Before she would go shopping for Clarice, however, Diana needed to see if the woman’s clothes were salvageable. The living room and kitchen areas of Clarice’s house faced Penny’s, which meant her bedroom was nearly the whole house’s length away from where the fire had damaged the living room and kitchen walls. She’d also told Diana she kept her medicine in the bathroom beside her bedroom.
After the booster seat installation, Diana drove toward the Rosewood housing development, hoping she might not have to shop for Clarice at all. She knew Willow would like anything she selected; a seventy-two-year-old woman might be more finicky, and saving time with the shopping would be a blessing. Diana desperately needed rest this evening and time tomorrow to begin developing the photographs she’d taken for the tourism board. Had she finished that annoying assignment just two days ago? She felt as if it had been weeks ago.
Diana had promised herself that she would slam a door against her memories, but as soon as she turned onto Penny’s street, a finger of horror touched her neck. In her imagination, the calm, clear afternoon turned to night, and wild, ravening flames leaped to the darkness above—higher, higher. . . .
Diana veered to the edge of the street, braked, and closed her eyes. She took three deep, bracing breaths and let her eyes drift open. She saw a clear, cornflower-blue sky, a gentle yellow sun, a few clouds looking like fluffy meringue—an unusually beautiful summer day presented like a gift to compensate for the horror of the previous night.
“So much for gifts,” Diana muttered bitterly. There weren’t enough gifts in the world to even the score.
I cannot go past Penny’s house, Diana thought in near panic, although she’d let up on the brakes and was beginning to creep forward. I’ll just tell Clarice the police or the fire department has declared her house isn’t safe. They refused me entrance. She can call her doctor and get a refill for her medicine. If she checks out my story or asks a neighbor to go in the house and she finds out I’m lying . . . well, it will just be the end of a beautiful friendship.
Diana’s thoughts raced until she neared the ugly, charged remains of Penny’s small home. She’d expected to see a secured site protected from curious children who would clamber around and get hurt, as well as curious adults who should know better but who’d also poke around. She had not expected to see official-looking cars pulled into the driveway and parked in front. She had not expected to see a news van and a leggy woman with every brunette hair sprayed in place interviewing a stiff-faced police officer.
And Diana certainly hadn’t expected to see Tyler Raines leaning carelessly against a police squad car, gazing at her with a smile that said he’d known she would come.
3
Diana whipped her car to the side of the road, jumped out, and marched up to Tyler. “What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded.
Tyler raised an eyebrow, smiling. “Just takin’ in the sights,” he said with an exaggerated Southern drawl. “Why? Miss me?”
An impossibly young cop standing beside Tyler glanced away, smirking. Diana felt like slapping him. She felt like slugging Tyler Raines. Instead, she let loose a barrage of words. “Where did you go last night? You found Willow, turned her over to the paramedics, and then just deserted her!”
The glint in his eyes vanished. “I didn’t desert her if I turned her over to the paramedics, now did I? I’m not a doctor. I couldn’t do anything for her. And I’m not family. My going to the hospital would have been a complete waste of time. They wouldn’t have let me stay with her.” He paused, smiling again. “But I’m sure you went to the hospital. Are you mad I wasn’t there waiting for you?”
Diana spluttered, “Are you crazy? Why would I want to see you?” The young patrol officer had completely turned away as Tyler continued to lounge against his car, his tanned arms crossed, his sun-bleached blond hair shining in the light, and dimples forming on either side of his infuriating grin. “I’m just angry because everyone was puzzled. People at the hospital needed to ask you questions—”
“About a child I don’t know?”
“They thought you did. And you had Uncle Simon’s car—”
“You’re not going to try having me arrested for car theft, are you? It won’t work. If you didn’t notice, I returned the car.”
“I know you returned the car. But you never called to check on Willow. . . .”
“How is she?”
Diana gave him a scorching look. “She’s all right, which you would know if you’d waited in the emergency room until she’d been examined. She spent the night at the hospital—I stayed with her—and they released her this morning. She’s at Uncle Simon’s house. Penny is still unconscious, thank God. I even checked on the firefighter Davis who fell into the basement last night. He has two broken ribs and a broken wrist, but otherwise he’s fine. Not that you care.”
“You met me less than twenty-four hours ago but you know all about me,” Tyler said in an exasperated tone. “Of course I don’t give a damn about those people—not if Diana Sheridan says I don’t.”
“Well, you don’t act like you give a damn.” Diana realized she sounded silly, as if she expected him to stand outside their hospital rooms holding bouquets of flowers. She decided to counter with questions. “Who are you? What do you do in New York City?”
“I’m Tyler Raines. I thought we’d already established who I am. As for what I do—I’m an international spy.”
“Dammit, this isn’t the time for jokes. What is your occupation?”
“I don’t answer personal questions.”
“That’s personal?”
“I consider it so, yes.”
“Why do you keep turning up here?”
“I don’t ‘keep turning up here.’ I only came by about twenty minutes ago. Young Officer Patterson here can verify the time of my arrival. Officer?”
