The Fire Still Burns Page 4

  He taunted her. Great. Just what she needed. “I'm not interested in sparring with you today, Adam. I got the information from your reports, and I viewed the sites with you. I don't need your assistance. I can interview some 'spects by myself.”

  “Not going to happen.” He said the words coolly, calmly, as if he were in total control.

  “Are we really going through this again? The chief assigned us both to this case.”

  “That's right. So, both of us will be interviewing suspects.” He leaned in closer. “You're not sweeping my case out from right under my feet.”

  “Whatever.” Brynn threw her hands up in defeat. “You can meet me at Chuck Davis's house in another two hours. Goodbye.” She turned to leave, desperately needing to crawl back under her bed sheets and, for at least an hour, pretend the outside world didn't exist.

  “Brynn, wait.”

  Biting back a curse, she turned to face Adam again, noting that the calm, which had so recently cloaked him, seemed to have fallen away. The stone-faced expression gone, his eyes were troubled, his mouth turned down in a frown. “What do you want now?”

  “I didn't come here about the case.”

  “Then why did you come here?” She wasn't foolish enough to believe he had come by for a friendly get together.

  “About last night…”

  Brynn rolled her eyes in irritation and huffed out a breath before speaking. “I'm not going to stomp through any more damaged buildings, and I swear I didn't do anything to make the farmhouse collapse.”

  “That's not what I was referring to. It's about what you said to me.”

  “I said a lot of things, none too pleasant. You'll have to be more specific.” She knew she was being bitchy, but she didn't care. She wanted him gone…

  “You said I assaulted you.”

  …before he reminded her of that.

  “Yeah, and?” Hell, she didn't want to have this conversation. He'd treated her just as cheaply as he thought of her. She had the right to be furious, but to her own chagrin, part of her had heated up inside despite his insult when his lips found hers.

  “That wasn't my intention. I never thought…” He shrugged, his stiff posture and avoidance to look her in the eye telling how uncomfortable he was with their discussion. She was glad she wasn't the only one who didn't want to be part of it. “I never thought you'd think I was forcing myself¼I didn't¼aw hell, Brynn. I didn't mean anything by it. I didn't even think. I just…” His voice trailed off as his eyes became permanently fixed on the ground, his thumbs shoved into his belt loops as though he didn’t know where else to put them.

  “You just did what you thought I did willingly with anyone and everyone,” Brynn finished for him.

  “What?” Adam finally looked up. “No, I wasn't thinking like that when it happened.”

  “Oh, really?” She laughed, hating how sad the sound came out. “Why would you kiss me then? You obviously hate me.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, than snapped it shut.

  “Can't deny it, can you?” She shook her head and turned away, through with the conversation.

  “How do you expect me to feel about you, Brynn? I trusted you and you were screwing my best friend behind my back.”

  Brynn ground her teeth together and spun around, then tightened her hands into fists in an effort to keep the angry tears at bay. “I offered to explain what happened once before, but you wouldn't even listen.”

  “I didn't want to hear all the sordid details then and I still don't now.” His lip curled, blue fire blazing through his eyes. “But don't worry about me kissing you again, not now that I've been reminded how likely it would be for me to catch something.”

  Brynn gasped in outrage and swung her fist toward his face.

  Adam caught her small hand in his much larger one before it hit its mark. “You did that once already. It was the only free shot you're going to get. Understand?”

  Brynn looked at the purple and blue bump at Adam's left temple and grinned. At least she had shown him she wasn't playing with him the day before. “I don't take orders from you, Adam, and I'm not about to just stand by and let you degrade me every chance you get.”

  “Tough,” he released her hand.

  His gaze shifted over her head and she could tell by the widening of his eyes something was wrong. Her heart leapt to her throat as she turned her head and prayed she wouldn't see Nate standing outside in clear view. Fortunately, it wasn't Nate who had caught Adam's attention, but a plume of black smoke reaching to the heavens.

