CHAPTER NINE
“What happened?” asked Finn. The two police officers and EMS officer stared at him. “My fiancée is a friend and classmate of the girl. My name is Finn Jordan. I’m with Shadow Warriors.”
“Ah,” nodded the officer. “According to the fire and utility teams, there was a pretty severe gas leak. They suspect that she may have died by asphyxiation.”
“That’s not possible,” said Finn. “Her sister said she left before her. If it killed Ara, it would have killed the sister first.”
“We’re still getting all the information from the sister but we made note of that as well,” said the officer. “Maybe she left the house and came back for something.”
Finn nodded, then turned to see Willa comforting Samantha. With the sister’s being so close in age, he understood what this must feel like for her. It would be like losing a limb. A part of yourself that could never be replaced.
“I think we need to bring her back with us,” said River. Finn nodded walking toward the two women. As he approached, Samantha stared up at him, her eyes red and puffy.
“I’m so sorry, Samantha,” he said gripping one shoulder.
“I don’t understand this,” she sniffed. “It’s not possible. She left thirty minutes before I did. She had everything she needed. You don’t die within thirty minutes from a gas leak. This is not okay.”
“It’s definitely not okay but we’re going to figure out what happened here,” he said. “For now, for your safety, we want you to come back with us to our home. Let us make sure that you’re safe and well cared for.”
“I can’t. I can’t leave her,” she said sobbing again.
“We’ll make sure your sister is taken care of,” said Willa. “She’d want you to be safe, Samantha. Let us do that for you. For her.”
“Do you have any family locally?” asked Finn.
“No. Our parents actually live in Belize. Oh, God. I need to call my parents,” she cried.
“Honey, we’ll call your parents for you,” said Willa.
“I need clothes,” she said with a hiccup.
“We have clothes for you at our home. Please. Let’s just get you somewhere so that we can figure out what’s happening here without you being in any danger.” Samantha nodded as Willa led her to their SUV.
“She going with y’all?” asked the coroner.
“Hi, Jimmy. Yeah. We’re gonna take her to our place to be sure she’s cared for and out of danger.”
“Well, it’s definitely some kind of danger,” said the older man. “The gas was intentionally leaked but according to the utility guys, it was only opened wide within the last few hours. I can’t be positive yet, but that girl has been dead at least three or four hours which fits with the timeline the sister gave.”
“What the fuck?” muttered Finn.
“I don’t think she was killed here, Finn. I’ll know more once I figure out how much toxicity is in her body, but if I were a betting man, I’d bet my license that she wasn’t killed by any gas leak.”
“Shit,” muttered Finn.
By the time he got into the SUV, Samantha was still crying on Willa’s shoulder. It wasn’t the time or place to talk to her about what the coroner said.
They texted the team to let them know they were coming with a guest and the circumstances. He wanted Samantha placed close to he and Willa. She was so busy crying, so consumed with grief, she never bothered to look up to see where she was going.
“Samantha?” whispered Willa. “We’re here honey. We’re going to get you settled into a cottage and then we’ll talk to you more about what may have happened.”
She could only nod, her grief weighing her down as if she carried a cement truck on her back.
When Willa, Finn, Quinn, and River showed her to the cottage next door, she barely gave it a glance. She excused herself to wash her face and returned, still red, still puffy.
“Does this have anything to do with you and Morris?” she asked looking at Willa.
“I honestly don’t know,” said Willa. “I don’t even know if there is anything involving Morris. I just know his behavior scared me.”
