I replayed the events in my mind again. "They came in a car...a tan, four-door sedan."
"Did you happen to see what the make or model was before they took off?" Ray's gentle, coaxing tone made my chest ache.
"No." I blew out a sigh and opened my eyes. "I'm sorry. I wish I could remember more. Whoever they were, I bet they're feeling almost as beat-up as I am, though. I clocked the shit out of both of them with a water meter key."
"Water meter key?" Ray leaned back in his chair, comprehension dawning on his face.
"What?" My brows pinched together.
"That's why the sprinkler system didn't work." Ray rapped on the tabletop, punctuating his realization. "They turned the water off before they firebombed the condo."
"Wait...are you saying I attacked them with their own tool? Do you think there's a chance they left fingerprints on it?" My heart thundered in my chest and adrenaline jolted through my system.
"I don't know." Ray grabbed his SUV keys off the other end of the table and pulled me to my feet, tugging me toward the door. "We better just hope it's still at the condo."
I practically vibrated with anticipation when Ray swerved into the condo parking lot and screeched to a stop right beside the spot where he picked me up a couple nights before. I scrambled out of the truck and did my best to ignore my throbbing foot as I hurried to the side of the building where the men had cornered me.
My heart sank when I didn't immediately see the meter key. I looked up at Ray, my racing pulse erratic. "It's not here."
He patted me on the shoulder and took a deep breath. "There was a lot going on that night. It's hard to be sure this is exactly where you stood, or if you even dropped the tool in the place where you were standing. I think we should canvas this whole side of the building before we give up."
My gut twisted, but I nodded and clung to the hope that he was right and maybe it was still somewhere on that side of the building.
This is useless. It's gone.
I viciously shoved the negative thought down and limped my way along the length of the building, searching the landscaped grass and flower beds for any glint of metal that didn't belong. Besides, I couldn't be sure if the voice of negativity in my mind was Shadow or me. Either way, I didn't want to believe my gut instinct about the key being gone because that would put us back at square one.
"I'm not seeing it," Ray called from the opposite end of the building.
I slumped against the side of the building, feeling deflated. "Me either."
Ray strode over to me and helped me stand up straight. "Don't get discouraged. Maybe the maintenance guy just picked it up or something. We can ask and see, okay?"
"Lead the way." I gritted my teeth as I followed Ray and tried to drown out the argument going on inside my head. Part of me felt like continuing to look was a waste of time, but the other half felt like we couldn't afford not to exhaust all the possibilities before moving on. I wasn’t going to let Kat down.
"You're really quiet. What's up?" Ray's soft observation pulled me out of my internal spiral and I shook my head.
"My gut tells me it's not here anymore, but I’m not going anywhere else until we know that for sure." I kept my eyes trained on Ray's broad shoulders as he led me into the building's lobby.
A few of Ray's neighbors were checking their mail, and all expressed their condolences over his condo, which brought on a fresh wave of guilt for me. I dropped my gaze to Ray's shoes, following in silence as he led me past the bank of mailboxes and knocked on someone's door. I leaned past his shoulder to take a peek. A gold plate on the door read, "superintendent."
The door swung open and a guy who looked like he could be a human grizzly bear blinked out at us. "What can I do for you, Ray?"
"Hey, Cyrus. I was just wondering if the landscaping guys found an extra water meter key lying around anywhere in the past couple of days." Ray was in full-on good old boy mode.
"Not that I know of." Cyrus shrugged. "And they would have brought it to me or put it in the maintenance closet or the landscaping shed if they had. I can grab my keys and let you look, if that helps?"
"That would be great. Thank you." Ray shook Cyrus' hand and stepped back to let the hulking man out of his office.
"I was real sorry to hear about your unit burning, Ray. I still don't know why your sprinkler system didn't work."
I elbowed Ray, seeing no reason to leave Cyrus in the dark about our theory, and Ray cleared his throat.
