When the Smoke Clears (Deadly Reunions) (17 page)

A swiftly indrawn breath was her only response for a few seconds. Then, “I’ll have the call traced. I don’t like it.”

“Ha!
You
don’t like it? I can’t say I cared much for it either.”

“At least you’re keeping your sense of humor.”

She sighed. “No. I’m really not. Sarcasm is my defense mechanism. I’m scared, Hunter. He said, ‘Next time I won’t kill the wrong person.’ Sounds like Devin was killed because . . .” She swallowed, not wanting to finish the thought. “Someone seems to be after me and I’m not sure why.”

“And it sounds like we need to find Jillian and let Serena in on what’s happening. She told me that Jillian called her not too long ago when I asked what happened to her after high school, but as far as I know, Jillian hasn’t been in touch with anyone since that last call.”

“I haven’t talked to her.” Her concern for her friends deepened. “At least Serena’s out of the country and safe, but Jillian . . . I just don’t know about her.”

“Well, somehow they seem to be connected to what’s going on with you.” A pause. “In the meantime, don’t go anywhere alone.”

“Then pick me up before you go to the Wickhams’. I’m coming too.”

23

Wednesday, 4:48 p.m.

Hunter hung up the phone, concerned about the information Alexia had passed on to him. “And this time I won’t kill the wrong person,” she’d said. So Devin had been in the wrong place at the wrong time? And the killer had really been waiting for Alexia?

Maybe. It was something to consider.

But how would the killer have known Alexia would be home that day? Unless someone passed on that information? But who? And why? And why ask about Jillian?

Punching one number on his cell phone, he speed-dialed his partner. She answered on the second ring.

“Hello, Hunter.”

“Katie, I need you to do me a favor.”

“What’s that?”

Hunter filled her in.

“You really think someone called her and threatened her? What if she’s making it up to throw suspicion off herself?”

“What if she’s not?”

A sigh filtered to him. “All right. I’ll run it.”

“Thanks. And we need to see what we can find on Jillian Carter. Alexia said she hasn’t talked to her since graduation night. But Serena heard from her not too long ago.”

“Jillian Carter. Got it. I’ll see what I can dig up.”

“Thanks again.”

Hanging up, he considered Katie’s animosity toward Alexia and wondered at it. He’d never seen her act this way. Sure, she got hot tempered with some of the guys they put away, and she had a mouth that landed her in trouble occasionally. But when it came to an investigation, professionalism reigned. Usually. He made a mental note to question her. It was time he found out what was going on with her.

Hunter filed the thoughts in the back of his mind for later. Right now he was determined to check on Chad before he left to question the Wickhams. Not only that, if he had time in between, he wanted to do a little investigating into graduation night ten years ago.

Pulling into his brother’s drive, he wondered how the man was making the mortgage payment. He hadn’t worked much since the court had given Stephanie full custody three months ago.

Chad had made the mistake of picking a fight at the bar. He’d been arrested. Stephanie had pulled the trigger on both barrels, claiming Chad was an unfit father, violent and never there.

Although he’d never seen Chad violent and didn’t agree with that accusation, sometimes Hunter wondered if Stephanie hadn’t made the best decision. Then he felt guilty and disloyal for wondering. Hunter’s parents were now in the process of filing for visitation rights. Chad wasn’t the only one who’d been hurt in the process.

Hunter climbed out of his car and walked up the steps to bang on his brother’s door.

Footsteps sounded.

The door opened and Christine stared at him with haunted, red-rimmed eyes. “Come on in.”

Hunter entered the foyer and looked left into the great room where Chad lay sprawled on the sofa, snoring. Christine dropped into the chair opposite the sofa, and Hunter paced to the fireplace. The mantel was a shrine to the family Chad had lost. Michelle’s sweet six-year-old face grinned back at him from a school photo.

He turned to Christine. “Is there any alcohol in the house?”

“I searched the house from top to bottom.” Confusion buckled her brow. “I didn’t find anything.”

“Well, that’s good at least.”

Christine shrugged. “Mom called. She said she’d bring him over some food and coffee.”

Hunter grunted. Were they enabling Chad? Allowing him to wallow in his destructive, self-pitying ways? Or were they keeping him from descending into a pit that he might never be able to climb out of? Indecision warred inside him. He just didn’t know.

His phone rang. He looked at Christine. “Sorry, let me grab this.”

“Sure.”

Hunter pressed the button to answer the call. “Hey Brian, what do you have?”

“The video from the witness’s phone.”

“Yeah?”

“Not much, sorry. The man in the back had on a dark suit, but I couldn’t get his face. With a little more work I might be able to get a good picture of the suit that you could match if you found one during a search or something.”

Hunter blew out a sigh. “Thanks.”

“Sure.”

He hung up and turned back to his sister. “I can check on Chad later, before I head home for the night. I have to go talk to a family about their dead son.”

“Devin?”

“Yeah.” He studied her. “How well did you know him anyway?”

She shrugged. “We graduated together, of course, but I didn’t hang out with him in high school. As for recently, I’ve come across him in the singles’ group at the church. He seemed nice enough, I guess.”

“Any sign of violence?”

Christine shook her head. “Devin? No. He was as meek as they come. I remember at a volleyball game, he missed a shot and some of the guys were ragging him about it. They were kind of mean too. His ears got really red and a muscle in his jaw started twitching. I remember thinking he was going to deck someone. Then he just shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away. A few minutes later, he was laughing with one of the ministers.”

Devin had learned self-control in the past ten years? It wasn’t impossible to believe. People changed.
He
sure had.

“Have you ever heard of him hitting anyone?”

“No.” Her eyebrows pulled together at the bridge of her nose. “I told you. He was one of the most gentle souls I’ve ever met.”

