Deadly Obsession (A Brown and de Luca Novel Book 4) (18 page)

“What fire?” Josh asked.

Jeremy crouched low, just inside the diner’s front door. “There was a fire at our house. It was pretty bad. But we’re okay. So are Myrt and Hugo.”

“Oh, no!” Josh blinked rapidly. “’Member, Jere, I left that door open?” he said, letting go of his brother and bouncing in time with his words. “Myrt must’ve got out that way.”

“That’s exactly what happened,” Mason said. “So you saved them, kiddo.”

“Yes,” I added, “and when I first saw Myrtle afterward, she was carrying Hugo in her teeth, like a mama dog carries her puppies,” I said. “I bet Myrtle carried Hugo outside. I bet she saved him.”

“I bet she did,” Josh said.

“And your aunt Sandra says Myrt’s been sticking to that pup like glue ever since.” Had I just called my sister his aunt? Huh. That came pretty naturally.

“Mason?” I put my hand on his arm so he wouldn’t be distracted. “Why did he say to bring us inside where it’s safe?”

“They just...”

“They don’t know where Mom is,” Jeremy said. “She went into the bathroom. Must’ve climbed out a window or something. She was gone before they got inside. But she’s not gonna hurt us. She wouldn’t.”

“She scares me,” Joshua said softly. Then he looked Mason right in the eyes. “She’s crazy.”

“Not as crazy as everyone thinks,” Jeremy said. “That demon she thinks is after us? The one she escaped to try to save us from? Right before she went to the restroom she called it Nurse Gretchen.”

“Holy shit, I was right about her after all.”

Mason elbowed me for the language, but I could see he was dumbfounded. Blinking slowly, he walked across the diner, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number. I heard him say, “Chief, I need someone to run a background check on that home care nurse I hired. Gretchen Young. And just for the hell of it, check and see if she ever worked at Riverside.” He paused, then, “Yeah, that’s where Marie is. Was. And yeah, it’s connected. Maybe. I’ve gotta go.” He hung up the phone.

I looked at the boys. “It’s late, and I don’t know about you, Jeremy, but the rest of us haven’t had breakfast, so I think it’s time for some food.” I turned to the nearest person with a name badge and an order pad, who turned out to be a buxom blonde with cleavage I would’ve killed for. “Any chance we could get a meal, as long as we’re all stuck here for the time being?”

She nodded. “You bet you can, and it’s on the house.” She eyed the boys. “You kids had a rough night, I hear.”

“The roughest,” Jeremy said. We slid into a booth, Josh next to me and Jere on the other side with Mason.

“Is all our stuff gone, Uncle Mace? The Xbox? All the games?”

“Yeah, pal. It is. Our clothes. Everything that could burn, burned. And I know that hurts a lot, but we’re gonna be okay. Stuff isn’t what’s important. People are. Stuff can be replaced.”

I had my arm around Josh, and I squeezed him a little. My eyes were on Mason, though. He had this intense look I’d never seen before. This protective, passionate look. I could see his heart in his eyes.

“Josh,” he said, “when we came home and saw the fire, I thought you guys were inside. And I never felt pain like that in my life. Never. I hope I never feel like that again, I’ll tell you that much. What we lost...” He opened his palms. “It’s nothing. It’s nothing. What we’ve got, no fire can take away, and it’s worth everything. We’ve got each other. You guys are okay. The dogs are okay. We’re still together. We’re still...”

“A family,” I said, when he hesitated. It was a moment. I felt my heart swelling with it, and I thought I could feel each one of theirs doing the same. It was getting a little too mushy for my blood, but then again, I was the one who’d started it.

“It’s a good thing Mom came and got us, huh?” Joshua asked. “If she hadn’t, we would’ve been in there when the fire happened.”

I frowned at Mason. We’d been working under the assumption that Marie had set the fire herself, but I realized now that didn’t really make sense. If she’d set it, wouldn’t Josh have known about it?

Mason looked at Jeremy. “There was no sign of any fire when you left with your mother?”

Jere shook his head. “And she didn’t go back, either. She was there like ten seconds, Uncle Mace, just long enough to get Joshua into the car. I had to either get in, too, or let her take him without me.”

If it wasn’t her, I thought, then who?

Gretchen?

Had Marie been right all along?

* * *

The police didn’t find Marie, so eventually they let us go home, though only after extensively questioning the boys and extracting our promise that we’d bring them into the station to go over their statements the next day. We had company all the way to my front gate, lights flashing but sirens silent.

