by Jillian Neal
“At least twenty-four hours. They’ll evaluate after that. And I will not be leaving this room for even one second so I will make certain that you keep it in.”
“Nurse Ratched.” His cough diminished the joke somewhat.
She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t going to say this, but you leave me no choice. I have been right where you are, only about a thousand times worse, so you have no ground to stand on to complain.”
“Yeah, but I’m a dude and we’re basically huge-ass babies when we’re sick. You’re a badass. It’s the nature of our DNA.”
“So you take no responsibility at all?” She was trying so hard not to laugh it made him grin.
“I ain’t saying that. I’ll man up here in a minute. How are you with all this, by the way? I didn’t mean to scare you. I was so damn convinced you were in there somewhere. I lost my head.” He cleared his throat again. That was a bad idea. Hurt like a motherfucker. He corrected by drinking more water. He was gonna have to piss like a racehorse if he kept this up. One of the bags on the IV stand was nothing but saline. The other was some kind of vitamin-rich drip bag that was supposed to make this all go away and keep his lungs healthy.
Charlie gently brushed the hair off of his forehead. “I was terrified, but I did what needed to be done when it had to happen. So, I’m also proud of myself. I’m learning when it’s okay to listen to my fear and when it’s keeping me from living my life.” She offered a tender grin to his daddy. “Even after everything that happened today, I still don’t want you to quit being a firefighter for me. I don’t want you to give up a love for a fear. As long as you promise me that you’ll stop trying to always be the only hero.”
“I’m always proud of you,” he spoke with more clarity this time. Meds must’ve been kicking in. “And as long as I have you, I’m not giving anything up.” At the moment, if he never had to race back inside a burning building that would be just fine by him. But he suspected in a week or two, when breathing didn’t feel like he was inhaling the surface of Mercury, he’d want to be back at the station. “And believe me, I know I’m only here because of my team. I was an idiot. That won’t happen again.”
Once again, most of the Holder family clogged up the waiting room. But Chief Riggins, the rest of station one, and a host of police officers and sheriff’s deputies were all mulling around outside his room. Almost the entire floor was being used to treat victims of the Pecan Crescent fire.
About the time Charlie was forcing more hot tea down Jamie and lecturing him about the cilia in his lungs, two second-shift firefighters from Odell came in along with some staff from the home. One of the firemen handed Charlie an open cardboard box. “Ms. Tilson, we brought some things we pulled out of your office during salvage and recovery. We’re trying to get everything cleaned out so reconstruction can begin as soon as the arson investigation team has completed their assessment.”
Charlie’s nerves were shot so she was unable to keep the defiance from her tone as she commented to no one in particular even though Ms. Billingham was standing nearby. “It’s not really my office anymore.”
Ms. Billingham entered the room just then and sighed. “I might’ve been hasty in my decision on your job.”
Jamie squeezed her hand bolstering Charlie’s hope further. “What made you decide that?”
“I was just speaking with your father,” she gestured outside Jamie’s room where her father and Louann were stationed. They’d come to check on Jamie and to apologize to Barrett. Charlie was very pleased. “It seems…perhaps…that I might’ve given Chaplain Weaver more credit than he deserved.”
Setting the box down on one of the guest chairs in Jamie’s room, Charlie gave herself a moment to process being back on the receiving end of things given to her during a fire salvage and recovery. How had this happened again?
She mentally scanned the items in the box. She’d slowly cleaned out some of her office last week so there wasn’t much in the box.
A flood of memories filled Charlie’s mind as she lifted her old laptop out of the box. “I thought you said this wasn’t in my office.”
The director attempted to smooth her skirt and refused to meet Charlie’s eyes. “I…must’ve been mistaken…again.”
The events of the day tallied in her mind. A few key moments stood out above all the rest. “You weren’t mistaken,” she whispered.
Jamie’s brow furrowed.
“What?” Ms. Billingham looked just as offended that Charlie agreed with her as she did when she was having to apologize.
