Bringing Baby Home (11 page)

What did she know about David? Practically nothing. He was an intriguing puzzle, a wounded soul who had appealed to that part of her that was always on the lookout for someone to fix.

She’d played right into fate’s hand, hadn’t she? She’d let herself believe that she was safe from her potentially tragic either-or prophecy. That she finally had a chance at the whole enchilada—a decent man who really mattered to her and a child who needed her. But no. Life was never that simple, was it?

“Liz, snap out of it. David is going to need your help.”

Liz looked at her mother. It was on the tip of her tongue
to say, “No way. Help him yourself.” But she suddenly knew the gesture would be futile. She’d welcomed the man of shadows into her life. There was no turning back.

“Your sister is right,” Yetta said, standing up. “You need to do the right thing by him. You brought him to Katherine’s wedding and that makes his concerns our concerns. We aren’t the kind of people who turn away from someone in need.”

Liz started to protest—one date didn’t mean they were bound for life, but her mother turned to look at Alex. “Alexandra, I want you to go with them. I need to stay for the rest of the festivities. This is my place, but Elizabeth needs your help. Make sure she brings David back to the Compound. If the fire is bad, he’ll need a place to stay.”

“No. Mom. No. That’s not a good idea,” Liz protested.

Her mother gave Alex a look both sisters knew meant they’d better do as she said…or else.

Alex took Liz’s hand and led her toward the exterior door. “Come on. Let’s get this over with. I don’t know why I have to be the one to go with you, but, at least, my date left early so I don’t have to worry about abandoning him.”

Liz didn’t have time to ask about the story there. She’d spotted David talking with Zeke and knew that he’d already heard the news. This wasn’t about her or her prophecy anymore. This was about a man with very little to lose finding out he’d just lost everything.

The
fire was pretty much out by the time she, Alex and David arrived on the scene. The smoke in the air was strong enough to bring tears to her eyes. Or maybe the tears were from the loss that she saw everywhere. Most of the roof of the house had fallen in. The blackened timbers that remained were still smoldering.

David had rushed off to check on his landlady, an old woman with frizzy red hair who was clinging to his arm as if he was the last person on earth. Liz was standing alone near the eight-foot-tall hedge waiting for Alex, who’d returned to the car to call Yetta with an update. She’d lost track of Zeke, who had followed them in his own car.

She wasn’t sure what to do or how to help, and was startled when a voice said, “Liz? Hey, it is you. This is a shock. What are you doing here?”

Liz wiped her eyes and turned to look at the man addressing her. His regulation turnout jacket was open to reveal street clothes. His voice was familiar but it still took a few seconds to place him. “Mark,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t recognize you. When did you become a fireman?”

“Arson investigator. I sort have one foot in both camps.”

Mark Gaylord. Alex’s ex-fiancé. The man who broke
her sister’s heart by marrying another woman. His partner. Who’d been pregnant with his child.

No way. The chances of Mark Gaylord working a fire where she and her sister were both present…in a city the size of Las Vegas…on the same night their sister got married
. She let out a low groan.
Mother.

“Seriously, Liz. What are you doing here?”

Liz didn’t know where to begin. Instead of trying, she asked, “You suspect this was arson?”

“The neighbor who called it in—actually, I guess she owns this place, too—said she saw a man running away just minutes before the explosion.”

“What explosion?”

“Gas water heater is my guess. My team is going to be sifting through the rubble trying to figure out if there was a faulty switch or something.”

Or something?

She looked to where David was standing—near the burned-out shell of his pickup truck. Outwardly, she couldn’t tell what was going on in his head. He hadn’t seemed panicked when she and Alex approached him and Zeke. In fact, he’d insisted on going with Zeke alone. “Both of you should stay. This is a special night. I don’t want to ruin the occasion.”

Alex, in her usual take-charge attitude, had overridden his concerns by producing Liz’s purse and keys, which Yetta must have handed to her, and hustling them all to the street. Cars were everywhere, but Liz’s little SUV was conveniently parked and ready to go.

Alex had even volunteered to drive, as if sensing that Liz’s usual rock-solid grace-under-pressure was missing. Stoic and calm. Usually, those were her strong points. But not tonight. Not after the revelation her mother had dropped in Liz’s lap.

Finding
out that her comfortable belief about her father being her “man of darkness” was a lie had been like being told the bomb in her purse was live after all. And could go off at any second.

“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here,” Mark said, pulling her attention back to the present. “How do you know this guy?”

“He’s a landscaper who did some work in my subdivision and he was my date to the wedding.”

“A wedding, huh? Who got married?”

Although the question carried no real inflection of emotion, Liz sensed that Mark’s curiosity was more than professional. “Kate. She married a lawyer. Grace is next up in the spring. She’s marrying a cop. Strange twist of fate, huh?”

