All A Heart Needs B&N (10 page)

"Sure. Where? Your office?"

"Why don't we meet at the Emery house? I'd like to walk around the property. I know it's been redone, but I think it would still be helpful for me to see the layout. I already checked with Jessica, and she said she'd be home then."

"What did you tell Jessica?"

"Nothing. I just asked her if she'd be home, and she said she would be. You have until one o'clock to decide what you want to tell her."

* * *

After spending the morning volunteering in Kyle's classroom, Jessica got back to her house just before one. She was very curious as to why Emma and Sean were coming over. It had to be about the fire. Sean must have asked Emma to look into it.

She pulled into the driveway, and as she got out of the car she saw Sally watering some plants in her yard. She would have been happy to just wave and go inside, but Sally had other ideas. She immediately set down the hose and came through the trees that separated their properties.

"How's the cleanup going?" Sally asked.

"Great," she said, feeling a little awkward. The phone call she'd overheard the other night still lingered in her mind as well as the photos she'd seen of Sally and Robert Emery. Were those photos the reason Sally was worried about Jessica being in Helen's house? There hadn't been anything that scandalous, although they might not have found everything yet.

"Have you discovered anything interesting?" Sally asked.

"Like what?" she countered, curious to hear what Sally would say.

Sally hesitated, then gave a light wave of her hand. "Oh, I don't know. Helen had a penchant for antiques. Maybe you'll find an ugly old vase that turns out to be incredibly valuable."

"So far I haven't seen anything like that. But if I did, the profits would go to Helen."

"Oh, of course. Not that Helen needs the money. Her husband left her quite well off." Sally paused. "I saw you talking to Brett Murphy yesterday. What did you think of him?"

"He seemed very nice," she said, trying to stay carefully neutral.

"He was probably courting your vote. He's running for County Supervisor this year."

"He didn't mention that." She wondered about the note of dislike in Sally's voice. "Are you two friends?"

"Not for a long while. Brett can't be trusted. He's very charming, but he always has an agenda. Don't ever forget that."

She thought Sally probably had an agenda, too. Unfortunately, she didn't know what either of them was up to. She turned her head at the sound of a car. Sean parked his minivan at the curb and got out.

As he walked toward them, Sally said. "Goodness, is that Sean Callaway?"

"Yes," Jessica said.

"I'll be." Sally waited for Sean to join them and then said. "I can't believe it's you, Sean. I haven't seen you in years, not since you were a teenager."

"Hello Mrs. Watson."

"Please. You're grown up now. Call me Sally."

"How are your daughters?"

"They're good. Tanya is married. Blair is engaged. Christie is still single," she said with a sparkle in her eyes. "You and Christie should get together, catch up. Unless…" She looked from Sean to Jessica. "Are you two together?"

"No," they both said at the same time.

"Jessica is a friend of the family," Sean added.

"I see. How are your parents?" Sally asked. "I haven't seen them in ages."

"They're doing great."

"I heard your grandmother has Alzheimer's."

"Unfortunately, yes," he said. "She has good days and bad days, but she's hanging in there."

"Good for her."

"There's Emma," Jessica said as Emma pulled up behind Sean's van.

"Well, it's quite the family affair," Sally said, giving Jessica a thoughtful look. "I didn't realize you were connected to the Callaways."

She didn't know what to say to that. She certainly didn't feel like explaining her relationship to a woman who had already shown her love to gossip. In the end, she said. "The Callaways have been wonderful to me."

"It was nice to see you again, Sally," Sean said.

"You, too, Sean," she replied. "Jessica, I'm sure I'll see you soon."

She had a feeling that would be sooner than she wanted, but she simply smiled and walked across the lawn to greet Emma. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sally watching them.

"Sorry I'm late," Emma said. "My meeting ran long."

"It's fine. I just got here," Sean told her.

"Let's go inside," Jessica suggested. The last thing she wanted to do was get into a discussion in front of Sally Watson. She led them into the kitchen and gave them both an expectant look. "So, what's going on?"

