by Natalie Ann
He wasn’t hurt. Not at all.
Then why the hell was he lying to himself?
His Job
“Grab your keys and let’s go.”
Ian looked up at Gary but did as he was instructed.
“What’s going on?”
“Security company just called. They’ve tracked Cam’s keycard via GPS. It’s at the Arrows’ house right now.”
“Shit,” he said. “Did you get a warrant?”
“In my hand. That’s what I was waiting for. The judge was more than willing to sign once I told him about the keycard.”
He wanted to call Cam and tell her but didn’t. After yesterday, he hadn’t done much more than text her before he went to bed to make sure she was fine and in for the night. Her response of my bodyguards won’t let anything happen was enough for him to know she needed more space. And so did he.
They pulled into the Arrows’ estate. The gates were open, which surprised him, thinking they’d be shut trying to keep out the news outlets. Though things had quieted down, they hadn’t stopped completely.
The Arrows had vowed to fight this in court, to get their son transferred out of prison and into a mental health facility.
Ian followed Gary up the stairs to the front door and waited for someone to answer after the doorbell had been rung. A maid came to the door. “Can I help you?”
Gary had his badge out. “Albany Police Department. We’ve got a warrant to search the premises.”
They pushed by the shocked maid’s face. “You can’t do that,” she argued.
“I can and I did. Get your employers down here if you wish, or on the phone, but no one is to stop us.”
“What is going on?” Priscilla asked from the top of the stairs. She looked a mess. Her hair was pulled back, she was in what probably passed as a sweatsuit in most people’s eyes, but was more like fancy pajamas. There wasn’t a lick of makeup on her face and her eyes were red and swollen.
“We traced Dr. Mason’s missing keycard back to your property. We’ve got a search warrant to find it.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, crossing her arms as she came down the stairs. She was putting on a good front, but there were nerves behind her eyes.
“I’m sure you were fully aware that her office building had been set on fire. Dr. Mason was trapped inside at the time. Someone had taken her keycard, locking her in.”
“There was no word of that on the news. How would I even know?” She stopped talking and turned to the maid. “Get my lawyer on the phone now.” The maid ran out of the room to do as she was told.
“Your family has motive.”
“For what?” Priscilla asked.
“To silence the doctor from giving her testimony,” Gary said.
Priscilla snorted. “It seems to me her testimony wasn’t needed. David did a good enough job of destroying his own case.”
“Show us where the card is,” Ian said, getting impatient and opening and closing drawers, moving pictures out of the way.
“I’m not saying another word until my lawyer gets here.”
Ian and Gary made their way through the house opening drawers and cabinets, picking up and turning everything over, leaving nothing overlooked. They went into Simon’s office where the drawers were locked. “Where are the keys?”
Priscilla stood there with her arms crossed not saying a word. It didn’t stop Ian from doing the same in the office that he’d been doing all over the downstairs, going over the shelves and picking everything up he could.
“Now just a damn minute,” Simon Arrow said, rushing through the door thirty minutes later with his attorney. “You’ve got no right to be here. Haven’t you done enough?”
“This warrant says we’ve got the right,” Gary said, handing it over to the lawyer then explaining what they were looking for.
“Why the hell would I have any keycard and how would I even get my hands on it?” Simon asked. “You’re accusing me of arson? I wasn’t even in town that day.”
“You can give us your alibi downtown. Make it easier on us and tell us where the card is. GPS is showing it in this house.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Simon argued.
Ian looked over and saw Priscilla crying, then pulling the attorney over to talk.
“Gentlemen,” the attorney said. “If you please.”
Ian and Gary watched while Priscilla hit a button hidden under a shelf, sliding it out of the way, then pulled out a box. She flipped the lid and removed the card. “I picked it up when Dr. Mason dropped her purse the other day. I don’t know why. I just did it. I haven’t used it for anything. I swear.”
“You can make your statement downtown,” Ian said, pulling his cuffs out.
“Is that really necessary?” Simon asked, storming forward, only to have his attorney put his hand out.
“We’ll go with you voluntarily, but the cuffs can stay off,” the attorney stated.
Ian looked at Gary and Simon during the face off. He wanted the satisfaction of cuffing her but wasn’t surprised when Gary said, “Fine, but she rides with us.”
Priscilla started to cry. “I didn’t do anything. I just took her keycard. Where is that a crime?”
“Don’t say a word in the car,” their attorney advised.
On the drive back to the station, Ian couldn’t help but think this didn’t feel right.
***
“I don’t understand,” Cam said a few hours later when Ian came to see her. “Why did you let her go?”
“She has motive and she had the card, but we can’t put her at the scene.”
“What was her reason for taking it to begin with?”