"That's why we're looking for a meter key. We think the people that firebombed my unit might have used one to turn the water off and keep the sprinkler system from activating."
Cyrus paused and turned to face us as comprehension dawned. The blood drained from his face. "Oh, man. That's terrible. I didn't realize somebody set that fire on purpose. I thought maybe it was just a freak accident."
He scratched the back of his neck and his trembling lips contorted into a deep frown. His wide eyes and shaky breathing tugged at my heartstrings. His demeanor shifted to teddy bear.
"I guess the security cameras on your side of the building all going out that day wasn't because of the fire and water damage like I thought, either," he said.
"It's okay, man. You had no way to know." Ray patted Cyrus' shoulder. "Besides, this is a really big building for one guy to be handling both the superintendent job and monitoring security, too. You can't be everywhere at once."
Cyrus nodded and turned, continuing our trek. The first stop at the maintenance closet didn't reveal anything. The landscaping shed was just as empty of spare meter keys.
"I'm really sorry we didn't turn up anything." Cyrus wrung his hands. "I'll ask around about it when the landscaping guys come back on Thursday."
"Thanks, Cyrus. We really appreciate you trying to help." It was the first time I'd really spoken since we arrived, but Cyrus nodded. I held out my hand for a handshake and he took it in a surprisingly light grip for a guy his size.
"My pleasure, ma'am. I'm just sorry I couldn't do more."
"Don't worry about it, man." Ray gave Cyrus a parting handshake, too. "I've got a buddy in security who might be able to cut the building a really good deal on some new systems if you want to mention that to the board. They're all backed up and monitored remotely, too, so that would be a little bit of trouble off your shoulders."
"I'll definitely pass that along, then." Cyrus waved us off. We were almost at the lobby doors when Cyrus called out. “Hey, Ray, I almost forgot!” We turned as he jogged over to us with a bright, hopeful grin. “That buddy of yours, Collin Tyrell? He dropped off a check a couple of days ago to cover the full amount of what your renter’s insurance didn’t cover so we can go ahead and get started on fixing up your place.”
My gut clenched at the name, and it was hard to catch my breath around the nausea that boiled through me when Ray beamed at Cyrus.
“Collin’s a great friend. He didn’t have to do that, and I’ll be sure to call and thank him for it.”
I swallowed bitter bile and trudged back to the SUV in silence.
Ray unlocked it and we climbed in. "Looks like your gut instinct was right about the key."
"Yeah, unfortunately," I grumbled, tugging unnecessarily hard on the seatbelt as I buckled in.
"So...what now?" Ray cranked the SUV and drummed his fingers against the steering wheel.
"Why don't we go to the office? I haven't forgotten that I agreed to work in exchange for your help. You could get in touch with Detective Stapleton while I beat some of that chaos into submission."
"You sure you're ready for that?"
I nodded and Ray swung out into the flow of traffic. Neither of us spoke again until we were parked at the back entrance to Hammond Investigations.
"I meant what I said about paying you for your work here." Ray's reassurance came out of left field.
"I know." I unbuckled and climbed out, waiting for him to unlock the shiny, new deadbolt and let me in.
"If we don't find Kat soon,
I may have to keep taking on other cases on the side to keep the place afloat. Please don't take it as my commitment to finding your sister wavering," Ray said as he tugged the door open and waved me ahead of him.
I stepped into the dim hallway and felt around for a light switch. My breath hitched when Ray's hand covered mine and guided it to the switch, flooding the narrow hall with light as the door clicked shut behind us. He flipped the deadbolt back into place before I gathered my thoughts enough to reply.
"I get it, and that's perfectly reasonable. I can't expect you to pay me and also have Kat's case be your sole focus when I can't even afford to pay you for your help."
Ray blew out a big breath and the corners of his lips twitched up in a quick smile. "Thanks for understanding, Rox."
His knuckles brushed against mine for half an instant before he led the way up the hall.
