Her Only Hero

by Marta Perry

  “You can’t wait a couple of weeks?”

  “Impossible. I have to get this done.” She could hear her voice veering out of control, and she couldn’t seem to help it. “If I’m not finished by the time my prospective buyer comes, she’ll go elsewhere. And Mandy’s surgery—”

  She stopped, fighting for control. She wasn’t going to spill all her troubles to Ryan, no matter how sympathetic he was.

  And then he touched her shoulder gently, and all her resolve disappeared. She choked on a sob, and he pulled her against him.

  “Don’t.” She tried ineffectually to move away.

  “You’ll get paint on your shirt.”

  “It’ll clean.” His arms were strong around her, demanding nothing, just offering support. He stroked her back in gentle circles, reminding her of the way she comforted Mandy. “Just relax. You don’t have to be a superhero all the time.”

  She wanted to protest that she did, but it was so comforting to stand in his embrace, feeling the tension easing out of her at his touch. His lips brushed her temple.

  That touch brought her to her senses. She sucked in a breath and drew back, still in the circle of his arms. “Sorry. I don’t usually do that.”

  “You’re allowed.” His gaze probed. “Let me get this straight. You need the money from the sale of the property to pay for Mandy’s surgery.”

  She nodded, pulling herself free and turning away from that intent gaze. “The insurance we have doesn’t cover a cochlear implant.”

  “If you waited on the surgery until you’re in better shape financially—”

  “No.” Again her tone veered upward, and she fought to control it. “We’re not going to wait. The longer Mandy goes without the implant, the harder it will be. She starts school in September. I have to give her every chance at a hearing life. I have to.”

  “Okay.” He probably hoped that calm tone of his would soothe her. “Seems like the first step is to get a plasterer in here, ASAP.”

  She was glad he’d given her an excuse to be annoyed with him. “I never thought of that.”

  He grinned. “Sarcasm will get you nowhere, lady. It just so happens one of my high-school buddies recently took over his father’s plastering business. I’ll call him.”

  “He’ll probably be booked solid. They all are.” It had taken her weeks to find someone, and Ryan proposed to do it with a single call.

  “Trust me, he’ll fit you in. I know too much about him for him to say no to me.”

  Hope flickered in spite of her doubts. “That would be wonderful.”

  “Looks like it’s a good thing I stopped by today, although I didn’t have plasterers in mind.”

  “Why did you come, then?”

  “I thought you’d want to know.” His smile broadened. “I got the call. I’ve been assigned to the arson squad on a probationary basis.”

  “Ryan, congratulations. That’s wonderful.”

  “Yeah, it is. I didn’t realize how much I wanted this until it came through. I’m going to be working with Garrett North. He’s tough, but he’s the best.”

  He was as enthusiastic as a kid with a new toy, and she couldn’t help smiling with him.

  “I take it you’ve told your family. How are they taking it?”

  He waggled his hand. “So-so. Not as bad as I thought, actually.”

  “That’s good. I’m really happy for you.”

  “Well, there’s something you should know before you get too happy.” The sudden serious turn of his expression made her nerves tighten in response.

  “What is it?” Something told her she wouldn’t like his answer.

  “I’ve been assigned to my first investigation. It’s here.” He gestured. “Your fire wasn’t an accident. It was arson.”

  Chapter Four

  Laura could only stare at Ryan, her mind slowly processing his words. The fire here. Arson.

  She finally found the words. “Someone deliberately set the fire? That’s impossible.” She couldn’t believe it. He had to be wrong about this.

  “I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to hear news like that. Nobody does.”

  She was shaking her head, as if that would change his opinion. Groping for another explanation.

  “You said yourself that the construction debris was a hazard on the back porch. Remember? It must have been an accident.”

  It must have been, because the alternative was too frightening to think about.

  “Look, let’s sit down and talk about this.” He touched her arm, nodding toward the stairs. “You’re having a lot of stuff thrown at you lately. I’m sorry to add to it.”

  He sounded like Bradley Potter with his list of bad news. She shook off the thought. Unlike Bradley, Ryan was just leveling with her. She ought to appreciate that, even if she thought he was wrong.

  She let him pilot her to the stairwell, and they sat on the worn wooden treads. Deep burgundy stair carpeting, she thought automatically. She’d already picked it out.

  But she couldn’t waste time daydreaming about something that was already done. She had to face this new problem rationally.

  “What makes you and this other investigator think it was arson?” She didn’t even like saying the word, with its implication of malice.

  “We know an accelerant was spread around the porch.” He said the words slowly, as if to be sure she understood. “It leaves traces.”

  “An accelerant.”

  “Probably paint thinner.” He glanced toward the open paint cans in the front room. “Do you have any around?”

  She stiffened. Was he accusing her of carelessness? “I do, but it’s locked up in the cellar. No one could have gotten at it.”

  Ryan leaned back against the newel post. The pose might be casual, but the way he studied her face was serious. “They didn’t have to find it here. They could have brought it with them.”

