Suspicion of Guilt

by Tracey V. Bateman

  “Yeah, but don’t get too excited. He’s the cop investigating the break-in from a couple months ago.”

  “Corrigan?”

  “Good memory. Yeah. Reece.”

  “So you’re dating him?”

  “No. Nothing like that.” Denni paused, wishing she’d never brought it up.

  “What then?”

  Realizing her inquisitive reporter of a sister wasn’t going to give it a rest until she got the story, Denni told it all. From the break-in and Reece’s suspicions, to the water in the basement and Reece coming to her rescue, and finally to the wonderful warmth of his large hands wrapping around hers this evening.

  “So what’s the problem? Sounds like he really likes you.”

  “Did you hear anything besides the part where he held my hand?” Denni chuckled.

  “I’m not saying there won’t be kinks to work out. But when was the last time you were interested in a guy?”

  “You mean, when was the last time someone was actually interested in me, don’t you?”

  “Either way. Don’t throw it away just because he’s the one looking into the stuff going on around there. Sounds to me like he might actually have a point with the girls.”

  “Not really. Why would they want to take a chance on getting kicked out of their home if I had to close it down?”

  “Who knows? But even if he’s wrong about that, don’t give up without exploring the possibilities. There aren’t enough guys left in the world who can make a girl’s heart go pitter-patter.”

  “Well, we’ll see.” As far as Denni could tell, there was no point in bringing up the main reason a relationship wasn’t possible. Raven would just turn it around and be defensive. And eleven-thirty at night was too late to get into that kind of argument. Besides, it smelled like something was…burning.

  Denni pushed back the covers and padded to her door. She gasped as a haze confronted her.

  “Rave, I have to go. I think there might be a fire.”

  She pushed the button to disconnect the call before Raven could say anything else.

  “Girls, get up,” Denni hollered. Flying down the hall, she banged on each door. “There’s a fire. Get up!”

  By the time she banged on Shelley’s and Cate’s door, Fran and Rissa had stumbled from their shared room.

  Cate ran out. “Shelley’s not in the room!”

  “Shelley!” Denni turned to Rissa. “Get Shelley, and get out of the house. I have to go down there.”

  She didn’t see any glowing lights as she descended the stairs, so she could only hope the fire was small. Smoke burned her throat. She clasped her hand over her mouth and kept going toward the source of the smoke. She reached the kitchen with Leigh and Fran on her heels. Flames shot up from the stove, and inched toward the counter on either side of the stove top. Denni snatched the throw rug from the floor and beat at the flames.

  For what seemed like an eternity she brought the rag rug up and back down over and over. She continued to struggle, only vaguely aware that Fran and Leigh had joined her in fighting the fire. She wanted to tell them to leave. Get out. Be safe, but she didn’t have the energy to focus on anything but putting out the fire before it completely destroyed her home.

  And the only words she could form sent a hoarse cry heavenward.

  Chapter Nine

  A fire truck and two cop cars were arrayed on the street in front of Denni’s Victorian-style home by the time Reece whipped his Avalanche onto Clark Street. A quick message from Sean had alerted him to a 911 call the rookie had heard over the radio.

  Reece parked half a block away and jogged to the house. He spotted Sean standing next to Leigh, his arms circling the slender girl. Sean dropped a tender kiss on Leigh’s head and she snuggled close to him. To Reece, they looked like a couple in love. The kid was either a very good actor, or he cared more about Leigh than he wanted to admit.

  Scanning the yard, Reece’s gaze slid past firefighters, police officers, and the girls.

  Where was Denni?

  Finally, he spotted her alone, sitting on the steps. His heart did a skip, and tenderness welled up inside of him. He strode across the lawn.

  She raised her chin and caught his gaze. Wordlessly, Reece dropped down next to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

  A shaky breath left her. “Thanks for coming over, Reece. You heard about the fire over the radio?”

  “Sean called me.”

  She nodded.

  “Do they know what happened yet?”

