“Grab Celia! We have to go.”
Alicia looked like she was in shock. “What was that?”
“I don’t know yet, but I do know that we need to get out of here. Grab the baby and what she might need for at least a couple of hours.” Slowly, like a person in shock, she picked up a diaper bag and began stuffing things into it. I could hear voices and yelling from downstairs, and my patience was thinning as I watched her move like a zombie. “We have to go now, Alicia.”
I reached in and plucked the baby out of the crib. Holding her in one arm like a football, I hooked my other arm around Alicia’s waist and pulled her toward the door, propelling her toward the stairs with the baby bag slung over her shoulder. As we descended, the sounds of the chaos seemed to actually calm the baby. She’d stopped screaming and now was simply whining and hiding her little face in my chest. I just prayed she wouldn’t begin wailing again until Alicia snapped out of whatever was going on with her.
We met one of the security staff coming up the stairs just before we hit the bottom. “Is there anyone else up there?” he asked.
“I have no idea. What happened?”
“There was an explosion in the garage.”
Alicia made a little whimpering noise and asked him, “Charles?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Are Matt and Julia accounted for?” I asked him.
“Yes, they’re being taken to the pool house by my partner. The housekeeper and cook as well. Vince wanted everyone out of the house before it became filled with smoke.”
“Has 9-1-1 been called?”
“Yes, sir. Vince called them.”
“Good. Will you take Alicia and Celia out there, too? I’ll double check the top story to make sure no one else is up there.”
“Of course.”
I looked at Alicia. “Are you going to be okay?”
She nodded slowly and took the baby out of my arms. With wide eyes she asked me, “Where are you going?”
“I need to find out what’s going on out there. Stay with everyone, okay? Don’t leave.”
“What about Celia’s breakfast?”
“Alicia, listen to me. I will be back as soon as I can. Breakfast can wait.” She nodded again, and I watched them go before running upstairs to make sure everyone was out of the house.
********
After making sure the whole house was empty, I found Vince, standing about six feet away from the fiery ball that used to be a three-car garage. The side of the house attached to it was already fully encased in fire, and the groundskeeper and some of the security staff were hosing it down. Vince had a look of disbelief on his face, and I realized as I got closer that he was holding his hands out, palms up. They were obviously burnt and beginning to blister.
He looked at me before I could ask any questions and said, “My man watching the security cams said Charles went in about two minutes before it blew. I couldn’t get inside.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. The pain in his hands had to be excruciating, but I knew from personal experience that his mind wasn’t on his own pain at that moment.
“Do we know what happened?”
He shook his head. “My guess would be that either the garage was wired, or it was in the car. I do know that no one has been on the grounds.” After the last breach, perimeter alarms were installed and set to pick up motion on the property. Unfortunately, two squirrels and a rabbit had already set them off, but at least we knew they worked and they were loud. “Maybe they got to the car yesterday when it was parked in the garage at Mr. Branson’s office. I’ll have the security footage pulled from there.”
The sounds of sirens at a distance began to float toward us then, and Vince’s radio crackled to life. “Sir, did you give permission for someone to head this way in one of the golf carts?” The property was so large that the staff often used a small fleet of golf carts the family owned to get around.
“Hell no! There should be no movement on or off of these grounds except for emergency services!”
“I’ll take care of it, sir. I won’t let anyone off the grounds.”
“I want to know who it is and what they think they’re doing,” Vince demanded. He looked like on top of the burns on his hands that he may be nursing a migraine as well.
“Yes, sir.”
The radio went silent and I told Vince, “I’ll make sure everyone at the pool house is accounted for.”
He nodded. “Thanks.”
“Have EMS look at that.” He looked down at his hands, and I saw him wince. When I was in Kuwait, three of my teammates had been killed in a chopper explosion. While trying to get them out, I’d sustained burns similar to his on my hands. It was all scar tissue now, but when I looked at them and let myself think of the horror those men endured, they still hurt.
The gates to the back were still locked so I showed my I.D. to the young officer at the door of the mansion and went through the house to the pool house out back. I took the gun out of my boot and tucked it into my waistband where I’d have easier access to it if I needed to. When I got to the door, I knocked and called out to Jim, the officer inside with the family. “It’s Ryder, Jim!”
The door cracked open, and I saw the gun before I saw Jim. He stepped back and motioned me inside. The pool house was three rooms. The one I entered into was like a huge, round sitting room and furnished almost as nicely as the rooms inside the house. There was also a small kitchen and a bedroom that was almost as large as the living area. The bathroom was attached to that. Matt was pacing back and forth, bouncing a fussy Celia up and down. Julia sat perched on the edge of one of the sofas, looking bored almost to tears. The housekeeper and the cook both looked like they’d rather be anywhere else in the world but here.
“Where is Alicia?”
“Good question,” Matt Branson said, sarcastically. “She went into the kitchen to fix the baby a bottle and never came back.”
