Separated

by Jessica Frances

  I drop the file onto my desk and run my hand through my hair then down over my scratchy stubble. I would shave it off if Conner didn’t seem to love it so much.

  It’s pissing me off that I can’t figure out this case. Conner might be sleeping better now that he’s in my bed and arms, but that isn’t enough. I want this person caught and brought to justice.

  When my phone begins buzzing along my desk and I see Love’s name on the caller ID, I immediately get the sense that something is wrong. Love used to only call me when she wanted a scoop for something she was working on. Nowadays, she calls me to either give me bad news about Conner or to give me inside information to kick my ass into gear when it comes to him. Since things between Conner and I have been pretty fucking great, I can only imagine what news she’s about to bestow on me.

  “Love?”

  “Shit, Rocky!” Love screeches, almost deafening me and certainly scaring every cat in Midsummer. “Someone set fire to my fucking house after they locked me and Conner inside!”

  “What?” I bellow, shooting up from my chair and racing out of my office, gabbing my keys as I go.

  Love has already disconnected the call, so I can’t ask her if she and Conner are okay.

  Outside, I smell the smoke. People all around are murmuring and a few are racing in the direction of The Last Resort.

  “Call Mike!” I yell at Macy, who has her head stuck outside her coffee shop, and then jump into my car.

  We have a volunteer firefighter station that only has two trained volunteer firefighters and one older model truck that still does the trick.

  I pull out my phone and dial Abby while I reverse out of my spot and speed down the road. When she answers, I demand she set up a perimeter to keep everyone back. She’s quick to agree and, since she’s just a few blocks away, I know this will be done swiftly. I should do this myself, but I already know I won’t have my mind anywhere else but on Conner.

  As soon as I pull up outside The Last Resort, I see the smoke in the air is much thicker.

  I race around the gathering people, shouting at them to get back, as I make my way around the side of the hotel and see Love’s small cottage completely engulfed in flames. The heat is thick enough that sweat immediately pours over my skin and my eyes water from the intensity.

  The fire truck is already parked over the wide expanse behind the hotel, and both Geoff and Mike are battling the fire to stop it from spreading to the hotel and beyond. The windows have been smashed at the front, flames and thick black smoke billowing out from them.

  Are Conner and Love still stuck in there?

  I eye the front door, seeing something looks to have been nailed into it. Something to keep it shut?

  “Rocky!” someone screams, and I look to my side, my heart slamming into my chest as I see both Love and Conner lying on the grassed area, well away from the firefighters and the burning building. Love’s parents are crowding them, and I think Dr. Espinoza is there, as well.

  “What the hell happened?” I demand as I rush up to them, crouching down beside Conner, who is coughing painfully, his eyes dripping tears and his clothes and skin covered in soot.

  I pull him into me, rubbing my hand over his back as I feel the cough racking his entire body.

  “I don’t know,” Love answers, her voice shaky as tears pour down her face, causing streaks to form along the soot. “We were inside, just watching a movie, and then I heard this banging. It was coming from the front and the back of the house.” She hiccups through her tears. “I thought someone was knocking on the doors, but then, when I tried to open them, they wouldn’t budge. Next thing I know, the fucking place is on fire!”

  “Something … thrown through … window,” Conner gasps out.

  Doctor Espinoza shoves an oxygen mask over his face, and I lean back to give them space.

  “How is he?”

  “Apart from the smoke inhalation, he’s got a couple cuts on his arms and legs. Two are deep enough to need stitches.” He points at the bloodied injuries that I hadn’t first noticed.

  “We had to climb through a broken window,” Love explains, angrily wiping away her tears. “It’s all fucking gone. Everything I owned,” she sobs out, shifting to let her mom hug her tightly as she shakes from her tears.

  Assuming this is about the threatening letters that Conner was getting, this just got a lot more fucking dangerous. And, if what Love said is true about the doors being locked from the outside, which it sure fucking appears like something is on them from my view, then that means there were at least two of them to get the front and back doors done at the same time.

  Conner leans into me, and I wrap my arm around him.

  “Does he need to go to a hospital?”

  “I can treat him here and at my practice, but if the smoke inhalation doesn’t clear up, then he might need to go. I think they got out before any permanent damage could be done.”

  I shift my legs so I’m sitting beside Conner, holding him against me while I listen to him breathe through the mask and watch the guys battling the fire. It already looks under control, but it’s unlikely from the thick, black smoke that anything will be unscathed.

  “I’m sorry, Conner,” I tell him gently, fury rushing through me that someone did this to him and Love.

  There is some serious hate to be willing to burn two people alive.

  He shakes his head at me, and when he makes a move to remove the oxygen mask, I hold his hand so he can’t touch it and shake my head. Then we watch and wait for over an hour as the fire is finally put out.

  Mayor Fuller lets her professional façade drop as she worries over Love and Conner, and then the mayor inside her comes through and she’s apologetic to Conner. She looks terrified that he’s ready to up and leave before she can get what she wants from him. Part of me is worried he might leave, too.

  It’s easy to ignore some horrible words on paper and even ones spray-painted on a car, but how can you ignore this?