Charlie turned back to face everyone in the room. “You weren’t mistaken. It wasn’t in my office. Ed had it.” She raced toward the door. “He shouldn’t have known about Mr. Graham. He was bringing my laptop back. That’s why he was there.”
“Where are you going?” Jamie asked through another storm of coughs.
“To find Ed.”
“The hell you are.” He tossed the sheet and blanket off of his legs and stood, while trying to keep the parts Charlie rather liked thinking of as only hers covered with the loose hospital gown.
Chief Riggins halted her at the door. “Holder, get back in that bed. No one wants to see all that, and you’re already in trouble with me. And are you talking about Ed Weaver?” he asked Charlie.
“Yes, sir. I have to find him. I think he might’ve set the fire at the nursing home.”
“If that’s the case, you aren’t the one who needs to find him, I am. And he’s down being checked out in the ER. He sustained a minor burn to his inner arm. I’ll bring him up here when he’s released. You stay in here with him.” He pointed to Jamie. “Stubborn goat. If I ever hear of you taking off that mask when you’re on scene again, I’ll whip your ass. How many times do I have to tell you you’re not Superman? You’re on twelve-week suspension for going in without orders too.”
Charlie glanced Jamie’s way and gave him a sorrowful expression. She couldn’t believe Ed had done this, and now Jamie was in trouble because of it. She felt at least partially responsible for making Ed so angry he’d even contemplated something so cruel.
She reminded herself that his actions were not her responsibility, but he’d hurt her Jamie. He had to answer for his crimes.
“All right, here, I’ll say it—I screwed up. I thought I could get my mask on her and get us both out of there. If it weren’t for my team, I wouldn’t be here. So, thank you to all of you standing out in the hallway talking about me like I’m not right here.” He downed a long sip of water. “Damn, that hurts.”
Chief Riggins seemed somewhat pleased by that announcement. “Somebody record him saying that. I’ll be right back.”
“I can’t believe he did this,” Charlie slunk back down on Jamie’s bed. “I know I shouldn’t, but I feel responsible. You were able to save Mrs. Trammel, but other people weren’t so lucky.”
“What did he do, honey?” Jamie was unable to whisper so most of the room heard his question.
“He had my laptop. I bet he went and took it out of my office when the bank wouldn’t give him access to my accounts. He wanted to track everything. So, he went and stole it. That’s why they couldn’t find it. The only place there was any information about Mr. Graham sneaking cigarettes, even when he was on his oxygen tank, was in my patient notes on my laptop. I took the cigarettes from his room after I saw him on Friday. I told Trisha to check on him constantly. But she was the only other person who knew about the cigarettes. Ed tried to blame the fire on Mr. Graham. I heard him. Why would he blame someone else unless it was to take suspicion off of himself?” She shook her head. “I don’t want to believe that, but it’s the only explanation as to why he was there at all.”
“I did pass him heading that direction when I was on my way to the firehouse. That would put him there at about the right time.”
A few minutes later, Chief Riggins shoved Ed into Jamie’s room along with two sheriff’s deputies. Jamie looked supremely annoyed, probably because he was in a gown, but Charlie would deal with him lat
er.
“You had my laptop,” Charlie launched in as soon as one of the deputies closed the door. “That’s how you knew about Mr. Graham and the cigarettes. You had to have seen that on my laptop. Why were you even at the home today? You start your new job on Monday.”
“That’s a good question,” Chief Riggins said, “and I’d like an answer.”
Ed cleared his throat. “I came up there to help. They called me.”
“Who called you?” Ms. Billingham asked. “I was in charge of calling extra help, and I never phoned you.”
“I don’t know who it was. I came as soon as I heard.”
Riggins nodded. “And I’m sure you wouldn’t mind me taking a look at your phone to prove that?”
Ed shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t have anything to do with the fire.”
