Which was good because that’s what she had wanted.
To be seen and heard only when necessary.
To do her job with a smile and then go home, alone.
To live under the radar.
Not to get close to anyone.
A quiet life was better than the loud one she’d been forced into when she was younger.
The curtain next to her slid to the side. Caleb, still dripping wet, motioned to the space between their beds.
“Do you mind if we keep this open?” he asked. “I hate hospitals but I hate feeling cooped up in them even more.”
Nina nodded, surprised that she instantly liked the idea despite just reminding herself that her desired lifestyle was keeping her head down. That was easier said than done, she was finding, especially when Caleb was the one looking at her. Like he wanted to say something more but the words seemed caught somewhere between his mind and his mouth.
“Yeah, sure. That’s fine.” She gave him a smile that echoed the sentiment. “I actually meant to give this to you outside of the house but, well, it was raining and I didn’t want it to get messed up. Then the ambulance showed and, honestly, I got used to holding it and then forgot I was at all.”
Nina pulled the picture frame from beneath her shirt. It was small and thin with chestnut-colored wood and a golden back. That’s what had caught her eye in the first place. It was beautiful and compact, easy to carry. Though it was the picture encased inside that had made Nina decide to take it.
“I know it’s not much in the grand scheme of things,” she continued, holding the frame out. “But I know some things are a lot harder to replace than others.”
Caleb took the frame but didn’t speak right away. Nina worried she’d somehow misjudged the picture’s importance to him, but then a smile pulled up the corners of his lips ever so slightly. He let out a small breath. The tension in his shoulders eased enough to show he was, at the very least, relieved.
“I was so focused on making sure Mom wasn’t inside that I didn’t even think to grab anything.” He ran his thumb over the glass with affection. “This picture is one of a kind.”
Warmth spread in Nina’s chest at the admission. Caleb took a step closer and angled the frame so she could see the picture.
“This was taken when I was eight.” He pointed at the eight-year-old version of himself. He was all smiles and blue eyes. On either side of him were a boy and girl who shared those blue eyes. “These are Madeline and Desmond,” he explained before moving his finger along to a taller boy. “That’s an almost-teenaged Declan, thinking he’s hot stuff because he lucked out and got to kiss Corina Hoover during Spin the Bottle. Believe me, I know, because he wouldn’t shut up about it for weeks.”
Nina stifled a laugh. His finger moved over to a younger Dorothy. Her hair was dark and long, her smile warm and inviting. “You’ve met Mom.” Then Caleb pressed his finger against the image of the man holding Dorothy’s hand. He looked so much like Caleb did now that Nina had no doubt it was his father. Still, she waited for him to say it.
“And this is my dad, Michael.”
The smile that should have grown, faltered. Nina knew it well. No matter how many years went by, no matter how much she thought she’d moved on from her mother’s death, there would always be those moments when the happy memories she had collided with the emptiness her loss left behind. Whether it was a smell of something familiar, a sound that stirred some forgotten story or simply a picture. It could make and break a child all at the same time.
Nina stepped closer and touched his shoulder.
“It’s a beautiful picture.”
Caleb nodded.
“It is.”
Metal rings scraped along the curtain rod behind them. A woman Caleb seemed to recognize came in. She saw to Nina first. Caleb went back to his gurney.
He looked at the picture until it was his turn.
* * *
IT HAD TAKEN Caleb an hour’s worth of phone conversation to convince Desmond and Madeline not to hop on the next plane out of Texas and come back to the ranch. He knew they were in the middle of securing a new investor that would mean a lot to their work. To leave would hurt their cause while showing up in Overlook wouldn’t help solve the mystery. Caleb had had to use every excuse in the book as to why their flocking to him would only make things harder. The main reason being the simplest one.
He had a job to do.
While the fire investigator hadn’t yet finished combing the aftermath of Caleb’s house, he already knew what he’d say.
There was an arsonist in Overlook.
Caleb hated just thinking it, but the nails in the window were fairly damning evidence that the fire wasn’t some freak accident. Someone had put them there before the fire.
Not only did he have a job to do in catching the culprit, he also had a ranch to protect.
And everyone who lived on it.
Caleb looked across the front porch of the Retreat’s office at Nina. The rain was still falling but had lost its ferocity. Now it was a sound in the darkness of the night. A rhythmic backdrop to a day that had gone from relatively normal to hell.
After being cleared from the hospital, Caleb and Nina had been driven back to the ranch by one of the sheriff’s deputies. Instead of going to the Retreat or the site of the fire, they were taxied to the main house. There waiting, sat his truck, his partner and his mother.
“Oh, Caleb,” his mother had cried, pulling him into an embrace. She repeated the sentiment with a partially contained sob.
“I’m okay, Mom,” he’d consoled her. “It’s just a house.”
It was what his mother had needed to hear. She’d nodded then turned her attention to Nina. Word had already spread about her help and his mother had made sure the ranch’s newest addition knew just how much she appreciated what Nina had done. They’d disappeared into the house together while Caleb had rendezvoused with Jazz outside.