  “I should go back and help Abby,” I finally say to Conner, who is no longer on the oxygen mask. He didn’t want to leave, so Dr. Espinoza left for a minute to get what he needed to stitch Conner up here. Love had a couple of cuts, too, but hers weren’t deep enough to need stitches.

  Conner grips my shirt, his breathing ragged, as I watch some sort of internal battle happen. Finally, and with what looks like effort, he releases me.

  “I’ll stay close, and I’ll be back,” I promise. “These guests need to be interviewed. The sooner that’s done, the sooner I can get you home.”

  Conner shakes his head. “It might not be safe,” he rasps. “I don’t want you or River in danger.”

  “You’ll always be safe with me. Besides, River is spending a few days with Mia’s family.”

  This hasn’t been arranged yet, but there is no way I’m leaving Conner alone to deal with this. I know he would never hurt River, but whoever is after him obviously doesn’t mind hurting others.

  They had to know Conner and Love were in the house, or at least someone was, since they made sure it would be difficult to escape. That means Conner or Love were the targets. Since Conner is the one receiving threats, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who was meant to get hurt in this attack. Love and her home were just collateral damage. That further means wherever Conner goes right now will move the danger there until the people behind these attacks are caught.

  Conner accepts my offer to stay with me, and then I give him a quick kiss, tasting soot on his lips, before I reluctantly stand up. Love immediately scoots over and wraps an arm around his shoulders, and he leans in, resting his head against hers.

  My simmering fury boils inside me at seeing two people I care about hurt and scared.

  I storm over to the firefighters where Love’s story is confirmed as they note that most of the damage was started in the living area, and that the smell of gasoline outside suggests an accelerant was poured to ensure none of it escaped the fire.

  I eye bo
th the front and back door. There is a plank of scorched wood nailed to the outer shell of the house and to the actual door. Perhaps, with enough force, it would have eventually come loose, but while panicking and fighting off smoke fumes trying to choke you? It would have been enough to keep them trapped.

  I eye the blown-out windows and wonder what they were thinking by leaving them as they are. Did they expect Conner and Love to be too panicked to try escaping through there? Did they just not consider it? Or did they leave it untouched as a way for them to escape, hoping to scare them enough to get Conner to leave but not kill him?

  Each consideration still leaves me furious, so I leave the guys to their jobs and walk around the side of the building where Abby looks to be arguing with someone who wants to get through where she has put the police tape.

  “Hey, Sheriff,” she greets. “I put in a call to Paxton. They’re sending out a couple of guys to help out. Plus an arson forensic specialist will be here as soon as they can.”

  “Good.” I nod. “As soon as the Paxton guys arrive, put them on securing the perimeter then come over and help me with interviews.”

  I turn to leave, but her next words halt me in place.

  “Is your man okay?”

  It takes me a moment to reply, because I haven’t had a partner in over six years and no one has ever asked me this question. I’ve only ever been asked about River. But Conner is different. He is mine.

  “Conner’s gonna be fine.”

  “Good. I’m glad to hear. You’ve been happier since you started seeing him. I would hate to see that disappear.”

  I turn to stare back at her, aware she’s deadly serious.

  I’ve definitely been happier since seeing Conner, but I didn’t realize it was obvious to others.

  “Thanks.”

  I walk over to the hotel and ask Love’s mom, Adrianna, who was grabbing more bottles of water from her kitchen, if she can give me a list of guests staying at the hotel. After she does this, I begin calling out names to the crowd and pulling them aside to ask if they saw anything suspicious.

  Just like before, no one saw a damn thing.

  But two hours later, Mrs. Melina Graves waves me over.

  I’ve had enough by this point, but I tread over to her, knowing it’s better to get this out the way than to put it off. Mrs. Graves has a way of exaggerating things, and when she’s not on her meds, she’s stuck back in the forties as a young girl.

  “Hello, Melina,” I mutter, not expecting her to reach out and grab my arm, digging her nails into me. I put my free hand over hers, ready to pull her off me, but the way she then speaks with urgency in her tone has me freezing.

  “I’m no liar, and I’m not imagining things, I swear. You know me, Rocky; I’m present right now,” she pleads, her eyes shifting in a way that has me doubting how with it she is.

  “Okay, what’s wrong?”

  “I saw her. I swear I did. I couldn’t believe it, but I know I saw her.”

  “Saw who?”

  “Sophie. She walked straight past the post office just a few hours ago. I went out to follow her, but then I saw the smoke and the people. I’ve been waiting to speak to you. I couldn’t allow myself to forget. I had to remember.”

  Her words might as well have included a punch to the gut.

  “You saw Sophie? My ex-wife?”

  “Yep. I promise, Rocky. I’m with it. I know what I saw.”

  I eye her warily. She doesn’t appear to be lying, but her mind plays tricks on her enough that she could believe it without it being true.

  “Did anyone else see her?”

  “I don’t know. It didn’t look like anyone was taking notice of her, but it’s been years since she’s been around these parts. I bet a lot of people don’t even remember her. But I do. I saw her, Rocky.” She digs her nails into me even deeper.

