Page 15 of Through the Fire
“Yes, thank you. If you think of anything else or see anything suspicious, please give us a call.” Automatically, she reached for the pocket of her BDUs where she used to keep business cards only to realize that she hadn’t even been able to fill out the card request form, much less have them printed. Hugh moved toward Elena, a card in his hand, and Kit gave him a nod of thanks.
“Okay.” Elena accepted the card with a shy smile. She followed Hugh and Kit to the doorway. As soon as they stepped into the hall, Elena closed the door behind them.
Biting the inside of her bottom lip to keep from demanding to know why Hugh had stopped the interview, Kit forced herself to wait until Theo did a quick search of the third floor and the three of them returned to the kitchen.
“All clear,” Theo told Jules with a slight, reassuring smile, and Jules let out an audible exhale, as if she’d been holding her breath the entire time. Theo wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into his side.
“Every time I think we can relax just a little, some new scary thing pops up,” Jules said, making Kit wonder what else—besides the police department getting blown up—had happened in this deceptively sleepy-looking town.
“Speaking of new scary things, should we expect the people your new roomie’s running from to show up soon?” Hugh asked, leaning against the wall by the table.
At the mention of Elena, Jules straightened, although she didn’t pull away from Theo’s hold. “No. Mr. Es—uh, the person who helped her get here said that he’d be surprised if anyone came chasing after Elena. She didn’t tell me the whole story, but it’s pretty clear that she’s a minor player, and finding her is not a priority for anyone, especially since the main crime families are in chaos right now. Having her disappear was just a precaution.”
“Uh-huh.” Although he didn’t say anything else, Theo didn’t sound convinced, and his concerned frown deepened as he looked at Jules. Reaching up, she took his hand where it rested on her shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
“Mr. S?” Hugh said. “What does the S stand for? Smith?”
Giving him a flat look, Jules said, “It stands for secret. As in, you’re never going to guess, and I’m never going to tell you, so you might as well give up and quit nagging me about it.”
“But nagging is one of my things,” Hugh said, not appearing to be fazed by her stern expression. “Most people find it to be one of my more endearing traits.”
Kit couldn’t hold back a laugh at that, even though she unsuccessfully tried to turn it into a cough at the last minute. The sound must’ve reminded the other three that Kit was listening—they exchanged warning glances and then dropped the subject.
Glancing at his watch, Theo said, “Do you have time before Dee gets home to give us a ride back to the scene?”
“Sure, if it’s in town.” Jules slipped out from under Theo’s arm and snagged the purse sitting on the table. “What scene are we talking about here?”
“There was a fire.”
The smile slipped from Jules’s face. “Oh no. Another one?”
“Well, technically, all the other fires were really bombings, so this is the first.” Although Hugh’s words were joking, they had a tense-sounding edge. Kit couldn’t blame him. From what she’d picked up, the town had been put through the wringer already.
“Was anyone hurt?” Jules asked.
“It was the Nailors’ place, and they head to California for the winter,” Theo non-answered. Kit was impressed by how neatly he sidestepped the question.
Jules looked relieved. “That’s something, at least. Not much, but something.” She waved at the back door as she headed for the hall. “Head on outside. I just need to talk to Theo for a moment. We’ll meet you at the car.”
As Kit headed back outside, Justice surging in front of her, she glanced back at Hugh, who was following her. “What was all that about?”
“All what?” His expression was pure innocent blankness, and Kit swallowed a sigh as she turned to face him head-on. She could already tell that she was going to have to work for every sliver of information she yanked out of him.
“Well, let’s start with why there’s a woman hiding from a crime family upstairs.” Irritation surged through her as she remembered her truncated interview. “And why you wouldn’t let me ask a possible suspect some basic questions.”
His eyebrows shot up in what appeared to be honest surprise. “Suspect?”
“Yes.” Justice slunk behind her, his belly low to the ground, and Kit tried to moderate her tone. She’d never managed to follow the “honey over vinegar” rule well. Her true feelings were always written on her face, or she simply announced them—loudly. Normally, she managed to stay relatively polite, but it had already been quite the day, and it wasn’t over yet. Taking a deep breath, she forced her shoulders to lower and her hands to relax out of the fists she’d made. “A possible suspect. Justice led us right to her room. I’m just confused why you didn’t want me to interview her.”
“The women who live here”—Hugh jerked a thumb toward the house they’d just left—“Gracie, Jules, the kids, Sarah, and now Elena… They’re just trying to escape bad situations. I know you’re new, but you need to trust us on this. They’re the victims, not the criminals.”
Kit swallowed a scoffing reply, knowing it wouldn’t help the situation. Still, it annoyed the heck out of her that Hugh was protecting a possible suspect. Kit’s instincts were screaming that Elena was hiding something, and it went almost painfully against the grain to not at least try to get the truth out of her.
Small town, Kit reminded herself, mentally counting to ten before she said anything out loud. Get used to it. This is your life now.
She had a bad feeling that her new life was going to suck.
They waited next to the car in stiff silence until Jules and Theo emerged from the house, hand in hand. The sight reminded Kit of how her partners had protected Jules’s new housemate from her, and her irritation flared again. She was a newcomer, true, but so was Elena. Hugh and Theo were treating Kit, a fellow officer, with more suspicion than a random stranger that Justice had trailed from a crime scene, merely because Elena had moved in with their girlfriends. It wasn’t right. It was bad policing, and it was going to make Kit’s life a lot more uncomfortable than it had to be.
