Before the Dawn

by Gail Chianese

  “Nothing exciting. Mostly completed a bunch of paperwork and then put the station house through a drill.”

  “Sounds exciting,” she said.

  “For me? Yeah, but I’m kind of nervous. Not sure I’m ready for that kind of commitment,” Vinnie quipped. “Chicks are a lot of work. Look at you and Lexie. Your stunts kill me.”

  She rolled her eyes and bit down on the comment hanging off the tip of her tongue. Kill him? Really? That ship had sailed before she even entered the world. If it hadn’t, she definitely would have killed him before then.

  “Honestly? I’d rather have been suited up than holding a clipboard,” Shawn said. “But I got to give Rodriguez shit. So, not a total loss.” He reached out and took her hand, caressing the palm with his thumb.

  Normally that would be kind of sexy and romantic, but not with her invisible guardian sitting in between them. She tried to signal to Vinnie to scram, but instead he decided to sing “That’s Amoré.”

  “What about you?” Shawn said. “Nothing strange happened, did it?”

  She laughed. A real laugh straight up from the depths of her soul that made her feel lighter.. “I spent the day with a bunch of seven-year-olds. I caught two of the boys having an honest-to-goodness pissing match in the back of the room. Whoever could hit the inside of the trash with their stream won. Sad to say, both lost.”

  Shawn and Vinnie chuckled in unison.

  “I had a girl tell me she was, quote, ‘too tired for this.’”

  “Tired of what?” Shawn asked.

  “That’s what I asked her and she just waved at the room. It was like she was reading my mind. Then when I asked the class what fruit I should bring in Friday for our special snack, one kid yelled, ‘strawberry ice cream.’ I told him to try again. And you know what he said?”

  “Those fruit roll things?”

  “Banana splits.”

  She dropped her face into her hands and laughed again. “These kids are way smarter than I am.”

  “It’s the Internet. It’s stolen their youth.” Shawn sat back, grinning.

  “You were like that at seven,” Vinnie said.

  Kat turned her head slightly to look at Vinnie. “You and Lexie questioned everything and everyone. Drove your mothers nuts.”

  She didn’t remember being that way. Seven seemed like such a long time ago. All she could really remember was being happy back then. She had the best friend in the whole wide world, wonderful parents, a brother who wasn’t a total pain in the butt, and she never worried about tomorrow.

  Miss Elsie dropped their food off at the table, a Monte Cristo sandwich for her, a bacon double cheeseburger for Shawn, and chocolate cream pie for both.

  “I’m going to pop into the office. I’ll be right back,” Vinnie said.

  Kat glared at him while trying not to let Shawn see her scowl.

  “What?” the ghost asked. He rolled his eyes and tried to swipe a fry. “I won’t mess with Ashley.” With the empty promise he disappeared.

  “Something wrong with your food?” Shawn did steal a fry. “You were frowning like something wasn’t right.”

  “No, I was thinking I should have ordered a salad.”

  Shawn pushed the plate closer, his grin as wicked as the Big Bad Wolf’s right before he tried to eat Red. “Eat up. You’re going to need the energy.”

  “Easy for you to say. All those calories just disappear on you, instead of going to your hips.”

  She cut the sandwich in two, intending to eat only half and a few fries.

  “Personally, I’m fond of your hips just as they are.”

  Her gaze shot up and locked with his. Eyes filled with molten desire challenged her, made promises to her, and dared her to doubt him. She couldn’t call him a liar, because he’d proven, on several occasions, just how fond he was of her body.

  Instead she picked up a fry, ready to tease him, when the bell over the door jingled and all the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

  “Katarina Jones, there you are.”

  She sighed and ate the fry. Mom.

  Swallowing, she scooted around to face her mother. “Hi. Did I forget an appointment or something?” She didn’t remember making plans with her mom. Actually, Kat hadn’t even known Mom was back from her trip.

  “Something? I ought to ground you.” Emily Jones wrapped her arms around Kat and held on tight in a suffocating cloud of floral perfume.

  “Mom, can’t breathe.”