  I shake my arm loose. “Okay, I’ll look into it.”

  “That woman …” She shakes her head. “I always thought she was a sweet thing, but leaving her man and kid like that proves how cold-hearted she is. That woman is capable of anything. Even this.” She waves her arms toward the hotel.

  While there were at least two assailants who did this, it doesn’t mean one of them couldn’t have been Sophie, or even two people whom she hired to do her dirty work.

  She knows how this town works. She knows how to sneak around and to blend in.

  Would she care enough, though, to want to hurt Conner? Does she want back into our family? Does she view Conner as a threat?

  She would have to know I would never take her back.

  But, what if it is her?

  The idea chills me. I force myself to shake it off before it settles in too deeply.

  Melina Graves is hardly a reliable witness, even if she does sound sure of herself. Regardless …

  There is no way Sophie is back in Midsummer.

  ***

  Asking other locals, who would know Sophie, pulls up nothing, and I can practically feel Conner’s anxiety the longer I’m away, or maybe it’s my own that is building.

  I turn and head back in the direction of the hotel, having branched out to the surrounding businesses in hopes that someone might have seen or heard something.

  My walk is terse, and I have to assume my expression looks as hostile as I feel, given the blanched looks of the people who see me.

  The one thing that worked in my favor today was speaking to Bell about looking after River for a few days. I warned her about Sophie, but I already know there is no way she would let her near River. Bell hates her almost as much as I do.

  River didn’t seem to bat an eye when I told her that she would be staying with Mia for a few days. She’s just excited to spend some extra time with her best friend.

  I find Conner in the same place as I left him, now with a blanket around his shoulders, staring out into the mountains in the distance. Love’s eyes are stuck staring at the remains of her house.

  I crouch down in front of them both, breaking their concentration and forcing them to focus on me.

  “I’m taking Conner back to my place. Are you staying with your parents, Love?”

  “Yeah, gonna stay in my old bedroom.”

  “Good. I want to see you tomorrow when you’re feeling up to it. I’ll need you to make a statement. If you think of anything else you remember or see something you don’t like, call me. Got it?”

  She nods, her gaze moving back over my shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s gone.”

  “I’m so sorry, Lo,” Conner murmurs, his guilt obvious.

  “This isn’t your fault,” she says softly, trying to give him a smile, though it looks more like a grimace.

  “Come on.” I stand and hold my hands out to Conner, who shakily grabs them, and then I help lift him to his feet.

  “I’m still not sure I should go to your house. What if they come after me there? What if you’re hurt because you’re with me?”

  “Nothing is going to happen to me or to you,” I assure him, leading him past the small crowd still gathered on one side of the police tape. Most have moved on as time passed and nothing more happened.

  I open the passenger door and help Conner get in before I carefully close the door after him. As soon as I’m in, I reverse back out onto the street.

  “Do you think I should leave Midsummer?”

  My heart drops in my chest, and I find it hard to breathe for a few painful moments.

  This is the question I’ve been dreading, because it signals what might be coming, and I don’t know how I’ll handle that eventuality.

  “I never want you to leave, Conner. But I wouldn’t hold it against you if you thought you should. I would just hope that you would be sure to come back once I have the bastards arrested.”

  “It just feels like I’m putting everyone in danger, and for what? Someone wants me to leave, and that’s easy to do.”

  “Easy, is it?”

  Conner sighs as he rests his hand over my thig
h. “Not easy in some ways, but it isn’t exactly as painful as being burned to death would be.”

  I concede he has a point.

  “You should know there is a possibility that this might have something to do with Sophie, my ex-wife.”

  “What?”

  “I haven’t spoken or heard from her in years, but someone thinks they saw her around the time of the fire. If she’s in Midsummer, then this is the first I’ve heard of it. I couldn’t find anyone else who could confirm they’ve seen her, though.”

  “Do you think she would do this?”

  I shrug. “I wouldn’t have thought so, but I don’t know who she is anymore. Probably never knew her at all, if I’m being honest.”

  “Why would she want me to leave?”

  “Even though I cannot see her ever caring about River enough to want to be a mother, maybe she has come to realize what she gave up? And what you’re coming to mean to River and me?”

  “What am I coming to mean?”

  Everything comes to mind, but I’m not ready to say that.

  “You mean a lot to us, Conner.”

  “You guys mean a lot to me, too.”

  My chest warms with his declaration.

  I sort of hate how much Conner already means to me, knowing how much it will suck if he ever decides to leave and not return, but there is no going back now. We’re in this, and we might as well keep moving forward.

  Our moment is burst when my cell phone rings. I place the call on speaker through the car stereo when I see it’s Abby.

  “Hey, Sheriff, I got some more info for you about your ex-wife.”

  “What is it?”

  “I can’t find anyone else who saw her here, but I bumped into Jenny Kilgrove, and she said she’s seen her a handful of times in Paxton.”

  “She’s in Paxton?”

  “It makes more sense that she would be staying there than here. Most people know her here, whereas most people don’t in Paxton.”

  “Okay, I can contact—”