Hearts on Fire

by Amber Thielman

  “Yes. Hello, Miss Harper. I remember you,” the mayor said, but he didn’t offer his hand.

  “What can we do for you, Mayor?” Tate asked, his normally composed and in-charge demeanor replaced suddenly with something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

  “I’m impressed you’re still here,” grunted the mayor, looking back at me. His eyes passed over the bruise on my face and the fattened lip, but he didn’t say anything about it. He turned back to look at Tate while I stared on in shock. “I heard about the mishap with the motor vehicle accident the other day. It sounds to me like Miss Harper disobeyed a direct order ...again.”

  “What are you talking about?” I demanded, but Tate cocked his finger, just barely, in my direction, so I bit my tongue.

  “She saved a little girl’s life, actually,” he said to the mayor. “She’s a hero.”

  “Did you not tell her to draw back?” asked Mayor Jensen. Tate hesitated, but just briefly.

  “Yes. But she wanted to stay with the girl, and I support that.”

  “Indeed.” Mayor Jensen looked back at me, and I wanted nothing more in that moment than to be able to blow him up with my mind. “The city doesn’t like it,” he continued, looking back at Tate. “Some of our officers and even our civilians think that she’s hindering job performance. If you let her get away with everything, how long will it take for the rest of the station to run wild?”

  “I’m sorry, Mayor, but I haven’t heard a single complaint lodged against Miss Harper,” Tate glanced back at me. “Has anyone filed a complaint against you, Hallie?”

  I thought briefly of Tanner and his distaste for me, but pushed it aside and shook my head. “Only Mayor Jensen seems to have a real issue with me,” I said. The mayor shook his head thoughtfully, looked back at Tate.

  “Can I have a moment of your time? Alone?”

  For a second Tate looked like he was going to refuse, but then he shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards his office.

  “Sure. Take all the time you need.”

  Chapter 35

  Tate

  Nearly half an hour later, I watched Mayor Jensen walk out of my office with his chin arrogantly pointed up, a rolled-up police report clutched firmly in his fist. He turned back around to look at me at the last second, his bushy brows furrowed.

  “Don’t make a mistake with your crew, Captain Becker,” he said. “The evidence will pile up sooner or later.” When he turned around again, he nearly collided with Kyle, who had just gotten back from a run. Kyle looked bewildered as Mayor Jensen pushed him aside and out of the way, but he shrugged and looked at me.

  “Do you have a second, Cap?”

  “What is it?”

  “Something happened to Harper.”

  It wasn’t a question, not even close, and as Kyle shut the office door behind him and placed both hands steadily on my desk to look at me, I couldn’t meet his gaze.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t play around, Cap.” Kyle flopped himself into the chair across from me and folded his arms. “Her lip is all busted up and she can barely get around. Now I know you two have spent a minute or two together, so what in the hell happened?”

  “I don’t know. She won’t tell me.”

  Kyle leaned forward then, elbows on the desk and hands clasped in front of him. He lowered his chin a bit, so his eyes were directly across from mine.

  “With all due respect, sir, if that handiwork is yours, I’ll make sure you—”

  “It wasn’t me, Kyle,” I said. “You know me better than that.”

  He leaned back a bit, pondering that answer. “Sorry to threaten you, dude, but—”

  “I would expect nothing less.” I rested my elbows on the desk and clasped my hands together, trying to ward off the incoming migraine. “The truth is, she doesn’t know who it was. Or if she does, she won’t tell me.”

  “So, it was someone?” Kyle asked. I nodded, resting my forehead against my fists.

  “She’s telling me she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “You don’t believe that.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Of course not. When I wanted to take her to the hospital she refused, said she didn’t want this story blowing up.”

  “I can’t blame her,” Kyle said. “Not with the flack the department is already getting.”

  “Speaking of,” I said, and lowered my voice. “The mayor came today bearing some heavy news.”

  “That cranky old bat? Who is he after now?”

  “He’s after Hallie.”

