain couldn’t contain the blaze.
Chase was on her heels as she sprinted up the two steps and raced into the house. Shouting Cody’s name at the top of her lungs, she ran through the rooms. She bounded up the stairs and flung open the door to Cody’s room.
“Runt’s missing,” she screamed at Chase. “Cody must’ve come home—Oh God!” On the bed was the note she’d left on the refrigerator. Beside the note was his backpack, the same backpack he’d taken to school, and through the window ugly flames brightened the sky, coloring the room with flickering orange shadows and filling the air with acrid smoke.
“No!” Dani screamed. “Oh, God . . . Oh . . . God!” And then she fell, feeling Chase’s strong arms arround her before she hit the floor.
Chapter Twelve
When Dani opened her eyes, she had trouble focusing. She felt a sensation of movement . . . and noise, lots of noise, sirens shrieking, men shouting, and stench . . . something burning....
Blinking twice, she found herself in Chase’s arms. He was carrying her down the driveway, away from the house. “No,” she whispered, her throat dry. “Chase . . . let me down!”
“This time we’re doing it my way, lady,” he said through clenched teeth. His hair was slicked down with rainwater and his face was streaked with mud and soot.
“But Cody—”
“I’ll find him.” Trucks were rushing past them, and one paramedic stopped to talk to Chase.
“Is she all right?”
“I think so—”
“I’m fine,” Dani insisted. “Please, put me down!” Once on her feet she stared in amazement at the scene in front of her. Fire trucks were pumping water from the creek and hosing it over the storage shed, and men, neighbors she supposed, were letting the animals out of the barn, into the farthest fields from the house. The cattle lowed and the horses raced.
“Where did everyone come from?” she asked.
“Caleb called the fire department and the neighbors heard the blast—you’ve been out of it for a little while.”
Placing a hand on her head, she tried to think past the headache and her burning eyes. Finally her thoughts began to clear and crystallize with fear. “Wait a minute. Where is Cody? His backpack was on the bed, I saw his shoes and the note I’d written. He was home, Chase! In that house—” She pointed to the wet, dark home she’d shared with her son. “Dear God, where could he be?”
Attempting to jerk free and climb back up the hill, she fought the strong arm around her.
“You can’t do anything more,” Chase said. “Let the fire department handle the fire.”
At that moment the Anders’ truck pulled into the lane. Marcella, her face a mask of horror, was at the wheel. “What the devil’s goin’ on?” she asked. “I was just on my way home from the store when I saw all the commotion—”
“The storage shed caught fire and the gas tank blew,” Chase filled her in.
“Good Lord!” Marcella looked at all the frantic activity and her face became grim.
“Oh, no,” Dani whispered, understanding the explosion. “But how . . .”
“Fortunately Dani didn’t have much gas in the tank,” Chase continued.
“Thank God,” Dani murmured.
“You still lookin’ for your boy?” Marcella asked.
“Yes.” Dani’s clouded eyes brightened. “Have you seen him?”
“’Fraid not. And the boys, they’ve been lookin’. Neither one of them has seen him anywhere in town.”
“I only hope he’s safe,” Dani said, thinking about Cody’s things in the house. “Let go of me,” she said, starting for the house again.
“If you’ll look after Dani, I’ll check the barn,” Chase said. “I want to talk to the fire chief and use his phone, if I can.”
“I don’t need to be taken care of! I’m coming with you.”
“Whoa,” Marcella said kindly. “The way I hear it, you’ve had yourself enough shocks for one day. Sit with me here in the truck till he gets back. I’ve got coffee and donuts I was bringing home.”
“I couldn’t eat a thing,” Dani said, while Marcella opened the door of the truck and helped a protesting Dani inside.
“Well, the least you can do is share a cup of coffee and keep me company. Chase, he’ll find your boy.”
“God, I hope so,” Dani whispered, cradling the top of the thermos in her fingers and staring through the rain-streaked windshield toward her house and the scarlet flames beyond.
* * *
Three hours later the fire was contained. Blackened pieces of the shed were still smoldering, but all in all, the fire had run its course, taking with it the tractor, plow, harrow, baler and trailer and leaving charred skeletons of what had once been Dani’s equipment.
Dani had suffered through what seemed a thousand questions from the fire chief and the police, because the fire department suspected that the fire had been set intentionally.
“I was up at Caleb Johnson’s when I heard the explosion,” Dani said for the fifth time to yet another deputy from the sheriffs department. Bone weary and worried sick, she was tired of the questions and unspoken accusations. “You can ask him or Chase McEnroe. He was with me at the time.”
“Where’s he?”
“Looking for my boy.”
“The boy you reported missing?”
“Yes.” She’d gone over it a hundred times. “I could tell that Cody had been home; his shoes and backpack that he’d taken to school, along with a note I’d left him, were in his room.”
“Do you mind if I take a look?”
“Please do,” she agreed, closing her eyes and twisting her neck to relieve the strain of her shoulder muscles. “Just, please, find my son.”
“You haven’t seen him since the fire?”
“I haven’t seen him since this morning!” Dani followed the young deputy into the house. It had been saved, but reeked of drenched soot. The walls were water stained from the efforts of the firemen to save the house and several windows had been broken from the water pressure of the gigantic hoses.
Fortunately, the Anders brothers and several of the neighbors had tended to the animals for the night and once the young deputy left, promising to return in the morning, Dani was left alone with Marcella to wait for news of Cody and Chase.
“Where do you think Chase is?” she asked, running her fingers through her hair.