  Emily let her go, and that’s when Kat noticed the big, muscle-bound guy behind her.

  “What are you doing?” her mother asked.

  Kat picked up another fry. “Eating?” She thought it was pretty obvious.

  “Katarina! Don’t try my patience.” Her mom dropped her purse onto the table and crossed her arms. She gave a curt nod and said hello to Shawn before turning her full attention on Kat.

  Lips pursed, she stared her daughter down. Kat waited because she knew there was no good answer at times like this. Finally, after several extremely long moments, her mom sighed.

  “Why didn’t you call me? Do you have any idea how devastated I was when I stopped by your apartment this morning? I’ve called you several times. Why didn’t you answer?”

  Her heart bottomed out. That’s not how she’d wanted her family to find out about the fire. “Sorry. My phone was off. I was teaching.”

  “After last summer . . .” Her mom shuddered. “You should have called.”

  “I left a voice message.” Her mom’s brow quirked. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t want to spoil your trip . . . again. I was fine and there was nothing you could do.”

  The car accident she’d been in had not only come close to costing Kat her life, but had put a lot of emotional strain on her parents. She’d never forget the look on her parents’ faces when she’d woken up in the hospital ICU. It was clear they hadn’t believed she ever would.

  “Sweetheart, it’s not your job to worry about me or your father. It’s our job to worry about you. I would have gone straight to the school, but Rafe pulled up and told me everything.”

  “I am sorry, Mom, but as you can see, I’m fine. Just hungry.” And tired of apologizing.

  Her mom got that look on her face that made Kat cringe. It was a look she knew from childhood that said my patience is gone.

  “By ‘everything,’” her voice dropped to a near whisper but held a note of exasperation, “I mean he said you were going straight to work and then back to a secret location so this crazy arsonist can’t find you. But here you are. Sitting in the open. Does Rafe know you’re here, unprotected?”

  Kat glanced over at Shawn and mouthed sorry as her mother ranted and raved for a few minutes longer. When her mom paused to take a breath, Kat cut her off. “Mom. As you can see, I’m not alone or unprotected.”

  Kat introduced her mom to him before the lady could continue her tirade. Not that Shawn blamed Mrs. Jones. He hadn’t been down with the idea of eating at the diner either. The act had been completely insane and irresponsible, but he hadn’t found it in him to ignore Kat’s request. They only had a few days left and he didn’t want to spend it arguing. So he’d caved.

  As Kat explained who Shawn was—the fire marshal working the case with her—he tried his best to resist a reaction to the impersonal characterization. Yeah, he got it. He was leaving.

  But as his appetite took a hiatus and the world went a bit hazy, he had to admit to himself he didn’t like it. Didn’t like being classified as just a colleague. As no one important in her life. Hell, she’d had her tongue down his throat not even an hour ago. And that was just the tip of the iceberg he’d planned for later when he got her alone.

  But yeah, he got it. It would have been awkward for Kat to introduce him as anything more when in less than a week he’d be on the other side of the country. Still didn’t mean he had to like it. Not. One. Damn. Bit.

  “Would you mind excusing us for a moment, Mr. Randall?” Mrs. Jones flashed him a smile
that he imagined usually got her everything she asked for.

  “No, stay. Please.” Kat reached out and grabbed his hand, probably unaware of the message she’d just sent her mom. She might not have said he was important, that he was more than a colleague, but her body language did.

  Mrs. Jones’s eyes narrowed as she took in the too casual touch, but Shawn saw the moment her body relaxed.

  “Of course. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She looked over her shoulder at the mysterious, silent guy standing behind her. “With you two working the case and then the fire at your apartment, it makes sense that Mr. Randall would know what’s going on.”

  “No need to apologize, Mrs. Jones. I can step away if you need to talk personal stuff with Kat.”

  “No, there’s no need, Shawn.” Kat frowned at the man accompanying her mother, then pushed her plate away. “If she can talk in front of a stranger, she can talk in front of you.”

  Mrs. Jones’s brow lifted and dropped before her daughter caught the tale, but knew Kat had some explaining to do. For the moment, her mom didn’t press.

