Fire & Ice

by Jerri Drennen

  Melanie went straight to the coffeemaker and turned it on. She then turned to face Kay. “So?” She leaned against the countertop. “Why were you crying when you got here?”

  “First, I have to tell you, Knox is hot. My God, what a ripped body.”

  Melanie smiled despite the fact her best friend had checked out her man. She couldn’t blame her. He was built. “Yes, Knox is very sexy and he’s mine. You’ll do well to remember that.”

  “I know. I don’t want him anyway.” Kay plopped into a chair at the table. “I want Paul. He refuses to see me. I called him early this morning and I heard giggling in the background. He was with another woman. How could he do that to me?”

  “Well, Kay. He is a man. You can’t expect him to be celibate forever, you know. Besides,” Melanie sat down across from her, “you haven’t been without lovers since you two broke up. Why do you expect him to?”

  “I know I’m not being rational, Mel. When I think of him with another woman, I feel sick inside. I want to break things, mainly this woman’s neck.”

  Melanie reached across the table and grasped Kay’s hand. “Maybe you should tell Paul this? If you want him back, you might have to tell him how you feel. Beg him to forgive you.”

  Kay shook her head. “No. I can’t do that.”

  Her friend’s stubbornness grated on her nerves. If it were Knox, she’d do whatever it took to get him back. “Why?”

  “Because he might laugh in my face. Think he has the upper hand. No man has ever had that with me and I’m not about to alter that now.”

  Melanie had no idea what to say to her reasoning. If Kay refused to acknowledge her mistakes, there was no way to repair her relationship with Paul. Paul hadn’t been the one to run away. Kay had destroyed any feelings that had existed between them. She would have to be the one to make things right. Melanie knew her best friend. She was the most pigheaded person she’d ever known. No way was she going to change her mind.

  “Am I interrupting?” Knox stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. “I need coffee.”

  Melanie’s heart swelled with love for him. All the mundane things in life seemed brighter now that he was here. God, she was a goner—goo-goo over the man before her.

  She jumped up to get them all a cup of coffee.

  “So what’s the problem, Kay? You couldn’t find a man to spend your morning with?” he asked, taking the cup Melanie offered him.

  Kay snarled at his remark. “I could have half a dozen if I wanted.” She studied her nails. “I needed my best friend this morning. That’s what friends are for, in case you didn’t know.”

  “Yeah, right. Women have a need to talk. Ask advice they never use.”

  “That’s right. We don’t need our problems solved. We just want to discuss them. Have someone listen. I know how hard that is for a man to comprehend.”

  Knox laughed and shook his head. “That’s funny. But if you don’t want answers to your dilemmas, why talk about them at all?”

  Melanie hated what was happening in front of her eyes. The two people she loved the most fighting. Or were they?

  Kay stood. “I think its time for me to say goodbye. Your man is obviously upset I came and cut in to his me time.”

  “No, Kay. He’s just…”

  “Don’t make excuses for me, Mel,” Knox interjected. “I can speak for myself.”

  “Yes, and I’m sure it would be done with such eloquence, too.”

  “Kay,” Melanie snapped.

  “I’m leaving. You two go back to what you were doing before I so rudely interrupted. Maybe a good roll on the floor would help alleviate his cantankerous mood. Don’t worry, Mel, I’ll deal with my own crises from now on.”

  “Come on, Kay. Don’t be like this.”

  “I think she’s the one who needs the lay.” Knox scowled at Kay. “Maybe she wouldn’t be so bitter.”

  Melanie couldn’t take anymore. “Stop it…both of you! I don’t need this. Right now, I need your support, not the two of you going for each others throats.”

  “You’re right, Mel. I’m sorry.” Knox squeezed her shoulder. “And, Kay, I apologize for what I said. You’re right. I want Mel all to myself and that’s selfish. You two talk. I’ll go and take a shower.”

  Melanie nodded and grasped Kay’s hand. “Sit.” She hoped her tone was friendly yet firm enough for her to listen.

