by Lori Ryan
There was a shuffling of the phone and Collin’s voice came on.
“Eric?”
“Hey kid,” Eric said trying to keep his voice even. He had a feeling he’d put a little too much happy in that. It probably sounded fake. “You met my friend Connie, huh?”
“Uh-huh. He got me at my school.” There was a pause, then. “Are you with my mom?”
Eric’s heart took a hit at the thread of worry in the question. The kid sounded smaller than he should have.
“I’m not with her now, but I’m on my way to get her.” Eric didn’t want to lie to the kid and tell him he was going to bring her back if he couldn’t. He closed his eyes. God help him if he couldn’t. He didn’t know how to handle kids. He didn’t know if he was supposed to be honest or lie his ass off. He went with lying his ass off. “She got tied up with something at work, but I’m gonna go see her right now.”
He wanted to be there with Collin. He wanted to be able to pull the kid into his arms and make this okay for him.
But he needed to get to Merritt. He needed to stop whatever this lunatic was planning for her.
“I’m going to go see her, okay,” he said, going for that too-false happy again. “You go with Connie to get a burger for dinner. Make sure he buys you dessert, okay? And I’ll go get your mom.”
“Okay.”
Eric closed his eyes against the pain of the kid’s one-word answer. “I’ll talk to you soon, kid.”
He kept his eyes closed. God help him if he couldn’t bring Merritt back safe.
Chapter Forty-Three
Merritt watched frozen as Liam pulled files from an old filing cabinet and piled them in the corner of the small room.
“I just want to show you,” he was saying. “Why didn’t you listen without making me hit you? I didn’t want to hurt you, I wanted to show you.”
She twisted her hands against the bindings. They hurt, cutting into her skin.
“I want to see what you want to show me,” she said, hearing the shaking in her voice. She remembered he mentioned his mother. “I have to get my son, though. I’m supposed to pick him up and he’ll be scared.”
He grew still. “I saw your son. You’re a good mom.”
Merritt felt a flare of hope. “I don’t want him to be scared. Maybe I can call him and let him know I’ll be late.”
If she could get him to let her make a phone call, she could call Eric. Maybe she could let him know she needed help somehow.
There were so many maybes in the situation. Too many maybes.
Liam looked around as if seeing the situation clearly, a look she couldn’t read crossing his face. She might not have been able to read his emotions but the look still sent fear shooting though her. She fought against the tears that prickled her eyes and nose, trying not to panic and wrench at her bindings.
“Please, Liam,” she whispered. “I want to go home to my son. He needs me.”
His face twisted in fury. “I needed her!” He came at Merritt fast, so fast, stopping just before her. “I needed her!”
Her heart slammed and she felt tears on her cheeks. “I’m sorry. Let me help you. Talk to me about what’s got you so upset. Talk to me, Liam. I want to help you.”
He looked at her, backing up slowly. His movements were jerky and stiff. “I need you to tell my story. I need you to tell them all what I can do. What I did.”
He picked up a can of lighter fluid and Merritt panicked, smelling the harsh odor of the liquid as he drenched the pile of papers.
She searched her mind for something to slow him down. “Why Peter Gamet? Why Rachel Adams? You burned buildings connected to them but then went after them again in their homes. Why?”
He wanted her to understand. Maybe he could get him to tell her.
His arms dropped and he turned to her, staring at her with eyes that could only be described as haunted. “They hurt her,” he whispered. “They hurt her before I was powerful enough to stop them.”
“Your mom?” Merritt said quietly.
He nodded, dropping his head, looking from the stack of folders to the can in his hand.
“Tell me about her,” Merritt said. “Tell me.”
Chapter Forty-Four
They stopped down the road from the warehouse.
“We’ll walk in and get eyes on her while we wait for backup,” Eric said, checking his weapon in his shoulder holster and the backup gun in his ankle holster.
John nodded, but the captain shook her head.
“We wait here for backup, gentleman.”
Eric pulled his badge and handed it to her.
She looked down at it, then over to John. John offered a shrug.
Eric looked to John. “Don’t follow me. I don’t expect you to put your career on the line just because I’m prepared to ditch mine.”
“Cantu,” the captain said, handing him his badge back. She had to know he would never have handed it to her lightly. It wasn’t an idle threat. “We’ve got your back. We walk in, get eyes on Ms. McKenna and then we wait for backup.”
He could handle that. If Merritt was in danger, even the captain would go in with only the three of them. It wasn’t like they didn’t have enough to have eyes on each other. Eric nodded, taking hold of his badge.
The captain held it for a moment, looking at him. “You ever hand me your badge like that again, don’t expect to get it back.”
“Fair enough.”
They moved quietly up the road, entering the space through the open front section that had been burned away. Merritt’s car had been in the lot and so had an empty hatchback.
A quick scan of the large gutted space in the front of the warehouse, and the light coming from one of the rooms at the back, told them where they were.
As they moved closer, the sound of murmuring voices came to them.
Then came shouting and Eric hurried his steps, John and Captain Scanlon moving alongside him at ten feet intervals.
