by Nancy Mehl
“Let’s go,” Noah said to Kaely. “You look beat.”
After saying good-bye to Jason, Kaely and Noah headed for the front entrance. Before they reached the car, Kaely grabbed Noah’s coat sleeve. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to drag you into all of this.”
He stared down at her. “Friends share things like this,” he said quietly. “Maybe sometime I’ll tell you about Tracy. What I went through. What I still go through every day.” He looked deeply into her eyes. “Trust goes both ways, doesn’t it?”
His statement made Kaely’s breath catch involuntarily. He was right. She suddenly felt incredibly selfish. Was she so self-involved she had to always be the person who needed healing but was never the healer?
Noah mistook her reaction as a response to the cold. “You must be freezing,” he said. “Let’s get you warmed up.”
They got into the car. Kaely started it up while Noah turned on the heater. After a couple of minutes, welcome warm air began to flood the interior.
“Better?” Noah asked.
“Yeah. Thanks. I’m just worried about my mother. I’ve never seen her so helpless like this. It’s scary.”
“I know. I’m sorry. But if she’s anything like her daughter, she’s a fighter. Don’t give up hope.”
“I’m praying she’ll recover.” Kaely believed it was God’s will for her mother to live, but Marcie seemed to want nothing to do with God. How could Kaely encourage her to pray for help from someone she didn’t believe in?
“I’ll drop you off at the motel,” she told Noah.
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather stay at your mother’s house. With you.”
Kaely glanced over at him. “I’m okay, Noah. Really.”
He turned to meet her gaze. “Look, Kaely. We don’t know what’s going to happen to your mom. You’ve been through a lot lately. I want to be near you in case . . . in case something goes wrong.”
“In case my mom dies?” Kaely hated even saying the words. They felt like dirt in her mouth. She wanted to argue with Noah, but she realized she really didn’t want to be alone. “You’d have to sleep on the couch.”
“I’ve slept on my share of couches,” he said, laughing lightly. “It’s not a problem.”
“Okay. Thanks, Noah.” Kaely tried to concentrate on her driving. The slushy streets had refrozen. They were slick and needed her full attention. Still, her mind kept drifting. She thought about the friends she lost after her father was arrested, the agents at Quantico rejecting her because she was related to The Raggedy Man, other important friends who were gone now. Would she be forced to say good-bye to her mother as well? And what about Noah? He was getting close. Closer than anyone else ever had. Would he cause her pain too?
Kaely was relieved when she finally pulled into her mother’s driveway. “Thanks for being here, Noah,” she said because she felt she needed to. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” he said, his voice deep and husky.
They got out of the car and hurried to the front door. The wind had picked up. It felt like icy fingers were trying to grasp at her, scratching at her face. She quickly unlocked the door, and she and Noah stepped inside. As Kaely closed the door behind them, she heard a strange sound. Like someone taking a deep breath. In the next second, she realized exactly what was happening. Before she could speak, she saw fire at the back of the house, consuming the structure like a fierce, hungry animal devouring everything in its path.
thirty
Kaely cried out as the flames gained strength. She started to run toward the door when anger overtook her. She wasn’t going to let him get away with this. She turned to Noah. “I have to get something.”
“No!” Noah yelled. “We have to leave. Now.”
Although he tried to grab her, Kaely pushed him away. She closed the door to the kitchen, trying to keep the fire contained. Then she ran toward her bedroom, quickly grabbing her Go Bag and stuffing her files and notes inside. She also tore the notes off the closet door and jammed them inside the bag. Tears ran down her face as she stared at her books. She didn’t want to lose them. She wrestled some of them from the shelves and turned to leave. Smoke was starting to fill the room.
A second before she headed for the door, she thought she saw someone tall with blond hair walk past her window. Was she imagining things?
Suddenly, she was seized from behind by Noah. “You’re getting out of here right now!” he yelled. “Don’t argue with me.”
He pulled her from the room, her bag in one hand, her books in another. Noah tried to take them from her. “Leave them,” he shouted.
“I can’t.” Kaely tried to be heard over the roar of the flames that had burned through the kitchen door and were now filling the living room, but she could only croak as smoke seemed to fill her mouth and push its way through her body, trying to possess her.
They were almost to the door when Kaely lost her grip on her bag. “Noah!” She tried to scream but her voice was choked.
Noah pushed her violently toward the front door, and she fell to her knees. “Go!” he bellowed. “I’ll get the bag.” Even though she wanted to argue with him, she couldn’t find the strength to talk—or even walk. She crawled toward the doorframe, still holding on to her books. She noticed the purse she’d dropped by the door when the fire started and grabbed it. She kept trying to edge herself away from the fire, but she wasn’t moving. Her body had no strength left.
Suddenly hands grabbed her and pulled her out of the doorway and into the middle of the yard. Kaely turned over on her back, gasping for air. Sam stood over her. She pointed toward the house. “Noah,” she whispered. “Noah.”
Sam’s eyes grew large, and he ran toward the out-of-control flames. But he didn’t get there before the front of the house collapsed. With Noah still inside.
Jason woke up when someone shook him lightly. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Had something happened? He opened his eyes to find a nurse standing next to him.