Cam couldn’t believe it. She remembered clearly when it happened now. That stupid purse that always had stuff falling out of it. Her keycard must have been one of those things and because it was white and the tile floors were white, it didn’t stand out. She never even saw Priscilla snatch it up.
“She said it was an impulse. She had no idea what she was going to do with it. What she could do with it. She was thinking of telling Simon she had it and hoped maybe he’d have an idea.”
“What was Simon’s response to all of this?” she asked.
“He denied having any knowledge. She concurred. They could both be lying, but there isn’t enough evidence to prove it.”
“Why give the card over if they were guilty?”
“They knew we knew it was in the house. They probably figured if they handed it over it would show they were cooperating.”
“Which they have been,” Cam said. She wouldn’t be surprised if Priscilla did it. That she might have hired someone to set the building on fire or to do all the other things.
Priscilla had been the one taking David to all the specialists over the years. Priscilla had been the one fighting the hardest to prove her son was innocent.
But would she really be able to hire someone to do all those things, because there was no way she did them herself. Though she didn’t have an alibi for the day of the fire, she did have one the day Cam’s tires were slashed and the day the rock was thrown through the window.
“Right now it’s the best lead we’ve got,” Ian said.
He wasn’t being as friendly with her. Not as warm either. Just professional. Just doing his job.
She was his job now.
She’d hurt him yesterday, she knew, but she was only trying to protect herself. She was telling herself that falling for someone in the middle of a crisis like this was just stupid. She was trying not to be stupid in her life anymore.
She hadn’t told her parents for the reasons she’d said, but also because she was trying to keep everything under control. She’d had no intention of falling for Ian, but somehow what she hadn’t intended happened nevertheless.
What she felt for him was about more than him saving her. She knew that. She was smart enough to realize it. But she wasn’t about to open herself up to anything withou
t knowing how he felt.
All she knew was he was attracted to her and he wanted her. She’d been there and done that in her past and it wasn’t all she wanted out of a man in her life now.
He felt honor bound to protect her.
She wanted more, but she wasn’t going to ask. She wasn’t going to talk about it. Not now. Not until this was over with. And when it was over, she’d stress about him leaving her life for good.
Until then, she was letting as few people as possible know about her “relationship” with Ian.
It’d be easy for him to tell everyone at the station he’d been undercover. They’d probably all laugh and say they should have known. That the two of them could never be a couple in the real world. Guys like him didn’t go for prim and proper women like her.
Rough and tough guys found her to be a challenge or someone they could say they conquered. She wasn’t stupid enough to lead with her heart without the facts now. Yet in the back of her mind she was remembering he wasn’t so rough, but rather tender.
She was so confused when she often wasn’t.
All she really knew was when it ended, she just wanted to move on and not explain or justify, because she wouldn’t be able to do it without a lot of control. It would just hurt too much.
“So now what?” she asked. She could be professional too.
“We continue on like we were.”
“Are you going to be at my house tonight?” she asked.
“Probably not. I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said, looking away. “We’ll keep the detail on your house though.”
“That’s fine,” she said. “Now I need to get back to work. I’m sure you do too.”
She walked out with him, then gave him a quick kiss on the lips because Tiffany was there and Tiffany was watching and they still needed to pretend.
Only she stopped pretending a long time ago. Now the kiss felt more like goodbye than I’ll see you later.
Make Believe World
Cam was missing Ian from her bed. How did she get so attached to him being in it?
When did she start to think it could have been more? That she wanted more?
She needed to rationalize things now so she could understand better. So she could cope.
Before they’d first started taking each other’s clothes off on her couch, that was for sure a time when she’d felt more. She wouldn’t regret that or all the times they’d been together after.
It wasn’t really when he first met her that she felt more. No, it was probably when he took care of her when the snake was delivered. Had to be that. Big rough Ian Price stepping up and calming her, taking charge and letting her know he had it under control.
Or not those times. And there was no reason to find that exact time because it didn’t matter.
What mattered now was that she needed to distance herself because she realized she’d been a fool to think they could have more.
They had nothing in common and never would. There was no way to make a relationship work and she was stupid to think otherwise.
He’d go back to his world of chasing bad guys and she’d go back to hers of trying to make people feel better.
Polar opposites. That was them.
She sent him her final text for the night that she was turning in and would talk to him in the morning. He replied back quickly, so she shut her light off and wondered if he was lying in bed thinking of her.
If he was missing her as much as she was missing him.
Then she told herself to stop fantasizing or wishing for something that could never be. That could never work out. She didn’t belong in his world as much as he didn’t belong in hers.
How many times had they’d run into people he knew who joked and laughed over their relationship?
How many times did she avoid going places where people she knew could see them together?
Subconsciously, she’d been trying to hide it all along. Not because she was embarrassed, which she knew he’d thought. He hadn’t said it, but she’d seen it in his eyes and pretended she didn’t. Just like this whole thing had been a make-believe world they were living in.
