She heard footsteps, then the front door, then a car outside as Karen left.
Harold was so close, and she knew he wasn’t going to let her hide. She felt the tears burn, and when one slipped out, what did he do but kiss her? Her cheeks, both of them, and then her lips. His hands were now on her face, holding her with compassion.
“I’m sorry…” Her voice sounded raspy.
He was shaking his head. “No, don’t you apologize. This isn’t on you. Screw them.”
She knew what he was saying. “So you want me to sue the department for killing my dream and for the fact that I’ll never be a firefighter again?”
“I want you to get your pound of flesh,” he said. “I’m sorry, Suzanne. You lost the battle, but you haven’t lost the war. You just need to take a step back and come at it from a different direction. You know what? I’m here, and I have your back. At the same time, I think you need a distraction, so how about giving me a hand?”
He didn’t give her space, and something about the way he touched her, even in all these small ways, had her feeling somewhat better.
“A hand in what?” she said. “This isn’t some pity project you’re tossing my way?”
His expression was comical, the way his lips hinted at a smile as he shook his head and lifted his hand. “Scout’s honor, wouldn’t do that. Besides, you heard there’s a suspect in the fire.”
She went to wipe a tear that had fallen, but Harold did that for her with his thumb, brushing it away. “Yes, I thought you arrested someone for it.”
“We were ordered to arrest someone, but I’m thinking there’s more to it. We have one surveillance video for one camera following one guy. But the thing is, as I pointed out to Marcus, we’re missing surveillance from the other cameras in the store. I have the feeling that something about this is all wrong. I don’t think our suspect did it, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that if I have a feeling something isn’t right, it usually isn’t. So how about you tag along and be a second pair of eyes for me?”
“You mean detective work?”
He laughed softly. “In a way. I have hours of video to watch, considering I’ve requested all the videos from all the cameras. I could use your help, because although the arson investigator’s report gives the details of where the fire started, I’m thinking you may see something I won’t.”
She wasn’t sure he was serious. She still thought he was tossing her crumbs.
He ran his hands over her arms again. “Come on, say yes.”
She considered another second. “I still think this is a pity job.”
“So that’s a yes?” he said. There was something about Harold, how fun, encouraging, and teasing he was, that seemed to ease the ache she’d been breathing through.
“Sure,” she said. “Why not?”
Chapter Eighteen
His name was Joseph Rondin, seventeen, from the Blackfoot tribe. The boy was tall, six foot three, and lanky, wearing baggy jeans and a black ball cap. That was what Suzanne had seen of him as he was cuffed and walked in by Lonnie just after she’d shown up at the sheriff’s office with Harold.
Now, Joseph was cuffed at Lonnie’s desk across the room, and she could hear Lonnie and Marcus talking behind the closed door of his office. Of course, he didn’t sound happy.
Harold said nothing as he brought up the video surveillance of Joseph. From Suzanne’s perspective, it seemed the store cameras had zoomed in on him from the moment he walked through the door. That was the first video, the one that had originally been sent to the sheriff’s office, the one the security guards and manager had stated showed who started the fire.
“So you’re convinced it’s not him based on what?” Suzanne asked Harold in a low voice as she stretched beside him where she sat, studying the computer screen.
“A hunch. If you look at the video they supplied, the only one, it’s like they’re handing this kid up on a platter. Some places would say, okay, good enough, but I don’t see anything in there that tells me he started the fire.”
She didn’t think the kid could hear him. There was something about Joseph, a nervousness, and she realized she too would’ve looked a second or third time at him. Marcus’s door opened, and he strode out, Lonnie behind him, still talking.
“Harold, you get through all that surveillance yet?” Marcus demanded. He had yet to say a word about her being there, helping out.
“Making my way through, but only just got the surveillance from the other cameras they omitted. I’m going to need more time.”
Marcus stopped in front of Joseph, looking down at him, his hands resting on his duty belt. Lonnie walked around his desk, also looking down at him.
“So again, Joseph,” Marcus said, “what were you doing in the store? Security says they’ve stopped you several times and had problems with you in the store—shoplifting, mischief, being a nuisance, up to no good…”
“They’re lying,” Joseph said. He was loud and sounded defensive. “I’ve never taken anything! Security is always hassling me every time I go in there. I never started that fire…”
“Then how do you explain the surveillance video?” Lonnie said, jumping in. “You looked nervous when you walked in the store, and even inside, you kept looking around as if checking whether someone was watching. How do you explain that?”
She knew Marcus had issues with Lonnie at times, and now was one of those time, as Lonnie had apparently arrested Joseph for arson after receiving a personal call from the mayor. She knew he’d gone over Marcus’s head, considering Marcus had been stalling to give Harold time to go through all the surveillance video. That was what she’d learned in the forty minutes she’d been sitting there with Harold, watching a computer screen and seeing exactly what went on in her brother’s stationhouse.