“What about a girlfriend?”

Christine gave an uneasy laugh. “What is this? An inquisition?”

“No, but when you mentioned Devin’s name, it occurred to me that you guys were the same age, graduated high school together, and went to the same church. It stands to reason you might have some information I might find helpful in the investigation.”

Her brow relaxed. “Huh. Well, I know he was interested in Marcie Freeman. They hung out a lot, looked like they might be more than friends. Guess you could start with her.”

Hunter left his spot by the mantel and walked over to plant a kiss on his sister’s forehead. “Thanks, Chrissy-mine.”

She laughed. “You haven’t called me that in forever.”

“I know. You grew up on me. I miss the little squirt who used to follow me everywhere I went.”

Christine lifted a brow. “You miss her? Sorry, I’m not buying it. I used to drive you crazy.”

Hunter laughed. “Yeah, you did.”

“Get out of here.” Her expression sobered. “I’ll take care of him for a while, then I’ve got to go. We’re having a reunion committee meeting tomorrow night at Lori’s, and I haven’t written the first note about what we need to talk about.”

“You working tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I’m off Friday, though. It’ll be nice to have a long weekend.”

“Tell Rick hello for me.”

A flush crept into her cheeks, confirming something he’d suspected for a while now. She was definitely interested in the man.

“Shut up,” she said in a voice sweet enough to give him serious cavities.

Hunter left, his heart heavy with thoughts of his brother. But also with an anticipation at seeing Alexia again that was so sweet it rivaled his sister’s tone. He pulled out his phone and punched in Katie’s number.

Voice mail. “Hey Katie, I’ve got one more thing for you to run down for me, if you don’t mind. Marcie Freeman. She and Devin were an item, according to Christine. Can you see what you can find out about her? Thanks.”

He hung up, then dialed the number of the person he really wanted to talk to.

Still jumpy from her threatening phone call, Alexia jerked when the doorbell rang.

Hunter. She glanced at the clock. 7:18. Hurrying to the peephole, she looked out. Yep. Her heart thudded a little faster.

Opening the door, she gave him a smile. “Thanks for letting me go with you.”

“Katie’s working another angle of the case. I told her you would fill in for her.”

Alexia raised a brow. “I’m sure that went over well.”

One side of his mouth lifted. “Katie’s not so bad. You just have to get used to her way of thinking and doing things.”

Hunter’s phone rang just as he pulled out of Serena’s drive. “Hello?” He listened. “What?”

At his harsh tone, Alexia’s ears perked up. She looked at him.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He snapped his phone shut.

“Chad again?”

“Katie. Her house is on fire.” The car lurched as Hunter’s foot pressed the gas. He flipped the siren on and they sped toward the west side of town.

Alexia felt herself pale. Then the hunger struck her. The urge to be suiting up, slipping on the gear. Fighting the flames that would destroy, greedily grasping at anything in their path. “What happened?”

“Not sure,” he yelled over the siren.

“Is she all right?”

“Sounded furious, but not hurt.”

Alexia held onto the side of the door as they screeched around a corner, then raced past the cars pulling over to get out of the way.

Soon, she could see the smoke in the distance. Then they were turning into the neighborhood. Fire trucks and police cars lined the street. One of the officers turning away traffic waved Hunter on through.

Alexia absently noted that Katie lived in a neighborhood similar to Serena’s. Nice houses, manicured lawns. The kind of neighborhood she’d always dreamed of living in.

They pulled up next to one of the police cruisers and Alexia took in the scope of the fire.

“Wow.” She breathed in horror, yet couldn’t squelch the surge of fascination she always felt when confronted with the roaring monster.

Hunter’s stunned expression said it was worse than he’d imagined. “She’ll lose everything.”

Alexia saw Katie standing back in the street, hands on her hips, expression hard as stone.

“At least she’s alive,” she said, compassion for the detective filling her in spite of their rocky relationship.

He nodded. “True enough.”

They climbed from the vehicle and Alexia continued to watch the firemen battle the blaze. They’d already saturated the two homes on either side of Katie’s and so far the fire hadn’t spread.

But Alexia could tell this was going to be a long, hard fight. She wanted to join in, offer her expertise, beg someone to let her hold the hose.

But she couldn’t. Because someone had taken that away from her.

Fists clenched, she realized she might have made a mistake in coming home. Maybe she should have fought to clear her name, find the person responsible.

“What are you doing here?”

Alexia spun to see Katie standing next to her. Her pale, soot-streaked features said she wasn’t happy with Alexia’s presence.

“I was with Hunter when you called. He drove straight here.”

Hard eyes assessed her—then dismissed her.

Katie walked over to Hunter and he placed an arm around her shoulder.

A flame of jealousy fired through Alexia and she turned so she couldn’t see them. What was she doing? The woman was his partner. Of course he’d want to offer her comfort. It didn’t mean anything.

A car pulled up and parked. A man got out, flashed something at the officer in charge of keeping the crowd back. The officer let him through and Alexia gulped. Chad, looking ragged and hungover, approached her. “Are you all right?”

“What are you doing here? How did you know—”

“Chad?” Hunter called to his brother.

Chad looked up and gave a halfhearted wave. He looked stunned at the sight of Katie’s house.

Hunter waved the man over and Chad patted her shoulder as he passed. “I’m here for you, Alexia. Whatever you need, okay?”

“What?” Where had that come from? She didn’t want him to be there for her. She wanted his brother. The one with his arm around his partner.

“I’ll be right back,” Chad reassured her.

She ignored him, blinked and stared at the flames. Memories of her life in Washington swept over her. She missed her job. Missed the camaraderie she shared with most of the other firefighters.

Her jaw tightened. And something shifted inside her.