Chapter 6
Chapter Six
“How long have you known Beau LeBlanc?” The detective tapped a pencil on the edge of the desk.
The cops—detectives this time, not uniforms—had arrived at Avalon’s hotel room shortly after eight a.m. They’d seemed a bit annoyed with the very friendly hotel manager who’d been with them. Avalon had no idea what had set off the detectives, but when they’d asked her to go down to the station with them in order to answer questions, she’d willingly obliged. Not like she had things to hide from the cops. And she did want her case solved. She’d picked up some new clothes from the shop in the hotel, changed quickly so she didn’t have to wear the dress that still smelled of smoke, and they’d been on their way.
Now, they wanted to know about Beau. How long had she known him? Well…
“Years,” she answered with a roll of one shoulder.
The detective to the right—a woman with short, red hair and sharp eyes—stopped tapping her pencil. “When did you first make his acquaintance?” she asked.
Detective Lynn Baker. Avalon had chatted with her a few times before. She’d chatted with most of the detectives at the station since she’d moved to Savannah. Tenacious. That was how Avalon would describe the other woman. Lynn never gave up on her cases. “June twelfth.” Two days after her birthday. Her parents had thrown a big party for her at the country club. All of her friends had been there.
And then, on the night of June twelfth, no one had been there.
She’d been alone and terrified.
Beau came.
Lynn’s brows climbed.
“It was a very hot night in New Orleans. One made even hotter by the fire that swept through my house and almost killed me. But Beau was there. A much younger Beau.” Her hands remained in her lap, hidden below the table. “He got me out of the house.”
Lynn turned and glanced at her partner. Now the partner? Campbell Cunningham? Avalon was not as much of a fan when it came to him. He tended to be a prick who made up his mind way too quickly about suspects. And he liked to maintain his high case-closure rate at all costs.
Lynn’s stare darted back to Avalon. “The arsonist who burned your home in the Garden District was never apprehended.”
She wasn’t surprised the detectives knew that bit about her past. Not like it would be hard to access the info. And, considering that last night?—
“Now two fires have been set in your homes. One when you were a teen, and one last night.” Campbell blinked his hazel eyes at her. Charming eyes. No, disarming eyes. Only they neither charmed nor disarmed her. “Two incidents and one common denominator.”
Yes. She’d figured this was coming. She glanced toward the clock on the wall. Almost nine thirty. And, just as she’d had the crazy thought last night as she fought with her attacker, she wondered…
What is taking you so long to arrive?—
Just as the door to the small interrogation room flew open. “I can’t believe you all had a party and didn’t invite me.” Beau filled the doorway. Seriously, filled it with his wide shoulders that brushed against the wood. He exhaled heavily. “I mean, come on. I was at the fire last night. If we’re going to get witness statements, shouldn’t I be invited to participate? Don’t you care at all about getting my story?”
Campbell’s chair legs screeched as he leapt to his feet. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
“Joining the party. Told you that already. Thought I was pretty clear and loudly vocal.” Beau didn’t even glance his way as he kicked the door shut and strolled for Avalon. His features darkened as he studied her face. “Sweetheart, you have shadows under your eyes.” He stopped near the table. “Didn’t sleep at all, did you?” His hand reached out, as if he’d touch her cheek.
The chair legs screeched again. She flinched.
Beau’s hand froze. “Busy doing research, were you? Too busy to sleep?” He leaned toward her. “Found out anything interesting?”
“Mr. LeBlanc!” Lynn’s sharp voice. “How did you even get access to this room?”
Avalon looked over at the female detective. The second bit of screeching had been Lynn’s chair shoving back as she leapt to her feet. Both detectives were clearly not pleased to have Beau present. Meanwhile, the tightness had finally eased from Avalon’s chest.
Knew he would come.
“Seriously?” Beau shook his head. “How did I get access? I opened the door and walked inside. It was easy.” Beau’s hand fell to his side. “I do know my way around this station pretty damn well.”
Because he’d been arrested again, not too long ago, on a different murder charge and booked in this exact station. But he’d been released fairly quickly that time. Cleared.
He is always cleared. Beau has never been convicted of any murder. Though he’d been suspected more than a few times.