  “They.” She didn’t want to picture faceless people spreading paint thinner, striking a match. “Why would anyone want to destroy something I’ve been working so hard on? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Plenty of things in this world don’t make sense. This could have been a gang of kids, tempted by the stuff, not realizing the danger.”

  “Not realizing! We were asleep upstairs.” Dread moved like a cold draft on her neck.

  His hand closed over hers, gripping it strongly. “I know. But kids may not have known someone was living in the building. It’s been empty a long time.”

  A shudder ran through her. Ryan’s fingers tightened on hers as if he felt it, too.

  “Look, if that is what happened, we’ll probably never find them unless somebody talks. They’ll have been scared to death by what happened. You can be sure they’d never willingly come near here again.”

  “I guess I should find that comforting.”

  “Well, I’m trying to put the best light on it I can.” The stroke of his thumb across her knuckles was feather-light.

  “I don’t like being the bearer of bad news, believe me.”

  She managed a smile. Ryan didn’t deserve to have her worries dumped on him. He had enough to think about with his new job. She wasn’t his responsibility.

  “Okay. I promise not to overreact to the news. But I am glad you’re investigating.”

  “I doubt Lieutenant North will let me do anything more responsible than carry his notebook, but at least I’ll get my feet wet.” His eyes were serious. “North is the best. I couldn’t ask for anyone better to train under.”

  “Then I know my case is getting excellent attention.”

  Did his family see how much Ryan wanted to succeed at this? They should be proud that he was attempting something so difficult.

  “There is one other thing—”

  He looked so reluctant to speak that for a moment her fear rose again. Then she realized what he hesitated to tell her.

  “I suppose it’s a conflict of interest for you to be friends with me under the circumstances. I can underst
and that.”

  That meant he wouldn’t be dropping in on her anymore. Well, that was probably for the best. She’d already decided on that, hadn’t she?

  He smiled. “Actually, that’s not an issue. When I told North that we’re old friends, that we’d been in school together, he just rolled his eyes. Said he was beginning to think everyone in Suffolk knew everyone else. I guess it’s a big change for him from Chicago.”

  “That’s not quite true.”

  He blinked. “What isn’t?”

  She said the thing she’d been thinking since the day Ryan had walked back into her life. “That we were friends in school. You barely knew who I was in those days.”

  “Just because we weren’t in the same class—”

  “That didn’t have anything to do with it. You dated girls in my class. We weren’t friends because you were the football hero and I was the shy little nerd who hid behind my stack of library books.”

  He looked down at their clasped hands. “You’re telling me I was a jerk, in other words.”

  Heat flooded her face. “No, of course not. I’m just saying we didn’t run in the same circles. I was so far from the in crowd I probably didn’t have a circle.”

  “Why?”

  Now it was her turn to blink. “Why what?”

  “Why did you hide?”

  Nerd. Loner. He could have used those words, but he wouldn’t because he was too kind. Maybe he didn’t remember what it had been like in high school for the kids who didn’t belong to that charmed circle of the accepted. Maybe he hadn’t even known.

  “I was shy,” she said carefully. “I didn’t have any confidence in myself.” She wasn’t going to talk to Ryan, of all people, about how it had felt growing up with her mother’s disappointments hanging over her.

  He cradled her hand between both of his. “You know, it’s a funny thing. Every day I run into people I went to high school with. Most of them are still the same people they were then—still replaying old games. But you—you’ve turned into someone completely different.”

  The touch of his hands seemed to be turning her insides to jelly and her brain to mush. She struggled to treat the words lightly, because if she showed how his opinion mattered to her, she’d be betraying too much.

  “You mean I don’t qualify as a nerd any longer?”

  His gaze was serious and intent. “I mean you’ve grown into a woman who’s a dozen times better than that in crowd. Strong. Independent. Capable. Ready to tackle anything for your child. I’d say that’s a pretty good comeback.”

  The lump in her throat wouldn’t let her say much. “Thank you.” It came out as a whisper, and she cleared her throat, embarrassed.

  “Just remember that when you have to battle the likes of Bradley Potter.”

  “The consummate member of the in crowd? I will.”

  Ryan released her hand and pushed to his feet. He stood for a moment, hand on the newel post, looking down at her.

  “There was something else I wanted to say. Before I got sidetracked by our high-school social status.”

  A chill crept down her spine. “What?”

  “The arson very likely was what I said. Kids, out to make mischief and going too far.” His face clouded. “But according to North, we can’t rule out the possibility that we’re looking for a firebug.”

  The expression on his face told her he was serious. “Have there been other fires?”

  “Not recently.” His frown deepened. “But about five years ago we had a rash of fires in the business district. No one was hurt, but there was a lot of property damage. They never caught the guy.”

  “The fires just stopped?”

  He nodded. “That’s not unusual. That kind of person can go for years and then break out again.”

  She struggled to remember what she knew about firebugs. “They come back sometimes, don’t they? If they set a fire and it’s put out, they might try again.”