God, it was good to see home again. The boys got out and ran for the front door. Mason and I were a little slower, watching them run inside. The door opened, and Jeremy scooped Misty off her feet in a hug that carried her inside. Josh was on his hands and knees in the doorway, being thoroughly adored by two happy bulldogs. Myrtle kept nosing the pup away and planting her girth in between him and Josh, but Hugo was younger and faster, not to mention sighted, and would just attack from a new direction.

I stopped walking, turned to look up into Mason’s face. “I want you to live with me.”

He smiled, nodding, his face so scruffy that I wanted to drag him inside and upstairs to my room. “Thanks. I know it’s a lot. You’ve already had them for weeks. But it’ll only be until we can—”

“I want you to
live
with me,” I said again. “Permanently.”

He didn’t speak, and that made me nervous, and when I’m nervous I talk. A lot.

“We’ve said the L word already. Living together is the next step, isn’t it? Isn’t that what people do? We’ve been dragging our feet. We’ve been going at a snail’s pace so we don’t mess this up. But, Mace, we’ve had a lot of big, bad things—I mean really
huge
monstrous things—
trying to mess this up, and none of them have. Maybe what we’ve got going on here is stronger than we’ve been giving it credit for.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re right about that.” He pulled me closer, right up against his chest, and he kissed me on the mouth, right there in front of the still-open door, which currently housed my gaping sister and grinning brother-in-law.

14

W
e tried to make the day as normal as possible. Sandra and Jim went out for supplies, and we cooked burgers and dogs on the grill, picnicked on the back lawn and did some fishing from the dock, and later on, went swimming, too. Myrtle chased froggies, and Hugo watched, picking up the game quickly and joining in to help. Mainly he just scared them off, but Myrtle seemed to enjoy teaching him.

We had dinner together, too. Rosie and Gwen showed up with vats of Chinese takeout and a brand-new Xbox for the boys. It was a model newer than the one they’d had, and they were overjoyed.

Things seemed almost normal. Except that both Marie and Gretchen, who might or might not be truly evil, were still out there somewhere.

That night I slept like the proverbial log, waking up briefly only when Mason got in and out of bed. He was up over and over again, pacing the halls like a restless ghost, checking on the kids, the locks and I don’t even know what else. He was worried.

Once the sun came up, he got up for good. I knew because he headed for the shower and got dressed. I dozed on and off while he did, but once he finished up, I took my turn, and by the time I was dressed he had a pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen. I followed its aroma through my home, wondering how many accidents Hugo’d had around the place, but I didn’t see or smell any. Then again, my sister would’ve been on top of that.

Mason had sent Sandra, Jim and Christy home with a police escort. Misty had spent the night in one of the guest rooms.

I was standing in front of the open fridge, staring inside, brain-dead and wondering what to make for breakfast, when Mason came inside through the side door from the garage. He had both dogs with him, and a couple of giant-sized take-out bags in his hands.

I closed the fridge and sniffed the air. “If you do this every morning, I’ll get fat.”

“How do you know it’s not something healthy? Could be a six-pack of fruit-and-yogurt parfaits,” he said. Then he set the bags on the table.

“Could be, but it’s not. It’s Egg McMuffin sandwiches. Sausage.” I sniffed again. “And hash browns. And...French toast sticks?”

“Right on all counts.” He started unloading one of the bags, so I quickly poured the coffee and we sat at the breakfast table together, munching and sipping. Myrtle lay down underneath the table for a nap, and a possible crumb or two. The pup climbed up on top of her back and gnawed on her ears, growling ferociously. She didn’t mind a bit. In fact, she seemed more content than I’d ever seen her.

“I checked in with Vanessa this morning,” he said.

I glanced at the clock. 8:30 a.m. “Did you wake her up to do it?”

“She was already in the office. Gretchen Young’s previous job was at Riverside.”

I stopped with a sandwich halfway to my mouth. “Where Marie was?”

“Yeah.”

“So Gretchen is the demon Marie thinks is after you and the boys. And now we know Marie actually knew her.”

“Did you say Gretchen?” Misty asked from the doorway. She’d come in quietly, still in jammies and a robe, apparently lured by the smell of fresh coffee. She poured herself a cup and sat at the table. “There was a Gretchen here yesterday looking for you, Mason, and asking about the boys.”

Mason raised his brows. “What did you tell her?”

“Not much. Christy sent her packing before I could say anything. She said we didn’t know her and shouldn’t be talking about that kind of stuff with a stranger. Wouldn’t even let her through the front gate.” She shrugged. “She told me afterward that she didn’t like her on sight, but I have no idea why. She seemed okay to me. Maybe it was just because she seemed so surprised that Jere and Josh didn’t die in the fire.”

I looked at Mason. “What do you make of all this?”

