Hot for You (2 page)

“Your car burned up right in front of you
along with everything you had inside.” He grabbed a blanket from
out of the back and put it around her shoulders. “It’s normal to
have a reaction like this.”

She sat on the curb and he crouched beside
her and gave her the cell phone he’d picked up.

“I need to call Leigh.” Carilyn’s hands were
shaking as she tried to go into her list of recently dialed numbers
to redial Leigh’s. “I haven’t been able to get hold of her so she
doesn’t know I’m in town yet.”

“Let me help.” He steadied the phone for her
and Carilyn pressed the number for Leigh.

Carilyn brought the phone up to her ear and
heard the call go straight to voicemail. She sighed and
disconnected the call. “Leigh must be having problems with her
phone or forgot to turn it on.”

“After you give your statement to the police
and I finish up here, I’ll give you a ride to her place and we can
see if she’s home,” he said. “It’s not far.”

“Thank you.” She gave him a little smile. “If
it isn’t too much trouble.”

He got up from his crouched position and held
out his hand. “Not at all.”

She took his hand. It felt warm and dry and
tingles raced through her. She hurried to release his hand when she
was standing.

He checked the trunk and sure enough, her
suitcases were in ruins, too. A sick feeling made her gut feel like
it was churning.

She answered a few more questions about the
fire and was unable to give the firefighters or police any idea of
how the fire started. Her stomach sickened as she looked once again
at the charred carcass that had once been her vehicle.

“Will you be okay here?” he asked. “I’ll
finish up and then we can head over to Leigh’s.”

She nodded. “I’m fine.”

Cody felt a stirring in his gut as he looked
at the beautiful Carilyn Thompson. Something about her had him
wanting to comfort her and learn everything he could about her.

He shook the thoughts away and was just about
to walk away from Carilyn when a voice came from behind him,
calling his name. “McBride.”

Cody turned and looked at Bill Johnson.
“What’s up?” he asked his friend and fellow firefighter.

“You need to check this out.” Johnson waved
Cody toward the car.

Cody gave a nod to Carilyn then left her
sitting on the curb. He went to the car, and looked in the open
door. He knelt, studying something on the floorboard. Damn. He
hadn’t expected this.

Cody frowned as he straightened and faced
Johnson. “Has anyone touched it?”

Johnson shook his head. “Exactly as we found
it, on the floorboard.”

Due to the head fire investigator’s accident
at one of the arsonist’s fires, Cody had taken over as the lead. He
had a degree in fire, arson, and explosion investigation, which was
now being put to good use.

Cody’s features darkened as he looked at the
car. They’d already secured the scene and set up a command post so
he wasn’t concerned about the evidence being disturbed. The
firefighters were all professionals and took care not to disrupt
the scene more than they’d had to while putting the fire out.

This was most likely another case of arson as
it appeared that what Johnson had found was in fact a Barbie doll.
It sure as hell looked like it could be. The arsonist had struck
three times prior to this, but this was the first car he’d
targeted. Every fire had been started differently, from causing an
electrical fire in a dress shop, to tampering with natural gas in a
home’s kitchen, to pouring gasoline around a dance studio and
starting it with a match.

Dolls were the only things that connected the
crimes. One had been left at each scene at the point of origin, in
a small fireproof glass wool tube, so that they were not burned
beyond recognition.

This however, was the first time they’d found
what appeared to be a doll with no tube protecting it. If it was a
doll, they were fortunate it hadn’t been burnt completely. The
police hadn’t released the information about the arsonist’s
signature to the public so it couldn’t be a copycat.

Maybe they’d get lucky and would find someone
who had witnessed an individual leaving the scene.

Some time later, after observing and
collecting evidence, Cody stood apart from the car and entered his
notes on his iPad. He moved his gaze from the tablet to the car, to
study what was left of the vehicle. He pictured the crime in his
mind. Someone had broken the passenger side window, which hadn’t
been visible from where Carilyn had been standing when she watched
her car burn.

