Eve stayed right at Adam’s bedside and eventually the meds started wearing off and his groggy nature diminished. Once that happened, he was all talk. “Adam, you need more rest,” she told him.
“I’ve been resting. I’m ready to get out of here.”
She laughed. “Sorry, honey. The doctors say you’re here at least until morning. Your hands are healing nicely.”
“They’ve been burned before,” he said. “Just the palms, like this time. It’s really not that big of a deal. They always heal, but I won’t be able to get back to active duty until I’m completely cleared.”
“Typical,” she shook her head. “You could have been killed and your biggest concern is getting back to active duty.”
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
“I’m going to stay with you for a few days.”
“You don’t have to babysit me you know.”
“I know. But I just need to be near you.”
“What about your brother?”
“He’s going to stay at my place. I’m going to stay with you. End of discussion.”
“Yes ma’am,” he smiled. “Will you sleep in my bed? I just want to hold you. Having you close feels—natural,” he looked at her, studying her face.
“Yes,” she leaned in and kissed him on his lips. “I’ll sleep in your bed.”
Chapter Fifteen
The knock on the door surprised Adam. He wasn’t expecting anybody, and Eve’s brother had gone home just this morning. “One of the guys,” he said. It had to be one of them checking up on him—although he didn’t know why. Clearly he was fine.
“I’ll get it,” she brushed her fingers through his hair before getting up off the couch to answer the door. He had clear view of the front door when she opened it. He was surprised to see, not one of his men, but the man he had met that night in Eve’s hotel room.
“Drake, what are you doing here?”
“I’m checking up on you.”
“Thomas asked you to do it didn’t he? Did he tell you where I was? I told him not to bother you.”
“He didn’t bother me. We just had a discussion. He mentioned there had been some trouble and I told him I would look in on you.”
“So he did tell you where I was.”
“He might have mentioned it,” he grinned. “Are you going to invite me in?”
She stepped aside to let him in. Adam laughed. “I thought my brothers were crazy protective. I stand corrected…or is that I sit corrected,” he laughed again.
“You remember Drake,” she gestured toward Drake.
Adam looked in her eyes. He could tell she was frustrated. “You’ve got good people on your side, Eve. Don’t throw that away.”
“Why are you always right?” She blew out an exasperated breath. “Did Thomas get any other information on Mitch’s murder?”
“He finally found the guy in the alley. Finding him wasn’t easy because the guy had fled soon after the murder. He thought he could be next and he didn’t want to be next. Thomas got a description last night. The cops hadn’t bothered to get it, but he gave it to Thomas. I ran it through some databases and got the photo to him this morning. Have either of you seen this guy?” He handed the photo to them.
“Yeah,” Adam said. “He works at that seafood place by the beach. Remember the doorman?”
“Yeah. So you all think he’s the one who blew up my apartment complex and killed Mitch?”
“Whoa, wait a minute, what?” Adam sat up, now more interested in the conversation than he had been before. They hadn’t exactly talked much about Mitch’s murder. They had been so distracted. He wasn’t home more than an hour the first day before his brothers called from Vermont. “Just checking up, little brother,” they had said. He put them both on speaker and gave them the shock of their life. “Guys, this Eve,” he had said. “My wife.”
“Wife! What?”
He laughed long and hard. “Calm down,” he had said. “We took vows with only the fire as our witness, but we’ll make it legal real soon.” The conversation had been brief, but at least they had a chance to meet her and she had a chance to meet them. Of course that conversation had actually started them to talking about marriage and the wedding and when it should take place, and what they would do if he got accepted into the smokejumper program out in California. They hadn’t spent much time talking about Mitch, the murder, the fires, any of it. Now he wanted to know what he had missed while he was lying in that hospital bed.
“It’s really nothing, Adam.”
“Somebody blew up an entire apartment complex to get to you, Eve,” Drake’s tone turned deadly serious. “That hardly falls into the category of nothing.”
“Well, technically it wasn’t the entire—”
“Eve,” Adam stood up, folded his arms across his chest and scowled at her.
“Fine,” she said measurably docile. “It was something. Jeeze, if the two of you are going to team up on me I’m going to have to make sure I keep you both apart.”
“What can I do to help?” Adam didn’t care if he was supposed to be resting. He had rested enough. Right now somebody was after Eve and he planned to be sure he helped keep her safe.
“I go where she goes,” Drake said. His intentions were clear. If Eve planned to stay at his place until he was back at work then Drake was staying as well.
“I have a spare bedroom,” he noted. Eve had been crashing in his bed anyway. For some reason, and he mostly knew why, she had been afraid to leave his side. So while she slept under the covers he slept on top of them. She would have to get comfortable with the dangers of his job. In so many ways she was more understanding than some of the women he had dated before, but she was still worried. He couldn’t have her going off to work every day worried that he might not make it home. She had a high enough risk job herself. She was often in the heart of danger taking photographs for the world to see, and she needed to be focused on her own safety, not worried about his. For now, however, he would let her adjust to what happened, to the fact that they had both almost died that day. He would let her adjust to the fact that if she hadn’t crossed the fire line to get to him he would have died that day. Once time passed she would be a little more at ease letting him out of her sight for more than five minutes. He hoped she got comfortable with it sooner rather than later because the second he had the all clear from the doctors to return to work he was going in.
