Page 23 of Burn for Me
At some point,she must have fallen asleep. Coming awake slowly, Kitty realised she must have slept for quite some time since her bedside lamp was now on and the curtains drawn. It seemed she’d slept the day away.
Jerking upright, she also realised she hadn’t let Jazz know. Searching for her cell phone, sure she would find numerous calls from her, she came up emptyhanded. Where the hell was the damn thing? Frantically, she ran into the lounge to look for her handbag, stopping short when she saw her mom and Gray sitting chatting quietly.
“There’s my gorgeous girl,” her mom said as she rose to hug Kitty.
Leaning her head on her mom’s shoulder, she turned to Gray, giving him a small smile.
“Hi,” she greeted them both. “Have either of you seen my cell phone? I completely forgot to phone Jazz in all the pandemonium this morning. And now I’ve slept the rest of the day away. She must be out of her mind with worry by now.”
Getting to his feet, he returned her smile before saying, “Don’t worry about Jazz. I got her number from your mom and called her on my way out this morning. I told her you’d call as soon as you were able to.”
Going over to where he stood, she put her arms around him, hugging him close. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. How are you feeling?”
The concern she saw shining in his beautiful eyes was nearly her undoing. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she replied, “I’ll be okay. I’m really sorry I fell apart on you earlier. I’m not normally such a basket case. It’s just, I– It was...” She stumbled to a stop. Taking a moment, she gathered herself. “It just, I put so much of myself into Decadence. All I could see was my dream literally going up in smoke. It was, quite possibly, the second most difficult event of my life.”
Hugging her tighter to him, he rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I get it. I’m so sorry this happened to you. Kitty, I...” He hesitated, seeming to wrestle with something. Clearing his throat, he stated, “Kitty, this isn’t just a social call. And god knows, this isn’t an easy conversation I need to have with you. But you’re going to have to be told sooner or later.”
Kitty stiffened in his embrace before pulling away. Stepping back so she could see his face, she looked at him with eyes gone wide with apprehension. “What is it, Gray?”
“As you know, I was at Decadence today. I went over the site thoroughly, and honey, I’m really sorry to have to tell you. There are definite signs of arson. Decadence was torched on purpose.”
What little colour had returned to Kitty’s face during the day drained away, leaving her pale with shock. At first, she simply stared at Gray, unable to form a coherent thought. She opened her mouth as if to speak before closing it again, not making a sound.
“Kitty, honey, I’m so sorry.”
“But why?” she cried. “Who would hate me that much that they would burn my shop to the ground?”
Guiding her down onto the sofa, he sat beside her, angling his body to included Elenore in the conversation. Taking both her hands in his, he rubbed his thumb in circles over the top of her left hand. Looking into her eyes, glassy with the shock of what she’d just heard, Gray sighed.
“I hate that this has happened to you. You didn’t deserve this. But I promise you this. I haven’t figured out the who yet, but I will. I’ve figured out the how though, and that will lead me to the who. I’ll figure it out if it’s the last thing I do.”
“How?” Kitty whispered, her eyes now swimming with tears.
“An arsonist’s modus operandi is as unique as a fingerprint. If this is someone who has done this before and they’ve been caught, we’ll have them on record. If not, it’ll help me narrow the suspect pool. One way or another, I’ll find them.”
“What do you mean, Gray?” Elenore asked.
“Well, arsonists tend to be creatures of habit. When it comes to setting the fires, they have a ritual, if you will. They tend to use the same accelerant to start the fire. There’s usually a pattern as to how the accelerant is set out, and how quickly they want the fire to burn. How difficult they want to make it to put the blaze out, and so forth. When they find a method that works for them, it’s very seldom that that they’ll deviate from it. And then, arson is a psychological illness. Once they’ve had a taste of it, they’ll want to do it again.”
“Oh, I see. Yes, that makes sense.”
“What did you find out today?” Kitty asked.
“Quite a bit actually. There’s just something niggling at me. It’s like I’ve seen or heard of this guy before. But for the life of me, I can’t seem to put my finger on it. I just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing before I head into the office to carry on.”
Blushing, she glanced over at her mom. Her mom gave her the “he’s a keeper” wink but said nothing.
“Oh. I’m okay, I guess. Well, I will be. It’s so much to take in. I just need to work through it. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed; not sure where to start putting things back to normal. I can’t believe someone did this to me intentionally,” she replied.
“I know you will, honey. You’re strong. That’s one of the many things I admire about you.”
“I certainly didn’t behave like it today. I completely unravelled.” She grimaced, embarrassment staining her cheeks.
“Cut yourself some slack, honey. That was a major shock to the system.” Gray’s voice held a wealth of feeling. A world of unspoken words. Sighing, he continued, “I need to be going, but I’ll call you later, okay?”
“I’d like that.” She smiled shyly.