  There was a pause, and then, “What in the hell are you talking about?”

  I grabbed the folder that Mayor Jensen had left me and slid it over to Kyle. He took it, flipping it open to read the contents. When he was finished, he slammed the folder shut and slid it back to me.

  “This is a joke, right?” he asked.

  “I wish it was.”

  Kyle leaned forward until his elbows rested on the top of my desk. “Let me get this straight; some random witness claims she saw Hallie there before the fire, and so they think it’s her?”

  “The witness described her to a T,” I said.

  “So what?” Kyle snapped. “Even if she had been around Tanner’s house, that doesn’t mean she had anything to do with it.”

  “Yeah, I know, but—-”

  “But what?”

  “She’s a suspect, Kyle. Someone identified her and told the police she’d been around the place leading up to the fire.”

  “This is bullshit.”

  “Apparently Tanner Rey launched a complaint against Hallie when she first started here, but there were no grounds to investigate. He just didn’t like that there was a girl on the crew. Not many people did, in fact.”

  “Yeah, well, we all knew that. I didn’t much care for the brat, either.”

  “My point is, because it’s Tanner’s house that caught fire, there are suspicions that Hallie did it to get back at him for lodging a complaint. They’ve never liked each other.”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Kyle said. “Hallie wouldn’t do something like that, Cap. She loves her job and she’s finally starting to fit in. She’s not that stupid, either.”

  “Maybe not,” I said. “But someone is.”

  Chapter 36

  Hallie

  Tate was oddly quiet for the rest of the day and into the evening. He bid me goodnight without saying anything more or trying to sneak a kiss while the guys had their backs turned. I tossed and turned most of the night, wondering what was bothering him and how I could help. We had no calls, giving the crew an opportunity to catch up on precious sleep. When morning came and I dressed in my civilian clothes to get ready to clock out, I went downstairs to confront Tate, but he was already gone. When I called his cell-phone, no one answered, and I went home.

  What I’d been expecting when I arrived back at the apartment I don’t know, but Jeremy sitting next to Jake on the couch when I walked through the front door certainly wasn’t it. I froze, looking between them, wanting to throw something heavy at Jeremy and strangle Jake all at the same time.

  “What in the hell is this?” I finally managed to get out. Jake looked a little sheepish, and he glanced over at Jeremy, who was smiling at me.

  “Your new friend invited me in,” he said. He stood up from his place on the couch and crossed the room to hug me, if not a bit warily.

  “Oh, did he?” I said, peering around Jeremy at Jake. “That was his bad. You’re not welcome here.”

  Jeremy’s hands dropped from the sides of my arms, and he sighed, taking a step back before I decided to start swinging.

  “Hal,” he started. I groaned and walked around him, dropping my overnight bag on the couch next to Jake, who’d sunk down so low in the couch cushions I hoped he might get stuck there.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” I said. “You had your chance and you fucked it up. I’m done. I’m moving
on.”

  “Please, Hallie, just give me another chance,” Jeremy pleaded. “I’ve got my own place near campus, in the Lakeview Apartment complex. I wanted to give you some room to think things over and let you come to your senses.”

  I stopped what I was doing, frozen in mid-air, the muscles in my body tightening. “Excuse me?” I said, looking straight at Jeremy. “My senses?”

  “Now don’t get mad, Hal,” Jeremy said, and stepped back as I stepped toward him. “I just wanted to talk to you, to sort things out. I’m sorry about everything, about my affair with Brenda...I just—"

  “Get out.”

  “Oh, Hallie, stop-—”

  “I said get out. And if you don’t get out right now, I will drag your cheating ass out of my apartment and make you get out.”

  Whether he believed me or not wasn’t clear, but it did the trick, because Jeremy gathered up his jacket, fixed the glasses on his nose, and walked out the door without another word.

  “God, Hal, I’m so sorry,” Jake said, unsticking himself from the couch to cross the room to me. “I had no idea.”