“I don’t know. But she did work at Riverside. She must’ve had contact with Marie for Marie to know her name. Maybe Marie’s warped mind decided to build some delusions around her, or...”

“Or...?”

“Or what?” Misty asked.

“Or Marie has a good reason to be suspicious of her. Gretchen didn’t tell you she’d worked at Riverside, did she, Mason? Why would she keep that from you?”

“Because I didn’t ask.”

“Right. She showed cleavage instead of a résumé. I forgot.”

He made a face at me. “She did have a résumé. She either left that part off or I skimmed it a little too quickly. She was between jobs and about to lose her apartment. I felt sorry for her. I should’ve run a background check.”

“Well, at least you’ve run one now.” I shook my head. “Something about Gretchen has felt off to me right along. But she skitters away before I’m in her presence for any length of time. Like she knows I can read her if she hangs around too long.”

“Now I think you’re reaching,” Mason said.

“Weird, though,” Misty said, “that Christy felt something, too.”

I thought of Misty as the good twin. But I was beginning to think of Christy as the twin most like her aunt Rachel. I wondered if she’d inherited more from me than my less-than-sweet nature.

“How the hell could Marie know she was working for you, though?” I asked Mason. “That’s what I can’t figure out.”

He shrugged.

Misty said, “Maybe Josh mentioned it. You know how the kid talks. It’s almost nonstop when he gets on a roll.”

“No, we haven’t been out to see Marie since before she came to work for me, so that can’t be it,” Mason said.

“I’m going to question her this morning. See if she remembers any interaction with Marie at Riverside. It would be great if you could come, too, Rachel, but I’m scared as hell to leave the boys alone with Marie and this arsonist, whoever it is, still on the loose.”

Chills ran up my spine at the words
leave the boys alone.
The memory of coming back from a date to find the house on fire, and thinking the kids were still inside, was too fresh. “I’ll stay, it’s all right. We’ll lock the gate and arm the security system.”

“You’ll have a cruiser outside, too,” he said.

“Do me a favor, though, and take Rosie with you. I’m telling you, there’s something off about Gretchen. If I think it, and Christy thinks it—and even Marie thinks it—maybe you should pay attention. Be careful.”

“I will. You too.”

He got up as if to leave, and Misty said, “One sec. Um...” She looked from me to Mason and back again. “I think there’s something wrong with Jeremy.”

Mason sat back down.

I said, “He’s gone through a lot. His mother—”

“It’s more than that. I don’t know what it is, he won’t tell me. But there’s something really wrong. Something big.”

Nodding, Mason said, “I’ll go up and talk to him.”

“Maybe you should stay with the boys and I should go talk to Nurse Gretchen,” I suggested.

“You’re already biased, Rache. You couldn’t trust your own NFP, given how much you dislike her. No, I’ve got this.”

I couldn’t even argue with him on that, so I just sighed and broke off part of my sandwich, handing it under the table to Myrtle, who jumped up to grab it so fast the pup flew off her back, hit my shin and landed on my feet.

I gave
him
a nibble, too, as Mason headed back through the house and up the stairs. “What do you think it is, Misty?” I asked. “What’s your intuition telling you?”

She shook her head slowly. “I’m not you, Aunt Rache. No NFP here.” She tapped her head. “But it’s got something to do with his father.”

My heart skipped a beat. “His...father?”

“He has a picture in his wallet. He had it out and was staring at it in the middle of the night.”

I lifted my brows. “What were you doing with him in the middle of the night?”

“Not having sex. God, Mason was up prowling the halls so often we couldn’t have gotten away with that even if we’d tried. Which we didn’t.”

“You’d better not.”

“He’s messed up, Aunt Rache. It feels like he’s got something rumbling around way down deep inside him, getting ready to erupt. It scares me.”

“Scares you how?”

“It doesn’t scare me for me. It scares me for
him.
”

It scared
me
, too. The kid was seventeen. How much more of a beating could his psyche take?

Mason was back, leaning into the kitchen where I sat with my niece. I was glad it was the weekend and no one had to go to school. “He’s sound asleep, and I think he needs it. I’ll talk to him later.” He ducked back out, but told me with his eyes to come with him.

I took my coffee with me, and Misty was smart enough to stay put and give us a minute alone. Myrtle remained where she was, but in her case, it was all for the potential handouts. The legend of canine loyalty evaporates in the presence of fast food.

I followed Mason all the way out to the front steps, pulling the door closed behind me.

“Arm the system. Keep the gate closed and locked. If Marie didn’t set that fire, then we still have an arsonist on the loose, one with a grudge against me, apparently. Maybe it’s connected to the Rouse investigation. Maybe it’s personal. And maybe it’s Gretchen. Whoever it is, they’re out there.”