A homemade incendiary device had been dropped
through the broken window, landing on the passenger seat. A Barbie
doll had been thrown onto the driver’s side floorboard. The doll
should have completely melted, but the fire hadn’t come close to
it. The heat had been enough to make it almost unrecognizable,
though. Almost. Part of the doll’s hair had survived and was
clearly a vivid red despite the smoke and heat damage.

When he finished, he turned to see Carilyn
sitting on the curb again. Earlier he’d noticed her talking with a
police officer. Cody would have to ask her a few questions,
too.

He walked to where she sat and looked down at
her. “No luck, I take it, in getting hold of Leigh.”

She shook her head. “Still no answer.”

“I’ll get you to her house.” He held out his
hand and she took it. As he helped her to her feet he met her gaze.
Damn, but she had the most beautiful green eyes he’d ever seen.
He’d always had a thing for redheads and her hair was a pretty
shade of red-gold.

Carilyn pulled her hand away from his and he
reluctantly let it go. He’d liked the feel of her hand in his.

She looked up at him. “You don’t need to take
me to Leigh’s. I know you’re busy.”

“It will only take a few minutes.” He offered
her a smile. “I want to make sure she’s there.”

“Okay.” Carilyn nodded and then walked to his
truck with him.

***

Still too stunned to think clearly, Carilyn
climbed into Cody’s truck as he held the door open for her. She was
careful not to let her skirt slide up. She buckled her seatbelt
then clutched her purse to her belly. It was the only thing that
hadn’t burned up in the fire because she’d taken it with her into
the café.

Cody jogged around the truck and climbed in
on the driver’s side. He jammed the key in the ignition and glanced
at Carilyn. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

She managed a little smile. “Considering my
car is fried, my laptop and belongings are history, and I am now
minus transportation, I’m okay.”

He started the truck. “The fact that you
weren’t in the car at the time is a damned good thing.”

She let her breath out. “Yes, there’s
that.”

He maneuvered the truck through the crowd of
emergency vehicles. “This may seem like an odd question, but would
you have had a doll of any kind in your vehicle?”

Carilyn frowned. “No. Why?”

Cody’s brow furrowed. “The object that
Johnson showed me may be a burnt Barbie doll.”

“I don’t have Barbie dolls.” A queer feeling
stirred in her belly. “They found one in my car?”

“I’m not certain.” Cody gave her a reassuring
look. “It probably wasn’t one, but I have to ask.”

Her stomach churned. “Could it have been
arson?”

“If it has anything to do with ongoing cases,
I can’t discuss it. Not yet.” He glanced from the road to her. “I
don’t even know if that’s what the object was.”

The churning in her stomach started to heat
as anger rose through her. “Why would anyone burn up my car? Have
other cars been set on fire, too?”

“Other cars, no.” His gaze was on the road
again. “Like I said, we can’t be sure what the object was. I
promise to keep you informed as we investigate.”

She was certain he wasn’t going to say
anything else about it, so she looked out the window at the passing
town.

“You look familiar to me.” He drew her
attention back to him and flashed her a quick smile. “And that’s
not a come-on.”

Too bad it wasn’t,
she thought but
said, “I’m from Kansas. I’ve never been here before.”

“I could swear I’ve seen you.” He looked
thoughtful. “Are you visiting or moving to Prescott?”

“Visiting.” She pushed curls out of her face
and realized most of her ponytail had fallen out. “And housesitting
while Leigh’s gone.”

“That’s right.” He kept his eyes on the road.
“Mike said she’ll be out of town for awhile.”

“Leigh will be gone a month.” Carilyn pulled
her hair back with both hands and fixed her ponytail. “She’ll be
touring Europe with a choir group that she sings with.”

“Sounds like a good time.” Cody glanced at
her before looking back at the street. “My brother, Clint, left
Prescott and lived in Europe for a few years before moving to
Argentina. He was gone for several years and just came home to stay
some six months ago.”

“He must have liked it there to be gone for
so long,” Carilyn said.

Cody shrugged. “He was running from his past,
but he finally grew up.” Cody pulled up to a stoplight. “How do you
know Leigh?”

“We were sorority sisters at the University
of Kansas.” Carilyn smiled as she thought back about those days.
“We’ve kept in touch and have gone on vacations together. Somehow I
never made it here until now.”