  “Oh, Knox, towels are in the cabinet next to the sink.”

  “Thanks.”

  Knox left the room and she sat at the table across from Kay. “I have a plan,” Melanie said, a spark of an idea forming in her head. She’d tried to get Paul and Kay alone together. Then it was up to Kay to convince him to take her back, with or without an apology involved.

  * * *

  Knox parked in his mother’s driveway and killed the engine. He had so much he wanted to talk to his mother about. The most important thing, finding out what she thought of Melanie.

  While he was here, he needed to have a chat with Tara about Brent. She had to know there was no future with the man, that he was in no way daddy material for her boys. Brent James was a player in the worst sense. Heck, the man had screwed a gal in the firehouse, with no regard to regulations or propriety. He wouldn’t put it past Brent to record his sexual escapades and watch them while having sex with other women. No way was he going to allow Tara to be the star in his next raunchy romp. The titles could read, Take-Two with Tara, or Firefighter’s Sisters, and the Men who Screw Them.

  No frickin’ way. He’d have to beat Brent within an inch of his life, a career killer to say the least. More than likely prison time and that wouldn’t work into his plans. He had a life to start with Melanie, and being sent to the slammer wouldn’t fit into that. Best to put a wrench into any plans Tara had before trouble started.

  Knox jumped from his truck, images of Melanie’s naked body bringing a smile to his face. He loved how playful she was in bed. Sex with her would never be boring. She’d keep him on his toes and off his feet for their entire marriage.

  At the door, he knocked, shocked and angered when his father answered the door. “What are you doing here?” Knox asked, his voice gruff.

  Nathan Manning’s green eyes narrowed. “I take it you haven’t heard?”

  It was Knox’s turn to alter his gaze. “Heard what?”

  “Come inside.” His father stepped back to let him in. He led Knox into the living room. Tara and her mother were sitting on the sofa, Tara in tears.

  “What happened?”

  Tara looked up and sobbed louder.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” Knox asked.

  “Tony was in a car accident this afternoon. He’d been drinking and, according to police, overcorrected on a turn. The car hit loose gravel, went down into the ditch and flipped. He was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene,” his mother announced, her voice quivering with emotion.

  Knox couldn’t say he was happy about the news, after all Tony was his nephews’ father, though his death made Tara’s life easier. Though she wouldn’t be able to see that now. “I’m sorry, Tara. Does Cody know yet?”

  Tara shook her head. “I don’t know how to tell him.”

  “Do you want me to talk to him?”

  “No, this is something I need to do alone. I would appreciate your help with planning Tony’s funeral.”

  “I’ll do anything you want me to do, Tara. I’m here for you.”

  Tara rose and ran into his arms. Knox crushed her to him, feeling guilty about what he was dwelling on earlier. This wasn’t the time to discuss his friend or Melanie. He needed to be supportive and help Tara through the next couple of days, hold her up when she faltered. After the funeral, when the time was right, he’d warn her about Brent James and the man’s other side.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Melanie picked up the phone and punched in the number scribbled on the scrap of paper in front of her.

  Was there a way to pull this off? Or wo
uld the whole thing backfire in her face. The phone rang three times, then Tracy answered. “Hello.”

  “Tracy, this is Melanie.”

  “What do you want?” she snapped.

  “I need to meet with you.”

  “Why would you expect me to do that? I have better things to do with my time.”

  “Look, Tracy,” Melanie said, her tone just as sharp. “If I were you, I'd think about this. Unless you want me to take the earring I found at the fire, yours, I might add, and have a little talk with the police about who might have set the blaze at your house.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you insinuating that I burned my own house down?”

  “Yes, I am. Now are you going to meet me or not?”

  “This is crazy. But if you insist on meeting, tell me where and when?”

  “At the warehouse on Vine. At five o’clock. Don’t be late.”

  “Fine,” she said. The line went dead.

  Melanie placed the phone in its cradle, looked at Paul and nodded. “We’re on.”