“Nervous!” Joseph said. “You’re kidding, right? How the fuck am I supposed to act with everyone always watching me, expecting me to steal? Of course I’m nervous. You think I don’t know I’m being watched? Then suddenly there’s some security guy following me through the store or standing behind me, telling me I have to leave.”
Suzanne couldn’t pull her gaze from the boy. Marcus was looking down at him with that hard all-cop tough-love expression. She thought he was likely going to say something else to him, but he just shook his head and looked over to Harold before turning back to the suspect. Too many people already thought he did it.
“We’re holding you on suspicion, that’s all,” Marcus said, then turned to Lonnie. “You’re not charging him, because there isn’t evidence yet. Just because the mayor and councillors want this closed, I’m not going to be pushed around, you got it? Cool your heels.”
She could see Lonnie was ready to argue, but Marcus simply dragged his gaze away, back to the kid. He was tall, not someone she would’ve wanted to find herself caught alone in an alleyway with.
Harold said nothing, just watched as Joseph was uncuffed from the chair and taken into Marcus’s office.
“You two, look faster,” Marcus said. “The mayor is calling every five minutes, wanting to know why the suspect hasn’t been charged yet. You got anything I can give him?” Her brother wasn’t someone who could be pushed, but she’d heard the phone and expected someone to come through the door soon, demanding he do something.
“I’ll have something when I have it, not before,” Harold said. “Tell him that.”
She wasn’t sure, but she was positive a hint of a smile tugged at Marcus’s lips. He said nothing else as he strode back into his office, only to poke his head out a second later and call out, “Charlotte, order a burger and soda from up the street for Joseph.”
“Sure thing, Marcus,” Charlotte said from where she sat behind her desk as the dispatcher. She was quiet, not the type of person Suzanne would have picked for Marcus, but at the same time, she was.
Marcus walked back into his office, and Charlotte was now on the phone. Lonnie, who seemed pissed, rummaged through a file and then pic
ked up the phone, as well.
“So is this an average day of being a cop?” Suzanne said.
Harold was on his computer, pulling up more videos. He shook his head. There was something about his ability to focus, as if he wasn’t going to be pulled into this pissing contest between Marcus and Lonnie.
“Nope, no such thing as an average day,” he said. “Right now, this is about finding out who set the fire, who really set it, not who the store and the city want to be the fall guy. So get comfortable, because we could be at this awhile.”
“So do we get popcorn, or is this part of a cop’s job?” Suzanne said. She thought her eyes would go buggy from the hours of surveillance video they’d been watching on his computer and the number of people they’d seen go through the store and departments. Some she knew, but many she didn’t.
She stood up from the chair he’d pulled over and stretched the kink in her back, never having sat so long before. Lonnie was long gone now. Joseph had been fed, and Suzanne’s stomach had rumbled when she smelled the fast food delivery.
Harold was speeding up the video clip and then slowing it down, and he glanced away and up to her for only a second as she stepped behind him and rested her hands on his shoulders, which were impressive and hard. She tried to dig in and massage.
“Yeah, that’s perfect,” he said. “Just keep doing that for the next hour.” He tapped the keyboard again. “It’s not all action and glamor, being a cop. There’s a lot of desk work and investigating that’s boring and tedious. Then add in stakeouts, where nothing about them is exciting. Most times, looking for that needle in the haystack to do the job right requires attention to detail, and that means a ton of caffeine and doing your best not to fall asleep on the job—and there it is.” He tapped the keyboard, and the video froze. He pointed at the screen. “Right there.”
She leaned down, her hands still on his shoulders, and took in the still image of the surveillance, seeing the three screens for the toy department, clothing, and sporting goods.
“She’s in every one of these. I thought it was odd, but look at her. She opens her purse. I couldn’t tell what she was doing, but I think she lights a candle and then slides it under a stack of shirts. There’s smoke a few minutes later with no one there. Same in sporting goods. She was over by the camping fuel and the matches, then again here, where the board games are. The arson investigator said it started in these three spots.”
She took in what he was saying as he slowed down the video. She really had to look to see it. “You mean the woman who looks like a soccer mom…?”
He turned and looked up at her, leaning back in his chair, his hand on her. He was so close, and she loved being here with him as she took in what he was saying. There was something admirable about the way he’d demanded surveillance from all the cameras.
The woman seemed attractive, light hair, mid thirties, wearing what she thought were blue jeans and a nice shirt, carrying a basket of what looked like school supplies. Suzanne would never have picked her out, and she just stared again.
