by Marta Perry
“You couldn’t have been far away. You got here in minutes.”
She didn’t know how close he’d been. He’d actually forgotten about what he’d been doing when she called. He cleared his throat.
“I called the station. The paramedics are on their way right now.”
She put her hand over his, pressing it against her cheek. “I’m fine. I don’t need paramedics—I just need to get out of here.” Emotion darkened her eyes. “Mandy could be waking up. I have to get back to the hospital.”
“Right.” That was another thing he’d forgotten about in his need to know that Laura was safe. “But we should wait for them. The paramedic team will have the equipment to get you out safely.”
Her hand tightened on his. “Please, Ryan. Can’t you break the rules just this once? If you can lift the beam, I’m sure I can slide out.”
He leaned forward, balancing himself carefully with one hand pressed against the floor. The beam was wedged against the wall on one side—that was the only thing that had saved Laura from injury. He ought to be able to lift it enough to release her.
He shouldn’t. She wasn’t in imminent danger, so he should wait for back-up. But Laura was looking at him with confidence shining in her dark eyes, and he gave in to the need to have her safe.
“Okay. I’ve broken plenty of rules already today. I guess one more won’t hurt.”
He got into position, bracing the rough beam with his shoulder. “If anything hurts when you try to move, you stop right away, okay? We’re not taking any chances of making things worse.”
She nodded. “You’re the boss.”
“I’ll remember you said that.” His muscles tightened. “Are you ready?”
Laura braced her hands against the floor on either side of her. “Ready.”
“I’m going to take it up slowly on three. One. Two. Three.” He pressed, muscles screaming. The beam lifted an inch, then two. He focused on Laura’s face, ready to stop in an instant if she showed signs of pain.
She pushed herself back smoothly, swinging her legs free of the beam. “I’m out.” Her voice wobbled. “It’s okay, I’m free.”
He lowered the beam again cautiously and stumbled the few feet to her side. “Are you all right? Are you sure?”
All his professional detachment shattered into a million pieces at the need to hold her.
“I’m fine. Thanks to you.” She turned into his arms, and he drew her close against him.
She was safe and in his arms where she belonged.
Thank You, Father. Thank You.
He had no idea how much time passed before he felt Laura stiffen. She pushed back away from him, her eyes wide with shock and fear.
“Smoke! I smell smoke—Ryan, we have to get out!”
“It’s okay.” He tried to hold her, but she’d pushed herself to her feet. “Honestly, it’s all right. Everything’s under control.” He hadn’t had the time or the brains to tell her what was happening in his fear for her safety.
She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to the stairway. “We have to get out,” she repeated, and he knew the memory of that other time was stark in her mind.
“It’s all right.” He put his arm around her and eased her toward the stairs. “We’ll go down, but you have to be quiet. There’s no need to hurry. I promise.”
Laura wanted to grab Ryan and push him bodily down the stairs, but he was solid and immobile as a rock. The strength of his arm around her seemed to banish the panic that had erupted at the scent of smoke. Ryan knew what he was doing. She could trust him.
With his arm steady around her, they started down the stairs.
“Sure you’re all right?”
She nodded, afraid to speak because her voice might betray the extent of her weakness. She felt as if she’d been hit by a bulldozer, but she’d be all right, thanks to Ryan. He’d rescued her yet again.
A few weeks ago she’d have angrily rejected the thought that she needed rescuing—or needed help of any kind. A few hours ago she’d still burned with the thought of Ryan’s betrayal. The time she’d spent trapped and alone had changed everything.
She hadn’t been alone. That was why. God had been with her. If was as if all her old fears had been wiped away in that short period. As if she were a new person, seeing through fresh eyes.
Her foot caught on a step, and she would have fallen if not for Ryan’s arm around her.
“Shh.” His voice was a bare whisper as they reached the bottom. “Stay right behind me and don’t say a word.”
She nodded, glancing at his face. Strong, intent, focused on something she didn’t know about or understand. Holding her hand, he led the way toward the back of the house.
The smoky smell was stronger here, but musty, as if a blaze had been doused with water and still smoldered. He went softly across to the back door. Motioning for her to stay where she was, he edged the door open a crack.
She stepped closer to him, putting her hand on his back, feeling hard muscle and the warmth of his skin through the cotton of his shirt.
“What is it?” Her question was a mere breath, close to his ear.
“It’s okay.” He spoke in a normal tone, and he opened the door wide. “Looks like it’s all over.”
She blinked. The usually dark alley was alive with light. Red lights whirled on the top of a police car, painting the pavement in crimson stripes. The strong white beams of several flashlights bounced off brick and concrete.
A shiver went down her spine. Had they come to arrest her? “Ryan? What’s happening?”
Several men clustered around something in the alley. One of them turned at the sound of her voice.
“Ms. McKay.” Lieutenant North actually sounded welcoming. “Flanagan got to you, I see. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said, wary of his sudden friendliness. “Why are you here?”
“Did we get him?” Ryan sounded impatient.
“Sure thing,” North said. “We’ve got him all tied up in a neat package and ready to present to the district attorney’s office.”