“Twenty minutes, ma’am.”
“Thank you so much for the information,” Diana returned sarcastically. She looked at Tyler. “That doesn’t answer why you’re here just like you were last night!”
Tyler cocked his head. “I ended up getting just as involved with the situation last night as you did. More—I helped the firefighters and I found the kid. I don’t think it’s unreasonable that I’d stop by this afternoon to see if anyone has discovered what was responsible for that inferno. That’s why I’m here.” He paused, his smirk fading. “Now, why don’t you try telling me the truth. Why are you so mad at me?”
“Because . . . Because . . .” Diana felt her eyes blur with tears. “Because what happened last night was so awful and you were right in the middle of it. You saw the horror. You seemed to really care about those people. Yet you just dumped Willow off and you’ve never even asked about Penny, who’s probably going to die! That’s why I’m so mad. You’re not even worried about them!”
Diana’s fatigue, the shock caused by the explosion, the terror she’d experienced at the hospital, and the overwhelming grief she felt for Penny all seemed to come down on her, nearly crushing her beneath the weight. Suddenly she began to cry—humiliated yet unable to stop the sobs coming from the depths of her being, the tears washing down her face like a sudden rush of rain.
Vaguely, she saw the young cop move away as Tyler stepped toward her, stood uncertainly for a moment, then wrapped his strong arms around her, pulling her against his tall, muscular body. Diana knew she should shake free of him—she barely knew him and she was quite sure she didn’t like or trust him—but at the moment all she wanted was for him to keep holding her, to let her cry against his chest as he rested his chin on the top of her head and murmured, “Don’t cry, darlin’. Don’t cry.”
“I can’t help it,” she wept into his T-shirt. “And I’m not your ‘darlin’, dammit!”
“Maybe you are and you just don’t know it. Miracles do exist.”
Diana leaned back and looked at him fiercely. “Then what happened to Penny? What was her miracle? Why couldn’t she have been farther away from
the house and closer to Willow? Willow told me she’d been at the edge of the woods looking for sparkle bugs when Penny spotted her and headed toward her.”
“Why was she trying to catch sparkle bugs?”
“Because Penny was so upset last night.”
“Penny was upset? About what?”
“I don’t know. I talked to her briefly the night before. She was really worried but she didn’t tell me the problem.”
Tyler’s hands moved to her waist and pushed her back a few inches. “You must have some idea.”
Diana was regaining control of herself, the sobs quieting, the tears beginning to slow. “Why are you asking me all of these questions?”
“I’m curious.”
Diana looked at his brilliant blue eyes now grown narrow and suspicious. She felt the tension in his arms and saw the muscles in his jaw tighten. “You’re not curious the way most people would be. You aren’t casually curious. You’re almost desperate to find out why Penny was so upset.”
“I am not. Why would I be? I don’t even know the woman.”
“Don’t you?”
A short, sharp silence fell between them. Tyler’s eyes narrowed even more, his gaze seeming to bore into hers. “What does that mean?”
“It means that even the most empathetic person couldn’t sound as fierce as you did about finding out what was upsetting a young woman he doesn’t know.”
“I was here. I helped the firefighters—not much, but I tried. And the mother of a young child is so badly burned she’s probably not going to live. I know you think I don’t have a heart, that I can’t feel for her even if I don’t know her, but you’re wrong. You’re not as smart as you think you are.”
He held Diana’s arms and she did not pull away. Both of them had wary looks in their eyes, and a thin, tingling wire of anger and distrust seemed to vibrate between them. Diana’s heart pounded, but she was determined to show this man he didn’t intimidate her. She was not going to pull herself free and dash for her car. She would stand there matching him look for look for an hour. Longer.
Gradually, his breathing growing lighter, the ferocity in his eyes dying, he said slowly, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t scare me. You also had no right to demand I tell you anything Penny said to me. You have no rights here at all!”
“I . . .” Tyler looked down, drew a deep breath, then raised his azure gaze. Diana could feel him fighting for composure, trying to harness what she could sense were natural instincts to get the information he wanted, no matter what methods he had to use. He was an unknown element and she had no doubt he was dangerous. No doubt at all.
Still, he looked at her with a trace of sad gentleness in his eyes. “I guess my behavior hasn’t been the best, but there’s a reason for it. If you have any knowledge of what was bothering your friend, you have to tell the police. I mean it, Diana, because—”
“Yes? Because?” she asked, trying to sound haughtily dismissive.
He glanced around as if to see if anyone were near them. “Because the fire marshal has determined this house didn’t catch on fire because of a gas leak or anything accidental,” Tyler said softly. “Diana, the explosion last night was caused by a bomb.”
4
Bomb. The word felt like a sword thrust. She stared into Tyler’s eyes, but she really didn’t see him. She saw Penny’s seared, blistered face against a background of blinding flames on the black canvas of night.
“Diana, did you understand me?” Tyler asked finally.
