“Oh, no.” Aslen leaned forward in her seat as they turned on to her street. The anxiety pouring off her soaked down into his bones as what used to be her house had become engulfed in flames. Throwing off her seat belt, she was out of the truck before Murray had a chance to shove it into Park. “Danny!”
“Aslen, wait!” He shouldered free from the pickup and tried to catch up with her as she gained on the perimeter tape set up to block the public from getting any closer.
Flames cracked and groan as they consumed everything Aslen had to her name. Everything. Everything was gone. Fire trucks and rangers swarmed the too-narrow street complete with cookie-cutter housing. Every single one of these homes had been leased to a ranger working for the National Park Service, and now they were all at risk of catching fire. Hoses did their best to douse the fire, but the winds in this damn state worked against them at every turn.
He didn’t recognize the firefighters calling out orders and taking control of the scene. These were structural fighters. Not the wilderness fire management team he’d come to know the past few days.
Aslen covered her face with both hands as she watched on. “That’s my house! Please. You have to find my roommate. Her name is Danny Kennex. She’s a ranger with the national park. She was staying at a friend’s house last night, but I haven’t seen her since yesterday afternoon.”
The ranger holding the perimeter of the scene took notes, asking for Aslen’s name and a description and contact information for Danny.
Murray pressed his chest against her back, knowing full well how much it was taking for her to stay on her own two feet. She’d already lost everyone she’d loved to a fire just like this one. He wasn’t sure he was enough to pull her out of the devastation that might follow this one if Danny was caught in the destruction. Or if she’d let him after they’d laid their feelings on the table last night and this morning.
The firefighters were doing their jobs the best they could, but there was a chance the entire neighborhood would have to be evacuated, including his home one street over. Murray set his hands on her shoulders, keeping her close, willing an ounce of his strength into her.
She turned into him, burying her face against his chest, and he couldn’t help but close his arms around her. To protect her from the heat and the emotion that came with it. “I need my phone. I need to call her.”
“Yeah. Okay. You can call her from the truck.” He freed his keys, guiding her back to the pickup down the street with a hand at her lower back. She was holding it together, struggling against the memories she still carried from losing her parents and worried for her best friend. Murray would do whatever it took to make this easier on her. “Fire and Rescue has your number. They can call you with updates. Until then, you can stay with me. All right? We’ll make it work.”
“How could this happen?” She swiped at her face to clear the tears tracking down the sharp angles of her cheekbones. “Oh, my gosh. What if she came home? What if they haven’t found her yet?”
“We don’t have any information yet.” Murray swung the passenger side door open and helped her in, buckling her in as she scrambled for her phone. “Come on.”
He secured her in the truck, trying to expel the burn of smoke from his throat and lungs. Seemed that odor was determined more than ever to haunt him, but he wouldn’t let the dangers of this investigation touch Aslen anymore.
The arsonist had found her. That much was clear. Fires didn’t just start themselves, and neither Aslen nor Danny would’ve taken risks with their home as fire management rangers. The son of a bitch had failed to kill her in that reservoir and had hunted her down. Tried to get rid of her the same way he’d disposed of his last two victims. Only now Danny might’ve been the one caught in the back draft. Murray didn’t know how, and he sure as hell didn’t know why the bastard wanted Aslen, but he intended to find out. Her statement about her abduction had been thin, but trauma did that. Forced the brain to focus on survival while something else was happening in the background. All he could do now was keep her safe. Live up to his promise.
But the proof he’d needed to connect the victims to Aslen’s roommate was gone. He’d seen that photo this morning as he’d passed Danny’s room right on her nightstand. The same photo found with both victims, he was sure of it. He hadn’t been able to see the subjects’ faces, but the same poses and groupings of people were clear enough he had no doubt. But how did Danny factor into this case? What connection had Murray missed?
He climbed up into the driver’s seat as Aslen lowered the phone from her ear. Color had leached from her face. Not a good sign.
“It just keeps going to voicemail.” Throwing her attention out the passenger side window, Aslen stared at the remnants of her house. There wasn’t much left. The house itself had burned hot and fast, destroying everything in a matter of minutes, which potentially meant another accelerant. It was a miracle no one had been hurt so far, but the firefighters were having trouble getting control of the blaze. Everything Aslen owned had been in that house. Everything she’d kept from before her life had gone up in flames. And now it was gone. “She’s not picking up or answering my text messages.”
Despite their disagreement last night and this morning, Murray couldn’t deny the need to touch her. To remind himself that she was here. That she was safe. He slid his hand over her thigh, reveling in the warmth through her uniform slacks as he put as much calm into his voice as he could manage under the circumstances. “We’ll find her. I’ll check in with Chief Higgins. Maybe she’s on shift and not able to answer her phone.”
