Crave the Heat

by Marnee Blake

  Since the attack and everything in DC, maybe she’d allowed herself to forget everything but wanting to be with Dak, forgotten how to have friends, forgotten how to be herself.

  Jeff was ready to move on, but she apparently wasn’t.

  Once she solved this case, she needed to find herself again.

  Right now, she needed to return her attention to her work. Dak was too close to this investigation, too distracting to her. She needed to rein things in with him, so she could think again. Maybe, if she could find her focus, she’d be able to solve the case.

  Before someone got hurt.

  * * * *

  Three days later, Dak’s suspension still hadn’t lifted. Heidi had been consumed with the investigation, not able to talk much. The result had been a whole lot of him sitting around, trying to stay calm. But, finding his brother on the steps of the duplex he rented after he’d gone to grab coffee didn’t help him hold his cool.

  “So Dad kicks me off his porch, yet you think you can come and sit on mine?” He jiggled his keys, hopping up the steps to unlock the door. “I have nothing to say to you. Think you guys made it pretty clear how you felt.”

  “Come on, Dak. You know it’s not as simple as that.” His brother got to his feet and brushed off his pants. “Let me in. We need to talk.”

  Dak was tempted to slam the door in his face. He had to admit, though, that he was a little curious as to what would bring his brother there, to his place, after everything.

  And, despite everything, he was still his brother.

  Without a word, he pushed the door wide, and marshaled Mikey inside. When they both stood in the foyer, his brother glanced around. “You’ve definitely come a long way with your housekeeping.”

  “Yeah, well, last time we lived in the same place, you still left your dirty clothes on the floor. So maybe your opinion doesn’t mean much to me.”

  Dak tossed his keys on the table next to the door, and propped his hands on his hips. “Why don’t we get to the point? What are you doing here?”

  Mikey inhaled, and held the breath for a long moment before blowing out softly. “You have this all wrong.”

  “You’re here to tell me what’s going on?” Dak sauntered into his kitchen. “Excuse me if I don’t believe anything you tell me after everything that’s happened.”

  “Mom’s missing.”

  The words hit him in the stomach like a sucker punch. “What?”

  “Mom. She left yesterday morning. Told dad she was going to the grocery store. But I talked to Maisie. She never went there. I searched every inch of the reservation and the surrounding towns. I can’t find her or her car.” Mikey went to the sink and washed his hands. “Dad called a private investigator in Bend and he’s on the lookout. Dad left as well, and he’s out searching places he thinks she might go. Nothing.”

  “Wait a minute. I must’ve missed the part where you called the cops.” What the hell was wrong with his family? “Your first step should have been to call the police.” His mother had a heart condition. What if she was hurt somewhere, alone? What if she was dying? The panic settled in his stomach, swirling there sour and sickening. He reached for his phone, wondering who he should call first. Heidi? Jesse?

  Mikey closed his eyes, shaking his head. “Wait. Don’t call anyone yet. Hear me out.”

  That pissed Dak off more. “Do you know that I’m under review at work? Because of shit like this. It’s like it’s impossible for you guys to turn to the authorities for anything. I spent twelve years trying to undo that sort of behavior, trying to stop being so suspicious.” He lifted his phone, waving it. “Mom could be hurt somewhere. What’s wrong with you?”

  What made his father and his brother believe they were above the law? And why had he allowed it to go on this long?

  “Because if we call the cops, then we have to tell them that Mom’s the one behind all the fires.” Mikey turned, and leaned back on his hands on the sink. “And the car bomb of Special Agent Sinclair’s truck.”

  “No,” Dak whispered, shaking his head. “That’s impossible. There’s no way.”

  “Think back, Dak.” Mike narrowed his eyes. “Think back on the time you lived at home. Tell me what you remember of her.”

  Dak closed his eyes, pressing his forefinger and thumb to his brow.

  His mother. She’d been quiet. When he was a small boy, she’d been loving. Always there to hold him when he was sick or hurting. She’d listened to his stories, more patient than anyone he’d ever met then or since then. Her hugs had been the best. “She was a great mom.”

  “When we were little.” Mikey’s smile became sad. “She absolutely was. But, then…” His brow lifted, as if he was waiting for him to catch up on the punchline.

  Then things changed. She’d become…different. Moody. Sad a lot of the time, or angry. Some days, she would hide in her room. He didn’t remember those years as well. He’d been in school, busy. Self-absorbed in typical elementary school kid fashion. His brother had driven him crazy, and when they fought, she’d yell.

  Around the same time, his father started working more, traveling more. He didn’t know which came first—his mother’s emotional changes or his father’s hectic work schedule. Maybe it had been an unfortunate overlap. But, from the time Dak started middle school on, his mother had withdrawn. And his father had become the most overbearing man he’d ever met. “She became remote, angry.” Dak returned his gaze to his brother. “And Dad—”

  “He didn’t know how to deal, so he retreated. And then he smothered.” Mikey’s lips firmed. “All of us.”

  Those last years, living with his parents, they had been difficult. Neither of them had been happy. His father became more domineering; his mother had pulled back from them all entirely.