“Ah, okay, I see it—but I can’t believe it.”
He looked up at her and said nothing, then walked over to Marcus’s office. The door was open, and he tapped on it, calling her brother.
“What do you have?” Marcus said.
As Suzanne stepped back, she realized that Charlotte was now gone, of course, being a mother to Eva. Harold and her brother were staring at the surveillance, the woman. She didn’t know what to say.
“Any idea who that is?” Harold said. “She started each one.”
From the way Marcus stared down, she knew he was uncomfortable. She didn’t recognize the lady and wondered how hard it would be to find out who she was.
“Yeah, unfortunately. That’s not good news,” Marcus said, then winced and pulled in a breath as if considering what to do. “It’s Cecilia Harding.”
She wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. “You’re not talking about the Hardings who own the brewery…”
Harold glanced between them, so impartial.
Marcus had his thumb and forefinger on his chin, rubbing. “Cecilia is married to Russell Harding, who owns the brewery, but Cecilia herself is a niece of Forest Chandler, the former fire chief. Yes, that would be Toby’s grandfather. Cecilia’s mother, I think her name was Jean, she died when Cecilia was, like, ten, remember?”
Suzanne was trying to put it together. She knew Toby came from a big family, with uncles, aunts, cousins. How many were there? Something about seeing this was so surreal, and it was hitting home in a way that was going to stir some major shit up.
“So how do you want to handle this?” Harold said. “I can pick her up.”
Marcus was shaking his head, and she could see by his face that the political side of him was already thinking about how to come out ahead. “Nope, I’ll do it. What I want you to do is save that video and call the DA while I pick up Cecilia.” He allowed his gaze to drag over to her, then pulled his hand over his face. “Son of a bitch!” he muttered, then walked back into his office, where she could hear him say, “Okay, Joseph, it’s your lucky day. You’re officially cleared…”
She couldn’t make out the rest.
Harold was already saving the videos, still looking at the screen.
“So how did you know to keep looking?” Suzanne said. “You know anyone else likely would’ve caved to the town council and charged that kid in there. It’s not as if he has a clean record. He’s been in trouble, right?”
Harold turned to her, giving her everything. “One of the things I learned at my time in Oklahoma City, in hate crimes, is that when a white person walks right in and takes something or does something, no one ever notices, because they’re too busy looking at people like Joseph, people they assume are up to no good. Again, I’ve learned that when I get a feeling something isn’t quite right, it generally isn’t.”
She took in her brother, who was walking Joseph out as the boy argued about his rights being violated, then glanced back to Harold, who was reaching for his keys. She realized now why her brother had hired him.
“My brother’s lucky to have you,” she said.
Harold pulled his keys from the drawer and gave her everything. “And you’re not?” he said, stepping closer, sliding his hands around. He pulled her closer, and she knew there was no one else left in the office. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, letting it linger.
“Oh, I know I am,” she teased. “So does this mean you’re coming back to my place?”
He had somehow turned her and slid his hand around her waist, and he was now walking her to the door. “Well, yeah. Thought you’d cook me dinner and I’d help you figure out some what-nexts.”
She looked up at him, seeing something teasing in those amber eyes. “What-nexts?”
He tapped her butt as he moved her out the door. “Yeah, you know, enough of this dancing around. How about we figure it out, my place or yours?”
She stopped outside, taking in something in his expression that she hadn’t expected.
Then he said, “To live, of course. You think I want to keep switching keys every night? Let’s figure it out. It’s time, right?”
For a second, she didn’t know what to say. Then she pulled in a breath. “Yeah, it’s way past time.”
What’s coming next in The O’Connells? The Commitment, just click here to order available from all retailers!
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The O’Connells Books 1 - 3
The O’Connells Books 4 - 6
The O’Connells Books 7 - 9
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I hope you enjoyed reading Suzanne O’Connells story in A Quiet Day. Suzanne is the youngest of the O’Connell
siblings, there will be more to come from both Harold, Suzanne and Toby Chandler.
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Lorhainne Eckhart
Next in The O’Connells
Don’t miss this O’Connell Novella
As far as Marcus O’Connell is concerned, his situation is perfect. He’s now living with the love of his life, Charlotte, and they’re serving as guardians for Eva, a little girl he rescued whose mother is serving time in prison for a crime of which, in Marcus’s mind, she was unfairly convicted.
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But Charlotte isn’t on board with Marcus’s way of thinking. Because her divorce is now final, she wants—no, expects Marcus to want the same things she does. One of those things is a committed relationship, which, to Charlotte, means marriage. For Marcus, though, marriage is only a piece of paper, and it doesn’t have anything to do with commitment.
#4--The Quiet Day--O’Connells Page 10