  “It’s okay, Jake.” Fatigue tugged at my eyelids as I went to the fridge for a glass of wine. I was so tired after tossing and turning all night, and even more so now after seeing Jeremy. Amid recent events, something about that arrogant ass seemed to suck the energy right out of me.

  “Well, hey, I gotta go,” Jake said. “I work in a few hours, and I promised a friend I’d stop by.”

  “A friend, huh?” I asked, pouring a small glass of wine. “Like...a female friend?” Jake flushed and shook his head, but he forced a smile.

  “Just a friend.”

  “Have a good shift,” I said, and took a sip from my glass. “I think I’m going to fall asleep and not wake up for a while.”

  “Sure. Call me if you need anything.”

  Once Jake left, I kicked off my shoes and drew the curtains over the windows to block out the sunlight. Then I locked the bolts on the door and hunkered down with a glass and a bottle of wine in front of the TV. I called Tate again, praying he would answer, but there was still nothing. I had barely spoken to him since yesterday morning and hoped he was okay.

  Feeling a bit antsy and out of sorts, I chugged the first glass of wine, poured another, and it was only minutes before I’d fallen asleep in the deep crevices of the cushions.

  When I woke later to the ringing of my cell-phone, it was dark outside. The whole apartment was draped with black. Fumbling for my phone, I grabbed it up and placed it to my ear without checking the caller ID, wiping the sleep from my eyes.

  “Yeah?”

  “Hallie, it’s Tate.”

  “Oh, Tate, hi.” I sat back on the couch, yawning, glad he’d finally called me back. “Is everything okay? You sound—weird.”

  “The station got a call about an hour ago,” Tate said. There was a note in his tone I wasn’t familiar with; anger that I had never heard before. I froze where I was, sensing something bad was about to be said.

  “Captain?”

  A long sigh proceeded, as though he was hesitant to say whatever was on his mind. “There was a fire near campus,” he said. “In the Lakeview Complex.”

  “Lakeview?” I repeated, and a sliver of horror climbed up my spine. “But, Tate, Jeremy is—”

  “Jeremy is fine,” Tate said. “He wasn’t home when it happened, but five other units burned with his.”

  “The fire started in his apartment?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do they know how?”

  “Not yet, but they believe it’s an arsonist.”

  “Jesus.” I put my head in my hands. My heart beat so loudly I could hear it in my head.

  “Hallie, I need you to come to the station so we can talk.”

  “Talk about what?”

  “Now.”

  The line went silent and I stared at the phone, bewildered and horrified at the exact same time. I wanted to call Jeremy and check on him, but some small voice in the back of my mind convinced me otherwise. Something was going on, and I seemed to be caught in the middle of it.

  Chapter 37

  Tate

  When Hallie arrived at my office half an hour later, her eyes were wild with concern. Concern, maybe even some fear. My heart lurched as I watched her shut the door behind her. She looked tired, so tired, and I longed to hold her against me, to tell her that everything was fine and that I just needed to see her. But I couldn’t, because everything was not okay.

  “Have a seat,” I said. Hallie sat, her movements jerky.

  “Why am I here?” she asked, but I knew she had a sneaking suspicion.

  “The officers at the scene had a talk with Jeremy,” I said. “And he told them that you guys had a fight earlier.”

  “A fight,” Hallie repeated. “Yeah, I guess. Kind of. He showed up at my apartment without permission, Tate. He was trespassing.”

  “I understand that.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes. But others might not.”

  Silence fell between us, a knowing silence that smothered me from the inside out, like being caught in the middle of high-rising flames. Without thinking twice about it, I reached out to take Hallie’s hand, but she pulled away, finally forcing herself to look at me.

  “Please don’t tell me that everyone believes I set the fire.” She looked utterly broken. A frightened child trying to defend herself from the bad guys. “You don’t believe I would set these fires myself, do you?”