  “The fire started on the stove.”

  “How?”

  “Cate made some herbal tea and must have forgotten to turn off the burner under the pot.”

  “Cate?”

  She gave a weary nod. “But don’t read anything into it. She thought she’d turned it off. Cate’s pretty conscientious. I can’t imagine her being so forgetful.”

  “Then you think someone else did it on purpose and made it look like an accident?”

  She snapped her head toward him and frowned. “I didn’t say that.”

  “I think that’s what you’re implying.” Reece kept his tone deliberately calm. Non-confrontational. “Can you tell me what’s on your mind?”

  “Everyone was upstairs except for Shelley.” Her voice lagged and she expelled a heavy sigh.

  “Where was she?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. She isn’t home yet.”

  Reece glanced at his watch. “So much for curfew.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you think it could have been her?”

  Again her eyes narrowed. “I told you, Shelley’s not home. It couldn’t have been her. And the rest of the girls were upstairs. I know they were because I hadn’t been in bed long and I had just checked on them before I went into my room.”

  “Shelley was there when you went to bed, but now she’s gone?” Didn’t Denni understand how that looked to the average observer? If Shelley had set the fire, she wasn’t too smart about covering her tracks.

  “She wasn’t in her room, but the bathroom light was on when I went by. I just assumed she was in there.”

  “Well, we’re not going to know anything until she gets home. How much damage is there?”

  “Just the stove and counters and a little bit of the wall behind the stove.” She dropped her forehead into her palms. “When will all of this end? It’s been just one disaster after another.”

  Her despair shot through his heart like an arrow.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of it, Denni.” He squeezed her shoulder. “I promise.”

  “What if I’m just trying to orchestrate a greater purpose in life than God intends?”

  “That’s not exactly my area.”

  “Yeah,” she gave another sigh. “I know it isn’t, Reece.”

  She said the words with such sadness that Reece almost wished he had the kind of faith necessary to speak comforting words. At one time, he’d begun to develop a fragile faith in God. But that faith had been effectively quashed the day he’d stood over the dead bodies of people who had believed, like Denni, that they could make a difference. Some difference.

  His gaze scanned the area. A fireman stood by the fence separating Mrs. James’s yard from Denni’s. The old lady clutched her housecoat tightly at her throat. She waved her hand toward Denni in what appeared to be an animated sort of accusation. Reece tensed.

  “I’ll be back,” he said to Denni.

  The firefighter seemed to be wrapping up his questioning when Reece reached the fence. Reece flashed his badge.

  “Don’t trust him,” Mrs. James said to the firefighter. “He’s Miss Mahoney’s boyfriend.”

  Reece’s ears warmed. “Actually, that isn’t true.”

  “Then why are you always over there?”

  “Because I’m helping Miss Mahoney fix some things around the house. As a friend.” Not that it was any of her business.

  She gave him a look that clearly conveyed
her doubt.

  Reece chose to ignore the dubious lift of her brow and tried to smile. “I am interested in what you have to add to this incident, Mrs. James.”

  “I don’t have to tell you a thing.” She sniffed.

  Reece turned to the firefighter. “Are you satisfied that this was an accident?”

  The man shrugged. “We’ll have to wait and see what the investigation turns up. They were lucky Mrs. James was awake and noticed the smoke. She’s the one who called us.”

  Reece’s brow rose at the information. He turned to Mrs. James. “You always stay up that late?”

  “Buffy needed to tinkle,” she said with a dignified lift of her chin.

  Or maybe you were sneaking back to your house and wanted to throw suspicion off yourself. But he kept the thought to himself.

  “Well, I’m sure Miss Mahoney and her girls are grateful.”

  “I couldn’t let them burn alive just because I don’t approve of their lifestyle.” She dismissed Reece and turned back to the fireman. “Is there anything else you need to ask me, sir?”

  Her switch in tone from disdain to respect wasn’t lost on Reece. He scowled.