  “That looks like it's coming from the high school area.” Adam said the words mostly to himself as he turned toward his truck.

  “I'm going with you.” Already dressed and not concerned with hair and makeup considering the circumstances, Brynn rounded the front of the truck.

  “Stay here. We don't know if this is related.”

  “We don't know if it's not.” They stood on opposite sides of the truck, each with one hand on a door handle. Deciding she'd better get in before he jumped in the truck and peeled out, leaving her in the dust, Brynn jumped in and slammed the door behind her, fastening her seatbelt.

  “Dammit. At least quit slamming my door.” Adam jumped in and started the engine.

  Two minutes later, they found the center of the high school football field fully aflame. A piece of black fabric hung from a tall wooden stake, which had been pushed into the ground. Brynn peered closer at it as they approached, recognizing the number 05 printed in white.

  “Isn't that your brother's retired football jersey?”

  Chapter Four

  Adam brought the truck to a screeching halt, cut the engine and jumped out. Brynn’s hands hit the dashboard hard to protect her head from going through the windshield and unfastened her seatbelt to scramble out after him.

  “Dammit, Adam, I'm sure the fire department is on their way…”

  “I'm not waiting.” Adam withdrew a fire extinguisher from the back of the truck and ran toward the flames. Brynn spotted another extinguisher in the back and grabbed it, figuring she may as well help until the fire trucks came.

  Several bales of hay had been piled two high in a circle around the six foot stake the jersey hung from. The arsonist had apparently doused the bales with gasoline, the sweet smell apparent.

  Brynn was convinced the arsonist was retaliating against Zeke Good, whether Adam wanted to face it or not. He could shrug off the fact Zeke had been murdered in the first fire and that the second property belonged to Zeke's best friend, but this time the arsonist left a clear calling card. A calling card Brynn realized Adam was rushing toward.

  “What the hell are you doing, Adam?” She watched as he used his extinguisher to clear a path to the stake where Zeke's jersey hung, announcing to the world he was the reason for the fires. “That's evidence!”

  Adam spared her one cold glance over his shoulder, doused the fire on a bale of hay and jumped on top of it.

  She watched in surprise as he moved close enough to use his extinguisher to knock the burning jersey off the stake despite the heat of the fire. He quickly jumped away, hacking from the large dose of smoke he’d directly inhaled.

  Brynn raised her extinguisher in effort to save what was left of the jersey, but Adam roughly grabbed the canister away from her.

  “What are you doing?” She tried to grab the can back from him.

  “Leave it!” His eyes held a raging fire of their own, far hotter than the one burning next to them.

  “That's evidence, Adam, and we need to put out this fire.”

  He glared at her for a beat before his jaw unclenched and his eyes clouded over with an indefinable emotion. “Please, just let it burn. We can put out the fire, but make sure the jersey burns first.”

  Sirens wailed through the air, announcing the near arrival of the fire department. Adam held her gaze, his eyes wide and desperate.

  Brynn's jaw dropped as she realized he actually pleaded with her. Although she fought h
ard to avoid it, she found herself pulled into the vulnerability swimming through his sapphire eyes.

  Her head warred with her heart, the approaching fire truck urged her to make a quick choice. She nodded once. “All right, but you've got some explaining to do, Good. You've just destroyed evidence in an arson investigation, and I think you know your brother had something to do with this mess.”