“Yeah. Okay.” She nodded, staring down at his hand before she summoned the courage to wrap her fingers between his. She closed her eyes, and he watched as days’ worth of stress and exhaustion claimed her. It was any wonder she was still standing after what she’d been through this week, and Murray could do nothing but admire her resiliency and hate the reasons she needed it in the first place. “Thank you.”
“Slide over. Lean on me.” Extracting his hand, he started the truck but immediately hugged her frame against his side as she shifted into the middle of the bench. Close but not close enough. He was instantly reminded of the position they’d found themselves in last night, her pressed against him, her mouth surrounding to his. He hadn’t let himself think about those few minutes when the world hadn’t existed, and it’d just been the two of them. When the chaotic storm of responsibility, duty and loss had finally quieted. Because of her. Even now, Murray wasmore focused on the feel of her tucked under his arm, how he’d never noticed the freckle on the back side of her left ear.
He thought he’d known everything there was to know about Aslen Woods, but last night had only proven he hadn’t even scratched the surface. Murray navigated through the neighborhood, avoiding curious bystanders flocking toward the fire but noting details in case the arsonist returned to the scene of the crime. He’d message the chief for updates and photos of the house once he took care of Aslen. Rangers faced danger every day on the job, but this attack had hit close to home. He couldn’t fault them for rushing to provide aid, but all he wanted to do was get Aslen as far from the blaze as possible. To protect her from the past and her guilt as much as he could. Though he knew that wasn’t entirely possible. There was only so much he could do to keep her here in the present, and he’d already felt her disconnecting.
Pulling into his driveway, he cut the engine and dragged her across the seat to exit the driver’s side door. Someone had started a fire in her house. He wasn’t letting her out of arm’s reach. She went along willingly, barely protesting as he scooped her up into his arms. And that told him everything he needed to know about her mental state. Until she heard from Danny herself or someone got eyes on her roommate, Aslen would blame herself for what’d happened. “I’ve got you.”
He carried her into the house, kicking the door closed behind him, and set her on the couch. His house wasn’t much different from hers. All the houses in the neighborhood were built with the same layout, but different owners over the years had upgraded some elements while leaving the rest in the nineties. His carpet had been replaced just before he moved in, the paint grayer than beige like Aslen’s and Danny’s place. The cabinets in the kitchen didn’t sport the giant knots he could practically see through and had been painted white to make the place moremarketable. He hadn’t bothered decorating, knowing, sooner or later, Aslen would get sick of living in the desert, and he’d follow her wherever she set her sights on next, but this house was his. One of the perks of heading the law enforcement division was choosing not to have a roommate, and he was never more thankful for that than right now. That she could feel safe here. Well, that, and the fact he didn’t own enough to make an actual mess. “I’ll get you some water then check in with the chief. There’s a blanket behind you. You should lie down until we hear something.”
“I’ll never forgive myself if anything happened to her.” She clutched her phone as though unable to bear the thought of missing Danny’s reply.
Murray’s knees popped as he crouched in front of her, centering himself between her knees. “Look at me.” He waited until her watery eyes raised to his. “Whatever happens, Aslen, this is not your fault. You are not responsible for the actions of a madman. Understand? We don’t have any information about how the fire at your house started or if Danny was home when it started. I need you to focus on helping me figure out how the arsonist is connected to Danny. You’ve got to give me something I can use to find him.”
“I smelled the gasoline.” Gravel coated her voice, so unlike Aslen in every way. She’d always been strong, but that mask she’d built to keep him from knowing how much pain she was truly in over the years cracked, and he nearly flinched from the onslaught of raw emotion. “From the perimeter. I could smell it. The arsonist… He figured out I survived. He knew where I lived, and now Danny is in danger. Because of me.”
“No.” He didn’t know how many times he would have to say it for her to believe it, but Murray willed her understanding with his entire body. Pressing closer, he framed both sides of her face with bandaged palms, drawing her closer. “You did everythingright. You survived. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t, Aslen. You have no idea how much just the thought of losing you guts me to the point I can’t breathe. I’ve lost too many people. I’ll be damned if I lose you, too. You’re here, and I’m grateful for that every single day I get to have you in my life. I need you to believe that.”
She didn’t move, didn’t even seem to breathe as she studied him. One heartbeat. Two. “But are you ever going to love me, Murray?”
Air crushed from his chest. His grip on her jawline faltered, and he sat back on his heels. Silence pressed in on him as he could do nothing but tell her the truth. “No.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