She hadn’t been embarrassed. She’d been scared. She was learning to rely on him too much and she needed to stop that.
She sighed deeply and tried to get comfortable, hoping to fall asleep at some point.
She must have because suddenly she was sitting up straight when she heard a crash and her alarms started to go off.
Then she panicked, but grabbed her phone and was going to run out the door. But what if whoever was in her house was coming up the stairs for her? She was trapped again. Where would she go? What would she do? Should she try to jump out the window?
Just as she was ready to lock herself in her closet again and call Ian, she smelled smoke. Not again. This couldn’t be happening.
She opened her door and the smoke was filling up her stairs. When she started to move toward it, she realized her kitchen was on fire. Flames crawling up the walls that she could see from the balcony above, her curtains burning like a wildfire in drought-infested California.
The heat was making her sweat, the smoke causing her to cough. Her phone slipped from her hand and she didn’t bother to look for it. She got as close to the ground as she could, crawling around like she remembered being taught so long ago.
The fire was moving toward her stairs now and she knew she’d have to jump over it to get out. She had to get to the front door, it was the only way. The back was blocked. The back where the kitchen was.
She didn’t think it was possible for a fire to move this fast, but it seemed like everything was flashing in front of her. The more she coughed the more she sucked in smoke and knew she had to move.
With one last little prayer, she stood up and ran, jumped the last few stairs, feeling flames on her bare feet but pushing on and yanking the front door open, then collapsed on the lawn, gasping for air as her neighbors all rushed to her side.
The patrol car that was assigned to her neighborhood came to a screeching halt, and an officer ran toward her, pushing everyone back. At least she wasn’t alone. That was her last thought before she passed out.
***
Ian was breaking speed records on his way to Cam’s the minute his phone went off that her alarms had been tripped. He tried calling her, but she wasn’t answering, raising his anxiety to skyscraper heights.
When he turned the corner and saw the fire trucks, he hit the gas hard, only to be passed by an ambulance speeding out of the neighborhood. Going with his gut, he turned around and followed it to the hospital.
He never should have left her alone.
He never should have let his personal feelings influence his decisions.
He never should have fallen in love with her.
Now she was hurt. Burned? Was she even alive?
Would he be able to tell her how he felt?
He jumped out of his vehicle the minute the ambulance stopped and ran to the back where they opened the doors and were rushing Cam in. There was an oxygen mask on her face, she was covered in black soot, and her hands and feet had bandages on them.
“How is she?” he yelled to the paramedics.
“Second- and third-degree burns on her hands and feet. She’s awake and alert, but needs to be treated for smoke inhalation and her burns taken care of.”
They were rushing her down the hall with him running next to them. Then he was shut out and there was nothing he could do but wait.
Two hours seemed like two years while he paced around the waiting room for any word. He called Gary, not caring that he got him out of bed. Now Gary was here, being told Cam’s parents were notified and on their way.
What would he say to them? How could he explain that he didn’t do his job? That he failed her.
The doctor came out. “Ian Price? Detective Price?”
“That’s me,” he said, rushing forward. “How is she? Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s lucky.
Quick thinking for sure. Definitely courageous. A lot of people see fire in their way and panic. She jumped over it. Her feet suffered third-degree burns in some spots, but she’ll be fine. Her hands suffered some burns too, but like I said, she’ll heal. We’ve got her on oxygen as she inhaled a lot of smoke, but she’s lucky to be alive.”
No thanks to him. “Can I go see her now?”
“She’s asking for you. Follow me.”
When the curtain was pulled aside he saw her there with an oxygen mask still on her face and tears in her eyes. “Hey,” he said, walking closer. He wanted to hold her hand but didn’t want to touch her, afraid of causing her more pain.
She started to move her head around, then lifted her hand and nudged the mask away to speak. “Don’t cry. I’m going to be fine,” she rasped out.
He had no clue there were tears in his eyes, but he started to feel them fall down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I should have been there with you.”
“Then you’d be here in bed next to me. Just get the bastard that did this. You can’t do that if you’re hurt too.”
What a woman. She wasn’t crying over what had happened to her. She was fighting. She was fighting back and she wanted him to fight for her.
“I will. You’ve got my word.”
He brought his hand up to put the mask back in place when she started to cough. She was shaking her head for him not to, but he didn’t want her to talk right now. There would be time for that later.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep while he sat there next to her. When her parents came rushing in, he left the room, then left the hospital. He had someone to catch.
Find on the Internet
The fire had been extinguished as Ian looked over Cam’s house. The first floor was all but destroyed, the upstairs suffering a ton of water damage. The house was probably a complete loss, but she was alive and that was all that mattered.