“Get who?” Her voice shook a little.
“Didn’t Flanagan tell you? We figured out who the arsonist was a few hours ago. And now he’s been cooperative enough to walk right into our arms.”
North took a step toward her, and she saw the person his body had shielded. The person who was handcuffed, slumped between two police officers. Bradley Potter.
The alleyway seemed to be spinning in time with the whirling red light. “I don’t understand.”
“No, I guess you wouldn’t.” North’s voice gentled. “Mr. Potter does, however.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Potter’s words were an octave higher than his usual smooth tones. “You’re trying to frame me, and you won’t get away with it. I demand to see my attorney.”
He moved slightly, and one of the officers shifted his grip. His foot struck something that sloshed and rattled.
The beam of North’s flashlight fastened on it. A can of paint thinner.
She could only stare at it, as conviction settled into her bones. Bradley Potter had tried to burn down her building. He’d attempted to finish the job tonight.
“Why would you do this? I don’t understand. What do you have against me?” She took a step toward Potter, and Ryan grasped her arm.
“I don’t think old Brad had anything against you, personally.” The look Ryan turned on Potter was fierce enough to scald. “You and your renovation just threatened to sour the deal he had going.”
“What deal? How could I possibly threaten him?”
“Brad put together a group to build a new hotel on this block. He already owned the surrounding buildings. This one was all he needed.”
“But he could have just bought the building. Goodness knows I’m eager enough to sell. Why try to destroy it?”
“Because he couldn’t buy it and tear it down. It’s a protected historic building, remember? None of the
surrounding buildings were, so he just bought them as they became available. I’d guess he was waiting for this place to be condemned, but you got in his way.”
“Pure supposition.” Fear showed beneath Potter’s words. “You have no proof at all.”
“We have eyewitnesses to arson.” North nodded to the police officers. “Take him in.”
She watched numbly as they put Potter in the back of the police cruiser. It pulled out, swerving to avoid the paramedic van that turned into the alley.
“I still don’t understand.” Maybe her brain was fogged by too many traumatic events in too short a time. “Why—”
“Flanagan can explain it all to you later.” North glanced from her to Ryan. “We owe solving this case to him. If he hadn’t been so stubborn, you might be the subject of the charges we’ll be making.”
She searched Ryan’s face. “Is that right? You did this?”
He shrugged, as if embarrassed. “Lieutenant North kept telling me to use my head. I guess I finally got the message.”
He hadn’t answered the question she’d really been asking, and maybe that was an answer in itself. Obviously, Ryan’s new job was assured. He’d solved the case, and in the process he’d cleared her.
But he’d said nothing to indicate that he’d done it for any other reason. Nothing had changed between them, except that now she owed him her freedom.
“I—I have to get to the hospital.” Mandy. She had to see Mandy.
North was already striding toward his car. “I’ll meet you downtown, Flanagan.”
Ryan squeezed her arm. “Sorry, but I have to go. The paramedics will take you to the hospital, and I’ll stop by as soon as I can. All right?”
“You don’t have to.” She managed to smile. “Thank you, Ryan. For everything.”
He nodded, already turning to go after North. He had his job to do, and she couldn’t delay him. And she also couldn’t let him see that she wanted anything more from him.
She certainly looked as if she’d been dragged through a knothole backwards. Laura frowned at her reflection in the small mirror of the hospital bathroom. Circles under her eyes, a bruise on her temple, her hair a tangled mop—she’d had a rough night, and it showed.
She dragged a brush through her hair, trying to tame it. It didn’t really matter how she looked. She wasn’t going to be seeing anyone but Mandy, who didn’t care as long as she was here.
Mandy had awakened happy this morning, apparently not bothered by the bruising and swelling on the side of her face that made Laura cringe in sympathy. If Mandy wasn’t bothered by it, she couldn’t show her reaction.
Deciding she wasn’t going to look any better without a night’s sleep, she went back into Mandy’s room. Mandy looked up from the silent conversation she was apparently having with her old teddy, the stuffed puppy Nolie had brought, and the firefighter bear. She had lined them up against the bed’s railing.
“Do you want anything else from your breakfast tray?” Laura signed.
Mandy wrinkled up her nose and shook her head. Laura found herself smiling.
“I don’t blame you. When we go home later, you can have whatever you feel like eating.”
She glanced at her watch. Dr. Phillips had said he’d stop by later this morning, and if everything looked good, Mandy could go home.
Home. She didn’t want to think about the mess on the third floor. How was she going to explain that? Maybe she ought to try and call Ms. Jamison and put her off.
I need some guidance, Father. It’s my first day back to relying on You, and already I need help. Please show me how to handle this situation.
No immediate answer popped into her mind, but it didn’t need to. The sense of peace she felt about it was enough to go on with.
Ryan hadn’t come by, and she hadn’t heard anything from him. That was all right, wasn’t it? She’d made her peace with that, too.
Ryan wasn’t ready for a family yet. He’d made his feelings clear. Someday he would be. She didn’t doubt that even if he did.