“Is it my mother?” he asked, fear chasing away any remnants of sleep.
“No, she’s resting comfortably,” the nurse said. She was older and had a kind face. “We got a call. Your mother’s house is on fire.”
Jason jumped to his feet. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Panic made his chest tighten. “Thank you. I need to go.” He stumbled toward the door of the waiting room, pulling his coat on at the same time. He ran out to the parking lot before he realized he didn’t have his car. Thankfully, a taxi sat near the hospital entrance, its engine running. He hurried over to the cab, got in, and gave the driver his mother’s address.
Although it seemed as if it took forever to get there, Jason was at the scene a few minutes later. The house was still burning. It was clear to see it was fully engulfed. He started to run toward the house but was stopped by a police officer. “I’m sorry, but you can’t go any farther.”
“But that’s my house,” Jason said frantically. “Actually, it’s my mother’s house.”
The police office’s expression turned serious. “Was your mother inside?”
“No. She’s in the hospital. But my sister might have been. Please let me through!”
“Sir, I can’t let you into the fire ground.” He pointed to an ambulance across the street. “I suggest you check with them. If your sister was injured, they’ll know about it. They may even have her. One ambulance has already left for the hospital.”
“Thank you,” Jason croaked out. Was Kaely in that ambulance? Was she okay?
He stumbled toward the ambulance, slipping on the frozen sidewalks. Everything was covered with ice and snow. The streets, the ground. Even though he knew he should be careful, he kept running. Although the ambulance was across the street from his mother’s house, the heat from the fire was almost overpowering. The side of the neighbor’s house next to his mother’s was black. Thankfully, it wasn’t burning now.
He had to run aro
und three large fire trucks until he could clearly see the back of the ambulance. Jason’s heart was beating so hard he was dizzy. He felt almost possessed by fear.
He called out his sister’s name and expelled the breath he felt he’d been holding ever since the nurse woke him up at the hospital. Sitting on the edge of the ambulance was Kaely. Her face was streaked with soot, but she looked all right. Her eyes lit up when she saw him.
“Is she okay?” Jason asked the EMT who stood nearby. “I’m her brother.”
“She should be fine,” he said with a smile. “She inhaled some smoke but not enough to cause any damage. We gave her oxygen . . . until she ordered us to take it off. She’s kinda pushy.”
Jason found himself laughing with relief. He was so grateful to find Kaely unharmed, he couldn’t stop the well of joy that sprang up inside him. His previous irritation with his sister vanished like the smoke drifting up into the air above them.
“Noah was hurt,” Kaely said, her voice rough and low. “They’ve taken him to the hospital.”
“What happened?”
Tears streaked Kaely’s soot-smudged face. “I was trying to get my notes and files out of the house. And at least a few of my books.” She tried wiping her face but only smeared the soot around. “I dropped my bag and he went back for it. The front beams of the house collapsed on him.”
“Collapsed?” Jason repeated with apprehension.
“Your friend is on his way to the hospital, sir,” one of the EMTs said. “He’s got a broken arm. Some cracked ribs. A few burns. And we’re a little concerned about his breathing. He may have a punctured lung. They’ll check him out further. Hopefully, there aren’t any internal injuries. That’s something we can’t tell.”
Jason thanked the EMT. “Were you in the house when it caught on fire?” he asked Kaely.
She looked at him and coughed. “Yes,” she said, nodding. “The fire was already in the kitchen when we stepped inside the front door.”
“You risked your life for some notes . . . and your books?” Jason asked, suddenly angry. “Kaely, you could have died. And Noah was injured. . . .”
“I know, I know,” she said. “It sounds stupid, but I couldn’t let all the work I’ve done burn up. I want to catch this guy. Even more now.” She shook her head. “I realize it’s my fault Noah’s in the hospital.”
Jason wanted to chew her out. How could she do something so reckless? But when he looked at her face, he could see this wasn’t the time to chastise her. She needed his support.
Jason sat down next to her on the back of the ambulance. “It’s okay, sis. Don’t worry. I’m grateful you made it out of the house in one piece.”
“I almost didn’t,” she said. “Sam pulled me out.”
“Sam Lucas?”
When he said Sam’s name, someone came around the side of the ambulance. It was Sam. His face was also blackened by smoke.
“Sam!” Jason said. “I thought you were in the hospital.”
“Got out late this afternoon,” he said. His voice was deeper than usual. “Since I’d been resting all day, I was still up. Then when I smelled smoke, I came outside and saw the house on fire.”
“I was lying by the front door right before the house collapsed,” Kaely told Jason. “Sam pulled me out into the yard and then went in and got Noah.”
“I didn’t want to move him,” Sam said, “but I didn’t have a choice. Hopefully I didn’t cause any damage.”
“Sounds like you saved his life,” Jason said. “And Kaely’s. Thank you, Sam. I’m so glad you were around.”
Sam took a ragged breath. “I couldn’t believe she would put herself in danger for a few books, but it was clear she wasn’t going without them.” He smiled at Kaely. “This woman is incredibly stubborn.”
“I know,” Jason said. “I’m just praying that someday it doesn’t get her killed.”