The voices moved to a murmur again and Eric and the others slowed, coming up on either side of the door to what looked like a small office. He could see Merritt in a chair but Liam loomed over her. If Eric shot him, he’d hit Merritt.
He heard Merritt speak, tears making her voice thick. “I’m sorry. Let me help you. Talk to me about what’s got you so upset. Talk to me, Liam. I want to help you.”
Eric watched as Liam moved away from her, moving in short jerky strides. “I need you to tell my story. I need you to tell them all what I can do. What I did.”
He picked up a can of lighter fluid and John and Eric made eye contact. Eric gave a small shake of the head. They didn’t have incendiary bullets in their guns, so shooting into the room wouldn’t ignite the flammable liquid, but he could already smell the fluid. The scent was strong. If Liam had doused Merritt or the area around her, he could toss a match her way and light her before they got in the room.
The thought of Merritt burning almost brought Eric to his knees. He couldn’t see her in that kind of pain. He just couldn’t take that chance. She was doing a good job of talking to this guy and they needed to try to let her talk her way out of this.
He scanned what he could see of the room. There was only a small window and it was up high. He signaled to his captain, pointing to the window, then his eyes. She nodded and stepped away. She would try to get around the back to the window.
Merritt spoke again and Eric was so damned proud of her for holding herself together through this and using her head to stall this guy. She was handling this better than a lot of people would, even though he could hear the panic in her voice. She was working through it.
“Why Peter Gamet? Why Rachel Adams? You burned buildings connected to them but then went after them again in their homes. Why?”
Liam turned to her and Eric pressed closer to the side of the wall outside the office to be sure he wasn’t in view.
“They hurt her,” Liam whispered. “They hurt her before I was powerful enough to stop them.”
&n
bsp; “Your mom?” Merritt asked.
He nodded, dropping his head, looking from the stack of folders to the can of lighter fluid in his hand.
“Tell me about her,” Merritt said. “Tell me.”
Liam let out a slow, stuttering breath. “She loved me. This wasn’t her fault, but they said it was.” Liam was looking at his hands, turning his arms over and Eric could see they were scarred.
“That insurance guy said it was her fault, but she was just tired. So tired.”
“What wasn’t her fault?” Merritt prompted.
“The fire. They said she did it on purpose, but she didn’t. It was an accident and I saved her.” He held up his arms, one hand still holding the lighter fluid. “I didn’t have my full power then so I couldn’t control the fire, but I saved her. I dragged her out.”
“How old were you?” Merritt asked and Eric could hear the sorrow in her voice. He wanted to yell at her for feeling sorry for this man who was going to try to kill her, but he didn’t. She was a better person than he was. She could feel genuine grief for this maniac.
“Ten,” Liam croaked. “I wasn’t strong enough to control the fire yet.”
“But you’re strong enough now?” Merritt asked and Eric winced. He saw Liam look to the can in his hand and the papers he’d piled up.
Shit, they didn’t need this guy going there. He had a feeling Liam Cavill had convinced himself he could control the fires he was setting.
Eric slipped in the room, gun trained on Liam. Liam jumped back a step and lifted a lighter from somewhere in a pocket.
“Why the closets?” Eric asked, trying to keep the guy talking.
Eric could feel Merritt’s eyes on him, but he didn’t dare look away from Liam right now. He saw movement outside the window. His captain was in position.
“Why did you start the fires in the closets at all of the locations?” he asked.
John had entered the room and had his weapon trained on Liam. Eric chanced a look to Merritt. She looked terrified, but she wasn’t hurt.
The things that did to his knees weren’t pretty. If it wasn’t so damned crucial he stay upright, he might have sunk to the floor right then and there.
His gaze shot back to Liam.
The man had a faraway look in his eyes. “It’s the punishment place.”
Oh hell, Eric didn’t want to know about that. Didn’t want to hear it but it was too damned late.
“They had to be punished. The fire punishes, cleanses.” Liam lifted his head, holding the lighter fluid aloft and looking at Merritt. “But it won’t hurt me. You’ll see, it won’t hurt me.”
He raised the lighter and Eric took the shot, hearing glass break at the same time. The captain fired twice, once to break the glass and another shot at Liam, but Liam was already down. John and Eric had both shot him.
John moved to Liam while the captain covered them, the sound of sirens coming in the distance.
The cavalry, Eric thought as he grabbed Merritt. He didn’t stop to untie her in the room. He wanted her out of there in case the place went up in flames.
“Sorry, honey,” he said, as he dragged the chair backwards out of the room. When he was far enough away, he untied her, and came around her and knelt in front of her.
He ran his hands over her. He needed to know where she was hurt.
“My head,” she said, hoarsely before he reached it.
Eric stilled, looking at her, then looked to the side of her head where it was caked with blood. He gently probed but her cry stopped him. “Where the hell are the paramedics!” They should have had EMTs on site with the backup. Why weren’t they in there yet?
“Collin,” she whispered. “I have to get to Collin.”