They both knew how much Ernst had lobbied against his eldest daughter dating Mark, who had been a rookie police officer at the time. Liz hadn’t been around during the tumultuous period of Mark’s defection, although she’d heard all the devastating details after the fact. Mark was a jerk, in her family’s opinion, but at this moment, he was just a guy doing his job. And the sooner he left to do that job, the better for all concerned.

She looked around him toward the street, hoping Alex was still on the phone. The last thing her sister needed was to bump into her ex. Alex had moved on. Mark had married his partner. They had a kid together. End of story.

Or was it?

“A gardener, huh? What else do you know about him? How long has he been in town? Does he gamble? Any known enemies? Any reason someone would want to kill him?”

She suddenly wrapped her arms around her middle to ward off the chill. “Kill?”

His
right shoulder lifted and fell. “Small place. Water heater’s right next to his bedroom. If he’d been sleeping, he’d be dead.”

The words seemed to echo in the night. She didn’t want David dead—just out of her life so that she wouldn’t have to choose.
A man of shadows. A child of light. You can only save one.

“He grows cactus,” she said, mostly to herself. Looking across the open space that just two days earlier had seemed so peaceful, she couldn’t locate David at first, but a second later he and Zeke walked out from behind a large pumper that blocked her view of the greenhouse. Someone had told her the larger building had sustained some water damage, but thanks to its metal roof had escaped complete destruction.

Both men looked serious, and appeared to be arguing. Forgetting about Mark, she started toward them.

“Whoa, stay here, Liz,” he said, grabbing her arm. “It’s easy to trip over a hose or get run over during a mop-up. Your boyfriend will be here in a minute.”

“He’s just a friend. An acquaintance,” she stressed, wishing the word could make it true. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to show up at a Rom wedding without a date?”

His scowl told her the question had hit home.

“No, of course, he doesn’t,” another voice answered. “The only Rom wedding he was invited to was called off, remember? After he found out he’d gotten another woman, someone other than his fiancée, pregnant.”

Mark blanched visibly and turned to look at Alex, who was standing a foot away, arms crossed like an Amazon warrior who was about to crucify her enemy. Liz was sure she heard a very soft groan coming from Mark, but before either could speak, Zeke joined them, David at his side.

“Liz,” Zeke
said. “Your mother said to bring this guy back to her place. I’m not wild about the idea.”

“You’re taking him to the Compound?” Mark asked. “Why?”

“That’s none of your business,” Alex answered.

Liz could tell Mark thought David’s presence in the Radonovic family was a mistake, and she had to agree. Even if the fire had been an accident, it was becoming increasingly obvious that David had secrets, and everyone knew that secrets flourished in the shadows.
A man of shadows.
She couldn’t afford to become involved in his life, his problems. She had to stay focused on her goal. Her main goal. Her only goal. Prisha needed her. If she could only save one…

“Zeke’s right,” David said. “I’ll be just fine in a motel.”

Zeke looked at Mark. The two appeared to know each other, which didn’t surprise Liz. Mark had also been a cop. She wondered whether her mother told Zeke about her eldest daughter’s near-miss at matrimony—and the anguish that resulted from Mark’s defection. Probably, but Liz couldn’t tell from their body language. Nor did she care. This wasn’t about Mark and Alex. It was about David—the topic of a low, intense conversation between the two law enforcement officers.

“My gut says this was set.”

“I agree. The question is why and who profits?”

“Exactly. But this guy is a renter. His landlady doesn’t even know if the place is insured. And the only loss is some secondhand furniture and a rattletrap truck.”

“Hey,” Liz protested without thinking. “That’s a man’s life and livelihood you’re disparaging.”

Zeke looked at her. “Tell that to your pal, who seems to be suffering from amnesia about everything that happened before he arrived in Vegas.”

Liz
looked at David whose stubborn frown was easy to read, even in the harsh shadows cast by the fire equipment. She realized they’d reached an impasse. Looking to her sister for help, she said, “Mom wants us to bring David back to the house, right? Fine. Let’s do that. He doesn’t have to stay if he doesn’t want to. And Zeke, you can use the time to decide whether or not you want to arrest him, okay? I promise he won’t go anywhere until you make up your mind.”

“I don’t like it,” Mark said. “If someone wants him dead, his presence in the Compound puts your whole family in danger.”

“Yeah, well, that’s our problem. You’re not a part of this family, remember?” Alex said. Even in the dim light, her regal dismissal was clear.

Zeke stepped between Alex and Mark. “Don’t worry. Nick, the guy Grace is going to marry, is a cop. He and I are both going to be on the premises tonight.”
Zeke is staying at Mom’s?
Liz and Alex looked at each other in surprise. “Plus, I’ll get a couple of patrols to add the Compound to their rounds.”