  Then, the house had burned, and they moved to the reservation.

  “Mom didn’t want to move to the reservation.” Dak paced the tile floor, rubbing his head. “She didn’t like Grandmother. Didn’t want to be so far from the cities.”

  “No, but she’s the reason we had to come here.”

  “What?”

  “The house, it burned while we weren’t there, right?”

  Dak still remembered the day he rode his bike home to find police cars and fire engines on the street, and his house a charred skeleton. “I’d ridden my bike to Kyle’s and you said you were at the baseball field, with your friends. Since this started, I’d wondered if that was true. Dad was gone, right? Away on business. Mom—Mom said that she’d run to the store.”

  “Yeah. That’s the story. And she showed up on the grocery store cameras.” Mikey shook his head. “But that’s not what she did first—”

  “No. There’s no way.” He couldn’t hear this. His mother. That had been their home, the place he’d felt the most secure. Had she really burned it down? What if they’d been anywhere nearby? What if they’d come home?

  “The day you fought with Dad. When you caught me at the shed that day, she’d just left. She must have seen me, because she dropped the lighter fluid, said she’d found it on the ground. She hurried back to the house, but I didn’t understand why she was acting like that.” His lips twisted, a mask of pain. “I was fourteen years old. I didn’t know what to make of it.”

  Dak buried his hands in his hair. Everything he’d believed, everything he thought he saw, it hadn’t been correct. But how could he have known? His mother, there was no way he could have suspected that she would be able to do something like that. If it was true, she’d put lives at risk.

  Including Heidi’s.

  “Why didn’t you tell me back then?” Dak whispered. “Why did you let me think it was you?”

  “I don’t know.” Mikey shrugged. “Mostly, I was pissed that you were ragging on me. Again. And I didn’t know what to make of how Mom was acting.” Mikey sighed. “You caught me off guard. I s
ure as hell didn’t think you’d tell Dad and I definitely didn’t expect you guys to get in a fight.” He shook his head. “I still feel guilty about that.”

  “Did Dad…know?”

  “I think by then he’d figured it out, but I don’t know for sure. Actually, I think until you had me brought in, he hadn’t wanted to accept that any of it had anything to do with us.” Mikey snorted, rubbing his chin. “When he lashed out at you, the day he sent you away, I think that he didn’t want to admit that Mom was sick. And she was. Is. You were bringing up things, things he couldn’t explain. Things he wished weren’t happening and didn’t want to accept. Imagine knowing your wife was hurting and having no way to fix it.”

  “He could have called a doctor. He could have found her a psychologist. He could have helped her.” He didn’t understand his parents’ relationship, but his father cared about his mother. He was certain of that.

  “You know he wouldn’t have ever asked for help. You know that’s not who he is. Especially not back then.”

  “Well, because he couldn’t get her help, she’s out there somewhere, and she could hurt someone.”

  “That’s why she’s been in the hospital.” His brother’s voice had softened, just above a whisper. “I know you heard it was her heart, but it wasn’t. That’s what Dad was telling everyone, but it was for this. Psychiatric evaluations. Overnight observations.” He paused. “A suicide watch.”

  “Suicide—” He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t comprehend that kind of desperation.

  Mikey reached out, gripping his forearm. The contact, the first he’d had with his brother in years, took him by surprise. Dak could only stare at his hand on his arm. “I’m here to tell you I’m sorry.”

  Speechless, he met his brother’s gaze.

  Mikey continued, “I should have come clean, talked to you. When you came to visit me at the garage that day.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “After Mom was in the hospital, she started seeing a psychologist. They recommended it, and she seemed much better. I hoped—”

  “That she’d turned a corner.”

  Mikey nodded. “I did. The guys at the police department suspected a group of kids at the high school. I’d been a punk in high school. Is it bad that I was hoping it was a bunch of kids like me?” He smiled, but it wasn’t a real grin, and it saddened Dak further.

  They were a real pair, weren’t they?

  Dak clasped his brother’s hand on his arm, thinking that this could have been helped if his family had any ability to reach out. To accept help. To talk about their issues, work through their problems.

  Hadn’t he done exactly this same thing with Heidi, though? When it came time for him to ask for her help, to tell her what he’d done, he’d shied away. It had been easier for him to call Jesse, ask for his help, than to reach out to Heidi, to apologize for keeping things from her.

  He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. “We need to tell the police.” Their mother was somewhere, either a danger to herself or to others. They needed to do something about it. And then, when they had her back, they needed to get her real help. No matter what his father wanted.

  Mikey nodded. “You’re right. I know you are. It’s just going to be—”

  “Hard. I know.” He smiled at his brother. “But this is the right thing. Maybe we need to start focusing on doing what’s right and not what’s the easiest.”

  From his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone, and found Heidi’s number in his contacts. Staring at it, he braced himself.

  Would she understand? His gut said she would. That he hadn’t given her the benefit of that earlier had been part of the problem.

  After dialing, he put the phone to his ear. When she answered, he closed his eyes, so happy to hear her voice. “Hey. I know it’s early, but could you meet me and my brother at the Warm Springs Police Department?”