  Adam nodded grimly and handed her back the extinguisher as the fire truck pulled to a stop on the street. They concentrated on extinguishing the fire again, Brynn hoped she’d done the right thing as the jersey continued to burn.

  ~~~

  Chief Parker was not happy, his mouth set in a tight frown as he paced back and forth before them. The fire had been put out quickly by the fire department with barely any property damage to the football field and there were no deaths or injuries to civilians or firefighters. None of that mattered when Adam reported with Brynn that there were no witnesses to the incident.

  “You mean to tell me some nut-job just took the time to stick a six foot stake in the ground, surround it with hay and light it up right in the middle of the friggin' high school football field and not a single person noticed a thing?” The chief’s arms were stretched wide, his face red with anger.

  “It's Sunday,” Adam said in disgust.

  He didn't need to elaborate. Black Bear Gorge was a God-fearing town, and nearly every one of its inhabitants made it to church on Sunday morning where they stayed until well into the afternoon and sometimes evening. Few businesses opened on Sunday and none of the businesses near the high school had been open when the arsonist struck. There were only a handful of residences nearby, and nobody had answered when Brynn and Adam knocked on their doors.

  “Un-frigging-believable,” Chief Parker bit out as he paced with his fists clenched together. “At least tell me you know what was on the stake.”

  “Sorry, sir, we didn't get here quick enough.” Adam cast a covert glance toward Brynn, fearful she might contradict him. So far, she hadn’t told the chief anything that could condemn him. His gut twisted with guilt, both for lying to the chief and for dragging Brynn into the sticky situation. “We saw the fabric on the stake but we couldn’t make out what it was.”

  He looked at where the burned remains of his brother's old jersey lay, the material completely unrecognizable, and had trouble swallowing past the ball of shame which had lodged itself in his throat. He didn't dare look at Brynn, not until the chief left and he could talk to her alone, somehow explain what he had done, find a way to justify it and protect his brother.

  “Son of a bitch.” The chief spit and glared at the remains of the fire, his face twisted with frustration. “We'll get this mess cleaned up. Ya'll get on out of here and catch this nut before the whole town gets scorched.”

  He refocused his gaze on them and Adam could feel himself shrink under the older man's heated glare. “I want results and I want them yesterday. And if you come across another fire you’d better call it in, don’t wait on us to see the smoke in the sky.”

  “Yes'sir,” Adam mumbled as he turned for his truck, knowing Brynn would follow. She wouldn't give up the chance to go off on him once they were away from the firefighters who’d arrived on the scene minutes after them.

  “Explain yourself.” Her order was low in voice, but strong in tone. He could tell by the way she growled the words that she was royally pissed. He didn't blame her.

  “I will,” he promised. “Just not here, not right now.”

  She huffed and he couldn't help but look at her, taking in the way the spots of color diffusing her cheeks matched the red highlights in her hair, the way her breasts rose and fell as she breathed hard and angry.

  The urge to kiss her, which had swept over him by the Mulroney property, hit him again, slamming into him with the force of a hurricane wind. What the hell was wrong with him? She had already burned him once, and now she knew something that could ruin his whole family. The last thing he should be worrying about was kissing her, despite the desperate yearning clawing its way through him as he gazed at her rose-hued lips.

  He shook off the confusing sensation while he held the passenger door open for her, looking away while she got in the truck. He couldn't let the fact that she looked innocent, had always looked innocent, cloud his judgment. She fooled him once. Shame on her. If she fooled him twice…well, then that would just make him a great big idiot, wouldn't it?

  ~~~

  Brynn fumed in silence, angrier at herself than at Adam. She'd let him destroy evidence.

  Evidence!

  How could she begin to justify her actions? Her job was to find the arsonist. Letting evidence burn and not saying a word to the fire chief was not the way to run an arson investigation.

  She’d let her personal feelings cloud her judgment and had gone along with Adam’s lie. Her stupidity was laughable. Adam wasn't there for her when she'd needed him, but it didn't stop her from going along with his story. Why did she help him, knowing he'd turned his back on her when she'd needed him most?

  “Enough stalling, Good. Fess up. My patience is wearing thin.” She barked out the demand and clenched her hands into tight balled fists, her nails imprinting crescent marks along her palms.

  Adam glanced her way, but didn't say a word. He continued to steer the truck down the narrow rural lane, his facial expression grim and tight.

  “Adam.”

  “I know. Just…wait.”

  Maybe it was his tone, but she managed not to slug him. A part of her even felt compassion for him. She found herself wanting to erase the tired, troubled look in his eyes. Wasn't that a bitch?

