by Karen Rose
Her lungs froze again. “And now Andy’s home is gone.”
“Nothing’s left. It was intense and fast burning. Use of an accelerant was clear. Whoever killed Andy today does not want any ties back to him. And you were his target. He’s killed five innocent people now, Meredith. Five.”
Meredith stared back at him, horrified. “To get to me?”
“Yes.” His voice dropped, grew gruffer. “I am so fucking terrified right now. If anything happened to you . . . I can’t . . . I just can’t. Do you understand now?”
She covered her mouth. “My God. Five people. Five people.”
“Their deaths are not your fault.”
“I know that,” she snapped. “It doesn’t matter. They’re still dead. Because somebody hates me enough to kill me.” Five people. God. Dear God.
Adam lifted her chin with his forefinger. “Don’t cry,” he whispered. “Please.”
I’m not, she started to say, but he was wiping tears from her cheeks. And then he was lifting her to his lap, his arms tight around her, rocking her where they sat.
She slid her hand to the back of his neck, turned her face into his chest, and wept.
He held her close, murmuring comfort into her ear, stroking her hair, her back, all while rocking her like she was a baby. “Sweetheart, it’s not your fault,” he kept saying.
Somewhere behind her she heard Diesel’s voice, sounding pissed and sleepy. “What did you do to her, Kimble?”
Meredith shook her head and continued to cry. “Nothing.”
She heard Adam tell Diesel about Andy Gold and the fire and the big man swore like a sailor. “Did you get anywhere with Voss?”
“Yes, but we need more information before we bring him in. We have him under surveillance, so he’s not going anywhere. Don’t worry.”
“Sonofabitch.” Kate’s voice came from the top of the stairs, where she’d apparently heard it all. Meredith should have known Kate wouldn’t have let her come downstairs all alone. Kate told Cap to stay, then came down far enough to lean on the banister to see them. “Mer needs a safe house.”
Meredith jerked back, looking at Adam with panic. “No. Please don’t shut me away from everyone.” Not now. I can’t do this now. I need you. All of you.
He stroked her face, his sigh pained. “Your poor eyes are swollen. Kate, can you get her some ice or something?”
“Sure thing.”
“You didn’t promise me,” Meredith said, hearing her voice go shrill, but unable to stop herself. “I can’t . . . I can’t go to a place where I can’t leave. I can’t. I won’t.”
“Shh,” Adam soothed. “We’re not going to make any decisions right now.”
Nodding, Meredith relaxed a fraction. “Okay.”
Diesel was not convinced. “Bullshit, Adam. What’s to stop Voss or whoever’s behind this from setting this place on fire?”
“We’ve got the place under surveillance,” Adam said sharply. “He’s got to know that.”
Diesel’s indrawn breath was loud in the ensuing silence. “And if his plan is to blow her up? Or start a fire and wait with a high-powered rifle so that he can pick her off when she runs out of a burning house?”
Adam’s jaw was hard as granite. “Don’t you think I haven’t thought of that already?”
Diesel sighed. “I’m sorry. I know you’re good at your job.”
“It’s okay,” Adam said. “I know that you’re good at yours, too. And I do appreciate your fear, because it’s well-founded. I’m thinking the condo. That’s no stuffy one-room safe house. Would you go there? Until we find this asshole?”
The condo was the penthouse of a very secure building in Eden Park. Meredith had never been there, but she knew about it because Faith had used it last year, as had Kate’s fiancé, Decker, over the summer. She had no idea who it belonged to or why CPD was allowed to use it as a safe house, but it seemed like an ideal solution. “My grandfather, too?”
Adam’s nod was definite. “Yes. Absolutely.”
“And people can . . . visit me?” Because Christmas was coming and Alex was coming and Meredith did not want to be alone.
Adam was studying her face, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Of course.”
Diesel’s laugh scraped out of him. “You had that already set up, didn’t you?”
Adam’s lips tilted. “Well, yeah.” He held Meredith’s gaze. “You okay with that?”
She let out a breath. Felt her calm return. “Which, that you made the decision when you said we didn’t have to make a decision, or that you cared enough to give me an option that would keep me and my grandfather safe without giving me a panic attack?”
“Both. I think. But I’m way too tired to parse what you just said.”
“Take the bed, man,” Diesel offered. “You really look like shit. Smell like it, too.”
Adam let go of her long enough to flip Diesel the bird. “But thank you for the kind offer,” he added graciously. “I will take a shower. Do you have any more of your cousin’s husband’s clothes, Meredith?”
“Yes, but I also have the suit you were wearing when you were here the last time. I had it cleaned. It’s hanging in the closet in the room where Diesel was sleeping.”
Adam’s expression softened. “Thank you.”
She ran her thumb over his lower lip. “It was no trouble.”
“It was still kind,” he said quietly.
Diesel cleared his throat loudly. “I am obviously in the way here. Give me a second to pull my shit together and I’ll go . . . well, where do you want me to go? I can stay with them until you’re ready to take them to the condo.”
Adam lifted his gaze to Diesel. “If you can, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Me, too,” Kate said, returning from upstairs with a cold pack. She winced when she got close enough to see Meredith’s face. “Oh, honey. You look awful.”
She laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “Adam and I both look like shit, then.”
Kate’s smile was satisfied. “But you laughed, so my job is done. I’ll stay with you, Diesel. Decker’s out of town for the weekend and I’m not on call.”
“Where did he go?” Diesel asked, because he and Kate’s fiancé had become strong friends since the summer.
Kate flitted her hand. “Seminar. Florida.”
Meredith turned on Adam’s lap so that she could study Kate’s face, things making sense now. “You were with him. You were in Florida and you came home because of me.”
Kate gave her a wide-eyed look of innocence. “Moi? No way.”
Adam leaned in to whisper in her ear. “She’s got sunburn on her nose.”
The tickle of breath on her ear made her shiver. She tried to ignore it, narrowing her eyes at her friend. Adam was right. The tip of Kate’s nose was a red brighter than the woman’s sunrise red hair. She’d noticed it earlier, but thought Kate had been cold. The red nose had not subsided. “You’re so busted, Kate.”
Kate put the ice on Meredith’s face, then kissed the top of her head. “We were scared, Decker and me. We saw the shooting on the news and . . . I had to make sure you were all right. Decker had to stay, but I didn’t, so I came home. You take care of us all the time, Mer. It’s your turn. Let us take care of you.”
She went back up the stairs, leaving Meredith staring after her.
“She’s right,” Adam murmured. “Let us take care of you.” His shoulders relaxed a fraction when she nodded. “I need to tell you about Broderick Voss. Trip and I interviewed his wife tonight and met his daughter.”
“Penny.”
“Yeah. We want to question Voss, but we want more information before we bring him in. We need to know what Penny saw that her father doesn’t want her to tell you.”
“You think Penny knows something that her father finds damaging enough to try t
o kill me? That sounds so . . . paranoid.”
“It’s not paranoid if they’re really trying to kill you,” he said dryly.
True. “Did Candace agree to allow Penny to continue seeing me? If not, we can find another therapist for her.”
“She was afraid you’d turn Penny away. I told her that’s not who you are.”
A flood of tenderness had her eyes filling again. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“It’s true.” He leaned closer until their foreheads touched. “If you could talk to her, it could give us a clue as to why he’s so keen on keeping her away from therapists. You’re apparently number three. The other two quit.”
Meredith frowned. “I know. Fuckers.”
Adam snorted a laugh, then smiled down at her. “Did you really just curse?”
She shrugged. “I curse. A lot. I’m just selective where and when I let go.”
He really smiled then, a dimple appearing in his cheek, and Meredith realized she’d never really seen him smile like that before. “That makes me happy,” he said, but then he was back to business once again. “Can you be ready to leave in an hour or so? I want to close my eyes for a bit and then I’ll escort you to the condo.”
“So . . . when Faith hid there, Deacon hid with her. And when Decker hid there, Kate hid with him. Are you going to hide with me?”
“Yes. As much as I can, anyway. But when I’m not there, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Chapter Twelve
Cincinnati, Ohio
Sunday, December 20, 3:15 a.m.
He roused when his cell buzzed. Rolling over quietly, so as not to wake Rita, he pressed his fingerprint to his phone and opened Butch’s text.
Shane’s headed to Cincy.
Fuck, he wanted to snarl, but he breathed carefully through his nose, keeping his temper under control. Grabbing his phone, he slid out of bed. Of course Rita stirred.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered. She always assumed something was wrong. She was usually right, but he’d never let her know that. She was the best camouflage he could ever hope for. She was respectability and normality personified.
And she was a good cook. All in all, not a bad reason for a marriage.
“Nothing,” he soothed. “Gotta pee. Go back to sleep.”
“Oh. Okay.” She obeyed and within moments she was breathing rhythmically again.
When he’d shut the bathroom door, he texted Butch back. What happened?
Girl is resolved.
He checked the time. What took you so long? It had been hours since Butch had started tailing the girl.
Had to wait till house was clear. Her ma was having an xmas party. Got girl’s phone. Sending you pics of convos.
Did anyone see u?
Pls, came the reply and he had to smile. Butch could sound insulted even over text.
His phone buzzed several more times as photos came through. Butch had issues with many things, but he was remarkably savvy about not leaving a trail. He’d taken photos of the girl’s phone with his own, versus sending from the girl’s phone.
That the new phones could be unlocked with a fingerprint made their jobs so much easier. Butch had probably removed the girl’s finger and taken it with him to unlock her phone, so “resolved” most likely meant “dead.”
He scanned the texts that had flown between Shane’s friend Kyle and Kyle’s girlfriend Tiffany. Kyle had written that Shane was freaked because his old friend was dead. He needed to get Shane to Cincinnati and asked to borrow Tiffany’s car.
She’d agreed, poor thing. If she’d said no, she might be alive right now. Shane himself had texted from Kyle’s phone at one thirty-five Cincy time, saying they were two hours away, so they should be arriving soon, if they weren’t already here.
He wondered where they’d go. Probably to the house where Andy Gold had lived, which was now crawling with firefighters, including an arson investigator. Well, he hadn’t been very subtle, after all. He’d doused that house with enough accelerant for three houses.