  Chapter 16

  “Let’s get an APB out on Melinda Parrish.” Dusty Kirk’s mouth was firm. Dak could tell he didn’t want to do any of this. Undoubtedly, he was already thinking about how this would affect whatever agreement he had with Lyle Parrish. But, the rest of his department studied him with scorn. Add the watchful eye of the feds and officials from Forest Services, and he couldn’t do much but follow proper procedures.

  Dak had explained to Heidi what was happening before they showed up there. He’d promised her that he wouldn’t leave her out of the loop again, and he meant to keep that promise. She’d sat through their testimony quietly, only offering a few comments and asking questions to clarify their story.

  The whole time, he could sense that something was off.

  Around them, everyone scattered, off to perform their tasks like the professionals they were. Mikey sat, his head in his hands, but Dak couldn’t bring himself to sit. Instead, he paced the Warm Springs interrogation room, wondering how things got to this point. When had everything gotten so messed up?

  Mikey wandered over to chat with Jesse. It looked like he wanted to apologize, so Dak left him to it, which left him alone with Heidi.

  “Dak—”

  “I’m sure you have a million questions.” He stepped closer, so no one could overhear. “I would, too, if I was you. I promise, I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

  “You had no idea?” She stared up at him, her voice low. “You didn’t suspect your mother at all?”

  “I swear to you.” He wanted to take her hands in his, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate the contact there, in front of everyone else. “I had no idea.”

  Her mouth thinned, and it all became clear. She didn’t believe him.

  His stomach sunk.

  “My car—she blew up my car, Dak. I could have been hurt.”

  “I know.” That part really bothered him. If his mother was, in fact, responsible, she could have hurt someone he was coming to care about. “I talked to her, at the air center. Remember? I told you she stopped by.”

  “Yes.”

  “She mentioned that you were getting involved where you shouldn’t.” It was all so messed up. When had his mother become the person who could build a car bomb? How had she even learned how to do that?

  “Listen, Dak.” She shook her head, glancing away. “I really like you, but I think, maybe, that this”—she waved between them—“whatever is happening between us needs to slow down. At least until we get through this investigation.”

  He searched her features. Then, he took her elbow. “Please. Let’s go outside, so we can talk more about this.”

  She nodded. Probably didn’t want to make a scene in the police station. Because breakups—if that’s what this was—were best in private.

  Outside, he led her around the side of the building, out of the direct line of everyone’s vision.

  He stepped close, tilting her head up with one finger. “Heidi, I know that things are hard right now—”

  She shook her head, gripping his wrist and pulling away. “It’s not just that it’s hard. I’d do a better job with this investigation if I wasn’t distracted by you. I’ve lost control of how this should go.”

  “I’m a distraction.” He could have sworn they were becoming something to each other. Yet she waved that all off with one word.

  Distraction.

  “It’s not only that. It’s that I don’t trust you to tell me everything.” She stared him right in the eye as she said the words. “I’ve already been hurt before—not just emotionally, but physically hurt—because I trusted someone to tell me things and they didn’t. How can I be sure I’m not setting myself up for exactly that same pain again?”

  “No, Heidi, please. I promised that I was going to keep you in the loop. I’m keeping that promise. You have to give us a chance.”

  “I didn’t see what was going on. I haven’t been able to see this investigation clearly
because I’m so involved with you.”

  He ached to reach for her, to pull her against him. But he settled for taking her hands in his, for rubbing his fingers across her knuckles. “I’m consumed by you, too. I told you I didn’t say anything because I cared so much about what you thought of me.”

  “That’s not healthy, though. People share in a relationship. They don’t keep things from each other.”

  Watching her pull away from him, it was painful. He searched her face, racked his mind for something that he could say that would get through to her. “Heidi, please. I care about you. Don’t do this.”

  Her eyes widened, and he had a moment of relief, of thankfulness that she knew. But he watched as her face changed.

  It wouldn’t matter. Too much had happened.

  She stepped back, squaring her shoulders and taking a bracing breath. Everything about her was strong, except her eyes. They were full of pain. “Thank you for keeping me in the loop this time. I’ll let you know if I find anything else out.”

  He wanted to call her back, to explain that he understood, that he would do better. But, he didn’t have a leg to stand on. So he let her go.

  * * * *

  Since Dak and his brother’s statements that morning, Heidi and Lisa Hernandez spent the remainder of the day chasing leads. They heard Mrs. Parrish might be in Bend; nothing turned up. They ended up monitoring the situation from Heidi’s office in Bend, but no one had seen or heard from her at all.

  At midday, Melinda Parrish’s car showed up in a parking lot outside the city proper. In the afternoon, Lyle Parrish showed up at the police station on the reservation. She heard from Special Agent Barnes, the Internal Affairs officer investigating Dak, that Parrish remained as arrogant and offensive as always.

  That night, she and Hernandez shared takeout. Even though they went over everything they had again and again, they ended up nowhere, spinning their wheels. Hernandez gave up at ten o’clock, and returned to her hotel room. Heidi packed it in fifteen minutes later, locking up.