Page 109 of Pressure

Lance scowled when Austin winked at him and walked toward Marissa’s room.

“Clever girl,” Patrick murmured as he watched his wife walk away.

“Talk to me,” Lance said. “What happened back there? That wasn’t even the cabin she was staying in.”

Eli shook his head. “We’re still sorting that out. Jax, Isabelle and Dakota stayed behind to clear everyone out and talk to the authorities. Fire is out and investigators are searching the debris for signs of arson.”

“What about Samuel or Matthew?”

Eli shrugged. Samuel disappeared after he put Marissa in the ambulance. I get the feeling our situation is getting a little too sticky for him but hopefully he’ll reach out. Matthew couldn’t make it this weekend.”

Lance dragged a hand through his hair as they waited for Austin to come back.

“I just want to be with her, and they won’t let me back.”

Eli clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Relax. Austin is with her now. You’ll be updated. Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

Lance nodded and dropped into an empty plastic chair to bury his face in his hands.

Someone shoved a cup of coffee in his hands and Garrett took a call from Isabelle.

When he returned, he settled next to Lance.

“My girl says investigators found an accelerant. The fire was set on purpose.”

But they already knew that. Marissa had been clobbered on the back of the head.

Lance gulped at the coffee and did his best to focus on Garrett’s words as his eyes drifted to the doors that led to Marissa.

“We’ll find out who did this,” Garrett assured, clapping him on the shoulder.

Austin pushed into the waiting room and made a beeline for him.

She crouched on one knee and gripped his hand. “She’s unconscious but they believe she’ll wake up with a nasty headache and be fine. They’ll keep her overnight for monitoring. What do you need?”

Lance felt an immense weight leave him. “Fuck. Thank God. I just want to see her, but I need to get back to Solitaire. Last month, Samuel and Russell helped me install outdoor security cameras. I want to start digging through the footage.”

Austin stood. “Go.” Turning, she smiled at Garrett. “Send your girl to keep us company? She doesn’t need to be around all that stress anyway.”

Garrett gave a curt nod and lifted his phone.

“I’m here, Lance. Go do what you need to do. I’ll call you the minute anything changes.”

Trusting her, Lance stood and motioned for the others to follow him. Holly settled into a chair next to her sister-in-law after kissing Eli on the cheek.

The man looked like he didn’t want to leave her but ultimately squeezed her shoulders and followed the rest of them to the parking lot.

“We need to pour through seven cameras worth of footage for tonight. I need all of your eyes,” Lance said. “We’ll meet in the conference room and get started right away.”

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