He was sure it was crawling with cops by now, too. Probably including Agent Triplett and Detective Kimble, since they were leads on the case.
Fucking Kimble. Their paths had crossed in the past and he’d always managed to slip around the guy, but a few times it had been damn close. I really need to get rid of him.
But that would have to wait.
Where r u? he typed to Butch and hit SEND.
Stopped for gas in Indy. Snowing here. Flights grounded. Have to drive home. Slow driving.
Make/model of car? I’ll wait near Gold’s house. Luckily there was only one entrance into Gold’s neighborhood. He could park there and keep watch for the borrowed car without being noticed.
White Toyota Prius. 2dr htchbk. 2014. IL plates. The plate number came through. Gotta hit the road. Call if u need me, can’t text w/snow.
No, they couldn’t risk an accident. Accidents meant cops and Butch had successfully flown under the radar for a decade. He wouldn’t surface now if it wasn’t life or death.
B safe, he replied. Because good right-hands were hard to come by. Especially ones he could trust implicitly. In his life there had been only two—Butch and his uncle Mike.
Otherwise, he was on his own and always had been. He liked it that way, too.
Cincinnati, Ohio
Sunday, December 20, 3:55 a.m.
Adam switched off the shower in Meredith’s basement, feeling human once more. It was a very nice shower nestled in the corner of a very nice bathroom. Meredith certainly didn’t do things halfway. The tile was done in a pattern of frothing waves that . . . soothed.
Everything about her soothed. Even the shampoos and soaps in neatly labeled dispensers on the shower wall. Sandalwood, lavender, forest, mountain spring. There was an earthiness, a groundedness in every scent, every color.
It was very zen. Very Meredith.
He wondered why she was so careful to surround herself with such soothing images and scents. He’d known from the beginning that she surrounded herself with a group of friends that were closer knit than most families.
Certainly more than his own family—his parents, anyway. He, Deacon, and Dani had made a life for themselves and for Greg, the youngest Novak.
Meredith had drawn them in, too. She was like a sun, acquiring planets that revolved around her, coming closer and orbiting away as they went about their own lives. All while Meredith remained in the center. Alone.
Adam thought she might be the most alone person he’d ever met, despite the friendships she’d so carefully and consistently nurtured. And I didn’t help her not be alone anymore. He’d left her, expecting she’d carry on while he dealt with his mountain of shit.
But she had her own shit, too. She had to. Why else would she have ever felt the need to develop that zen mask that seemed to fool everyone into thinking she was just fine? He’d seen past that mask and he knew she was unhappy.
And he now knew he could fix it. Buoyed by a confidence he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt before, he stepped out of the shower and dried himself with a fluffy towel that . . . He buried his face in the towel and inhaled. That smelled like her.
Instantly he was harder than any rock. He’d have to be careful when he zipped his trousers. The trousers of the suit she’d hung in the closet. His own suit, cleaned and left hanging. Waiting for him to return and reclaim it.
Just as she’d waited for him to return and reclaim her. Which he wanted to do right now, but he knew he needed to wait until she was in a safe place.
A soft knock on the door had his pulse scrambling. Diesel wouldn’t have knocked so lightly. Had to be her. He wrapped the towel around his waist and knotted it, conscious this would be the first time she’d seen this much of his skin since that night a year ago. And for the first time, he was grateful that all the work he’d done
hauling and fixing things over the last year had given him muscle definition he hadn’t seen since playing ball in college.
“Adam?” she called through the door. “Your phone played Darth Vader, twice. I didn’t answer, but someone wants to talk to you. I’m leaving now, putting your phone on the nightstand. I just wanted you to—”
He opened the door to find Meredith standing there uncertainly, his phone in her hand. A second later, though, her uncertainty was gone, replaced by momentary shock, which quickly became an expression of open lust. She looked him up, then down, her nostrils flaring slightly at the deep breath she drew.
He shuddered. Hard. Best ego boost ever. He wanted to reach for her, but he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop and he still had to tell her the truth. Dammit. So he reached above him with both hands, gripping the door frame, his knuckles bone white.
“Oh,” she said on a sigh, her hand slowly lifting to his chest like it was being pulled by a magnet. She trailed her fingertips through the droplets clinging to the hair there, her touch a bare whisper against his skin. Her gaze dropped to the towel and she worried her lower lip with her teeth, making him want to take a bite.
He heard a low growl, realized it had come from his own throat.
Her gaze jerked up, colliding with his, and she started to pull her hand away, but he caught her wrist, flattening her fingers against him. She shifted her palm to cover his heart and she had to be able to feel it because it was slamming against his rib cage like a hammer.
Then she pressed her lips to his chest and undid him. His fingers released the door frame and drove into her hair, lifting her face, her mouth.
And he was kissing her again. Finally. Finally. It was . . . everything. She was everything. He nipped at the lip she’d bitten and she moaned, opening for him. He licked into her mouth, forcing himself to slow down. To explore.
To treasure. Because this . . . this was more than he’d ever hoped for.
She hummed her pleasure, the hand over his heart sliding up his chest and around his neck and the kiss became a sweet hello. She tasted like gingerbread. And home.