“Leigh is a great gal.” The light changed
from red to green and Cody started driving again. He gave her a
quick grin. “I bet the pair of you have a few crazy stories to
tell.”

Carilyn grinned back. “We certainly do.”

He glanced from the road to her. “I’d like to
hear them some time.”

For some reason, she found herself wanting to
tell him about every one of their stories.

He turned the truck into a neighborhood with
tall shady trees and houses that looked to be at least thirty or
forty years old. “Leigh lives down this street.”

“That was fast.” Carilyn watched the houses
pass by until they pulled up to a white home with navy blue
trim.

Cody parked the truck in front of the home
that had an immaculate lawn and trimmed hedges along with towering
shade trees. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

She opened the truck’s passenger side door,
unsure of how to climb out and keep her short jean skirt from
sliding up. Before she could make up her mind, Cody was there, and
he held out his hand. With his help she managed to get out of the
truck, but still felt embarrassed when her skirt slid higher on her
thighs—as if it hadn’t been short enough already.

When she was out of the truck, he walked with
her on the stone pavers to the house. Carilyn rang the doorbell. At
first she didn’t think anyone was home, but then she heard the bolt
lock slide.

The next thing she knew, Leigh had the door
open and her blue eyes lit up with delight when she saw Carilyn on
the doorstep.

“Cari!” Leigh hugged Carilyn. “It’s so good
to see you.”

“I’m excited to see you, too.” Carilyn
grinned as Leigh drew back. “It’s been too long.”

Leigh cocked her head, her blonde hair
falling over her shoulder as she held Carilyn by her upper arms.
“Something’s happened.” She frowned. “And you smell like
smoke.”

“I’m all right.” Carilyn gave a little smile.
“I’ll tell you all about it.”

For the first time, Leigh seemed to realize
that Cody was standing nearby. “Cody.” She gave him a quick hug.
“You look like hell and you smell even more like smoke than Cari
does.”

Cody braced one hand on the doorframe. “It’s
good to see you, too.” A spark of amusement was in his eyes.

“Don’t think I’m not pleased to see you, but
why are you here?” Leigh looked from Cody to Carilyn. “What’s going
on?”

Carilyn sighed. “My car caught fire. Cody was
there and helped put it out.”

“Oh, my God.” Leigh’s blue eyes widened.
“Your car caught fire?” She looked at the street, her gaze resting
on Cody’s truck before she looked to Carilyn. “And Cody gave you a
ride here?”

“Yes.” Carilyn glanced at Cody. “He happened
to be eating at the café where my car burned up.”

“That’s crazy.” Leigh shook her head. “Come
inside and we’ll talk.”

“I’ve got to get back to the fire station.”
Cody smiled at Carilyn. “It was nice to meet you.”

Carilyn found herself wanting Cody to stay
and she mentally shook her head. “Thank you for everything.”

His gaze rested on Carilyn and he looked like
he wanted to say something but thought better of it. When he did
speak, he said, “I might need to talk with you again about your
car.”

She nodded. “Leigh has my number and I also
gave it to the police when they took my statement.”

“See you, Leigh.” He touched the brim of his
ball cap as his gaze rested on Carilyn. “Here’s to the rest of the
day going much better.”

Carilyn’s heart pounded a little faster at
the look in his brown eyes. Then he turned and headed back down the
stone pavers to the sidewalk, then around to the driver’s side of
his truck. Both Leigh and Carilyn watched him as he drove off.

“Wow, he’s got it bad for you,” Leigh said
when she turned back to Carilyn.

Puzzled, Carilyn looked at Leigh. “What?”

Leigh grinned as she pushed the front door
all the way open. “You had smooth Cody McBride tongue-tied.”

“What are you talking about?” Carilyn stepped
past Leigh, into the house.

Leigh followed and closed the door behind
them. “Cody never has a problem talking with the ladies from what
I’ve seen. He’s easy-going and fun, and women hang off his every
word.”

“So he’s a real ladies’ man?” Carilyn asked,
a little disappointed.

“Not in the go-out-with-anything-in-a-skirt
sense.” Leigh gave an amused smile. “Just that women want him
without him even trying.”