“I need to go check on this.” Drake took the picture out of Eve’s hand. “If he’s still working there, and that’s a big if, I need to know about it.”
“Do you want us to go with you?”
“No,” he stated emphatically. “I want you both to stay here.” He looked to Adam. “Keep her safe, will you?”
“I’d give my last breath for her,” he said. And he would. If anybody wanted to get to Eve they were going to have to go through him first. He would say that would give Eve time to get away, but knowing her tenacity, she would probably stick around and try to help him survive too.
“I’ll be back after,” Drake slid his sunglasses back on his face.
“Take a key,” Adam dug to the bottom of the candy dish and pulled a spare key out. “That way if we’re sleeping you can let yourself in.”
“And here I was thinking you just liked candy,” Eve laughed.
“I hate the stuff,” he said. “But it’s a great place to hide things.” At the bottom of a candy dish wasn’t where people normally looked for keys, cash, or anything else for that matter.
“What else do you have down there?” She started digging through the layers of peppermints, butterscotch and cinnamon candy. He caught her hand in his and stopped her.
“Nothing for you to worry about, Eve McGregor.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that, Adam Carrigan;” she tacked her hands to her hips and gave him her serious, “I mean business,” face.
“I’ll leave you two to it then,” Drake shook his head as he left, locking the door b
ehind him.
“Are you hungry?” Adam grinned.
“No changing the subject.”
He leaned in and kissed her softly. “Come on sweetie, let’s fix something to eat.” He saw the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips until it became a full fledged smile. One thing he had learned about Eve was that a good way to change her focus was to kiss those sweet lips of hers. He would have to file that away in his mental databank for future arguments. He was sure there would be future arguments. She was strong willed and so was he, so arguments were probably going to be a normal occurrence for them.
Chapter Sixteen
“Going somewhere with that gasoline can?” Drake’s tone was hardcore serious. If the bastard thought he was going to burn down Adam’s home with Eve McGregor in there then he had another thing coming. He kept his weapon trained on the dressed in black man. If he needed to he would shoot him point blank without reservation. He was already in a bad mood to begin with. The jerk bastard he had come looking for had already cleaned out, not just from his job, but from the home he had been staying at as well. There was nothing left—not even a hairball. Tracing him was going to be nearly impossible, but he wouldn’t give up. They were one step closer to, with hopes, getting one of Sabian’s henchmen alive. All they needed was one, and no matter how tough they thought they were, by the time he finished with them the bastard would talk, and talk fast.
“Who are you?” The deep timbers of rage were unmistakable.
“You don’t need to know that part,” Drake kept his own voice level, deadly, but level. “The only thing you need to know is that if you don’t put that can down and take six paces back from it I will shoot you dead.”
“That’s against the law.”
Drake shrugged. “So is arson.”
“It’s not arson,” he said so seriously, so innocently as if he really didn’t see what he was doing was wrong. “It’s art. It’s my masterpiece and he keeps putting it out.” He looked at the house. “Why does he keep putting it out? They’re supposed to burn you know? Fires are supposed to burn bright.”
“Look you sick little bastard. Eve is in that house and if you think I’m going to let you hurt her you have another thing coming.”
“She’s in there?” He looked to the house. “She can’t be in there. She can’t photograph my art if she’s in there. Oh my,” he shook his head. “Maybe I should come back tomorrow.”
“Or not at all,” Drake looked over the man in front of him. To look at him most people would probably think he was harmless. Clearly they would be wrong in their assessment. “Now, down on the ground and six paces back or I swear to God your next breath will be the last breath you take.”
The trembling fool sat the can on the ground, but he didn’t step back. “I…I need my fire,” he said. “There must be art tonight. This city deserves to burn you know. They’re all so mean, but not her,” he looked toward the house. “She’s nice. She understands my art. She was so nice to me.”
“Step back.” He saw him pull a match from his pocket and he didn’t hesitate to take the shot. He put one solid round into the guy’s kneecap, and another into his shoulder. “Next time I give you a chance to surrender without any new holes in you,” he walked over to where the man now lay whining from the pain; “take it.”
The back porch lights came on and before he could take another breath Adam and Eve were opening the sliding glass doors.
“What on earth?” Eve stepped out onto the patio.
“Call the cops. I’ve just got your Palm Coast Arsonist,” he said.
“Rusty? Rusty Davis? Why would you…how could you...?” Eve shook her head, dumbstruck at the recent turn of events.
“You know him?” Adam pulled her closer to him.
“He’s the mayor’s assistant.”
“I’m an artist,” he said. “I am the Michelangelo of fires. Not some stupid Palm Coast Arsonist. Be sure they get my name right in your paper, will you Eve? I must be preserved.”
