by C. D. Gill
“Help!” Her throat was raw from the bile that had ravaged her throat. The sound came out more of a squeak. “Help!”
Gia grabbed her glass of water and doused part of a pillowcase to cover her face then threw the rest of it on the flames closest to her. Only a small part of the blaze hissed as it died. The flames inched closer to the bed. Red and yellow framed the window as smoke escaped into the night. Grabbing her gun, she fired into the wall three times. Xander had to have heard that over the alarm.
She tied the pillowcase around her head. In each hand she grabbed a book to drag across the floor under her hands. One agonizing movement at a time, she crawled toward the door. Shards sliced into her feet and knees but she kept moving. Why was the door still so far away?
“Gia? Gia?” Xander’s outline appeared in the doorway. He scanned the room, his gaze wild as he pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth. He spotted her on the floor and covered the distance in a few large strides. Reaching down, he scooped her into his arms. Glass crunched under his shoes as he sprinted into the hallway.
In the kitchen he piled both of their phones and a jacket onto Gia’s form. His fingers fumbled with the myriad of locks on her back door. They seemed ridiculous at the moment. The second the door cracked open, the night air cooled her skin. Gia clung to Xander’s neck and he jogged down the driveway and set her down in the grass at a safe distance. Panting, he dropped into the grass beside her and called 911.
“Are you okay?” The glow from the blaze lit his face, casting shadows over his worried features. His fingertips grazed her forehead and into her hair, no doubt extracting glass as he went. His grayed forehead sharply contrasted the lower half of his face. “That alarm went off and I didn’t know what happened or where the attack was coming from. But then shots were fired and I thought someone shot you.”
Gia leaned into Xander’s embrace, his skin warm against hers. He held her that way until the sirens became flashing lights that charged down her driveway. Firemen jumped out and set to work. Xander strode over to the firemen, shouting above the noise of the trucks’ gears. An ambulance pulled in behind them. The EMS team dropped their kits beside her and set to work checking her lungs, digging the glass from her wounds, and cleaning the blood from her skin. She should feel upset, heartbroken, scared, watching her house go up in flames but instead she felt nothing.
Numb.
As soon as Xander lowered himself into the grass, the two medics moved their equipment to his side and repeated their checks. Then the questions began.
“What happened? Is there anyone else in the house? Where did the glass come from? Any allergies? How quickly were you able to evacuate?”
She had nothing to say. Words didn’t form so Xander covered the details. He didn’t leave out one detail of her earlier illness. The medics scanned her face as Xander spoke.
“We’d like to take you to the ER to be sure you’re not suffering from dehydration or any other complications from the illness and the fire,” the male medic crouching next to her said.
Gia waved him off, earning a disapproving grunt from Xander. “I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’m feeling better.”
“Gia, we’re going to the hospital.” Xander grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to go in the ambulance, but I’m taking you. They will make sure all the glass is out and get stitches.” Her will to fight him floated to the sky with the smoke that terrorized her house. Her safe place. Her fortress eaten by smoke and fire.
At the emergency room, she stared at the ceiling while needles pricked her skin. Open her mouth. Check blood pressure, breathing sounds, eyes. Any allergies to medications? Any pain? Any history of illnesses? Current medications? Xander watched from the chair on the side of the makeshift room, dirty but alert. His eyes blazed with an expression she couldn’t place.
After what felt like hours, they discharged her with stitches in her arms and knees. Bandages covered her scrapes, but nothing was seriously wrong. They hadn’t talked much besides what was necessary. When Xander closed himself into the driver side to drive her home, she ventured in.
“Are you okay?”
His cheek twitched as the streetlights illuminated his face in flashes. “Someone is after you, but what if it’s because of me? Things didn’t start happening until I showed up, right?”
The timeline was hazy at this point. “No, this has nothing to do with you. You’ll see.” Was there any truth to what he said? It didn’t resonate.
In her driveway, a fireman approached her as she exited the car.
“Ms. Carter, I’m Captain Andrew Morris. The fire is contained. I believe we were able to keep the fire from spreading outside the initial bedroom. We’ll see everything more clearly in the daylight and would like a more detailed explanation of what happened. We’re going to stay here until our tech can arrive to assess the true cause of the fire. Also, it will be helpful to check everything in the daylight so we can be sure the house is structurally sound. Do you have somewhere you can rest?”
Xander gripped Gia’s upper arm, guiding her toward the garage. “Captain, please come get us in the apartment above the garage when your technician is finishing his assessment.”
At the stairs, Xander lifted her into his arms. Each step Xander took jolted Gia to the bone, but she bit her cheeks to keep from moaning. Gia’s backside rested on the bed—a bed that smelled like Xander. He pulled the covers over her and adjusted her pillows.
Gia grabbed his hand. “Thank you for saving my life.”
Xander stared at her with his mouth open as if he was about to say something. Snapping it shut, he offered her a very exhausted smile instead, then clicked off the light and dropped onto the couch with a thump.
The knocking on the door brought Gia from her deep sleep. Xander arrived at the door first.
“Captain said the technician is finishing up,” a male voice said.