He winked at her. “Stop looking like you’ve seen a ghost, sweetheart.”
Ghost wasn’t quite the right word she’d use for him.
“Walk back out the door! Get out of this room!” Campbell snapped. “We were in the middle of questioning a crime victim!”
Beau crossed his arms over his chest. “You need more sleep.” Words aimed at Avalon, just as his decisive nod was directed at her. “You can’t run on empty. And did you even have time for breakfast this morning?”
“I grabbed a croissant.”
“Chocolate?”
“Uh, yes, the nice manager, Percy, had them waiting for me.”
“Bonus for Percy.”
“Stop this! Out!” Campbell barked. “He needs to get out of here, now!”
Beau shook his head. “You just can’t make people happy in this world. Half the time, the cops are yelling at me for not cooperating.” His gaze slid carefully over Avalon’s face. Appeared to note every detail. “But the one time I come in, trying to help out and do my civic duty, they are eager to toss me out on the street. Seems wrong, doesn’t it?”
“We’re not tossing you anywhere!” Lynn declared. Her tone was far more controlled than her partner’s. “We simply want you to wait in another interrogation room until we are finished with Avalon.”
“Why?” Beau grabbed the chair that Campbell had discarded. The legs didn’t screech because he lifted the chair up and then put it down again right next to Avalon. When he sat in the chair, his shoulder brushed hers. “Talk to us together and you can get this question-and-answer session done in half the time. Way more efficient. Then Avalon can go back to her hotel and get some much needed rest.”
He was obsessing over her rest. “I’m fine.” Low.
“Bullshit.” Not low. Definitely annoyed.
“Avalon,” Campbell began. “We will take him to a holding area?—”
“I want him here.” Her words held hard determination. “Don’t take Beau anywhere.”
Beau sent her a wide smile. The one that made him look extra sexy. And dangerous. “So happy to be wanted,” he murmured. “Especially by you.”
Campbell’s face had turned an unnatural red.
“Breathe,” Beau advised as he glanced the other man’s way. “Because it looks like you might be in danger of passing out, my friend.”
“I am not your friend!” Campbell slapped his hands down on the table. “You’re trying to kill her!”
Beau’s head turned toward Avalon. “Is that what you believe? That I want to kill you?”
“The arsonist who set the fires long ago in New Orleans was never caught. Three people died in those fires.” Angry, brittle words from Campbell. “You lived in New Orleans at the time of those fires, didn’t you, Beau?”
Beau kept staring at Avalon. “I should have arrived sooner.”
Yes.
“I do apologize for the delay.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. Her gaze had been caught by his.
“I was at your house this morning. Wanted to see the damage.”
“You were at a crime scene?” Campbell sounded close to choking.
Beau didn’t respond to him. His focus remained on Avalon. “The damage was restricted to the first floor. I know some contractors who can get to work as soon as the cops and the arson investigator give the all clear. The place will be perfect again. But I need to warn you that there is one helluva lot of smoke and water damage.”
“Fucking crime scene. You don’t waltz into a crime scene!” Campbell was, once again, choking out the words.
“Never said I waltzed in.” An easy statement from Beau. “Lots of things can be seen from the outside.” His lips pulled down, then he told Avalon, “Your clothes will probably smell of smoke. I know you needed fresh things, so I had an associate pick up items in your size. Got them all ready for you. Everything in that house can be replaced, and it will be replaced, I promise you. By the time I’m done, it will be even better than it was before.”
Why? Why was he doing all of this for her?
“Avalon…” Softer. More controlled. Because the prompt came from Lynn, not her partner.
Avalon forced herself to look away from Beau and meet the detective’s watchful gaze.
Lynn sent her a reassuring smile. Nothing at all like the cocky, dead-sexy grin that Beau tended to flash. “Avalon, you told us that you’ve known Beau for years.”
The female detective had clearly decided to barrel on with her questions. Since Avalon had said she wanted Beau in the room with her—and Avalon wasn’t being charged with any crime, she was the victim, after all—the cops didn’t have much choice. Avalon inclined her head in response to the question.
“Have you been in communication with him for years?” Lynn prompted. A deliberate clarification.