  He turned off the road, maneuvered the truck down a dirt road, which after half a mile, formed a circle encompassed by trees.

  “I can't believe you brought me to Lover's Loop.” Brynn gasped in outrage, recognizing the teen make-out spot. She and Adam had fogged up many a window during their late-night make-out sessions on the circular road.

  “I didn't bring you here to neck.” Adam shut off the engine and turned toward her. “Nobody comes out here in the daytime. I want a quiet, private place to talk.”

  “To confess, you mean.” She narrowed her gaze on him.

  Adam grimaced. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “You burned evidence, Adam. Why shouldn't I turn you in?” She studied him, taking in the strained look on his face, the tense shoulders as he stared out the windshield with his hands still gripped on the steering wheel.

  “My mother took it hard when my father died. You remember how she was. She took it even worse when Zeke was killed.” He turned toward her and looked at her with his eyes beseeching understanding.

  “You're right about all this having something to do with Zeke. I know this, but it would kill Mama to know that maybe Zeke did something bad enough to gain this much hatred. Our whole lives, we were brought up to be perfect. Perfect grades, perfect manners…you name it. I was always a little bit better than Zeke, but now that he's dead…”

  “Your mother has martyred him, and you want her to keep thinking he was perfect.” Brynn let her disgust at supporting the egomaniac woman drip into her words. “Dammit, Adam.”

  Brynn shoved the door open and jumped out of the truck, needing the space. What she really needed was to hit something or someone, but she paced instead. She whirled around the moment Adam's feet hit the ground.

  “What is wrong with you, Adam? Your mother has commanded perfection from you since the day you were born. A saint couldn't live up to the expectations she placed on you and Zeke. Are you really going to sabotage this arson investigation just so Mommy Dearest can continue on with her delusions that she gave birth to the world's first non-sinners since Jesus?”

  “Don't talk about my mother—”

  “I'll talk about that hateful old bitch any way I want! Do you really think I'd just forgive and forget the way she had me run out of town?” The yell burned her throat on the way out, but it felt good to finally get her feel
ings for the woman off her chest.

  “You ran yourself out of town.” Adam growled and stepped around the truck to face-off with her. “You shouldn't have slept with my best friend if you couldn't deal with the shame of it. My mother may be suffocating, opinionated and overbearing, but at least she's not a wh—”

  “Don't even say it.” She pointed her finger at his face.

  “First of all, you've been lying to me from day one so don't bother casting any stones in my direction. Second of all, you don't realize how screwed you are. You lied to the fire chief and you burned evidence. Those are the only two things I witnessed first-hand. Who knows what else you might've done before I showed up.” She stepped closer, putting herself only a breath away, and lowered her voice for emphasis.

  “Keep on insulting me and see how fast I go to not only the fire chief, but the sheriff as well. My daddy was the sheriff before he died and everyone in the department admired him. Believe me, supposed slut-ness or not, they'll take my word.”

  “You really would do that?” His voice shook disbelievingly.

  “Try me.” She crossed her arms. “You know I never allowed anyone to walk over me when I lived here. I haven't lost my backbone.”

  “Why did you allow them to run you out?”

  Brynn stepped back. His question hit her with the force of a hard slap and she searched his eyes only to find cold, blue fury. His whole body tensed, his hands held at his sides, the fingers slightly curled. “What do you care? You wanted me to leave.”

  “I couldn't look at you then.” He shook his head, and briefly closed his eyes. “I definitely couldn't handle seeing you and Cal together. I'd have killed him.”

  “Then you should be happy I left.”

  “You left with him.” His voice was barely an angry whisper.

  “Yeah, so?”

  “You don't think it’s worse knowing you were with him, in his bed?”

  Brynn stared at Adam, shaken by the anger in his voice, the ferocity in his gaze, and didn't know what to say. She knew she hurt him all those years ago, but she hadn't known how badly he still hurt.