  “There’s nothing more for now, ma’am,” the firefighter replied. “But the investigators may want to question you further in the days ahead.”

  “Whatever I can do. As I said, I may not approve, but I wouldn’t want them to die a horrible death in a fire.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The firefighter gave Reece a lopsided, she’s-all-yours grin and moved away.

  “If you ask me,” Mrs. James said, and then continued even though he hadn’t asked, “I think one of those girls did it.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Buffy barked and barked. I couldn’t make her stop. And that’s just not like my baby. She’s usually very obedient.”

  Sure she was. Reece eyed the elderly lady. “Maybe she saw a rabbit. Or squirrel.”

  “I saw a shadow run away from that house, and if it was a rabbit it was a mighty giant one.”

  Reece started and peered closer. Now this was some information he could work with. “Are you sure it was a human shadow?”

  “I think I know what I saw and my daughter Sarah saw it too.”

  “All right. Which way did this person run?”

  “I already told that other man. The shadow took off down the block.” She pointed. “That way.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. James,” Reece said. “I’ll check it out.”

  “Is that all you want from me for tonight? I need my rest. And Sarah’s getting nervous. I can tell.”

  “I’m sure anything else can wait until morning.”

  She gave a nod and a sniff and turned her back.

  Watching her go, Reece shook his head. That lady really didn’t like him. And she wasn’t kidding. He grinned in spite of himself.

  The fire truck and police cars pulled away, leaving Denni to pick up the pieces of the most recent disaster. He saw her still sitting on the steps, now surrounded by the girls. Sean stood away from them, as though he didn’t want to impose.

  Reece joined him.

  Sean nodded toward the house. “So, I guess we’ll be scheduling another work day at Mahoney House.”

  Reece grinned. “Is this something we can do, or will we have to get a professional?”

  He shrugged. “I haven’t seen it yet. The fire didn’t make it out of the kitchen, though, so that’s good news. I guess she has insurance.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Think we ought to leave them alone? Or do we need to play the big strong heroes and stick around to offer our shoulders in case they want to cry?”

  Sean’s arrogance hit a raw nerve.

  “I think if you aren’t genuinely concerned about the fact that Leigh could have been hurt or even killed, then maybe you need to go ahead and leave.” Reece scowled. “This is no time for your games.”

  “Hey, I didn’t say I don’t care.” His gaze scanned the porch then rested on Leigh. “She’s pretty tough on the outside, but she isn’t always like that, you know.”

  “Can’t say I’d noticed that.” As far as Reece had seen, the girl was tough as nails inside and out. Her wit was razor-sharp and he wasn’t thrilled about being on the slicing end of her sarcastic remarks.

  Denni rose and Reece went to her. “Will you be all right in the house or do you need to stay somewhere until it’s all cleaned up?”

  “We’re fine. We’ll have to deal with the smell of smoke, but there’s no good reason not to stay here.”

  Reece admired her strength. “I’ll be over sometime tomorrow to look around.”

  “Look around?”

  “We won’t know if it’s an accident or arson for a few days, but I’d like to check on some things.”

  He braced himself for an argument as she met his gaze evenly. Instead of raising a fight, she nodded. “All right. Come over when it’s convenient. I’ll be here all day.”

  She released a heavy sigh. “Good night, Reece. Thank you for coming.”

  Feeling sufficiently dismissed, Reece turned and headed down the block toward his truck. He climbed in and slid the key into the ignition, but hesitated. The defeat on Denni’s face played across his mind.

  He wanted to pray. To ask God to help him find out who was sabotaging Denni’s dream. But something held him back. He couldn’t seem to grip the concept of giving over control of his life to someone else. As far as he was concerned, the very act of prayer insinuated that a person wasn’t capable of making decisions without second-guessing oneself.

  Reece cranked the engine and slowly pulled away from the curb.

  No. God wasn’t going to be the one to catch whoever was doing these things to Denni. He’d had plenty of time if He was going to.