I looked at Jim and he said, “She told me she needed to go up to the house and get the formula.”
“And you let her go alone?”
“The house is being guarded. She was supposed to come right back.”
“Damn it! How long ago?”
“Maybe fifteen minutes,” he said.
I ran my hand through my hair, frustrated. “You were supposed to be watching them! Why the hell weren’t you watching her?”
“With all due respect, sir, I thought the baby was the one at risk. It didn’t even cross my mind to leave the room she was in to follow Alicia. Alicia was insistent on leaving. The only way I could have kept her here was at gunpoint. I didn’t have those instructions.”
I wanted to curse at him, but I knew that he’d done the right thing. Celia was the one that he was supposed to have eyes on at all times. “Why didn’t you at least radio Vince and let him know?”
“Vince told us to stay off the radio unless it was an emergency. I called my partner on his cell and let him know.” Jim had all the right answers, just none I wanted to hear. I’d had a feeling that was her in the golf cart, but the question was, where did she think she was going?
“I’m sorry I blew up at you. Did she say anything at all before she left?”
“Just that she was going to fix the baby a bottle. She said something about her missing breakfast. Before that she was all shook up over Charles. I guess I kind of thought she was looking for a distraction.”
“Okay, stay here with them, and let me or Vince know if anyone else tries to leave.”
He nodded, and I left and made my way around the pool and back toward the house. The smoke was thick in the air around the house, and my eyes and lungs were burning. Once back inside the house, I checked the kitchen and made a cursory check of the house again, just to be sure. Alicia was gone. As I went out through the front door, I saw there was now a police officer where the security officer had been only moments ago. I had to answer a lot of questions about what I was doing in the house and wait while he scrut
inized my I.D. and called it in to the detective in charge. He finally let me pass, and I headed toward the front gates on foot. The firefighters were now fully engaged in fighting the fire, and the police were setting up a perimeter around it. I could see Vince talking with a large man in a gray suit.
There were a lot of uniformed officers around. I saw Brett, Lucy’s husband. He waved, and I waved back. The fire chief was standing a few feet away from him. This was a lot more manpower than they’d normally send for an incident like this. I guess it pays to be disgustingly rich when these things happened.
I jogged past my own car that was parked in the circular driveway and down the path toward the front of the property. When I topped the hill that led down to the gates, I saw the golf cart and the glint of the sun off of Alicia’s shiny, dark hair. She was just sitting there in the golf cart. The guard standing next to it looked like he was at a loss for what to do. I saw why when I got closer. Her face was covered in tears, and she was sobbing uncontrollably. He looked at me with eyes that pleaded for help, and I dismissed him back to the guard house with a toss of my head. I climbed into the passenger seat and didn’t even think about it before I reached for her. I was actually surprised when she crumpled into my chest and I held her there for the next ten minutes while she sobbed.
My heart hurt for her, and I told myself that the stress and chaos of the day were just getting to her. It seemed to take her a lot of effort, but when she finally calmed down, what she said made less sense to me than her taking off in the first place.
“Charles is dead because of me. This is all my fault.”
CHAPTER NINE
RYDER
I managed to pull her together enough to convince her that we had to go back to the house. The police were going to want to interview everyone before anyone was clear to leave. Her taking off would lay suspicion at her feet, as would statements like the one she’d just made. I did my best to convince her of that before I took her back. Once at the pool house, I had to intervene and shield her from Branson’s wrath over her leaving, and on top of that the detective was there interviewing every person one by one.
I felt like I was holding my breath when it was her turn to be alone with him. I wasn’t sure what she’d say or how the detective might take it. She was gone for about twenty minutes, and I didn’t breathe easy until she came back out, not in cuffs.
“How did it go?” I whispered.
She shrugged. Looking like she was on the edge of tears again, she whispered back, “I didn’t him them the truth. I didn’t tell him this was my fault.”
“Good, because I’m sure that’s just grief talking.” She was sitting away from the family, and that was where I wanted her for now. “Stay here, okay?” She nodded, and I went over to talk to the detective. “Any ideas?”
He looked around the room. “Nope, but I doubt blowing up the garage was perpetrated by men who are only interested in kidnapping the child. Branson vehemently denies that he or his wife have any enemies, but I have to beg to differ. The last time one of my cases involving a good friend blowing up a garage and killing the chauffeur was…well, never.”
I nodded. “I agree. This is not about the baby.” The detective looked over at Alicia.
“What about the nanny?”
“What about her?”
He shook his head. “She just seemed so nervous when we spoke in the kitchen. She was barely holding it together. She’s Russian, and the men who have been caught on the property so far are Russian as well…”
“I’m watching her closely,” I told him. I felt another wave of guilt. Was I overlooking things that I should be noticing because I was watching her too closely and not as a suspect?
“Good,” he said. “I get a feeling in my gut that she knows something.”