Barrett Holder stood. “Correction,” he countered, “you didn’t have anything to do with that fire.” No one spoke. No one even moved when Barrett Holder held court, but Charlie noted the growing fear in Ed’s eyes. “I’ve talked to almost everyone involved in my son’s and Charlie’s day, and I think I’ve got it mostly put together. The burn on your arm didn’t come from the nursing home. You never got close enough to have been burned. I had my eye on you the whole time. You didn’t start the fire at Pecan Crescent because you were too busy setting fire to one of my sheds.”
“What?!” Charlie leapt off of Jamie’s bed. “Wait. What?”
Barrett pulled something from his back pocket. “After Jamie left this morning, the old shed between Jamie’s land and Wes’s caught fire and took out about seventy-five acres of land. Now, it is a field we’d planned to burn back in a few weeks, so it’s not a big loss, but Wes and Hallie found this after we’d gotten the fire out.” He held up something Charlie immediately recognized the red cording on. But it had been badly burned.
“That’s the menu from the Three Squares diner, where Jamie and I ate on our way to Nebraska.”
Jamie sat up in bed. “If I’m about to find out you were in my house, fucker, I’ll find a way to whip your ass, oxygen or not.”
“Son,” Barrett pled with him. “Simmer down. I didn’t have any idea what it was until I stopped by Jamie’s house to get his toothbrush and some clothes since he’s staying here tonight. I saw a duplicate menu on his kitchen table.”
“I really want to slap you again,” Charlie informed Ed.
Jamie’s cousin Meridian was also the Holder County assistant district attorney and the ball had just been rolled into her court. “Second degree arson,” she slid a low whistle between her teeth, “that’s a twenty-thousand-dollar fine and up to twenty-five in prison if Jamie or Wes decides to press charges.” She narrowed her eyes. “Of course, if you didn’t set the one on the ranch, we’ll launch an investigation into just how that fire got started. It’s a long dirt road to Jamie’s house and tire tracks are very, very car specific. And then there’s the fact that if we can’t prove you started the prairie fire, but we do prove that you had something to do with the Pecan Crescent fire, you’re going away for life. Because I’ll try you not only for first degree arson but for murder as well.”
Jamie’s eyes narrowed. “Hey, somebody grab Nate from out in the hall.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Nate Wilcox joined the crowded room. “Isn’t there like some kind of number of visitors rule or something?”
Chief Riggins brushed him off. “We’ll get everyone out of here in just few. Jamie has a question for you.”
“That tip I gave you this morning. Did it pay off?”
Nate shook his head. “Nope. Channing never saw him before he left up there and headed back to the station an hour later.”
Jamie nodded. “So, that means either you spun your car out in the ditch on 5290 or you stopped by the ranch. I saw you flying that way. There isn’t anything between where you were when I passed you but our property and the trap.”
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Ed huffed.
Meridian laughed. “It will prove a lot of things when I present it in a courtroom.”
Barrett interrupted his niece. “So, you went by my son’s home. We leave most of our doors unlocked so I won’t quite call it breaking in, but it sure wasn’t legal. Grabbed this.” He held up the remnants of the menu. “And then what? What made you decide to burn down the shed?”
But Jamie had his number. “Well, he wouldn’t have burned down my house. That would’ve been too obvious. He knew it wouldn’t take long for either me or Chief to have him. But I’d bet money on a thousand head that he was hoping the fire would go unnoticed for longer than it did.”
“No,” Charlie shook her head. “No, that’s not what he wanted. He wanted to scare me.” She stalked closer to Ed. “He wanted to take away the one place where I always feel safe. It didn’t have to be a big fire. Just one that I couldn’t help but see. You got mad after our argument this morning. You told my father there would be payback.”
“We call that premeditation,” Meridian explained.
Ed’s temper finally loosed his tongue. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be in a relationship with someone who saves every single memento from when she’s out with another man?” he snapped.
Sara Holder had clearly had enough at that point. “Then do you know what you do about that? You end the relationship with her. You don’t burn my son’s land, you mo-ron.”