“Why would you do this, Rusty? You could have killed people.”
“They were all mean to me,” he sobbed. “I grew up here and they were all mean because we were poor. I went away and I came back with a degree, but that didn’t stop them. I came back with money, but I was never good enough. There was never enough money to be one of them. My fires, they were the only thing I had that made me better than them. You’ll be sure they get it right won’t you, Eve? You’ll be sure that they know who I am. I am the keeper of this hell. I am the Michelangelo of fire. I am,” he grinned through his pain. “I am the Dark Angel of Hell.”
“One of you actually do plan on calling the cops don’t you?” Drake snapped.
“No need,” Adam assured him. “My neighbors already have. Nothing gets by in this neighborhood without Betty Henkel and the neighborhood watch being aware.”
He could already hear the sirens. If the cops were now on their way, now would be a good time to pull out his government identification. It didn’t exactly support what branch he worked for, but that didn’t matter so long as he didn’t get his behind shot in this little town.
Drake secured his weapon the moment he heard the police cars come to a screeching halt out front. Smart move because the officers didn’t waste time getting around back with their weapons already set to discharge.
“Palm Coast Arsonist,” Adam pointed to Rusty.
The cops looked at him as if to say, “who are you, and where’s the gun?”
“Secret agent man,” Eve added. “He’s here on my behalf. He just happened to catch Rusty before he could set fire to this place.”
Seemingly satisfied with the answer the cops treaded with more measured ease around Drake. Good, he would hate to have to kill one of them in an effort to save himself. There was no mistake about it; if he had to he would take any one of them out.
“Well at least I got one bad guy tonight,” he mumbled.
“He got away?”
“He got away,” he placed a firm hand on Eve’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
“Better luck next time,” she sighed. “This has to stop, Drake. Thomas must be close because if he weren’t then I don’t think they would have come after me.”
“I think you’re right. And that’s making me worry more about you than ever. It’s no secret that you’re Thomas’ heart. He would die if anything happened to you.”
“So when does it end?” She shook her head. “When does Thomas finally get to move on with his life?”
“When we get Sabian,” Drake didn’t see the need to sugarcoat the circumstances. Eve was young, but she had more life experience than most people her age. She had watched Thomas pull back from near death and she understood, maybe now more than ever, just how much Thomas would never be able to move on until he found justice.
“I need to call your brother,” he said. “Let him know you’re safe and give him a progress report on the Sabian situation.”
“Let me call him? I have something I need to tell him.”
From the look she gave Adam, Drake was sure that something had to do with wedding bells. He smiled, “go ahead. I’m sure he’d rather hear your voice than mine anyway.” He could call Thomas later and update him on the rest of what he had discovered.
Drake waited until Eve had gone inside before he turned to Adam, and in his deadly serious tone he said, “You hurt her and I’ll kill you myself.”
“I hurt her and I’ll load the gun for you,” he said. Drake laughed. He had clear recollection of memory uttering those words himself once. He patted Adam on the arm. “I’m going home,” he said. “I miss my wife.”
“What about that?”
Drake took a look back in the direction of Adam’s attention. “That’s their mess now. I’ve done my part. If they need me…well, hell, I guess I’ll have to let them know who they can reach to get in contact with me. But I am not,” he stated emphatically, “coming back down here this month.” Geneva had been a trooper. She never once compla
ined that he spent so much time away from home, or from her, but he missed her. He was going home. All that he could do was done here. For now, what he had done would have to be enough.
Epilogue
“She made a beautiful bride,” Drake complimented Thomas. Eve had been sure that he was the one to walk her down the aisle. Nobody could mistake how close the two were, but if anybody had any doubts, they wouldn’t after today. Watching the two of them made him wish he had a little sister of his own.
“I can’t believe how fast they pulled this off.”
“Five months,” Drake commented. “Some people do it in less time than that.”
“Yeah, but they’re still so…”
“Newly in love? Don’t worry, Thomas. He’s a good man. I checked him out, and he’s clean.”
Thomas laughed. “Yeah. I checked him out too. I did a full background check of astronomical proportions. I never overlook anything when it comes to my baby sister. The second she told me they were getting married I stepped up my research methods on Adam. Good guy,” he added. “She loves him, but I really wish she had waited longer.”
“Until when?”
“Until she was eighty,” he laughed. “That’s my baby sister out there.”
He watched Thomas watch Eve circulate the reception hall, greeting guests and thanking them for attending. He had such love in his eyes, such admiration and respect.
“I hope you won’t mind if I cut out early. Geneva wants to get back. She’s trying to get her fool brother to accept some help.” Harrison was only her half brother, but since she found out of their relation to each other they had grown closer. She treated him like she would have a brother she grew up with her entire life. He could understand that. Mike was only his half brother, but it felt like they had a deeper bond than just sharing the same father. They were brothers at heart, and would die for each other if need be.
“What’s going on, Drake? You know I’ll help if I can.”
Fahrenheit Page 17