She’d hugged him, offered up any and all help from herself and her husband, and then gotten down to business.
“Declan has a deputy at all of the properties not being watched by ranch employees tonight,” she’d said. “Plus patrols around town. I don’t know what he’ll do tomorrow about it all, but at least tonight everyone here can hopefully sleep a little easier.” She’d given him a pointed look at that.
“Don’t worry,” he’d said, picking up on the thought she wasn’t voicing. “I’m not going to do anything crazy tonight.”
It was true but only because there was nothing he really could do.
But he wasn’t about to tell her that.
“Good. You need to get some rest. We can start figuring this out tomorrow,” she’d promised.
They’d all convened in the kitchen for dinner. His mother was what his father used to call a nervous chef. When things went sideways, the cook-and bakeware came out. Together they’d eaten a late and extensive dinner. Jazz had helped his mother make a list of everything he might need while Caleb had fielded another call from each of his siblings. Nina had used the landline to make a call but had, for the most part, remained quiet.
Caleb hadn’t forgotten what she’d said in the ambulance. Her mother had died from smoke inhalation. Which meant there had been a fire. The pain that had swept across her face as she said it hadn’t been fresh. No. It had been old. Worn and felt over and over again until it had become the fabric of who she was. Caleb didn’t need to know the specifics of what had happened to know the feeling.
And to guess how hard it must have been to go into the burning cabin.
Yet, she had.
He wanted to press, to understand how she was feeling, but decided to keep his distance. When and if she wanted to open up, he’d listen, but he wasn’t about to push. He also knew how it felt to be prodded. To be watched. People waiting for him to break. He wasn’t about
to put that on the woman who had risked her life to save his.
Now, a few feet from where he stood wearing a borrowed pair of sweatpants two sizes too big and a jacket he’d found in a box in Madeline’s old room, Nina held his stare with a sympathetic smile.
“I’m really sorry about your house,” she said. “It is just a house but that doesn’t mean it can’t still hurt. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“Helping me out of the burning building was more than enough,” he replied. “But thank you.”
He waited for her to unlock the Retreat’s door and walked her to the office. Her purse and phone were still on the desk. Caleb checked the window to make sure it wasn’t nailed shut while she went through her phone.
A feeling of shame washed across Caleb. With everything that had happened he had forgotten what he’d gone to the stables that morning to do in the first place.
“We tracked down the IP address from the email you received today. It led to Claire’s Café in town,” he recounted. “Have you been there before? It wasn’t on the list you gave me.”
Nina’s eyes widened in recognition.
“I haven’t been there yet but Molly and I ran into the manager at the grocery store.” She gave him a sheepish look. “I couldn’t remember her name. She talked mostly to Molly. Wait, she sent the email?”
Caleb shook his head.
“It traced back to the café, to Claire’s office computer. She had no idea what I was talking about so we looked at the security footage and saw Daniel Covington pick the office’s lock and sneak in there yesterday.”
Nina’s brow furrowed. By the looks of it she didn’t seem to recognize the name. Which wasn’t surprising.
“Daniel is a nineteen-year-old pain in the ass, to be blunt. We’ve had trouble with him in the past for taking pranks too far,” Caleb continued. “He hasn’t done something like this but he’s sure going to answer for it. A uniform took him into custody just after lunch. Claire is pressing charges for the invasion of her privacy, plus breaking and entering. I assume you might want to, as well, considering the invasion of yours.”
“I do,” she agreed. “If only to make him think twice before trying this again.”
Caleb nodded at that sentiment. The motion somehow felt exhausting all of a sudden. He ran a hand through his hair. His cowboy hat had fallen off when he was in the house. Just another piece of his life gone.
“Hey, Caleb?”
Nina’s expression had gone impassive. Caleb could no more read her now than he could back at dinner. He took a step forward, though. There was something magnetic about the raven-haired woman.
“What happens now?”
It was such a simple question.
It only made sense to give it a simple answer.
He straightened his back and answered in a low yet clear voice.
“Now I’m going to catch whoever did this and stop them from doing it again.”
Chapter Seven
The fire was ruled arson. Not even a particularly clever one, at that.
Residue from fireworks was found beneath what used to be Caleb’s bed and all the windows had been nailed shut. They couldn’t decide if that was meant to trap someone or to keep them out, considering the doors had not been tampered with. As for leads on the arsonist, Caleb and Jazz only had the fireworks to go on. There was a big chain store that sold them two cities away but there were also roadside stands that popped up on occasion. Even if there had only been one store, that didn’t mean too much. They couldn’t track down everyone who had purchased fireworks.
So Caleb had tossed around the idea that he was targeted because of his job—maybe someone he’d closed a case on or their kin was angry?—and had been working through that long list for alibis. He had also worked with the fire chief by getting information on all fires in Overlook in the last five years.
He wanted to be thorough.
Whoever the arsonist was had made it personal, which only drove Caleb’s heels harder into the dirt. The news had had varying effects on the other Nash family members.