  Reece figured he was pretty much on his own. He had every intention of cracking this case. And he was going to do it before one more act of sabotage, theft or much worse could occur.

  He came to the stop sign at the end of the street, was just about to turn, when he noticed a pedestrian on the sidewalk. His heart gave a jerk. Had the arsonist come back? He took a closer look under the glow of the streetlight. The tall figure had the telltale feminine form. Slumped shoulders reminded him of…Shelley?

  He whipped the Avalanche into reverse and backed up, then parked along the curb, waiting for her to approach. He rolled down the window. “Shelley?”

  She jumped then pressed her palm against her chest. “Reece. You scared me to death. What are you doing around here so late?”

  “Checking on Denni. I wanted to make sure she was okay after the fire.” Smooth. He watched her expression closely.

  Her brow lifted. “Fire? At our house? Is everyone okay?”

  “Yeah. It started in the kitchen, on the stove apparently. Someone left a burner on.”

  “Cate! I’ve reminded her over and over about that teapot of hers.”

  “Oh, what makes you think it was Cate?”

  She shrugged. “Who else? No one messes around the kitchen late at night except for Cate when the baby’s kicking and she can’t sleep. She always makes a cup of tea and works on her schoolwork in bed.”

  “I see.” He opened the door and slid out. “Well, let me walk you back to the house.”

  “Okay. But it’s only a half a block.”

  “Well, I’m a gentleman.”

  Shelley gave a snort. “There’s a new word for you. We’ll have to add that to the list.”

  “List?”

  “Oh, sure. At the risk of giving away the family secrets. You’ve been called everything from Kojak to hottie.”

  In spite of himself, Reece felt his face warm. Girls talked about guys that way?

  “Hottie I can live with. But Kojak?” He rubbed his head. “Bald is in.”

  “I know. We’re just joking around to razz Denni, mostly.”

  “Denni?” He grinned and nudged her with his elbow. “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
r />   “No way! I’ve said too much already. You’re on your own with Denni.”

  Reece gave a chuckle as they climbed the steps. Shelley moved her purse around from where it hung on her shoulder. She fumbled through the bag. Frowned. Shook the purse, then knelt on the porch and started removing items.

  “Lose your key?”

  “Yeah. You don’t have to stick around,” she said distractedly. “I’ll find it.”

  “I’ll wait until you get inside before I go back to the truck.”

  “My hero,” she said with an exaggerated sigh.

  After a futile search, she stood with a frustrated huff and patted her pockets. “I must have left it somewhere. I know I had it when I left earlier.”

  “Guess there’s no sneaking in after curfew tonight.”

  “No kidding. Denni has enough to deal with after the fire. She doesn’t need the added pressure of chewing me out.”

  Reece reached forward and pressed the doorbell. “Might as well get it over with.”

  Chapter Ten

  Denni stared at the duo on her doorstep. Never in a million years would she have guessed that she’d answer the bell to find Shelley and Reece waiting. “What’s going on?”

  “I can’t find my key,” Shelley said, swinging her purse over her shoulder. “I’m sorry I’m late. The study session went on longer than I thought it would.”

  Denni inwardly gave her forehead a smack.

  Now she remembered Shelley had told her about the study session. “Okay, that explains where you’ve been. Why is Reece bringing you home?” She lifted her gaze to his. “Were you at her study session, too?”

  “Hardly.” His lips twisted into a wry grin. “I saw her walking home and thought I’d tag along as protector.”

  Alarm shot through Denni. She focused her attention once more on Shelley. “Why were you walking home? You should have called me to come and get you.”

  “Mark offered to bring me, but I found out pretty quick that he’s not the gentleman our detective, here, is.”

  Reece grinned and shrugged at Denni’s questioning glance.

  “Anyway, Mark got handsy and I made him pull over and let me out. The big jerk actually dropped me off a good mile and a half from here. I still wouldn’t have made curfew, though. We lost track of time.”