Eric met her eyes. “We’ve got him. I sent Connie to get him as soon as I found out the guy had written to your boss. Collin’s okay. He’s eating burgers with Connie. They gave him a badge and everything.”
The look she gave him was of such pure trust, such relief. It was a gift, he realized, to know that she trusted him that way.
“Merritt,” he said, “I was such an idiot. I don’t need time to know how I feel about you. I don’t need to take this slowly or keep you at arm’s length. I was an idiot for trying. I want you. I want you and Collin in my life. I want to build a future with you and be there for when you’re hurting and come to you when I’m hurting. I want to make you laugh every day. I want to make love to you every night.”
He heard the EMTs moving in around them, and more backup arriving outside. He didn’t care. He wanted to tell her it all.
“I’m falling for you with everything I am, Merritt McKenna, and I’m tired of trying to stop it. I don’t want to stop it.”
She looked at him and he saw tears, but there was happiness there as well and he hoped like hell that meant she felt the same way.
He looked back to the small office, knowing he needed to go check on his partner and on Liam. Liam had been hit at least twice. It might be too late to save Liam Cavill.
Eric had a feeling it had been too late for a long time for that boy. For a very long time.
Chapter Forty-Five
Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t be able to share a lot about what had happened, but Liam Cavill had died of his gunshot wounds and he had no surviving relatives. There would be no court case where the facts had to be kept confidential while the prosecution prepared.
Merritt paid for Liam to have a proper burial with a simple headstone next to his mother’s that read Beloved Son. Eric didn’t have to ask why she had done it. She was a mother, at heart. And a damned good one.
He watched her now, sitting and talking to Rachel, the nurse who had positively ID’d Liam.
Rachel sat in a chair on the shadier side of a day room in a rehab center. Her right arm was cradled in her lap, the hand and wrist bent as if still trying to flee the fire that had damaged it so severely. It was bandaged and still covered in a dressing, but with much less bandaging than before.
Rachel was telling them what she knew about Liam and Eric had told Merritt she was free to tell Rachel what she knew. The paper had printed his identity and what they could dig up on him, but Merritt was working on a book, telling the story as she saw it.
Eric was pretty sure it was cathartic for her. Either way, he was happy she’d resigned from the paper. They had put her life in danger, and he would never be able to forgive them for that. If she wanted to go to another paper after she wrote her book, he would support her, but he had to admit he would always wonder if they cared more about headlines than they did her life.
“His mother wasn’t mentally healthy before the fire, from what I remember from her records,” Rachel was saying. “I liked her, though. When she was doing well, she was a lovely person, but she always knew the depression and anxiety would come back and those times were hard for her. I don’t know for sure, but I think the fire Liam pulled her from was started when she fell asleep smoking a cigarette. When the insurance company sued her, it was overwhelming. She’d been burned, Liam was burned. And they were saying it was her fault and they wouldn’t pay. It was too much for her to handle. I think that was when she tried to kill herself for the first time.”
Merritt hadn’t asked to record the interview with Rachel. Eric had a feeling this meeting was just for the two of them as victims, a part of their healing. But he thought she would probably come back and ask to record a second interview for her book.
He stood, one shoulder against the wall and listened to Rachel.
“She talked sometimes, though, about how she’d had to accept that the depression would never go away completely, that someday she would get too tired to fight it. It was horrible to hear her talk about it so matter-of-factly. I tried to tell her about all the people who live good lives with depression and she would nod and say yes, but I’m not sure she was really able to see a way out sometimes.”
Merritt spoke, her voice quiet and respectful. “You said Liam was a disturbed boy.�
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Rachel pressed her lips together and nodded. “He pulled her out of the fire, but her legs were burned and his arms and hands. His burns weren’t as severe but he spent some time in recovery.” She looked around the room they were in, at all the people in wheelchairs. “His mother’s were worse. Juliette lost the function of both legs and dealt with a great deal of pain from nerve damage for the rest of her life.”
She looked to where Eric stood behind Merritt, then back to Merritt. “He went to live with his uncle. From what I could gather, the uncle didn’t want to bring him to visit often. He was a cruel man. Blamed Juliette for her condition, just like the insurance company had. The insurance company sued her after the fire, saying she’d set it deliberately, but I don’t know if that’s what happened. She always said it was an accident.”
Merritt glanced at Eric and he nodded to her. She turned back to Rachel and spoke. “Liam started all of the fires in closets. The police found his uncle’s body in a closet. According to the MEs report, the uncle had been dead for months before the fire that destroyed the house.”
Eric and Merritt had talked about it. Merritt believed Liam had been working his way up to burning the uncle’s body. That maybe the death had been an accident. They hadn’t found anything at the scene that matched the blunt force trauma on his head, so it could have been caused by a fall during a fight or by an object that burned up in the fire.
The boots Liam was wearing when he died matched the boot prints they had from some of the fire scenes. They never did find any connection to any of the realtors. It was likely that Liam knew of the empty houses just like anyone else would—by driving by them or seeking them out. He’d known about the warehouse because he had worked there and still worked at the site next door.