“Yes,” she said vaguely, trying to fight her way out of her vision and back to the present. “You said it was a bomb.” She forced herself to focus on Tyler. “But how do you know there was a bomb? I don’t think the fire marshal is discussing his findings with you.”
“I overheard him telling one of his men.”
“You could have misunderstood.”
“I didn’t. Do you see that guy over there? Tyler nodded toward a middle-aged man with thick, graying brown hair and a grim expression. “He’s with the ATF—Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”
“I know what the ATF is, Tyler.”
“Then you know they don’t come to the site of an ordinary house fire. They are sent for when the cops find something suspicious—in this case, a bomb.”
“But how do they know? On what are they basing this bomb theory?”
Tyler looked around again and kept his voice low. “They found a big, jagged hole in the basement floor. A bomb would have a concentrated blast point, causing a crater in the concrete. An explosion from a gas leak—”
“Would be more diffused,” Diana interrupted, lost in memory. “I once saw a house whose basement had filled with gas from a leak and something ignited the gas. There was no ‘ground zero,’ I guess you’d call it, no specific point like the hole in the concrete floor where the explosion must have ignited.” She frowned, feeling as if she were speaking weakly from the depths of a well. “Don’t tell me you overheard the fire marshal discussing the basement floor, too.”
“I didn’t, but that young cop Patterson heard him, and sometimes cops new to the job get a little too chatty when they’re excited.”
“And how do you know so much about cops new to the job?”
Tyler hesitated then said reluctantly, “I had an uncle on the force. He lived and breathed the job. He died a long time ago. . . .” Tyler seemed to mentally catch himself, and Diana saw his eyes become veiled. “This house was bombed, Diana. I suspected it last night because of the force of the blast. That’s why I came back today. I wanted to know for sure. I probably shouldn’t have told you just now. The police don’t want the information released to the public yet.”
Still feeling dazed by the news of a bomb, Diana said, “I certainly won’t run to the press, but what about that policeman over there talking to the newswoman? Will he tell her?”
“Not if he wants to keep his job. He’s probably just giving the usual line about this being an ongoing investigation and saying the police will release a statement when they know more.”
Diana glanced at the newswoman dejectedly walking back to the news van as the cop strode toward the remains of Penny’s house. “Looks like she didn’t get much information.”
“What did I tell you? You won’t be hearing about a bomb on the evening news. Maybe tomorrow . . .” Tyler shrugged. “They won’t be able to keep a lid on this for long. And you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. I probably shouldn’t have told you.”
“Why? Because you think I can’t keep a secret?” Diana flared. “Well, I can! I am totally trustworthy, Mr. Raines.”
Tyler gave her a satisfied smile, and she suddenly felt bewildered by her girlishly earnest assurance of her trustworthiness. What was wrong with her? After all, she didn’t trust him, she reminded herself sternly.
He was still smiling when embarrassment caused her to snipe, “You helped the firefighters and found Willow, but that still doesn’t explain why you’re involving yourself so much in this situation. You don’t even know Penny and Willow. Why do you care if their house was bombed?”
Tyler’s smile turned into a look of deep annoyance. “Damn, Diana, are bombings a regular occurrence in this town? I don’t think so. Wouldn’t you be interested if a bomb had been set off in someone’s house, even if you didn’t know the people whose home had been bombed? Besides, maybe I don’t know Penny and the little girl, but I do know Al Meeks, my grandfather’s friend, my friend who lives not too far from here. I found out last night he knows Penny. Then there’s you, Clarice Hanson, and your uncle. All of you know Penny.”
Diana gazed at him uncomprehendingly. “Okay, we all know Penny. So what?”
His face tightened in frustration and he spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a child. “You’re a smart woman. Use your head. Obviously someone tried to murder Penny—someone so vicious he didn’t care if he killed her little girl, too. That person may have wanted to kill
Penny because she knew something dangerous to him. If so, he might think she’d told Al Meeks, or Clarice, or your uncle, or especially you. And there’s still Willow. Even if she’s only five or six, she could know something.” He paused. “Diana, every one of you is a target.”
5
Diana stood in the main concourse of the mall, her hands trembling, her head aching, her thoughts skittering like frightened mice. Normally, the mall would be extremely busy on a Saturday afternoon, but the day was so beautiful many people had opted to stay outside. Still, in spite of the lack of a crowd, Diana could not seem to get her bearings. She paced through the concourse, looking blindly into store windows, trying to remember what she needed to buy for Willow and the proper sizes.
A bomb. Bomb. Bomb.
The word tolled in Diana’s head until she couldn’t concentrate. She read newspaper stories about bombings in the Middle East or in Europe. Sometimes bombings in places she’d never visited claimed lives. Occasionally bombings occurred closer to home. Even though she’d been young, she remembered the stunned sadness she’d felt over the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995—a bombing that had claimed 168 lives and injured over 800 people.
Still, she’d never really considered a bombing could never directly affect her. How naive, she now thought scornfully. Not only had a bombing occurred close to her, she’d almost lost her life because of it, and her closest friend would most surely lose her own battle to survive it.
You Can Run... Page 10