I had the same feeling in my gut, but I was still convinced that by holding back she thought she was protecting someone. I just had to figure out who that was. “Maybe,” I said, non-committedly. “I’ll stay on her.”
“Detective!” Matt Branson’s annoyed voice boomed over the low chatter in the room. Celia began to fuss, and Alicia automatically got up and went to her. Matt looked relieved to hand her over.
“Yes, Mr. Branson?”
“Are my family and I free to go back into our house now?”
“I’ll have to check with the fire department, sir.”
“Can you do that? Sooner rather than later, please?” Even this guy’s “please” sounded like an order. “We have packing to do.”
“Packing?”
“I’m getting my family out of here.”
“This needs to be run by Blake…”
“Because he’s so interested in my family’s safety? He hasn’t even been around for over a week now. He’s too busy…” I think he was going to say something about Blake going to see Celia’s biological mother, but changed his mind as he looked around the room. Instead, he said, “He’s not even here when we need him. I’m taking my family to our villa in Italy. I have security there, too. They couldn’t do a worse job than these fools here have.”
While Matt was mouthing off, the detective stepped out.
“So are you letting our firm go?” I asked him.
“Go, stay, I don’t care. We won’t be coming back until this is all sorted out.”
Julia stood up then. “Do I get a say in this?”
As she was saying that I heard Alicia say in a soft voice, “I can’t go to Italy.”
Branson ignored his wife and turned to Alicia. “What?”
“I can’t go to Italy.”
“Why not?”
“I’m here on a visa…”
“So we get you a visa for Italy. I have a friend that will push it through. It won’t be a big deal. Now go start packing Celia’s things.”
Alicia looked down at the baby with tears in her eyes and whispered, “I can’t.”
I should have been worrying about what Blake would say about me losing this job while he was out of town. Instead, my heart was breaking for Alicia. I could see how torn she was, and I couldn’t help but wonder why she wouldn’t just agree to going with them. Matt Branson, however, was feeling no sympathy, and he proved it by practically jerking the baby out of Celia’s arms and saying, “Fine then, pack your own things. We’ll take Ezra with us.”
“Wait now, everyone’s emotions are running hot right now. I don’t think this is a time to make snap decisions.”
“Guess what?” Branson said. “I don’t care what you think. My job is to protect my family. I thought I was doing that by hiring security and your firm. Apparently that wasn’t the case, so now I will do what I think is right.”
“I can understand that, sir, and I respect it, but if you fire us and leave, you might never find out who it is that wants to harm your family.”
“Maybe, but I won’t sit here either and let us be targets for them.”
The detective came back in then.
Matt looked at him and said, “Well?”
“Go ahead,” the detective said. “If you need anything or you think of anything, my number is on that card I gave you earlier. I’ll keep you updated on the investigation as things come up.”
“Thank you,” Matt said. “Come on, Julia.” He stormed out of the pool house with the baby in his arms. Julia followed him with a long-suffering look on her face.
Alicia stood rooted to her spot as everyone else cleared out, one-by-one. Once they were all gone including the detective, I moved in front of her so that she was forced to look at me.
“Alicia, sit down with me for a minute.” She followed me numbly to the couch and slowly sat down a few feet away from me. “I need to know what you meant by Charles’s death being your fault.”
She shook her head. “None of it matters now. You’re not working here any longer—and neither am I. You’ll move on to your next case, and I’ll be deported and….” She broke down again then. Her sobs wracked her whole body, and I couldn’t stand it. I moved ove
r close to her, and for the second time that day, I took her into my arms. She buried her face in my t-shirt and I heard her say, “I’ll never see her again.”
I had one arm around her. I brought the other one up and ran my hand through her silky hair. She smelled so good, and she felt even better. Once again I was at war with myself. Holding this beautiful woman that I was so incredibly attracted to was not part of my job. I was using that fine line of professionalism like a jump rope, and I wasn’t proud of myself. She sucked in a shaky breath, and I felt her whole body tremble. It was enough to chase away my self-doubts, for now. “It’ll be okay. We’ll sort this all out and they’ll be back in no time. You know they won’t be happy with Ezra. They’ll let you see her again, I’m sure of it. She loves you.”
She pushed against me with both hands to separate us, and as she wiped the tears off her face she said, “You don’t understand.”
“Tell me, Alicia. What is it I don’t understand?” She didn’t say anything, so I switched back to my original question. “Alicia, why do you think Charles’ death is your fault?”
She sighed and got to her feet. “I need to go pack.” She only made it two steps before I was on my feet and had her shoulders in my hands.
“You need to tell me what is going on.”
“Why? Why should I trust you? Of all the men I’ve known in my life, there has only been one that didn’t want to use me for something.” She sobbed again and said, “And I’ve probably ruined his life now too.” She may as well have been speaking Greek for all I understood of what she was saying. I cupped her face in my hand and tipped it up toward mine.
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