Gia rolled out of bed and trailed Xander down the stairs as he grumbled something about three hours of sleep. The air reeked of charred wood and smoke. A part of her refused to acknowledge the damage done as if by ignoring it she could pretend her life was still the dream she’d wanted it to be. Gia grabbed sandals from her mudroom and kept her focus on the captain and Xander standing in the driveway staring at the house. They stopped talking when she walked up.
Xander’s pained expression pumped adrenaline through her veins. Was it worse than she’d prepared for? Grasping her shoulders, Xander twisted her around to face her house. SKUNK was spray-painted on the house in massive green letters.
A hate crime? The newspaper outted her parents, she got questioned for killing a guy, and her house became a canvas for racial slurs. Gia ducked her head and closed her eyes against tears forming. It was all too much at once.
With a deep inhale, she faced the captain. “Did your tech find what started the fire?”
Captain Morris nodded. “The brick came in the window first, then the attacker threw a homemade fire-starting device through the opening. The fire damage is contained in the master bedroom and bathroom, but the smoke damage is more extensive.” Morris waved over a man that had strolled up the driveway. “Detective James is leading the investigation and we’re offering our full cooperation.”
James nodded and shook hands with them both. “Sir, let’s start with you. Is this your house?”
“No, it’s not.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. That’s right. A woman owned her own house. She was already losing her patience with this guy. “I need your statements again and any names of people who could have done this. Ma’am, since this is your house, why don’t you tell me what happened yesterday?”
She nodded and started her story. He’d redeemed himself a bit. As she told him, her mind churned over the shock. She had security devices in place to protect her but nothing to prevent a fire. Gia stopped her story mid-thought. “Detective.”
Detective James lifted his pen.
“I have a surveillance syste
m that may help you identify the guy.” Gia grabbed Xander’s arm and tugged him toward the house at a limp. Detective James fell in behind them. Gia grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl and continued the march to her office, but Xander stayed in the kitchen. Her hopes faceplanted when the error message displayed that the system’s wires had dislodged or, more accurately, been tampered with.
She let out a strangled yell and led Detective James to her room to explain the story so he could see it. Her feet didn’t move her past the doorway as she stared at the remains. She snapped a picture of the room with her cell phone and gave in to roaring impulse to involve her parents. The attacks were no longer on her business or projects. Whomever it was brought the fight to her bedroom. She’d held out long enough.
Under the picture she typed, “I’m okay, but I’m going to need reinforcements. Love you & miss you” then sent it to Daddy and Ma.
Ma replied within a minute. “I’m so sorry. Glad you’re okay. Sending help. Call when you can. Love you, sweet princess.”
Tears sabotaged Gia’s attempt at self-control. This time, she let them. She stepped into her walk-in closet and closed the smoke-darkened door behind her. Only the smoke had touched her clothes. As she sank into the veil of the lower rack of clothes, Gia wept for the first time since Uncle Angelo died.
Chapter 15
Xander dished scrambled eggs and bacon onto a plate. His mind was foggy from the lack of sleep. The clock read eight in the morning but it felt like it should have been noon already. Gia probably felt worse than he did. He added on some pain pills, in case she’d take them. With the plate and a glass of water in hand, Xander strolled into the bedroom. Detective James stood near the window in the bedroom making notes on a minuscule pad of paper. Gia was nowhere to be seen.
Detective James glanced at Xander with an assessing gaze and nodded toward the closet. Xander acknowledged him with a jerk of his chin. Setting the plate and water on the nightstand, Xander paused outside the door listening to discern what was happening behind the door. He leaned in. A sniffle. Gia crying?
How mad would she be if he barged into the closet and saw her tears? A peek over his shoulder was met with a smirk from Detective James. Xander narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want to get chewed out in front of the detective.
He knocked. “Gia, come eat.”
Another sniff. “Two seconds.”
Xander crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to the door. There was rustling and more sniffles. At last, the door cracked open. Gia stepped out wearing a new set of clothes. She spotted the food without his direction.
“The whole closet smells like smoke, but it’s better than last night’s gross clothes,” she said as she shoveled the food into her mouth.
Out of the corner of his eye, Xander could see Detective James studying them. Or more accurately he was staring at Gia who could’ve stepped out of a fashion magazine despite the flu and fire. Feigning interest in Gia’s burnt bed, Xander blocked Gia from Detective James’s view.
“Gia has been the target of a few kinds of sabotage lately which may or may not be related. Protests and lawsuits to her projects, a personal story in the paper, a guy killed in the alley behind her office, and now this,” Xander said.
“Ms. Carter, when did all this start?” Detective James said.
Gia sighed. “Middle of May.”
Detective James nodded and scribbled.
“Detective, does this look like it could be the work of organized crime?” Xander said.
“Xander.” Disapproval dripped from Gia’s admonishment, but he shrugged.
Detective James’s eyes flicked between them, hesitating to answer. After a few seconds, he broke the silence. “With that spray-painted message out there, it’s hard to see past a hate crime, but I’m on the case to find answers. Mr. Reinerman, why don’t we start with where you were last night.”
Always a suspect first. Xander should accept that this would be his new lot in life, but it made him furious. “I was sleeping on the couch in the family room. Gia started vomiting at lunch yesterday, so I brought her home and put her in bed. I slept on the couch in case she needed anything.”