“I’ll be careful. Believe me.”

He lowered his eyes. “You’re scared. I don’t blame you, but—”

“Scared? Yeah, scared I’ll have to kick some firebug’s ass in front of the kids.” I sighed, pissed that he could see right through my bravado. Fortunately, he pretended not to. What can I say? The guy was almost perfect. I mean, aside from having the world’s most fucked-up family. “Mason, what do you think is going on with Jeremy?”

“I don’t know. It could be just spending time with Marie. Can you imagine being that afraid of your own mother?”

“No. I can’t.” I swallowed hard and brought up the thing we were both avoiding. “What if she told him? About Eric?”

“She didn’t. She
wouldn’t
.”

“He was so quiet all the way home.” I lowered my head, trying not to imagine what the poor kid would be going through if he knew. “And all day yesterday, too.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. I’ve gotta go, Rache. Rosie’s meeting me at Gretchen’s apartment.”

“All right. Be careful.”

“I will.” He looked down at me, then, with a crooked half smile, bent down and kissed me goodbye. “This is starting to feel kinda domestic, isn’t it?”

“Get out of here before I show you I’m still feral.” I made a claw and swiped it at him, then added, “But pick up milk and bread on the way home.”

He laughed out loud. I hoped he knew I wasn’t kidding. Those boys of his could pack away food like a small army. I’d learned that while he’d been in the hospital and they’d been guests in my home. I hadn’t stocked up since he’d been out of the hospital, and that was going to be crucial and probably urgent.

Mason drove away, stopping outside the gate to close it and turn the lock. I should really have it automated, with a speaker system I could answer from the house. I mean, if we were going to have to use the damn thing all the time, we might as well make it easy.

I turned and went back inside, straight to the kitchen to refill my coffee mug. Misty was still there. “Have you thought about how neat it is, the way things worked out, Aunt Rache?”

“How do you mean?” I asked. I knew she didn’t think Marie escaping, the boys being kidnapped or Mason’s home being torched were cool.

“If Mason hadn’t saved those kids in that other fire and gotten hurt doing it, he wouldn’t have been in the hospital. If he hadn’t been in the hospital, Jeremy and Joshua wouldn’t have had to spend so much time here. If they hadn’t had to spend all that time here, half their stuff wouldn’t still be up in their bedrooms. They’ve got clothes, games, even their old PS3.”

I was only half listening, because something in my brain had stalled at the mention of
that other fire.
It hadn’t been the
only
other fire. There had been one in between. The one that killed Dr. Cho. Marie’s psychiatrist.

That was another person Gretchen Young would’ve known from her job at Riverside. Or
could’ve
known, anyway.

“Aunt Rache?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I hear you.” I went to the phone and dialed a number I knew pretty well by now. It rang only once, and then the chief of police answered herself with a crisp, “Cantone.”

“Hey, Vanessa. It’s Rachel.” I was supposed to call her Chief in public, but I didn’t consider a phone call from my own living room to be public.

“How are the boys?” she asked. “They okay?”

“Remains to be seen. They’re sleeping in.”

“They probably need it.”

“Yeah. Listen, um, I just...I just have an inkling here. It’s probably nothing but—”

“Since when are your inklings ever nothing? What is it?”

“Gretchen Young. Is there a photo of her anywhere around there you can get your hands on?”

“I can probably pull one from state records. DMV, nursing license. Why?”

“I’m just curious what Peter Rouse’s reaction would be to seeing it.”

It took her a minute. Then she sucked in a breath. “The mysterious other woman he says set the fire that killed his wife?”

“Maybe. He said his girlfriend from hell was a brunette. Gretchen’s a blonde, but it might be from a bottle. She worked at Riverside, and Marie knew her. Dr. Cho’s house burned, too, and he was Marie’s shrink. And then Mason’s house.”

“But Marie set Mason’s fire.”

“Did she? Do we really know that? The boys said the house was fine when they left it. No fire. And that she was with them the entire time from then on.”

Vanessa sighed. “It was crude. She splashed gasoline all around the place and set it off. Maybe she started it in the back, and took off with the kids before they could get a glimpse of the flames. The Rouse fire was clever, careful, made to look accidental.”

“Look, I know I’m reaching here, but it bears a look, doesn’t it?”

“Why am I even arguing with you? If you say she’s the one, then she’s the one. Is she the one, Rachel?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been around her long enough to get a handle on her, but something about her makes me uneasy.”

“I’ll show Mr. Rouse the photo.”

“Let me know, okay? Mason’s out with Rosie, questioning her now.”

“I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for the tip, Rachel.”