  “This isn’t a stranger.” She waved the man forward. “This is Matthew Hart. Your bodyguard until this . . . this madman is captured.”

  Kat’s jaw clamped down. Her eyes flared. Her chest rose slow and measured as she stared silently at her mom. Finally, after a few tense moments, she looked at Shawn. Hurt filled her eyes. He wanted nothing more than to whisk her out of the diner and draw her into his arms. He wanted to erase the pain he saw and tell her how much she meant to him. To everyone who knew her. He wanted to keep her safe, make her laugh and, yeah, do bad things to her.

  “This is nuts,” Kat said, her voice filled with anger and frustration.

  Right then, as her emotions punched a hole in his heart, the thing he wanted the most was to give her back her life. To wind the clock back. To catch the bastard who had set fire to her home and stolen away her security. And her confidence.

  “No.” Kat sat back with her arms crossed, glaring.

  He understood her reaction. Kat Jones wasn’t an idiot. She wasn’t just smart, but savvy. A week ago, she’d been a private investigator. Two weeks ago, she’d been a badass defending herself against a gang. Now, everyone was treating her like a porcelain doll.

  “Katarina,” her mom pleaded.

  “Mom, I don’t need a bodyguard, much less two.”

  “Two?” Mrs. Jones looked around the nearly empty diner. “What are you talking about?”

  Kat pointed to him. “Shawn’s already watching over me.”

  “But he’s a fire marshal, not a police officer or a guard. He’s not qualified. He’s not trained for this type of situation.” She glanced at him. “Nothing personal, Mr. Randall. I’m sure you understand. This isn’t your wheelhouse.”

  “None taken.” Like hell if he’d stand down and turn Kat over to a stranger, though.

  “Mom, Mr. Hart is an outsider. Everyone will notice him and talk. People are used to seeing Shawn around. I’m safer with him.”

  There was an insane urge to puff up like a peacock at her faith in him. He might not be trained like Mr. Tall-and-Buff, but Shawn wasn’t afraid to put his life on the line. For Kat, he’d do even more. He’d risk it all.

  The admission hit him like a ton of bricks.

  It wasn’t love. No, it was too soon to slap that label on his emotions. Love didn’t come that quickly, not for him. He wouldn’t let it. Wouldn’t hand over his heart, especially knowing it would get broken all over again. But he would admit that he cared about Kat. A lot. Too much, given that they’d be saying goodbye in a matter of days.

  “Shawn?” Kat waved her hand in front of his face. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. Just thinking we shouldn’t be having this conversation here. It’s going to attract unwanted attention.”

  “See. He knows what he’s doing, Mom.”

  “He also can’t be with you 24/7. He’s got a job to do, unless I’m mistaken and the fire department now offers personal protection service,” Mrs. Jones said.

  “Not officially,” Shawn said.

  Mrs. Jones pressed her fingers against her forehead as she closed her eyes and breathed deep. “Kat, I can’t lose you.”

  Kat slipped out of the booth and wrapped her arms around her mom. “You won’t. I’ll be at the school during the day, and Shawn or a police officer will be watching over me the rest of the time.”

  “But what if this crazy person gets into the school? It’s happened before.”

  He cleared his throat. All eyes turned to him.

  “We’ve got that covered.” At least for the next few days. “I’ll be doing some class demonstrations at the elementary school this week. And Camden PD has teamed up with the surrounding towns to find this guy. We’ll get him, Mrs. Jones.”

  If only he believed his own words.

  “See, it’s all good, Mom. Besides, there is no way Mr. Hart wouldn’t cause alarm at the school. We can’t have a stranger hanging out in the parking lot all day, and I can’t have him in my class.”

  “Maybe you should take some time off? Go on a trip?” her mom suggested.

  As ideas went, it wasn’t a bad one. For a moment he wondered what were his chances of convincing Kat to take a road trip out west.

  “I just started at the school. I made a commitment and this guy isn’t going to force me to run and hide.”

  Scratch that plan.