Avalon’s hands remained beneath the table. She pressed her palms to the front of her new jeans. Beau knows so much about me.
And, now, she knew details about him, too. “I talked with him for the first time last night. The first time since I was a teenager, that is.” He’d vanished on me. Left me behind with the ashes.
“Last night?” Lynn wet her lips. “As in, right before your home was torched?”
“Yes. I went into LeBlanc’s, and I recognized him as soon as I saw him. I approached him. We started talking.” She didn’t think it was relevant to mention their kiss.
“You sick sonofabitch.” From Campbell. “You recognized her, too, didn’t you? The one who got away. So you saw her and all those old urges came rushing back. You knew you had to finish what you started and take her out!”
“I saved her.” Beau’s voice was mild. Total opposite of Campbell’s intensity. “Both times. I understand, though, detectives, that you see me as the villain, so I will break things down for you.” He rolled back his right shoulder.
The shoulder that got burned so long ago.
He turned to look at the detectives. “I was in the house with Avalon last night. The bastard who’d been waiting upstairs? He got out. Ran into the street. He was run over by a black, four-door vehicle, and the driver fled the scene.” He rattled off a make and model. “I was with Avalon during that whole fleeing-the-scene bit. I was also with her when the fire was set downstairs in her home. I was in her bedroom. We heard the flames ignite, and I knew I had to get her out of there.”
“He carried me out,” Avalon added.
“Like I would have ever left without you, sweetheart.”
Her stomach twisted.
“Again, detectives, I was upstairs when the fire ignited. Avalon verified that. I am a man of many talents, but it’s not like I can be in two places at once.”
“But you can have help.” A muscle flexed along Campbell’s jaw. “A man like you has plenty of flunkies ready to jump and do your bidding when you snap your fingers, right? Poor bastards like Slater Wade.”
“Flunkies. Did you really just use that word? With a straight face?” Beau questioned. “Who even are you?”
“Do you admit to knowing Slater Wade?”
Beau ran a hand over his jaw. The five o’clock shadow scraped against his fingers. “Is he playing the bad cop?” Beau asked Lynn with a grimace. “Or is he really just this shitty at his job?”
Campbell lunged?—
Lynn put a hand on his chest. “He’s antagonizing you, Cam.”
Beau shrugged. “Is that what I’m doing? And here I thought I was asking an extremely important question. One that has not yet been answered.”
“You should have been in jail by now,” Campbell fired at him. “We all know that you are guilty as hell. But you keep walking. Nothing sticks to you, does it? You think you can make the cops into jokes.”
“I’m not making you into anything. But from where I am sitting, you are doing an excellent job of making yourself into an ass.”
Avalon’s attention swung between them, and a dull ache began to grow behind her left eye. She definitely should have snagged the cup of coffee that Percy had offered to her before leaving the hotel.
“You going to pretend you did not know Slater Wade?” Campbell scoffed. “Because we’re looking into his life now. We’ll trace him back to you. Lying is useless.”
“Slater Wade.” Beau tasted the name. “That the dead man who was left in the street?”
A nod from Lynn.
“Can’t say the name rings a bell,” Beau retorted. “But good luck with that tracing. I will be very curious to see what you discover.”
Campbell growled.
Beau smiled.
And… “Enough!” Flat. Avalon was actually surprised the word came out so calm because calm was the last thing she felt. It was her training that kept the calm veneer in place. She’d dealt with too many killers to break apart when she was just facing cops. Cops and one annoyingly sexy blast from her past.
“But I was having fun,” Beau protested.
Yes, she knew he had been. “You were also being a deliberate dick.” She glanced over at a glowering Campbell. “So were you. Stop the BS and let’s get down to business. Beau didn’t start the fire at my place last night. For the record, he didn’t start the fire years ago, either.”
“And how the hell do you know he didn’t?” Dots of spittle came from Campbell’s mouth as he bit out the question.
“Because I saw his broken body when Beau got me out of the flames. He would have died to keep me safe.” He almost had. “He didn’t even know me back then. I was some random kid who was about to burn to death, and he ran into the fire to save me.” Her hero. That was what he’d been to her over the years. And despite what she’d learned about him…he still is. “Maybe you’ve got a hard-on to toss him into jail, but you aren’t getting him for the arsons, Detective Cunningham. I believe in Beau’s innocence, one hundred percent.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Beau stiffen. But she didn’t look his way again, not yet. He needed to see that the cops could help them. She understood that cops had been his enemies for most of his life, but not every cop was out to get him.