Liz sensed that a decision had been made and each of the five was giving in—for different reasons. Personally, the noise, the smoke, the stress reminded her too much of a war zone. She couldn’t wait to get away from it.

As she trudged to the car—David and Alex following a few steps behind, she made a new plan. First, she’d drop David off at her mother’s, then she’d go home to bed. Alone. Not the way she’d first pictured the evening ending, but…

On the drive back, Alex, who was sitting in the rear this time, asked David about Zeke’s attitude. He was scrunched low in the passenger seat, his gaze pinned to the side mirror. “Surely he doesn’t suspect you of setting the fire? You were at the wedding the whole time.”

“No. He
doesn’t think that.”

“Then why was he so hostile?”

“Because I’m an enigma. Cops don’t like things they can’t label or check off in a box. White male, check. DOB—ten, twelve, whatever, check. SSN—a number that matches the name and date of birth he already has. That sort of thing.”

“And some of your boxes don’t match.” It wasn’t a question.

His soft sigh told her he was tired of pretending. “None of them match.”

A part of Liz’s mind acknowledged that receiving information like that could get a person killed in some circles, but she wasn’t afraid of this man—even if his boxes didn’t jibe.

He sat upright and reached over to place a hand on Liz’s arm. “I think for your own safety, you should stop the car and let me out.”

Liz glanced around. They were near the Stratosphere. The freeway wasn’t far. The always-busy downtown area—a popular tourist attraction—was within walking distance. But at this time of night, the streets weren’t safe for a man alone. “Not on your life.”

He leaned closer. “What about on your mother’s? Or your sister’s?” She sensed him looking behind her to address Alex. “Zeke said Grace and her fiancé are staying at your mom’s. Your niece will be around, too, I presume. Are you certain you want to put them all in jeopardy?”

Liz looked in the rearview mirror. She could almost hear her sister’s change of heart. “Those are valid points, but I’m too tired to fight about this. Mother wants you there. What you do after we drop you off is your business.”

David gave up arguing. She was right. He was free to
slip away once he’d had his little talk with Zeke—a talk David knew there was no way to avoid. He just wished he’d handled things differently. Regret and self-recrimination made him want to hit something. He’d blown it big-time. He’d waited too long, and, now, this strong and generous woman and her family were in danger.

He hadn’t seen any sign of a tail. Maybe the bomber thought David was dead. Maybe he wouldn’t know otherwise until he read about the fire in the morning news. Maybe.

But David was pretty sure Ray was involved. Ray, who paid attention to every little detail would have stuck around to watch the coroner haul David’s dead body away.

That scenario meant Liz and her family were at risk. And that wasn’t okay. Because David cared about her. In another life, he probably would have fallen deeply, irrevocably in love with her. Which might explain why he wanted to tell her the truth before he left. To clear the air between them before he took off for good.

“So, who was that fireman you were arguing with?” he asked. “He seemed to know a lot about your family.”

Liz gave a nervous chuckle and glanced in the mirror at her sister in the backseat. “He should. He dated Alex for almost two years, right?”

“We were engaged. Until he got another woman pregnant,” Alex said.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

“But Mark did tell me your landlady saw somebody running away before the explosion.” She suddenly stomped on the brakes, throwing David and Alex forward.

“What?” Alex cried.

“I just remembered about David’s cat. We should turn around and go look for him.”

Her concern
touched him deeply. His throat muscles seemed unusually tense when he told her, “I asked the firemen. There wasn’t any sign of him. Dead or alive. Mrs. Simms, my landlady, is going to keep an eye out for him.”

Liz let out a sigh. “Thank goodness.”

“Scar’s a street cat. He probably saw the guy messing with the water heater and figured it was a good time to make himself scarce.”

“Scar?”

“He’s seen his share of battles.”

Nobody spoke again until they reached the cul-de-sac where Liz stopped to let Alex out. In the glow from the headlights, David could see a chain-link fence and a purple-and-pink sign that read The Dancing Hippo. The two sisters exchanged words in a low murmur David couldn’t interpret.

A moment later, Liz parked in front of a ranch house a few doors down. “Apparently, Mom isn’t back yet. Come on. Let’s go in and figure out what’s going on.”

David followed her inside, only because she didn’t leave him any choice. Most of his options—certainly his carefully laid plans—had burned up in the fire, but he wasn’t helpless. He had a few bucks in his pocket, but maybe a cup of coffee to clear his head…

The first thing Liz did upon entering her mother’s kitchen was fill an electric kettle with water. Next, she called her mother on the phone. The wedding, he gathered, was dwindling down.