  “I don’t know what to think, Hallie.” It was difficult for me to meet her gaze, and it was because the words I spoke were the truth. I wanted nothing more in the world than to believe her. Better yet, I wanted to have never thought it was her in the first place. I couldn’t imagine it, no matter how hard I tried. “The only enemies the victims of these homes have in common...is you.”

  “Enemies?” Hallie repeated. “Everyone knows that Tanner Rey didn’t welcome me with open arms, Tate, and that Jeremy and I broke up. But no one is an enemy here. Besides,” she hesitated. Her voice was soft, not so defensive, and that hurt even more. “Why would I do something like this?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know why anyone would do this, Hallie, and that’s what kills me.”

  She leaned forward, her arms on the desk between us. Her brown hair fell around her face, framing her features in such a way that I had to catch my breath and stop myself before I fell to my knees.

  Fury was overtaking the hurt in her eyes. In the months I’d grown to know her, I’d noticed the green in them overtook the brown when she was fired up; a sign of her passion; an aggression that she rarely showed.

  “Do you really think I worked this hard only to sabotage my career?” she asked him. “Do you think I’d willingly put these people in the line of fire. Not to mention the innocent people I could have hurt doing something that petty?”

  “No, but—”

  “There should be no ‘but’ about it. Either you trust me, or you don’t, Tate. Which is it?”

  “Hallie—”

  “I guess that’s your answer then.” Her shoulders slumped, just barely, but her chin lifted in defiance. She stood abruptly, anger radiating off her skin. “I’m sorry you all feel this way.”

  “Hallie, don’t—”

  “I think it would be best if I put in my resignation,” she said, cutting me off. “As of today.” She shrugged her EMS jacket off and laid it across my desk. When I reached out to grab her hand to stop her, she pulled away. She wouldn’t even look at me, and that was worse than having to face her.

  “We need to talk about this,” I said, but she was already backing towards the door.

  “I can’t,” she said. “I can’t be a part of a team that believes I’d do something so atrocious. It’s just not worth it.”

  I watched her go, part of me wanting to chase after her, and the other part of me not knowing what to say when I caught her. I was just as confused as she was; just as angry, yet so my
stified I no longer knew what to believe. I knew Hallie was innocent. She had to be. She was a good woman, a good person... a good firefighter. Even putting my feelings aside for her, I couldn’t fathom why Hallie would stoop so low. She wouldn’t; that wasn’t her.

  Kyle knocked on my door a moment later, making himself at home in the chair across from me.

  “I saw Hallie storm out.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “She’s pretty upset.”

  “Can you blame her?”

  “No.”

  Kyle and I stared at each other in silence, unable to say anything more about it in fear of coming to a conclusion we didn’t want to form. Nothing was proven yet, for anyone, and until it was, nobody in this station was going to assume the worst.

  After a long moment, Kyle sighed and looked back at me. “What are you thinking, Cap?”

  I hesitated, wondering if saying nothing at all would be the better route to go.

  “We don’t need to think anything yet, Kyle. Hallie’s word against Jeremy’s will hold up until evidence comes to rise.”

  “Does she have an alibi?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know if anyone was with her when Jeremy’s complex caught fire.”

  “And Tanner?”

  “I don’t know who this witness is, but they made a mistake. That’s all there is to it. Right?”

  “Right,” Kyle said, rubbing a hand over his face. I massaged the back of my neck and sighed, unable to ignore the hesitation in his tone. “What about that thing that happened the other night?” he pressed. “Someone beat the shit out of Hallie, Cap. Do you think she’s working for someone, or has an accomplice?”

  “No. No, we can’t think that way. She’s innocent until proven guilty, Kyle. That’s the end of it.”

  “Is she coming back to work?”

  “I don’t know.” I rested my elbows on the desk and my head in my hands. I felt horrible, but probably not as bad as Hallie felt in that moment.

  “Hey.” Kyle stood from the chair and leaned over the desk, his hand squeezing my shoulder. “It’s going to be fine. Hallie is innocent, and this is all just some freak coincidence.”