Or, at least, not right now, they didn’t have to be.
She cleared her throat. “Slater Wade.” The name made her chest ache because she could see him in her mind. Could feel him as he gripped her, and the terror slid through her veins once again. “I don’t recognize the name. I’m assuming you’re searching his home.”
“Got uniforms there now.” Lynn tilted her head to the side. “Guy has a rap sheet a mile long. Started when he was thirteen. Boosting cars and petty theft.” One eyebrow quirked. “But unlike others with a similar start, this appears to have been Slater’s first brush with the big time.”
“The big time,” Beau repeated, and he did not sound amused. “You think telling a woman that she is going to burn, breaking into her home and assaulting her…you think that’s big time?” Anger rumbled in each word. But it was a carefully contained rage.
That was the way she kept feeling about Beau. Like he was contained. Holding something back.
“He’d never had a murder charge on him and from what we can tell, Slater never was linked to any arsons.”
“Flunky,” Beau said. He pointed at Campbell. “Your word, but clearly, that’s what Slater was. Only he wasn’t working for me. My money is on the bastard who ran him down and made sure Slater couldn’t talk to any cops. Or to me. Because I am quite effective at getting reluctant witnesses to talk in the right situations.”
Lynn’s lips tightened. “I’m sure you are.”
Campbell grunted.
“By any chance…” Avalon licked her lower lip. “Did Slater have a brother?”
“He has no living family at all,” Lynn told her. “So, that story you said the attacker fed you about covering for his brother? Total BS.”
Good to know.
“Oh, come on. We all knew the prick was lying about that detail. Even the uniforms on scene last night thought it was crap.” Beau waved his hand vaguely in the air. “It’s sort of strange trying to see things from your perspective, detectives. Got to tell you, I am not impressed with your interview style. Here, how about I help things along, so we are not just stuck in this crappy room all day?” He angled closer to Avalon and lasered his focus on her. “Who are your enemies?”
“I don’t have enemies.”
“Bullshit. We all have enemies. Hell, I’ve got a list that stretches for two states. At least. So, let’s try again.”
Her shoulders tensed.
“Who have you pissed off most recently? Everyone in this room knows you get off on chatting it up with the most dangerous criminals out there.”
“Case in point,” Campbell muttered. “The prick sitting right next to you.”
“He’s still pushing me…” Beau didn’t glance Campbell’s way. “Here I am, trying to play nicely, while he is still being the douche cop—sorry, the bad cop.” The words were mocking, but his gaze was dead serious.
He wanted to know her enemies.
Don’t you already know? She had the feeling he knew everything about her. Even her bra size. Because he had just casually announced moments before that he’d picked up new clothes in her size for her. Avalon had caught that slip. But she didn’t question him about the clothes—that would come later. Instead, she said, “Everett Thomas.” He could count as a potential enemy. “I was interviewing him recently. When I left, he wasn’t…pleased with me.” Understatement.
“Why?” Beau’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, look, I just asked your favorite question.”
She was aware of the cops watching them, but her attention centered completely on Beau. Every breath she took seemed to pull her a little closer to him. His heat reached out and curled around her. “He wanted me to prove his innocence. I told him that wasn’t possible.”
“Why not?” Beau waited.
“Because I happen to think he’s guilty as hell. I wasn’t in that prison to help him. I wanted to figure out who’d left him practically gift wrapped for the cops.” Am I looking at that person?
Beau’s lips started to curl.
“Everett tried to scare me.”
Beau’s smile froze.
“He slammed his fists onto the table. Thought he’d make me flinch. It takes a lot more than that to rattle me.” Campbell had pulled a similar move. Some people liked to intimidate with their size.
Some used other means.
Beau nodded. “He wanted you scared, but you told Everett to fuck off. You weren’t helping him.”
“And he told me to find the sonofabitch who’d taken him down. Then…” She watched Beau carefully. “Then he suggested I cut out his intestines and tie them in a bow.”