  “Okay, I’ll have a wire on you the whole time and we’ll get the confession on tape.”

  “If this doesn’t work, what then? Is there anything else we can do?”

  “Let’s just see how tonight goes. We’ll worry about what’s next if we need to.” Paul squeezed her shoulder. “Have you told Knox what we have planned?”

  Somehow Melanie knew if she told Knox what they were doing, he’d try and stop her. She needed this to be over, her name cleared of all charges, and this seemed to be her only hope of doing that. “I hate to bother him with this right now. He’s trying to be there for his sister, Tara, and her boys. She lost her husband in a car accident last week.”

  “Weren’t they separated or something?”

  “Yeah, but this was tough for the family. She wished him no harm. Her oldest boy is taking it hard.”

  “You don’t think Knox should hear what Mrs. Grainger has to say? He’s the lead investigator on the case. I think with him there we might be able to clear this up sooner, if indeed Tracy spills her guts about starting the fire.”

  Melanie would love to have Knox there for moral support, but with what was happening in his life, and him worried she’d get hurt, she didn’t want to ask. Besides, she might come across as unsympathetic. They’d had misunderstandings before relating to Tara and she didn’t want to add insult to injury. “Bothering him right now just isn’t an option.”

  “All right. We’ll deal with this ourselves. No problem.”

  “Kay has offered to help if we need it.” Melanie watched Paul’s reaction to the offer.

  The grimace he gave spoke volumes as to how he felt about the idea. He hated it. If they needed backup, would he refuse to let Kay help? That could be one way to get the two together without it looking as if Kay had orchestrated it.

  “Let’s just see what happens.” Obviously he wanted to move on to another topic.

  Okay, if that was what he wanted, she needed to respect that.

  She’d think of another subject, one she needed answers to before she tried to bring them together again. “So, how’s life been treating you?” She thought a subtle approach would gain her more details.

  He grinned. “Pretty good. The P.I. business is never in recession. There are enough cheating spouses to catch in the act to keep me fed nicely. Unfortunately, infidelity never goes out of style.”

  Melanie knew that from personal experience. Dean was one of those cheating spouses that Paul talked about—a man with three little girls who still went out looking for something better. Why Tracy would have stooped to something as low as setting a fire to keep him was beyond Melanie’s comprehension. The man wasn’t worth it, especially if Tracy went to jail. What would happen to her girls? Dean was too selfish to put his life on hold to raise them.

  What Melanie wouldn’t give to have seen through his lies when they’d first met. None of this would have happened, though she probably would have never met Knox if that were the case.

  She shook the thought and returned her attention to Paul. Time for another question, the one that might make or break her plans to get her friends together again.

  Here goes. Don’t sound too interested. “What about your personal life. Anyone special?”

  His blue eyes narrowed.

  Oh, no. He knows what you’re trying to do.

  “Melanie, why don’t you just ask me what you want to? Who was the woman at my house when Kay called the other morning?”

  Melanie tried to appear bewildered by his comment, yet knew she’d failed. Paul wasn’t buying it. Not at all. And what had she expected. He was a detective. Good at reading people. “Okay. Who was she?”

  “If I tell you, will you go running to Kay and blab?”

  “Honestly?” she asked.

  “Please.”

  “Yes, I will.”

  “If nothing else, I appreciate your truthfulness, Melanie. She’s a woman I’m seeing. Nothing serious.”

  Should she ask the question Kay most wanted to know?

  “Ask me. I know you’re dying to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, the question Kay wants so badly to know. Am I sleeping with her, right?”

  Melanie swallowed hard. The man was either a damned good detective or a mind reader.

  “So are you?”

  “Damned right I am. I’m sure as hell not going to remain celibate just because Kay wants me to. I know she hasn’t been. I even know who she’s been with. And don’t think that didn’t eat at me for the longest time. She can’t play the field and not expect me to. It’s over. She proved that when she walked away the day of our wedding.”