He watches, congratulating himself that he’d timed everything just right. Waiting until the profiler was inside. She saw him through the window. Perfect.
As usual, neighbors spill out onto their lawns. He loves to observe them. It’s like being in a band and enjoying the applause of the audience after you play your song. Although he hadn’t thought about it quite this way before, he realizes that fire is his composition. His opus.
He feels excitement rise in him as the fire reaches up into the sky. When he hears the distant sounds of sirens, he moves. It’s time to present his final oeuvre. Kaely Quinn has no idea how important she has become to him. To his creation. Although she believes she can bring his song to an end, instead she will raise the baton for his finale. Her presence has only added to his pleasure.
He laughs. Even though he appreciates her part in his masterpiece, when his song is finished, the last stanza will include the death of Kaely Quinn.
thirty-one
Kaely stood over Noah’s bed. His arm was in a sling, and his chest was bound tightly with bandages. She’d tried to get to the hospital as quickly as she could, but Tuck had insisted she stay behind until he could interview her about the fire. She decided not to tell him that she thought she’d seen someone out of the window. She honestly wasn’t certain her imagination hadn’t been playing tricks on her.
Once he was done, Kaely raced to Noah’s side, but when she arrived he was in surgery to repair his shattered arm. The doctors had also inserted a chest tube to help his punctured lung. Thankfully, the surgeon assured her Noah would recover completely. This was the second time Kaely had been forced to visit him in a hospital. He’d been shot by a deranged killer a few months earlier, but the bullet had hit his bulletproof vest, which had protected his life. He’d escaped death and serious injury twice since becoming her partner. Kaely didn’t want to chance a third time.
Noah wouldn’t be able to return to work for a while, and physical therapy was certainly in his future. His left arm was the one that was broken, but thankfully Noah was right-handed. She’d called Solomon to let him know what was going on. He’d made her promise to keep him updated.
Noah mumbled something nonsensical and went back to sleep. Kaely sat down in the same chair where she’d spent the last several hours. She’d tried to nap when she could. She glanced at her watch. Almost eleven in the morning.
She and Jason had been able to grab breakfast before their mother woke up around nine. They’d gone in together to tell her about the house. To Kaely’s surprise, her mother seemed to take it pretty well, even telling Kaely she was grateful she’d made it out okay. Kaely figured at some point Marcie would figure out that the arsonist had been after her daughter and blame the loss of her house on Kaely’s insistence on investigating the fires. But at least for today, there weren’t any recriminations. Kaely was thankful for small favors.
After coming out of surgery, Noah had been given a morphine pump. He could give himself a dose when he felt he needed it. Every time Kaely thought they might get a moment to talk, he’d push the morphine button and drift away again. Kaely had to question the wisdom behind giving drugged-up patients the ability to medicate themselves. Didn’t make much sense to her.
The door to Noah’s room opened, and Kaely looked up to see SSA Turner standing there. The last person she expected to see.
“I heard about Agent Hunter. How is he doing?”
“He’s going to be okay,” Kaely said, wondering why he was here. Did he come to inform them he was filing a formal complaint? Was her career on the line? If he was there for some kind of confrontation, Kaely didn’t have the strength to do battle.
Turner slowly walked over to a chair next to hers and sat down. After not saying anything for a long moment, he finally spoke. “I wanted to talk to you. I called your cell phone, but you didn’t answer.”
“Sorry. I turned it off. Don’t like it going off in certain places. Like hospitals.”
He nodded. “That’s when I called Josh Brotton. He told me what happened.”
Kaely frowned at him. “You know Sheriff Brotton?”
“I used to be on the police force here. I met Josh a little while before I went to the Bureau, back when he was a deputy.”
“Why are you here, sir?”
“You were right about Frank Navarro. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” He spat out the words as though he wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible. “Frank and I met at Quantico. He was more than an agent who worked for me. He was a friend. In all the time we worked together, I never saw any reason to suspect he was dirty.” Turner paused and cleared his throat. He was clearly emotional, and he looked tired and defeated. Kaely felt compassion well up inside of her.
“People wear masks, sir,” she said. “I’ve learned that almost everyone has a price. They may not start out with the intention of being disloyal. Human beings are just that—human. That makes them fallible and, many times, untrustworthy.”
“They still shouldn’t be part of the Bureau.”
Kaely studied him for a moment. “Do you have children?”
He frowned at her question. “Yeah. Two kids. Why?”
“If one of your children was dying from a terrible disease and the only treatment cost more money than you had, would you cut a deal with the devil to save him?” Although Turner didn’t say anything, Kaely saw the answer in his eyes.
“But Frank doesn’t have any kids. Seems he sold his soul just for the cash. Nothing noble about that.”
“No, there’s not. But whatever his reason, it made sense to him. And it wasn’t anything against you personally.”
Turner’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, it feels personal. Why are you defending him?”
Kaely leaned back in her chair, trying to ignore how weary she felt. “I’m not. I’m just trying to give you a way to understand your friend and maybe someday forgive him. If you don’t, it could torture you. Make you weaker. Believe me, I know. You need to be your best. Not just for the Bureau, but also for your wife and those kids. Do you understand?”