Silence.
Beau had leaned toward her even more.
She’d leaned toward him.
His expression hadn’t changed. His eyes, though, they seemed darker. Deeper. She wanted to read the emotions in his gaze. Normally, she was so good at reading emotions, but this time, she just couldn’t gauge what he was feeling.
“Ahem.”
Beau and Avalon turned their heads toward Lynn.
“Is this some weird foreplay for them?” Campbell asked as he scratched his chin.
“I have no idea.” Lynn shook her head. “But I’d like to get back to my murder investigation. Seeing as how Everett Thomas is locked in a maximum-security prison, I don’t really think he’s the man we’re after, so how about we focus on other enemies that you may have, all right, Avalon?”
But Beau laughed. The deep, rough sound held no humor. “Like prison can stop you from getting what you want.” He rose. And when he did, his hand slid out. His knuckles trailed over Avalon’s cheek. “You say the right word—or the wrong word—to certain individuals. And you can get plenty of people on the outside to do your dirty work for you.”
“Speaking from experience, are you?” Campbell’s forehead scrunched with obvious suspicion.
“Oh, come on. You know I’m right. That’s why you need to pay Everett a visit. Or why we do.” His hand lingered against her skin. “You can get a meeting with him, can’t you, Avalon?”
Yes, she could. With a few phone calls, she could make it happen.
“Take me with you, and I’ll find out if Everett put a hit on you.”
She sucked in a breath. “He…he wouldn’t have been able to put out a hit so quickly.” She’d just talked with him.
Beau’s expression said, yes, he would have. “He sent you out to search bars. Gave you such a helpful list of places to visit. We all know the best time to search bars is at night.”
Yes.
“While you were out searching at night, Everett knew your place would be empty. So he could’ve had Slater lying in wait for you. A guy like Everett loves to play with his prey. He tortured his victims. I saw all that shit in the news. He liked to become their nightmares before he killed them.” His hand slowly lowered. “We both know what your nightmare is, sweetheart.”
Fire.
“Ahem.” From Lynn again. “Can’t help but notice, that’s the second time you have called her sweetheart. But here I thought the two of you just encountered each other again last night.”
“Wrong,” Beau replied.
“Oh?” And Campbell sprang for the attack. “So you admit that you did encounter each other before?—”
“I called her sweetheart four times, not two. You should both pay better attention. Don’t get details wrong. Details matter. They can be the devil, but they matter.” He swung for the door. “Let’s speed things along, shall we? Avalon isn’t currently dating anyone. There’s no angry ex who would want to hurt her. She doesn’t usually tell her exes about her past. Fire makes for terrible after-sex talk.”
Avalon rose.
“She has a very small circle of friends. They’re super protective of her. She doesn’t trust easily, so it is very hard to gain access to that coveted inner circle.” He was almost at the door. “Her enemies are the killers she talks to in jail. Killers who get off on having a beautiful woman so close as they tell her every sick piece of their crimes. Those are the ones we need to focus on. Those bastards, and, of course, him.” Beau was right in front of the door.
Is he leaving me?
“Him?” Lynn asked.
Beau glanced over his shoulder. But his eyes didn’t go to the detective. Instead, his dark gaze went unerringly to Avalon. “You’ve been hunting him, haven’t you?”
She couldn’t pull in a deep enough breath.
“Oh, sweetheart…” Now his eyes did flicker—only briefly—toward Lynn. “Time number five,” he murmured. Then his eyes were back on Avalon. “Digging up the past can cause it to bite you—or burn you, in this case—right in the ass. But you knew that, didn’t you? And you still took the risk.”
“Him?” Campbell demanded. “Wait, you are not seriously suggesting that—that what? That the man who burned her house when she was a teenager set the fire again last night? That’s—that’s?—”
“One option, yes.” Beau opened the door. “I’ll be sure and investigate that option. Don’t you worry. And I have plenty of flunkies, uh, I mean friends, who can help me out.” He stepped over the threshold.
He’s leaving me.
Was she just going to let him walk away? “Beau!”