"Coming from this direction, the restroom is on the left, and the cleaning supply storage closet is on the right." At the end of the short hall, he opened a door, which led into the parts of the office I was already familiar with. The lobby opened before us, with the empty reception desk standing directly in front of us. The main storage closet was off to the left side, and Ray's office was on the right.
He motioned to the desk. "This is going to be your domain, so you can decorate however you want. Where did you want to get started?"
I took in the barren desk and worn chair behind it, deciding it was in good enough shape to leave that for another day. "Why don't we start with your office? You obviously spend the most time in there, so it needs to be more functional and much less messy."
Ray nodded and stepped around me, letting us both into his office. He picked his way over to his desk chair and reached up, rubbing the back of his neck. "I honestly have no idea where to start."
I waved a dismissive hand at him. "Leave that to me. I’ll clean and organize while you call Detective Stapleton.” I rushed to the storage closet and found some big plastic bins that would help me sort things and hauled them back into the office.
Ray gave a nod of approval and pulled out an address book from his jumbled desk drawer. I scooped up some crumpled papers and dumped them into a one of the bins, and then swept a cluster of empty disposable coffee cups off the corner of his desk and into the trash bin, too.
Ray looked for a moment like he had something to say but must have decided against it because he plopped down in his desk chair and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number. "Detective Stapleton, please. Tell him it's Ray Hammond calling."
I sifted through the stack of papers on the floor closest to Ray's feet and placed the file folders I was sure couldn't be thrown away into the keep bin, shamelessly eavesdropping.
"Hey, James. I'm kind of surprised you took my call, but I'm glad you did." Ray grabbed a legal pad from a stack of them on his desk and dug a pencil out of the drawer as the detective spoke on the other end of the line. I looked for a clean spot to set the papers I wasn't sure about and Ray quirked an eyebrow at me.
"What do you need?" His whisper barely reached my ears.
"A spot to put documents I need your input on to sort." I made sure to keep my answer quick and quiet so it wouldn't drown out whatever the detective had to say.
Ray shuffled things around on his desktop to clear a spot for me, and then drew his full attention back to the conversation. "It's a professional call. I need to consult with you about your murder suspect. He may have information that's relevant to my current case. My client's sister is missing, and I have reason to believe your suspect knows something about it."
Ray frowned and started scribbling things down on the legal pad as he listened to the detective's response. I peeked at the pad, but the only things he’d written down were times, and a couple notes like “no weapons or sharp objects, appropriate clothing, will be searched and patted down, and no contact with suspect.” I stacked anything that needed his decision in the spot he'd cleared off, trying to calm the fluttering sensation in my stomach.
"Thanks, man. I'll keep an ear out for a call back from you." Ray hung up and shot me a half-smile. "James is going to see if he can weasel me into an interview with the guy they have in custody as a consultant or something."
"That's wonderful!" I clasped my hands against my breastbone, trying to ease the pounding of my heart. I rocked on the balls of my feet and chewed on my bottom lip. "Ray...you've gotta get me in the same room as the suspect. I'm begging you. If whoever it is knows anything about Kat's location...I need to be there when you speak to him."
Ray was already shaking his head before I even finished speaking. "I don't think that's a good idea. This guy has confessed to two murders, and on top of that—" My heart skipped several beats as he paused, obviously struggling with how to word what he was about to say. "What if he upsets you and things start flying around the room again? I'm pretty sure you don't want that happening in the middle of the police department. It's way too risky. What if you accidentally hurt a cop or they find an excuse to arrest you because they feel that you’re dangerous? You can’t help Kat if you’re locked up."
Pain knifed through my heart with an ugly twist as I studied him.
He’s afraid of us…good. He should be.
My ribs tightened and I struggled to catch my breath.
Why the hell does it hurt so badly hearing the truth from him? Why do I even care what he thinks?
I pressed my hand against my stomach, as if that could fix the hollow, nauseated feeling there.
