She was breathing heavily and looked into his eyes, trying to silently say the hundreds of conflicting thoughts bouncing through her mind. And then she finally said the one thing she should’ve kept to herself. “I love you,” she whispered.
Instead of seeing shock or confusion in his eyes like she expected, he whispered back, “I love you.” And then he was turning and walking back to the crowd of rescue workers gathered behind the fire truck.
Trying to deal with one more unbelievable event, Gabby walked over to Kate and recommended they go home. Kate didn’t have her car because she was driven here right from the jail, but Gabby took her to Hunter’s car, which had the keys inside. She’d thought it was stupid for him to keep his car unguarded, but she supposed in his line of work a quick getaway was more important than making sure your car wasn’t stolen. Considering Hunter was probably more than capable of stealing a car, transportation probably wasn’t a huge problem.
Gabby was going to drive, but her hands were still trembling, so Kate wisely took the key and drove the short distance to her own home. Kate’s house was a small ranch. There was a cute little stone porch, and the front of the house was filled with well-manicured bushes and a picturesque garden that Kate had absolutely nothing to do with. She prided herself on the cute appearance of her home but had a reputation for killing every plant she touched. Luckily her landscape service could take care of all of that for her. The back of the house had a newer chain-link fence set up for the dog that Kate always talked about getting, but never did.
“So.... You and Hunter seem to be getting along well.”
Gabby let out a laugh and shook her head as she got out. “We almost died tonight, but you’re still interested in my love life?”
“Yeah, well, it seems better than everything else we have to talk about. There deserves to be at least one happy ending in here, right?”
Happy ending. That was a joke. “Hunter’s leaving as soon as this mess is taken care of. I don’t see any possible ending being happy there.”
“Well, he doesn’t have to leave. Obviously he likes you.”
“He loves me,” said Gabby softly, as though not even believing her own words.
“He what?”
“I mean, he said he did.”
“What brought out this profession?”
“Well, I said it first. I mean, he said it first, but I was being thrown out of the window. But I said it second and he said it again and—”
“Okay,” said Kate. “You really need to work on your communication skills here. Start from the beginning.” She opened the door to her home, using a spare key she kept under her mat.
Gabby tried to think of a logical way to explain all that happened between her and Hunter, but somehow logic didn’t apply when it came to him. “I don’t know. We’ve been spending a lot of time together, and a lot of old things have come up between us. When he’s around, I can’t think about the future. All I see is him and I get carried away, I guess.”
“Sounds like you got him carried away too. Why on earth can’t there be a happy ending between you two?”
Gabby shook her head. “Well, look at me. I’m a small-town florist who’s barely ever traveled out of Michigan, let alone the country. I felt adrenaline more times in the past week than I have in my entire life, and it’s exhausting. It’s terrifying. Hunter lives for this. It’s what he does for a living. What kind of future is there for us? If he moves here, the biggest adrenaline rush he’ll experience will be when he has to chase the geese off our yard before they poop too much. What am I supposed to do? Go with him? I can’t be a florist who travels around all the time. What kind of florist-related job can I get that allows me to work at home? So I’ll be sitting there, jobless, and getting taken care of by my man while he goes out and risks his life for all these random people I don’t even know. He risked his life to save you tonight, and I was upset about it. What kind of person does it make me if I’d rather you die, so I can still have my man? I mean, I don’t want you to die but—”
Kate rolled her eyes. “I understand. Love makes people crazy. And a little homicidal.”
Kate laughed at her own joke, but Gabby couldn’t help but defend herself. “I’m not homicidal. I’m just saying—”
“I understand. I do. I’ve been stupid in love before. I mean, not the way you are, but one day I hope to love somebody so much that I wouldn’t mind if you die.”
“I would mind!”
Kate waved her hand, obviously done with that subject. “Gabby, I’m happy for you. I’m unbelievably happy for you. I don’t want you to be defeatist about this. If you love this guy, and he loves you, don’t let that go because you’re too afraid to try for something more.”
“I’m not afraid—”
“You are afraid. You’re afraid that you’ll try and fail. You’re trying to stop it before you’ve even begun just so you don’t get hurt. And honestly, that sounds idiotic to me. You both love each other. If you try and fail, you fail. But it will be because the relationship wasn’t working, and not because one of you was too afraid to take the steps.”
Gabby ran her fingers through her hair and tried to focus her thoughts. “I’m really tired. Do we have to talk about this?”
Kate tilted her head and glared at Gabby. “The only reason you don’t want to talk about this is because you know I’m right.”
“I know you’re right far more often than I want you to be,” murmured Gabby.
Kate smiled. “You know it.” She locked the front door and went around closing all of the curtains, as though she knew Gabby was paranoid. “Why don’t you go to the bathroom and get freshened up?” said Kate. “I’m gonna grab you some clothes and make up the couch. Sorry it’s not a foldout or anything, but....”
“Are you kidding? I appreciate you even having me here. I’d sleep on the floor if I had to.”
“Floor? Please. You know I’d share my bed with you. I might not let you get frisky with me, but who can complain about a little extra warmth, right?”