His broad back tensed. “I have a limo waiting outside for you. You’ll find your fresh clothes and plenty of toiletry items in a new suitcase in that limo. When you’re done here, the limo will take you wherever you want to go. The driver is also a fully trained bodyguard, so you will be protected.”
“I…” Avalon stopped. I want to go with you. But she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t just leave the cops.
Could she?
He walked out.
And all the light in the room seemed to get a little dimmer. Avalon realized that she was staring after him. She whipped her head toward the detectives.
Campbell was still glaring at the doorway. But Lynn was watching Avalon.
Lynn nodded. “You invited him home with you last night.”
“I…” Didn’t. He followed me.
“Wasn’t sure I believed the story when I first read the report from the uniforms, but after seeing the two of you together, now I do.” Lynn dipped her head toward Avalon. “A word of advice?”
She had locked her feet to the floor so she didn’t run after Beau. What in the hell was that about?
“The dangerous ones often have a certain appeal. But you have to remember, we call them dangerous for a reason.”
Avalon lifted her chin. “I know how to handle dangerous individuals. I’ve been doing it my whole adult life.”
“Sure, but, remember that anyone can be caught off-guard. Maybe it’s by a dangerous individual who waits in a darkened bedroom for you.”
Like Slater had done.
“Or maybe it’s by a dangerous individual who slips past your guard because he might just have the sexiest smile you’ve ever seen.”
Campbell coughed.
Lynn rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m a cop, not dead.”
Anger hummed in Avalon’s blood. “Beau isn’t a threat to me.” And was she actually feeling a lick of jealousy? Because Lynn had noticed Beau’s smile? I definitely should have gotten coffee this morning.
“Not a threat? Ha! Keep telling yourself that,” Campbell muttered.
He isn’t. But he is a threat to whoever set that fire last night. Her gaze darted to the clock on the left wall. “Let’s finish up these questions. I have a limo waiting and places to be.” And a hero to go track down.
Because Beau was not going to leave her with the cops while he conducted the hunt on his own. Oh, hell, no.
And she’d been able to tell by the look in his eyes that he absolutely, one hundred percent planned to hunt. Beau was going after the arsonist. She intended to be with him every step of the way.
Avalon burst out of the police station as if the fires of hell were chasing her. The detectives had questioned her again and again, and most of their questions had focused on Beau. Dammit, if they wanted to know so much about him, why not just interrogate Beau? But, oh, no, they’d just let him waltz right out of the place.
She’d lost too much time.
She bounded down the steps and went straight for the promised limo. A big, tall, muscled male in a gray shirt and holey jeans lounged near the side of the long, black ride. When he saw her coming, he just casually reached out and opened the door.
“Took you long enough,” he announced with a sigh. “I was starting to get damn bored. Not like I love just hanging out in front of police stations.”
“Well, hello to you, too,” she returned without missing a beat. “Look, I really need to speak with Beau, immediately.” She stopped in front of him. Looked up. He was nearly as tall as Beau. “I’m betting you know exactly where your boss is right now.”
“Oh, I have a few ideas.” His hair was a darker, dirtier blond than Beau’s. But that faint drawl was very, very similar. “Hop in.”
She hesitated.
His soft laughter drifted to her. “Do you see any other limos waiting out here? Because I don’t. I am your ride. Beau told you I’d be here. He told you to get inside when you were done chatting it up with the cops. He said you could trust me.”
Nope. “He never said I could trust you.”
“Well, that shit is just hurtful.” One hand went fleetingly to his heart. “When it comes to you, I’ve been doing bodyguard duty for ages, and he should be more grateful…and trusting.” A long sigh. “Whatever. We gonna keep standing here all day or are you getting in the limo?”
She looked back at the police station.
“Surprise, surprise,” the driver-slash-bodyguard softly exclaimed. “They followed you. Bet they wanted to see me.”
She looked back at him in time to catch him waving to the watching detectives. “Love the new haircut, Lynn. Looks freakishly hot on you.”
“Who are you?” Avalon breathed.
“Consider me your hero’s brother from another mother. Now, I’m starting to sweat. In or out?”
She glanced at the open door. “In.” Avalon dove inside.
And she pretty much landed right in Beau’s lap.
“Took you long enough,” he said.
The door closed behind her.