  “It’s possible.” He leaned over to grasp her shoulder. “Look, I didn’t tell you that because I wanted to scare you. Chances are good it’s nothing of the kind. But I know you weren’t in Suffolk when that happened before, and I thought you ought to know.”

  She straightened her spine. “You were right to tell me.” She looked up at him, hoping she didn’t look panicked. “Do you think we’re safe here? Mandy—” Her throat closed at the thought of her daughter.

  “Whoever set the fire knows now that someone lives here. I think that’ll discourage him.”

  “Unless he wants to hurt someone.” She couldn’t help the shiver of fear, but she tried to keep it out of her voice.

  “If it is the same person, he was always careful to pick empty buildings. Still, I’ve thought of a couple things that might be good precautions.” He eyed her cautiously, as if wondering how much advice she’d willingly take from him.

  “What things?” If it meant Mandy’s safety, she’d take advice from anyone.

  He looked faintly relieved at her response. “Lights on the back of the building, first off, because the alley is so dark. Motion detector lights would be best. Maybe you ought to consider an alarm system.”

  Those things cost money she didn’t have. Still, she’d have to find a way to pay for them if that meant keeping her daughter safe.

  “I’ll look into it right away.”

  “Seth and I can probably install the lights for you.” He grinned. “We once rigged the doorbell to ring every time Gabe turned on the light in his room. Drove him crazy until he figured out what we’d done.”

  Ryan was trying to dispel her fears, and she appreciated that. He was definitely one of the good guys, no matter who he’d been in high school.

  Unfortunately the fear wouldn’t be chased away so easily, no matter what he said. Somehow she thought she wouldn’t be sleeping well for quite a while.

  “There’s little enough left to find now that half the town of Suffolk has trampled through here.”

  Lieutenant North stood in the alley with Ryan the next day, glaring at the back porch of Laura’s building. The area was as clean as a burned-out porch could be after the ministrations of the Flanagan crew.

  “Sorry.” Ryan shifted his weight, wondering how much he should confess. He wanted to impress North with his ability to solve the crime, not cover up the evidence. “Some people from the church came over to help clean up. There was no thought of arson at the time.”

  “No.” North glanced around, his shrewd gray eyes seeming to see the alleyway as it must have been that night. “No one thought of it until the anonymous call came in.” He frowned, lines deepening in his lean face.

  “I don’t like anonymous callers.”

  Tipsters were useful sometimes, but Ryan understood what North meant. Someone out there had knowledge, and maybe it was guilty knowledge.

  “If kids did this, you’d hardly expect them to draw attention to the fact that it was arson by placing the call.” That fact had been worrying Ryan from the moment he’d heard about the tip.

  North gave a grudging nod, as if to concede that Ryan did have a brain. “A firebug, on the other hand, might resent the fact that his talent was overlooked.”

  The firebug. Ryan had been a rookie in the department then, but he remembered only too well the tension of knowing an arsonist was on the loose in his town. Every shift he’d been keyed up, worrying that this time the firebug might miscalculate and kill someone.

  “You think something’s set the same guy off again?” Ryan couldn’t help but ask the question, even though North wasn’t likely to answer.

  “I think we don’t overlook anything.” North’s tone suggested that he wasn’t going to speculate with a junior officer.

  “Right.” What did North think they’d overlooked to begin with? It really bugged Ryan that they hadn’t even suspected arson that morning.

  North pointed with his pen to the buildings that lined the opposite side of the alley. “The first thing is we talk to everyone who might have s
een something.”

  “The police already—” Ryan began.

  “We don’t accept someone else’s investigation, Flanagan. The fact that you probably personally know the investigating officer doesn’t mean anything to me. We do it again.”

  “Yes. Right.” He wasn’t exactly doing a sterling job of impressing the man on his first morning on the job.

  “I’ll get started on that.”

  The back door of the house creaked open. Laura looked out at them, her eyes wary at their presence. “Ryan. What’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry if we disturbed you. We’re checking out the scene of the fire.”

  “I see.” Laura’s gaze was guarded as she glanced at Lieutenant North.

  He took a step closer. The shadows under Laura’s eyes were darker today, her stance more tense. The news he’d given her about the arson investigation had probably kept her up most of the night.

  “You look like you had a rough night of it.”

  She grimaced. “Jumping at every sound, I’m afraid.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault.”

  No point in saying he wished he hadn’t had to bring her the bad news.

  “I did get the lights you recommended,” she said.

  “And someone from the church called to say he had an alarm system he could put in for me at cost.” Her eyebrows lifted. “I take it you’ve been interfering again.”

  “Hey, don’t blame me because people want to help you. Just accept it.”

  “Not when I can’t repay them.” Her jaw tensed.

  “That’s not right.”

  “Has anyone even told you that there’s a difference between being independent and being just plain stubborn?”

  Anger flared in her face, but he just shook his head.

  “I don’t have time to fight with you, Laura. I’m on duty. If you want to get to know the people from church who helped you, just go to service on Sunday. They’ll be glad to know that their friendship brought you there.”