Gabby smiled at her friend, thinking how lucky she was to have Kate in her life.
When Gabby walked to the bathroom and turned on the light, she had to hold back a gasp at her appearance. There were streaks of dirt across one side of her face, and her hair was a ball of knots. Probably from how much she was messing with it due to nerves. She quickly wiped off the dirt and used her fingers to work on her hair, but it was no use. She spotted a brush on the bathroom counter and used that instead, hoping Kate wouldn’t mind. When all this was done, she had to buy Kate a really nice dinner. Maybe ten really nice dinners. And lots of wine to go with those dinners. She hoped that she never failed to pay Kate back. Not just because she had to take the blame, but because she hadn’t seemed upset with Gabby at all, even though it was all her fault.
As soon as she looked okay, she walked out of the bathroom and found Kate tucking a sheet into the couch cushions and laying a big fluffy blanket over the top. “I hope this is good enough. I should have more blankets—”
“Do I have to bring up the floor again?” asked Gabby.
“No, no, no. I know you’re easy to please. I guess I just try too hard.”
“Isn’t trying too hard one of the BS excuses you give when you’re being interviewed and they ask you what your biggest weakness is? In my eyes, it’s a good attribute.”
“I believe when they asked me what my biggest weakness was when I interviewed at the office, I replied that I’m too nice.”
“You didn’t.”
“Oh yes, I did. They deserve to know how nice I am, Gabby. It’s only fair.”
“That reminds me, I was at your office the other day. I was asking around, to see if anybody knew anything about what happened to you and me.”
“You think someone at my office would have something to do with this?”
“I think it’s related to Hunter being here. You told me that you mentioned it to a few people.”
Kate sighed. �
��I can’t believe I did that. It seemed so innocent at the time.”
“It was innocent. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have told people. At least nothing that we would’ve known about. You know I’m not upset with you, right?”
“Well, that makes one of us. I don’t know why you’d question the whole office though. I only told one of the receptionists and Hot Realtor.”
“I didn’t see anyone that attractive when I was there,” admitted Gabby.
“Oh, you’d know Hot Realtor if you saw him. He’s kind of got the silver fox thing going on—amazing cheekbones, eyes that look like they know everything. I can’t even handle it when I see him.”
“Well, one day you’ll have to point him out when he’s around. I would love to know what I’m missing out on.”
Kate reached down and pulled her cell phone out of her bathrobe. “Oh, I can show you a picture.”
“You grabbed your cell phone before you ran from the fire?”
“Trust me, being in jail without your phone makes you appreciate having that phone.”
“You were in jail for three days.”
“That’s a long time to go without checking Facebook. Hold on... I look terrible in this picture, so I didn’t really want to show you, but I figure we’ve been through enough now.”
“Just a little,” muttered Gabby.
“Here it is!” Kate frantically waved Gabby over. “It’s like, the worst lighting ever and he still looks amazeballs. I can’t even handle this.”
Gabby pushed in close to Kate so she could see. Her entire world fell away as she recognized the silver fox photo. “Oh my God.”
Hunter was still talking to the firefighters when the new car pulled up the driveway. He fell quiet as he studied the car. It wasn’t a cop car. Maybe the city coming to check out the damage? Nah. They wouldn’t send someone out in the wee hours of the morning.
However, when the driver stepped out, he recognized Hart immediately. “Hey man, I’ll be right back,” he said to the firefighter, Alex, who he’d been talking to for the better part of half an hour. The fire was mostly contained by now, so a few of the guys were hanging back while the last embers were getting taken care of. The best way to get secretive information from someone was pretending to be their friend. Anyway, by now, Hunter knew the guy’s entire family structure, how many times he’d failed the firefighter exam, and that the fire was definitely arson, mostly likely started by gasoline.
But if Hart had left Toni’s side at the hospital to come here, that probably meant something important had happened.
Hunter walked over the lawn now filled with cars and trucks and footprints, some parts saturated with water thanks to the excess firehose runoff that hadn’t made it to the house. “What’s wrong?” asked Hunter as soon as he was in earshot of Hart.
Hart, however, waited until he was closer to reply. “Toni figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”
“Who tried to kill Gabby.”
Hunter raised a brow. “You figured this out at the hospital?”
“You know Toni doesn’t go anywhere without her laptop. You think being in the emergency room is going to keep her from working?”
“What did she find out then?”
Hart looked over Hunter’s shoulder and grimaced at the ugly remainder of the once beautiful building. He was stalling and that was never a good sign.
“What’s going on?” asked Hunter again.
“Like I said, Toni thought she traced the origin of the email address that threatened the judge. Well, she found the IP address where the email address was created. It was Woodland Center Correctional Facility.”
Hunter thought about that for a moment. “Not the same prison—”
“Yeah, the same prison Mason Cooper was at.”
Hunter nodded, a multitude of thoughts coming to him. “Did he have friends there?”
“Not a friend willing to kill someone ten years later.”
“Then it’s him then? You think Mason survived?”