Gia touched his arm. “Why didn’t you use a guest room? It would have been way more comfortable than the couch.”
Detective James’ attention sharpened. That was exactly what the detective had hoped to provoke between them. Personal information. Xander hated being manipulated. “It’s not my place to help myself to what is yours when you’re feeling ill. That’d be taking advantage of you and making more laundry, which no one likes.”
Gia rubbed her eyes. “Anyone who cleans up my vomit on multiple occasions, drives me home, waits on me hand and foot, and still sticks around deserves to sleep on a bed.”
Xander inhaled. “Detective James, I realize that I’m probably your first suspect since I’m newly released and new to Gia’s world, but Gia has helped me get on my feet. If I was upset about who she is or something she did, I’d have left. I owe her a huge debt and messing with her home is detrimental to me as well as her. In the interest of checking my name off the top of your list, I don’t suppose you can check the alarm system logs to see I didn’t open a door to the outside or a window since we came home around lunchtime?”
Gia propped her hands on her hips. “I’ll look into it for you, but he’s right, Detective. Xander’s not your suspect.”
“Who were you shooting at with your gun? Was someone in your room?” Detective James pointed to the bullet holes in the wall opposite her bed and the shell casings on the bed.
“I pulled the gun and rolled off the bed when I saw a man’s silhouette with broad shoulders and a weird-shaped head in my window—”
Xander whipped around to stare. “You saw a guy in your window and didn’t call for me then? He could’ve blasted you with an automatic or something and you’d have been a sitting duck.” Blood rushed to his face. Heat warmed his neck. Gia could have been dead. Really dead.
“It all happened too fast.” Gia shrugged. She stared at the bed as if watching the scene all over again. “I simply reacted. Then when the glass shattered, I couldn’t get to the door without shredding my feet. I called for help but the alarm was so loud I didn’t think Xander would hear me, so I fired bullets into the wall to get him to come to the room. The fire was coming too quickly so I crawled toward the door.”
Detective James tapped his lips with his pen. “Ms. Carter, is it possible Mr. Reinerman was the target here?”
Xander’s eyebrows shot upward. The detective couldn’t believe that Gia was the target or that Xander was innocent in some way.
Gia barked out a laugh. “If that was the case, why would they target my bedroom? His room is above the garage.” Gia’s gaze switched between Xander and the detective, her brows furrowed. “Oh. Ooh. No.” She paused. “Well, maybe.”
What was she thinking? Xander jumped in. “We’re not involved, Detective.”
“Think it through, Xander. Someone could have assumed we were. Especially if they were watching the house and didn’t see you go to your room last night. Heck if they watched us all day they might have thought that. At the office, you carried me to the car—”
“With a trash can in your hands,” Xander said through gritted teeth.
“You drove me home, carried me inside—”
“Again with a trash can in your hands. There was no physical contact that would suggest us having a physical relationship.”
Gia pursed her lips and squinted at him.
“Fine. It’s a faint possibility,” Xander said. “I still think this isn’t about me. Things were happening to you before I came along.”
“A thought worth mentioning is that the word ‘skunk’ could refer to a number of different things. Ms. Carter, it could refer to your mixed race or it could refer to Mr. Reinerman being a prisoner. It’s an old-fashioned term, but still used,” Detective James said. “Mr. Reinerman, if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to talk to M
s. Carter on her own.”
Xander shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from strangling the detective and stalked to the family room. What were the chances Gia would tell him everything? Most women wouldn’t mention the Grant predicament because of how embarrassing it was, but the detective should know. He laid on the couch and closed his eyes against the daylight streaming through the windows. The doorbell sounded twice in his sleep before it registered that it was happening in real life. Leaping to his feet, he reached the door as Gia emerged into the hallway. Had they still been talking?
When Xander opened the door, two dark-haired, slim men with tanned skin and perfectly white teeth stood on the doorstep, relaxed as if they owned the place. One was taller than Xander and the other slightly shorter. “Can I help you?”
The shorter one shrugged. “We’re looking for Gia Carter. And by the looks of this house, we got the right place.”
The taller one grinned at his phone. Technology had ruined people’s manners these days.
“I’m sorry. Who are you?” Xander said as the taller one slid his phone into his pocket.
Running footsteps sounded behind him seconds before he was body-checked into the door frame.
“Joey!” Gia squealed as she jumped into the arms of the taller one. Joey mumbled something that made Gia giggle.
The shorter one stuck out his hand. “We’re the reinforcements.” At Xander’s blank stare, he chuckled. “We’re old friends of Gia’s. This is Joey and I’m Tommy.”
Xander shook Tommy’s hand and backed out of the doorway not thrilled with the way Gia clung to Joey’s frame. Old boyfriend? Old husband? Old crush?
“Really, Joey? You had to bring my ex?” Gia gave Tommy a brief hug before waving them inside, her face glowing. Any trace of tears was gone. “Xander, this is my cousin Joey and friend Tommy. They came from New Orleans to stay with us for a while.”
“The reinforcements?” Xander said. What he really meant was, ex?