“Like I said before, he’s lookin’ for the boy.”
Restless, Dani paced the Iiving room, ignoring the fact that the floor was still wet. “Why don’t you go home now?” Dani asked, offering Marcella a smile as she looked around the rooms. “There’s nothing anyone can do tonight and I’m fine. Really.”
“Not until Chase gets back,” Marcella said, plopping herself onto the sofa and picking up a magazine.
“It’s nearly ten—”
“And everyone in my family is old enough to take care of himself! The boys know where I am if they need me.” She read one headline in Cody’s fishing magazine and then tossed the slick-covered periodical on the table. “How about if I make you a sandwich or a hot bowl of soup?”
“I don’t think so; but if you’re hungry—”
“Nonsense! You look like you haven’t eaten for days. No wonder you fainted upstairs what with all the excitement around here!” Against Dani’s wishes, Marcella made herself right at home in Dani’s kitchen, donned an apron and rummaged around in Dani’s cupboards until she finally found a pan and a can of soup. In less than ten minutes, she had Dani at the table, drinking warm broth, and was listening attentively while Dani explained everything that had happened over the last few weeks.
“My Lord!” Marcella exclaimed. “No wonder you’re upset with Caleb. And now he turns out to be Chase’s father!” She tapped her fingers on the rim of her coffee cup. “You know, if you would have told a few people around town, maybe we all wouldn’t have been so gung-ho on this Summer Ridge project.”
“I couldn’t say anything,” Dani said. “I really didn’t have any proof until Chase found the drum of dioxin and located Larry Cross. Besides it all would have sounded like sour grapes.” She looked at the clock again. Eleven-thirty. Still no sign of Chase or Cody.
“Why don’t you go upstairs and get cleaned up?” Marcella suggested. “I’ll tidy up the kitchen—”
“Please, don’t bother.”
“Go on. I can wait for Chase just as well as you can. And if the phone rings, I’ll catch it. Now, go on, scoot!”
Dani was too tired to argue. She settled into the hot tub and listened to the sound of Marcella cleaning the dishes. Smiling sadly to herself she remembered years ago, when she’d been a teenager, how she’d liked to listen to the comforting sound of her mother rattling around in the kitchen . . . But that was long before Cody had been born. Now he was missing.
She washed her hair and scrubbed the grime from her body before wrapping her hair in a bath towel and slipping into her robe. Still rubbing her hair with the towel, she walked down the stairs and stopped midway when she heard Runt’s familiar bark at the back door. Dani’s heart leaped to her throat. “Cody!” she shouted.
Racing down the remaining stairs and to the back door, she let the dog inside and saw Cody and Chase trudging up the backyard. Without another thought, Dani flew down the steps, her long wet hair streaming behind her, tears of relief flowing from her eyes.
Cody threw himself into her arms and clung for dear life. “Mom,” he choked out. “Please don’t be mad at me!”
“Mad? For what?”
“For takin’ off from school and hiding,” he said.
“It’s all right. Everything’s all right now that you’re safe,” she choked out, clutching her boy in a death grip and turning tear-filled eyes up to Chase. “God, I was worried sick about you.” Still clinging to her son, she noticed the tired lines of worry on Chase’s face. She’d never been so glad to see anyone in her life! “Where did you find him?”
“At the homestead house.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, straightening and throwing her arms around his neck to kiss him full on the lips. “I was afraid I’d lost you both.”
“Never, lady. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”
She sniffed back her tears.
“I think we’d better go inside,” Chase said. “This boy here is starving and dead tired and there’s a lot you need to know about what happened.�
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Marcella was standing in the doorway and tears filled her eyes. She dabbed at the corners of her eyes with the hem of Dani’s apron. “Don’t you worry about anytthing,” she said. “I’ll get Cody a good, hot meal while he goes upstairs and cleans up.” With that she bustled into the house.
It was nearly two hours later when Marcella had gone home and Cody, exhausted from a long, harrowing day, fell asleep in Dani’s arms. Finally, weary but content, Dani came down the stairs just as Chase hung up the phone.
“Okay, out with it,” she said, leaning against the wall while Chase dropped onto the couch. “I know something’s up, so you may as well level with me. Did Cody set the fire in the shed?”
“No,” Chase said, rubbing his neck with his hands.
“Let me do that,” she insisted, standing behind the couch and rubbing his tight shoulder muscles. “So who did?”
“Blake.”
“Blake!” Dani was thunderstruck and angry. Her fingers worked furiously on his muscles. “But why? And how do you know?”
“Whoa, slow down, take it easy will ya?” he said, jerking away from her strong fingers.
“Oh, sorry.”
“Cody saw his dad light the fire.”
Dani didn’t move. “Wait a minute. Back up. Cody was here when the fire started?”
“Right. Apparently, Cody walked home early in the night and intended to make up with you. But we were up at Caleb’s place. Cody went upstairs and looked out the window and saw Blake in the shed, so he walked outside just as the shed caught fire and blew sky high.”
“Oh my God,” Dani whispered.
“Cody was scared out of his wits. He didn’t know where you were and he was afraid that his father was hurt or killed. After doing a quick search for Blake, he ran to the old house to sort things out. When I got there, he was ready to come home.”
“But why didn’t he just stay here—on the property, or go to a neighbor’s?”
“Because he was confused! You have to understand that he’d just suffered a major disappointment. The father he wanted so badly had shown his true colors and turned out to be a criminal. That’s not easy for Cody, or any of us to understand.”