"You're right." The words tasted sour in my mouth, and I grimaced. "It probably would be a really bad thing if I lost control in the middle of the police department."
I spun away from him, blinking hard to clear my watering eyes so I could focus on the work in front of me, rather than the man behind me. I crouched and scooped up the next closest stack of papers, clutching them in a merciless grip.
Ray’s chair let out a distressed squeak as he stood and took a half-step toward me. He stopped mid-stride when I stiffened.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." The soft, apologetic rumble of his voice might as well have been salt in an open wound for all the good it did.
Grinding my teeth, I started sorting through the stack of papers with sharp, jerky movements. "I already admitted you were right. Can't we just drop it and let me get back to work now?"
"Shit."
It took every ounce of self-control I had to keep from rounding on him.
You know you want to go off on him, Shadow coaxed.
I shook my head and rolled it from side to side, doing my best to release the tight knot of tension building at the base of my neck.
"You know what?" I finished sorting what I could of the papers in my arms, and then turned and added to the pile that Ray needed to handle for himself. "It's fine."
I swallowed hard but couldn't make myself look at him.
He closed the space between us, and I froze, torn between the desire to flee and the gravitational pull of the warmth that radiated off his body. "Please look at me, Roxanne."
"I can't." I blurted the words in a breathless rush, already turning to identify the safest escape route when those big, rough hands of his captured my face, creating an impossibly gentle, coaxing prison that rooted me to the spot.
"Please." His voice was softer this time, caught somewhere between a plea and a whispered prayer.
My eyes burned with hot, unshed tears. I squeezed them shut, resenting every single drop that leaked out from under my eyelids as anger and shame fought for control inside me. I trembled as I forced myself to meet his gaze.
"What, Ray? What do you want?" The words came out jagged and I sucked in a painful breath.
"I want you to understand that I wasn't trying to be an asshole. I'm not so great with words, Roxanne. I need you to know that I never mean to hurt you. That's the opposite of what I want."
If I breathed too deeply, our chests would brush. I reached up and gently tugged his hands away fro
m my face, putting enough space between us so I could breathe properly. "I know. I'm sorry I got so upset."
Ray opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and shook his head. "I can't help feeling like it would be a lot easier for me to know how to avoid hurting you if I had any idea what even triggered you in the first place."
I searched the room, desperate for an escape from his probing gaze. "Isn't Detective Stapleton waiting for you or something?"
"Yeah." Ray's jaw clenched before he squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "And I have no idea how long I'm going to be allowed to observe his interviews with the suspect. I'm guessing you probably don't want to just sit in my truck the whole time."
"Good guess," I muttered, rolling my eyes at the thought of being forced to wait in the vehicle like a badly behaved pet.
"I'll drop you off at home." His offer was stiff, his tone carefully neutral.
"Fine by me." I practically fled his office, desperate to re-establish some kind of equilibrium. If Ray responded, I didn't hear him. I rushed through the lobby and down the hall to the back door. I pushed my way out into the fading daylight.
When Ray joined me, he didn't unlock the SUV. Instead, he paused beside me. "I don't get why you can't just tell me what I do wrong when my behavior sets you off so I can try to avoid doing it again in the future."
"Are you really pretending you don't know what set me off just now, Ray?" I kicked at a loose piece of rock in the parking lot. "Knowing that my magic...issue makes you uncomfortable enough that you're not willing to try to let me speak to the person who might know where I can find my sister hurts. I'm not saying that it isn't a valid concern on your part, but that doesn't make it suck any less, either."
"And what about yesterday at the hospital?" Ray tilted his head and studied me.
I gulped and tried to shake off the chill pricking at the back of my neck. "Haven't you learned anything about pushing me too far, Hammond?"
He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Stop trying to side-step my question." The low, warning rumble of his tone was new. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but I can't even begin to fix things if I don't know what I need to change in the first place."
Coven of Lies (The Bayshore Witch Legacy Book 2) Page 4