But not yet. Not her and Mandy.
It’s all right. Loving him has helped bring me back to You. I can’t ask for more than that. I can’t ask for something Ryan isn’t willing to give.
The door swished, and Ryan walked in. Her heart gave a leap at the sight of him. She’d have to find a way of bringing that under control.
“Good morning.” She studied his face. “You look almost as bad as I do. Didn’t you get any sleep at all?”
He grinned. “Not so you could notice.” He bent to kiss the top of Mandy’s head. “Mandy’s got her own black circles. We make quite a trio, don’t we?”
Mandy smiled up at him, and Laura’s heart gave another little jump. He was so good for Mandy. She’d blossomed since he’d come into their lives. If only—
No. I won’t pick that up again, Father. I’ll be content with whatever You have for us.
“Were you at headquarters all night?”
“Most of it.” He shrugged, pulling a chair up and collapsing into it. “Then I went and had a little talk with your defaulting contractor.”
“You did?” She hadn’t given the man a thought since the previous night. “Why?”
“It occurred to me that Potter might have been behind his reluctance to do the job, along with some of the other troubles you had with people like the plasterers. So I thought it was worth a little talk.”
She still couldn’t quite get her mind around the fact of Potter’s guilt. “Did the contractor admit it?”
“No, he wouldn’t go that far. But oddly enough, the news that Bradley Potter was in jail completely changed his work schedule. His crew is at your place right now. By the time you get home, the third floor will look as good as new.”
“That’s wonderful.” It was yet another thing she could hardly believe. And yet another thing she owed to Ryan. “Thank you. You’ve done so much for us that thanks don’t seem enough.”
His eyebrows lifted. “You’re not mad at me for interfering?”
“No.” The woman who’d used her independence as a weapon to keep people away was gone for good. “I’m just grateful. Not only did you rescue me, but you solved one of my biggest problems.”
Ryan actually flushed. “It’s nothing,” he mumbled. “Anyway, that’s not really why I came. I wanted to talk to you—”
“About the case, I suppose. How on earth did you get on to Potter, anyway?”
He blinked, as if he’d missed a step. “Oh, that. It sort of fell into our laps.”
“That’s not what North said. He said I owed it all to you.”
“Actually to my stubbornness, I think he said. Funny, he was ready to fire me for that, but now I’m the golden boy of the arson squad.”
She caught the message under his joking tone. “You risked your job to prove I didn’t do it?”
He shrugged, as if embarrassed to admit it. “Well, I knew you hadn’t done it. North wouldn’t accept my instinct as proof, so I went back over the whole thing again. I think he wasn’t really satisfied either, partly because of those anonymous calls we kept getting, as if someone was trying to lead us right to you.”
Maybe it was better not to look too closely into Ryan’s motives for risking his job. She didn’t want to start hoping again.
“But how did you find out Potter was the one?”
He leaned back in the black vinyl chair. “I decided to interview the neighbors all over again, hoping someone had seen something. Nobody had, but someone did mention their landlord. Bradley Potter. And I remembered seeing him coming out of the building next to yours.”
She remembered that day, too. “That surely wasn’t enough to make you suspicious of him.”
“It wasn’t really what you’d call a suspicion—just an annoying little something that I wanted explained. When we looked, we found out he’d bought or had an option to buy all the buildings on that half block. Except yours.” He shrugged. “Once we knew that, it wasn’t hard to find
out the rest.”
“I still don’t understand why he’d risk going to jail.” A shudder went down her spine at the thought that it might have been her, if not for Ryan.
“Money. He wanted back what his father had lost, and he didn’t care what he did to get it. He’d invested everything he had in this project, and without your property, he risked losing it all.”
“He told you that?”
“No, he’s still saying nothing without his lawyer. But I know.” He moved restlessly in the chair. “I know what a guy will do to live up to his father’s dreams.”
“You found your own dream,” she said quietly.
He shrugged. “Anyway, that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. I—”
The door swung open again. This time it was Siobhan and Brendan. Ryan glared at them.
“What are you doing here this early? I thought you were going to wait until later.”
“Change in plans,” Brendan said, his smile breaking through. “Nolie’s in labor.”
“She is?” Laura’s heart leaped. “Is everything all right?”
“Just fine.” Siobhan was reassuring. She hugged Mandy and handed her a glossy new book. “It’ll be awhile, so we decided to come up and see how Mandy is doing.”
“Mandy’s doing fine.” Ryan looked harassed. “I’m trying to talk to Laura, and I could do with a little less company.”
Brendan pulled the door open, but he didn’t go out. “I noticed the lounge is empty. You can go in there. We’ll stay with Mandy.”
“I don’t—” Laura began.
Ryan interrupted her unceremoniously. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the chair.
“Come on.” He tugged her toward the door. “Let’s get out of here before any more of them show up.”
Her heart was beating somewhere up in her throat as he pulled her across the hall and into the lounge. He shut the door firmly.
“I feel as if I should bar the door. Anything to get through this without being interrupted.”
“Through what?” She managed to get the words out, but she couldn’t kid herself that she sounded normal.