  Melanie’s hopes for a reconciliation faded with his angry admission. He wasn’t a pushover. Not when it came to Kay. His love for her was gone and there was nothing Melanie could do to change that.

  * * *

  As he walked up the driveway to Melanie’s house, Knox’s dark mood lifted a little. What a rough couple of days his family had had, what with dealing with funeral arrangements and getting through the day of Tony’s burial. The only upside to Tony’s death, if there was one, was that Knox and Tara had grown closer. He’d even managed to be civil to his father, who had apparently been seeing his mother secretly for quite some time. Tara had blurted that fact out when Knox was voicing his opinion about Nathan Manning the day after Tony’s funeral. His sister had said to get used to having their father around, because he wasn’t going anywhere this time. A hard pill to swallow.

  Tara was right. Hell, she always was, except in the case of Brent James. Tara saw what she wanted to see with him, didn’t want to know what the man had done in the past. She was enamored with his handsome face and charm. Knox was just grateful she wouldn’t feel up to seeing anyone for quite some time. Tony’s death had taken a toll on her, even after his abuse. She’d loved him once and Knox was sure it was hard to say goodbye to the father of her two boys. He had hated Tony for what he’d done to Tara, though dying the way he had hurt even him. Cody’s face at the funeral would be etched into his memory forever.

  Shaking all the negative stuff off, he knocked at Melanie’s door. He was excited about seeing her, couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms and tell her he loved her.

  With the death of Tony Ansenee came the realization that life was fleeting. That you should grab what you want in life and hang on tight. Melanie was that something for him. By the end of the night, they’d be engaged and planning a wedding. He wanted to start a family of his own with her. Make some cute little red-haired babies to love and nurture.

  When Melanie didn’t come to the door, Knox frowned. He knocked again. Maybe she was in the shower and hadn’t heard him. He glanced at his watch. Four-thirty.

  Disappointed when he got no answer, he retraced his steps to his truck. He jumped into the cab and grabbed his cell phone, quickly punching in Melanie’s number.

  The phone took him to her
voice mail. “Shit!”

  “Leave a message after the beep,” the machine said.

  “Hey, Mel. Call me as soon as you get this message. I miss you.” He closed the phone and took a deep breath. In his side mirror, he noticed Kay’s car pulling behind his truck. Maybe she knew where Melanie was.

  He opened the truck’s door and walked back to her car. She got out, her eyes narrowing on him. “What are you doing here?”

  What was her problem? Was she still steamed about what he’d said to her? “I came to see Melanie. What do you think?”

  She frowned. “I thought you’d be with Paul monitoring Melanie and Tracy’s conversation.

  Knox’s stomach dropped. “What? When? What the hell’s going on, Kay?”

  “Melanie talked Tracy into meeting her at the burned out warehouse. She told her she had evidence linking her to the fire.”

  “She went alone?”

  “Of course not. Paul’s with her.”

  “Why didn’t you go?” Knox asked, eyeing her closely.

  “I wasn’t invited,” she said in an annoyed tone. “Paul’s in some sort of snit or something. Mel told me to wait here for her. I thought you’d be there.”

  “Why would she pull a stunt like this? She might get hurt.”

  “You love her don’t you?”

  “Yes. I have to get to the warehouse before something bad happens. Do you want to come?”

  “Damned right, I do.” She went around the side of the truck to get in.

  Knox circled back to the driver’s side, his mind racing. When cornering a criminal, anything could go wrong.

  He had to get to the warehouse, had to make sure nothing happened to Melanie, the future mother of his children.

  * * *

  “Can you hear me?” Melanie asked through the mini-microphone taped to her chest.

  “Loud and clear.” Paul’s voice crackled through the earpiece. The device was so small you couldn’t see it. That was one good thing about knowing a private detective. They had everything they needed to catch Tracy’s confession on tape.

  “I believe it’s show time. I see her van coming. Remember, if things get heated, I’m going to need you.”