  Mrs. Jones looked to Shawn, pleading with her eyes for him to help. From what he’d seen and learned since he’d started working with Kat, there was no way she’d give in. He’d watched her head into danger, face a group of thugs, and hold her own. She didn’t put herself first. The apartment fire had rattled her, stolen her security, shaken her confidence, but it hadn’t taken her integrity.

  It hadn’t destroyed her inner strength. If anything, it’d only shored it up and made her stronger, more determined.

  “Fine, but I reserve the right to revisit this topic if and when the situation changes.” She looked from Shawn to Kat, making her meaning clear: when he no longer could watch her.

  Fair enough, in his opinion. The chances of talking Kat into going to Seattle with him were slim to fat chance. And the odds of catching this guy before he had to leave were looking bleaker and bleaker by the minute.

  “I promise, I’ll be careful, Mom. You’re not going to lose me.”

  Mrs. Jones gave her daughter one last hug, thanked Shawn, and then left with the silent giant following in her wake.

  “That was fun,” Kat said, as she snatched a cold fry and ate it.

  “She means well, and we should think about what happens next.” He took a bite of his burger and chewed. It had cooled off, but was still the best thing he’d eaten all day.

  Kat pushed the sandwich away and slid her slice of pie closer, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Speaking of next, do we know anything new?”

  Before he could answer Miss Elsie walked up to the table, slapping a towel over her shoulder.

  “Everything okay?” Miss Elsie looked from her to Shawn and back.

  “Everything’s great.”

  “What’s going on, Katarina? First you didn’t want to sit by the window. You wanted back here in the corner where no one could see you. I’ve never known you to care about where you sat, as long as you got your pie.”

  “Trying to keep a low profile.”

  Miss Elsie planted her hands on her hips, not moving. As she was wearing green leggings and a bright floral top, with her hair twisted into a bun on the top of her head, she looked like a pissed-off Tinkerbell. “This about your apartment fire?”

  “Yeah,” Shawn said.

  “No,” Kat said at the same time. He got that Kat was trying not to worry the whole town, but her friends needed to know the truth. Especially if she was going to be stubborn and bop around in public. Plus, Rafe planned to talk to the local businesses about the situation.

  Kat glanced down
at her food, but not before he saw the tears. Over the last year, she’d gotten engaged, gotten unengaged, been in a car accident and nearly died, given up her career, and now, nearly been killed in her own apartment. Overwhelmed didn’t even begin to cover how she must have felt.

  “Go ahead and tell her,” Kat said with a sigh.

  Shawn filled Miss Elsie in on the suspect and their fears, that the arsonist had targeted Kat specifically. He pulled his phone out and brought up the pictures they had of the suspect. After studying the sketches, Miss Elsie handed back his cell phone.

  “No soul, that one.” She gave a shudder, and patted Kat’s arm. “I won’t forget those dead eyes. If he comes in, I’ll call. There’s been a few people in talking about the fire—Courtney from the dress shop and Lilly from the bakery—but just townsfolk.”

  “If he comes in, don’t do anything that might draw his attention to you, Miss Elsie. Act normal and call Rafe right away,” Kat said.

  “I will. Now you enjoy your pie and next time, call it in and let Hot Stuff here or Lexie pick it up.”

  She picked up Kat’s discarded plate with a scowl. “I’ll wrap this up for you.”

  There was no arguing with Miss Elsie. He could see that as Kat promised to do as the lady asked. The traffic into the diner had started to pick up a little. He needed to get Kat out of there soon. The longer they stayed, the more danger she was in, but he also knew she needed a few minutes of normalcy in her life.

  “I should have ordered our food to go, then we could have had a relaxing meal. I’m sorry.” Kat stabbed at her pie, the tension clearly eating away at her. She waved a hand to another waitress and pointed to her dessert, indicating she wanted another takeout box.

  As they waited for the food boxes and the check, he decided to bring her up to speed on the case.

  “You asked if we had anything new. We do, although it’s not super helpful.”

  “Tell me.” Kat set the fork down and focused on him, her gaze laser sharp.

  “Rafe and his men have finished interviewing everyone that they could find who was around your apartment complex Friday night.”