"I asked Emma to look up the case file on the fire," Sean explained. "I got to thinking that I didn't know how it started, and I was curious."

"I figured this was about the fire. So how did it start?"

"I don't know for sure," Emma replied. "What I do know is that the fire began in the garage. Because there are usually accelerants in a garage—paint thinner, gasoline, lighter fluid and cleaning chemicals—a fire in that area is highly combustible. Common household items can become explosive, and that's apparently what happened. The fire spread to this room and the room across the hall, which I believe was Robert's office, and there was also damage to the living room and dining room. Basically, the entire first floor was involved."

"And no one could tell how it started?" Sean asked. "How does the garage suddenly catch fire?"

"In an interview with Lana Emery, she stated that they'd been having problems with the car starting. One theory was that Robert Emery was working on the car, and a spark ignited something flammable nearby." Emma paused, her expression serious. "Mr. Emery's body was found in the garage. An autopsy wasn't possible, because of the condition of the body."

Sean's jaw tightened. His face was pale, and his eyes dark. "What about Stacy? What do you know about her?"

"The television was on in her bedroom," Emma said. "The fire didn't reach that part of the house, but there was certainly heavy smoke."

"But she—she was badly burned," Sean ground out.

Emma nodded. "It's possible that she smelled smoke or heard her father call out to her and went down to investigate and got caught in the fire. She was able to get out of the house, but she died at the hospital a few hours later. She was not able to make any kind of statement. She was unconscious upon arrival at the E.R."

Sean blew out an audible breath. "What else?"

"Unfortunately, there's not much more I can tell you. Mrs. Emery's initial interview was cut short because she was hysterical. And the subsequent interview revealed no new information." Emma paused. "Dad also filed a report as a first responder. His account corroborated what I just told you. He also reported seeing black smoke when he arrived, which supports a chemically-based fire."

"So that's it?" Sean asked.

"For now. I'm going to see if I can track down the investigator. He's retired but he might remember something."

"From twenty years ago?" Jessica asked doubtfully.

"When a child dies in a fire, you usually don't forget," Emma said.

"But what other questions do you have?" Jessica asked, feeling like she was missing something. "It sounds like everyone was on the same page. They believed the fire to be accidental."

Emma nodded. "That was the consensus then, but I don't understand why the investigation was so short. There were only two witness statements, one from a Harriett Conover who lives in the house at the corner and the other from a Jason Danvers who apparently lives two streets over. I find it difficult to believe that no one else in this neighborhood came out to see what was apparently a raging fire."

Jessica glanced at Sean. He'd gone rigid at the discussion of eyewitnesses. He sent her a warning look, but it was unnecessary. She had no intention of telling Emma he was there that night. This was his trauma. He needed to deal with it in his own way.

"There was also no investigation into the Emerys," Emma continued. "I wonder if Robert or Lana had any reason to want to burn down their house."

"What reason could that be?" Sean ground out.

"Insurance money."

"They wouldn't set fire to the house when they were in it," Sean said.

"Sometimes people get caught up in fire, especially if it's explosive. There was also a note in the file that Robert had recently left his job. His wife said he'd been working at home, looking for employment and doing some freelance work. But no one spoke to his employer or any of his clients. Frankly, I think this was a shoddy investigation. I know we have forensic technology now that's a lot better than it was twenty years ago, but that still doesn't explain why basic investigative procedures weren't followed."

"What are you getting at Emma?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know yet. But I'd like to do some investigating myself. I'll probably come to the same conclusion, but I must admit my curiosity is piqued. So walk me around the house. How do you get into the garage?"

"It's through the hallway," Jessica said, leading Emma across the hall and into the garage. She didn't know where Sean went, but he didn't come with them. He probably needed a few minutes to catch his breath. It wasn't that Emma had declared the fire was anything but an accident, but she had raised some doubt. It would have been better if the findings had been cut and dried. Then maybe Sean could have let it go.