Dorothy Nash was a force to be reckoned with. Her worry for her family and the ranch focused on Caleb. Convincing her that he was alright during the next week was almost as hard as skirting Jazz’s and Declan’s concerns. At least Desmond’s and Madeline’s calls and texts were more manageable. The only person who gave him any space to breathe was Nina.
Although he had holed up in Desmond’s house since they would be in Texas for at least another week if not two, Caleb had made a deal with her the day after the fire. Since Declan couldn’t keep deputies stationed outside every building on the ranch, Caleb had offered to keep an eye on the Retreat at night. Losing his home had hurt him, but losing the Retreat would hurt the family.
And then there was Nina.
She’d risked her life to help him. He’d do no less for her.
For the next week they fell into a routine. He would spend the night camped out on the office’s couch and get up in the morning and head to Desmond’s to shower and get ready for work. Then he’d be back by dinner and they’d repeat the routine. During that time Nina had been friendly and polite. They took turns handling dinner and breakfast, her inviting him up for something she’d made or his bringing something from the main house, and they’d even played a game of Scrabble one night. Sometimes Molly showed up for a few minutes and sometimes they didn’t even speak.
It was comfortable. Nice, even.
Yet the longer their time together went on, the more Caleb started to realize Nina wasn’t keeping to herself for his benefit.
No. It was for hers.
That’s when he noticed the walls.
When she seemed to want to say something but would stop herself. The smiles she cut off before they grew too big. The way she quieted when he got too far out of the range of small talk.
Nina Drake was a guarded woman.
And it only made her more intriguing to him.
When Friday morning rolled around Caleb’s curiosity finally bonded with this frustration over the case. He finished his coffee and set it down on the picnic table with purpose. Nina looked up from her half-filled cup and laptop. They were at the communal area between the Retreat’s office and the first cabin, enjoying the sunshine that had been hit or miss the last few days. Caleb hadn’t missed how it made Nina’s hair shine, or how every freckle seemed to be highlighted beneath the light.
“Would you like a tour of the town?” he asked without any preamble. Nina’s eyebrow arched high. “Well, less like a tour and more like being a fresh pair of eyes to places that previously burned to the ground.”
If possible her eyebrow went higher.
“Sadly not the weirdest proposition I’ve gotten.” She laughed. “Care to elaborate?”
Caleb tapped the printout he’d been looking over since he’d woken up.
“I’m trying to figure out a pattern to the fires that were ruled arson in the last few years, but I think I’m too close to them. Every place on this list I’ve been to, not only as an adult, but a kid. Maybe you can see something I’m missing.”
Nina glanced toward the office. While it had been a pain, they had all decided that if the arsonist wasn’t caught by Monday it would be best to cancel the reservations set for the following week. Never mind the grand opening party. Sure, it wouldn’t be good for business, but having someone set fire to the guest cabins during their stay would be, without a doubt, worse.
“If I can help, I’m definitely in,” she told him. “When do you want to leave?”
“I need to head up to Desmond’s and then I’ll be ready. Does that work for you?”
She nodded and took a long drink of her coffee. “I just need to let Molly know. There’s not much else I can do here if we can’t open the Retreat.”
Caleb helped her clean up and then
they went off in separate directions. It wasn’t until he was out of the shower and putting on his boots that he realized the new excitement dancing around his gut wasn’t just about potentially finding a lead.
* * *
NINA DIDN’T KNOW what one wore to an old crime scene so she opted for a black undershirt with an open, flannel button-up and a pair of Levi’s she was proud to say had fit her for the last three years. She pulled her long hair back into a ponytail. Then she put on lip gloss.
That move surprised her. She almost took it off before the cream-and-brown striped truck she was getting used to seeing came to a stop just outside. Nina waved goodbye to Molly and tried to tamp down the sudden uptick in the speed of her heartbeat. She’d spent the last week with the man, more or less, and had been fine. Changing locations shouldn’t make a difference.
The inside of the truck cab smelled of men’s cologne and the woods, both wrapped into one surprisingly intoxicating scent. It made Nina’s heart beat a little bit faster against her chest. She gave Caleb a polite smile, hoping to cover up the new feeling.
“So, these are the places in the last five years that have had fires that did a good amount of structural damage,” he told her. Nina took the paper from him as they started out to the road that led out of the ranch. There were five addresses.
“Were all of these arson?”
Overlook was small. Five acts of arson in the last five years was shocking.
“No. Only two were ruled arson,” he explained. “The other three were caused by human error. Accidents. The first on the list is the earliest one.”
They drove out to a large middle school, two minutes from Overlook’s main thoroughfare. It was one of the few stretches of land outside of the ranch that wasn’t surrounded by fields of grass or trees. Instead it was boxed in by houses. Caleb drove to a house on the other side of the fenced-in schoolyard. He parked and pointed through the windshield to the two-story house. There was a wooden For Rent sign staked in the yard.
Reining In Trouble (Winding Road Redemption Book 1) Page 6