Page 28 of Through the Fire
“I—”
“Everything okay out here?” Hugh interrupted as he stepped into the entry. Kit took a quick step back, not wanting her PTO to see the way she was drawn to a witness on only the second day of her new job. Not only that, but the teasing would be unbearable. She spotted Otto and Theo hovering behind Hugh, a whole nosy army.
“Yes,” she said. “Everything’s fine.” From Hugh’s posture, she could tell he wasn’t going to be leaving her and Wes alone again until his curiosity was satisfied, so she turned to Wes. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“You’re welcome.” With a small lift of his chin at the men, which Kit took as a group goodbye, he left the VFW.
“What did he want?” Theo asked quietly a few seconds after the door shut behind Wes.
Kit wasn’t sure how to answer, so she hedged. “He didn’t see anything else related to the fire.”
“What did he say?” Hugh asked, apparently not put off course so easily.
“Nothing, really.” Lifting her hands palms up in a gesture of confusion, she shrugged. “He just said he hadn’t remembered anything else about the fire.”
All three men frowned at her. “Wesley March, the guy who leaves his tower less often than Rapunzel, came to town, walked into the VFW—a place he’s never entered before—and sought you out just to say…he had no new information?”
“He never leaves?” Kit asked, confused. “He was in town yesterday morning.”
The men exchanged a look. “Two days in a row?” Hugh said slowly, his expression turning gleeful. “How long’s he been living up there? Six years?”
“Seven,” Otto said.
Hugh nodded. “Seven years, and he’s never come to town two days in a row. Something’s up with the hairy tower princess.”
All three cops eyed her with growing interest, even Otto. Time for damage control. “He didn’t come to town just to see me. I’m sure he had something else to do.”
“Uh-huh,” Hugh said, dark eyes gleaming.
She gave a huff. “Can we talk about something else? Like that arson and possible homicide we’re trying to solve?”
Theo’s expression immediately sobered. “No ‘possible’ about it anymore.”
Her eyes widened. “It’s been confirmed? The victim was murdered?”
“County coroner said it looks that way, but the remains are going to be sent to the state lab, too,” Otto said in his slow, careful way. “The state is sending a couple of arson investigators here, as well. With all the incidents of organized crime we’ve been involved in lately, there’s concern that this might be related. We think—”
Theo subtly nudged Otto’s elbow, and the guys exchanged one of those silent-message glances that drove Kit nuts. Before she could ask any questions, though, the outside door swung open, drawing her—and the men’s—attention.
Elena slipped inside the entry. Her body seemed to curl in on itself when she spotted them, her gaze darting from one person to the next. “Hello,” she said in a wispy voice, and Kit struggled to stomp out the suspicion that flared when she caught sight of the other woman. Judging from the way the men’s expressions had softened, none of them felt the same wariness when it came to Elena.
“Are you looking for Jules?” Theo asked in what was, for him, a gentle tone.
“Yes.” A tentative smile touched her full mouth but then immediately faded. “Sort of? I’m supposed to meet Megan? Jules thought she might be able to get me a job?”
The uncertain way Elena spoke—with her sentences curling up at the end, turning them into questions—grated on Kit. As soon as the thought hit, Kit tried to shove it away. What kind of monster was she to be so irritated by this innocuous, frightened woman?
As she studied Elena, she wondered if that was the problem. Thanks to years of working with children rescued from abusive homes, Kit knew the look of fear—true fear—and Elena didn’t have that. It was almost as if Elena was purposefully trying to play off the guys’ protective instincts…and she was succeeding. Cocking her head slightly, Kit studied the woman, trying to see past her surface doe-eyed helplessness to what was underneath.
“I’m glad you’re here, Elena,” Kit said. “I wanted to ask y—”
“They’re both inside.” Theo cut her off midquestion, waving toward the doorway, and Elena scurried through into the dining room, her gaze fixed firmly on her feet. Kit pushed back her frustration at Theo’s interruption. It seemed that the guys were constantly protecting Elena from her, and it rankled. After all, she was their partner—only for just over a day, but still—and Elena was as much a stranger to them as Kit was. Taking a deep breath, she decided she needed to ask, even if it didn’t get her anywhere.
Once Elena was out of sight, Kit said quietly, “Are we going to talk about the coincidence that Elena arrived on the same day the homicide was discovered?”
The guys exchanged another set of looks.
“We’ve considered that,” Theo said carefully, and Kit felt a surge of relief that she wasn’t the only one suspicious of Elena. “Grace and Jules are going to check with her, see if she needs our help.”