"I pulled up the blueprints of the original house," Emma said as she walked around. "It looks like this garage was rebuilt to the same dimensions. Where did all this furniture come from?"

"Mrs. Emery's bedroom. I had to move her pieces out so I could move mine in."

Emma glanced over her shoulder, then said. "What's going on with Sean, Jessica? What don't I know?"

She was taken aback by the direct question. "You should ask Sean that."

"I don't think he'll tell me."

"You should try," she said, not willing to share anything Sean had told her in confidence.

Emma gave her a speculative look. "Sean keeps saying there's nothing between you. But I don't believe him."

"We're just—friends." Or at least they were trying to be.

"Well, as a friend, I hope you'll look out for him. Sean doesn't get emotional or upset about anything. I haven't seen him this worked up…" Her voice trailed away. "Well, the last time was probably when Stacy died. I'm worried about him. I know that Sean blames himself for letting Stacy leave our house, but I feel like there's something I don't know."

Jessica shrugged. "You should ask him," she repeated.

"All right. I can see that I will get nowhere with you. I'll do some digging and see what I come up with."

"I can't imagine what you could find that would make any of this better."

"I don't know either. But Sean asked for my help, and he rarely asks for anyone's help, so I know it's important to him. If there's information to be found, I'm going to find it. Tell Sean I'll be in touch."

"What if you can't find out anything?"

"Then we'll be no worse off than we were before."

Jessica wasn't so sure of that. She couldn't help feeling that Sean should have left it all alone, because digging in the embers might bring that fire back to life, and who knew who would be destroyed this time? She very much hoped it wouldn't be Sean.

After Emma left, Jessica went upstairs and found Sean standing in the doorway of Stacy's room.

"Sean? Are you okay?"

"It's not the same. I know you told me it wouldn't be, but I had to see for myself." He turned to face her. "Did Emma leave?"

"Yes. She said she'd be in touch."

"What do you think about what she told us?"

"I don't know. Emma seems like a smart investigator, so I trust her to do what she needs to do."

He gazed into her eyes. "You think it's a bad idea."

"Let's just say I'm not sure it's a good idea. Sometimes the past is better left alone."

"You're probably right," he conceded. "Although it's more likely Emma will find nothing. The first investigator might have been lazy, but that doesn't mean he was wrong."

"No, it doesn't. By the way, Emma knows you're hiding something from her. Why don't you at least tell her where you were that night?"

"Maybe I will at some point—if it's important. In the meantime, I need to get out of here. Are you free? Do you want to take a ride with me?"

"I thought we were trying to stay away from each other."

"Let's start later. I could use the company."

And how could she resist that plea? She seemed to have absolutely no willpower when it came to Sean. "All right. Nicole is picking up the boys from school and keeping them until dinner, but I do have to meet Helen at four o'clock."

"No problem."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Let's find out."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Jessica buckled her seatbelt as Sean pulled away from the curb. She was happy to get out of the house. Moving there was starting to feel like the worst idea she'd ever had. She was also foolishly excited to spend a little more time with Sean. She didn't know where they were going, but she was happy to let him take the lead. She'd been on her own, in charge of every decision for almost two years now, and it was nice to just be driven somewhere.

She glanced out the window, watching the streets of San Francisco pass by, thinking how much she was starting to like her new home city. San Francisco was a lovely mix of neighborhoods, many with their own culture. It was also a picturesque city with its steep hills, famous cable cars, and wide, sweeping bay views. She even appreciated the fog that came in every night and eventually disappeared somewhere around midday, only to come back in again as the sun went down.

San Francisco had charm and history. It was a lot different than Las Vegas, where she'd spent many years of her life. It was also more urban and exciting than Angel's Bay, her most recent home. She'd liked that beautiful seaside town with its warm people and legends of shipwrecks and gold, but Angel's Bay had been Travis's town. San Francisco felt more like her.