“The man came after Gabby when she talked to you, right? Who would get the most pissed off to see the two of you together?”
“All this time we’ve been looking for associates of Mason.”
“But we never considered that he was still alive. He had so many shady connections. How hard would it really be to fake his death in the system?”
“For a normal person, it would be hard.”
“It wouldn’t be for us,” pointed out Hart. “All we have to do is know the right people. I’d bet my ass that Mason knew the right people. So he’s back in town, doing God knows what, and then he sees his daughter, the same one who helped put him behind bars, hanging around your sorry ass. Boom. You’ve got a pissed-off homicidal daddy.”
“Here to kill his former associates and daughter.”
Hunter turned to look back at the house. The entire thing had been horrible, but knowing it was an attempt of a father to kill his daughter.... “We don’t know it was him,” said Hunter unconvincingly.
“We’ve suspected Mason was involved with this from day one. The idea that it’s actually him makes sense.”
“It makes no sense and you know it.”
“To you, anyone trying to kill Gabby makes no sense. Get to her. I think it should be you who breaks the news.”
Hunter shook his head. “No. She’s not going to believe me.”
“She might not believe you, but she needs someone close to her. Someone she loves.”
“How do you— Never mind. Don’t answer that. They confirmed it’s arson here. Probably gasoline, but it’s still dark and everything is wet so they won’t know more until later.”
“You did good here, Hunter. Go to your girl and keep her safe, okay?”
“Are you going back to Toni?”
“It wouldn’t be fair to leave her there alone. The poor hospital wouldn’t be able to handle her.”
Hunter knew his boss was making a joke, but it was hard to laugh at anything right now. As much as he wanted to reach Gabby by any means necessary, he also didn’t want to be the one to break this news. But he’d rather break her heart than get there too late.
Gabby couldn’t stop staring at the very clear image of her father. But it wasn’t the father she knew. The man who had raised her was a bubbly man with a beard and beer gut. Whatever had happened to him over the years, he’d lost the beard and the weight. Now there was a sharp-looking older man with salt-and-pepper hair styled to perfection, clear-cut cheekbones, and the wrinkles around his smile looked more charming than aging.
But those eyes.... Gabby would recognize them anywhere. “I don’t understand. He was working right across the street. How could I have not known this?” She raked her mind for every detail Kate had mentioned about Hot Realtor. Gabby had always laughed and never looked too much into the idea of the mysterious attractive man. Her father.... Of course the thought would’ve never occurred to her. Mason Cooper wasn’t hot. He was her dad, and as far as she knew, he’d been dead for years. Now everything she thought she knew was somehow out the window.
When was the first time Kate had mentioned him? A few months ago, but she didn’t think it was a year. It would be easy enough for a real estate agent to go mostly unnoticed. It wasn’t a normal job. He could get in and out of most of the vacant houses in the area, so he probably didn’t even have to buy or rent a place.
And he was working right across the street from her.... That couldn’t be a coincidence. And the fact that Kate went to jail made so much more sense. The one person who knew him and her. The one person who would help her connect the dots. Damn it.
Gabby’s breaths came faster and faster as the situation became more and more clear. Son of a bitch. How long had he been watching her? How long had he been looking into her?
Then she remembered Judge Cooke.
This wasn’t just about her. He was back in town and cleaning up all of his old problems. Damn it. She ran for the phone in Kate�
�s kitchen and picked it up, dialing 9-1-1 immediately. But there was no sound on the other end. She hung up the phone a few times but there was no dial tone. “Kate!” she called.
“Once again, I had no idea—”
“Did you finally cancel your landline?” demanded Gabby.
“Of course not. How else would I harass telemarketers?”
Gabby walked past Kate and shoved the phone into her chest. “It’s not working,” she snapped as she went back to the front door to make sure it was locked. She’d no sooner verified the deadbolt was in place when someone knocked on the door. Gabby jumped at the noise and stared at the door as though it was about to turn into a monster and bite her. She slowly approached the peephole when someone knocked again. She managed to keep from jumping this time, but she still flinched.
Trying to control her breaths and keep as silent as possible, Gabby pressed her forehead against the door and saw her father staring back at her.
“Kate!” he called. “Are you okay? I heard about the fire and saw a car in the driveway.”
Gabby squeezed her eyes shut and the motion squeezed out tears that rolled down her cheeks. No. This couldn’t be— How could it be.... Just, no.
“Go away!” yelled Kate from behind her.
Gabby jumped around, eyes wide as she shook her head back and forth. “No!” she mouthed as fiercely as possible. If her dad had thought no one was here, maybe he would’ve just left. But now....
“Kate, what’s wrong? I just want to check on you.”
Gabby mouthed carefully, “Don’t tell him we know,” and hoped like hell that Kate understood the silent words.
Kate’s mouth tightened as she seemed to think over her response. “I’m sorry, Mason. I’m just really tired and need sleep. I’ll see you back at the office.”
Mason? Had he even bothered to change his name? What an egotistical—
The Deadly Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 7) Page 13