“Sara,” Barrett took his wife’s hand and shook his head. “Take him down to the county jail for the night. I find that gives people some good time to think on their actions. If Jamie’s up to it, we’ll stop by down there tomorrow and decide if we’re going to press charges.”
“Yes sir,” Nate pinned Ed’s hands behind his back and clicked the handcuffs around his wrists.
“But we still don’t know that he didn’t start the fire at the nursing home,” Charlie fussed.
“He wouldn’t have been there at the right time, angel,” Jamie reminded her.
“So, what did start it?”
“We’ll figure that out. I promise you,” Chief Riggins vowed. “For now, we’re all going to get out of your hair.
As everyone but his parents and Charlie left the room, the Tilsons entered.
The Reverend cleared his throat, “Jamie, I owe you and your family an apology for the way I’ve treated you…ever since we moved here, honestly. I am very sorry.”
“Daddy, thank you.” Charlie threw her arms around her father. Jamie could just make out what he said in return.
“You’re welcome. It finally occurred to me that there were other people involved in what happened to me and your mother. If her parents had forgiven and wanted a relationship with her, we would never have moved away. And even if we had, we would’ve visited as often as we could. I’m hoping if I don’t continue to push you away, that you’ll come around and see me more often.”
“Definitely,” she assured him.
“Jamie, I hope you feel better. Please let me or Louann know if we can do anything to help with your recovery. Takes a brave man to be willing to lay down his life for others. I appreciate that my daughter wants to be with someone like that.”
Jamie cleared his throat of emotion this time. “Uh, thank you, sir. I’ll always take care of her.”
“I have no doubt.” Reverend Tilson offered everyone a wave as he and his wife left.
Early the next morning when his bloodwork had returned to normal, Jamie was released from the hospital. Since Charlie had dealt with her own smoke inhalation issues, she felt confident in being his caretaker.
“I made you soup,” she announced as she carefully carried a bowl in from the kitchen.
“Baby, you don’t have to fuss over me,” he urged. “I’m fine. I’m suspended for twelve weeks anyway, so by the time I go back to work my lungs will have forgotten all about this.”
“I hope so, but I’m still going to fuss. I had to endure it for months, so you can give me a few days.”
“Fine.�
�� He accepted the soup. “I just don’t want you to get annoyed taking care of me. I’m supposed to take care of you.”
“We take care of each other, remember? That’s the deal. That’s how this works.”
“I remember. Thanks for putting up with me even when I’m being stubborn.”
“Sometimes I like your stubborn side,” she beamed, “but everyone needs other people to look after them. If we all took better care of each other, the world would be a much better place.”
“Says the preacher’s daughter.” Jamie winked at her.
Charlie considered for a minute before asking, “Have you decided what to do about Ed?”
“I wanted to talk to you about that. Wes is leaving it up to me and Dad. If you want me to press charges, I will. But be aware if Meridian takes him to court, he’s gonna go to jail. That girl is ruthless. If you’re okay with me dropping the charges, I’m fine with it as long as he never sets foot near you ever again.”
“I can’t believe he burned that menu. I wanted to put both of them in my scrapbook.” She knew that was such a ridiculous thing to be upset about, but she’d found after the first fire that it’s the little things that cut you to the core. It’s not about the wedding album. It’s the blurry, bent snapshot pic from when you were dating and both laughing together. Those are the things that hurt the most. Most importantly, she’d learned to make memories and to treasure them.
“I tell you what,” Jamie offered. “How about after we get married, I’ll drive you back up to that little diner and get you another menu. Only that time, it would be legit.”
Charlie loved that he would really do that for her, even though it wasn’t necessary. “Are you asking me to marry you, Jamie Holder?”
“I’m not gonna do it while I’m in sweats after spending the night in a hospital. But if I did, would you say yes?”
She smirked. “I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
“Brat.”
“Your brat.”
“Damn straight.”