Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
F or the next few hours after breakfast, Beth worked on the spreadsheet up in her office while he went through his normal chore list.
To be honest, he was really enjoying being at home so much. In the past few years, he’d taken on more hours at the camp than he should have. If he was being honest with himself, it was because he’d wanted to be around Beth more, and to make sure she was safe.
Lunchtime came and he carried a turkey sandwich, chips, and baby carrots with hummus up to her room with a glass of strawberry lemonade. When he knocked on the door to her office, she called out for him to come in. She took her eyes off the screen as he set the food down next to her.
“Wow, you didn’t have to do this. I was going to come down and take a break.” She picked up the drink and took a sip. “Are these fresh strawberries?” She looked at the glass.
“Yeah, I picked them earlier.” He smiled and sat down in the chair next to her.
“Did you already eat?” she asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.
“Yeah, a while ago. I figured you were engrossed in your numbers.”
“I’ve only been gone for a few days, and they’ve managed to mess everything up.” She waved to the screen.
“I guess it’s a good thing you like working from home.” He shifted slightly. “Why don’t you do it more often?”
She shrugged and took another bite of the sandwich. “They need me at the front desk. Besides, I like greeting the guests.” She was quite for a heartbeat before asking. “You like working at the camp, right?”
“Love it,” he admitted quickly.
“You left the precinct to work at the camp?”
He nodded. “Brett and I go way back. When he called, I’d been looking for an out. Being a cop was…” His eyes met hers. “Disappointing. There were a handful of bad apples that ruined it for me.”
“Like Ian?” she asked and he nodded.
“After what happened to Lea…” He dropped off. She was looking down at her sandwich and nodded. “That was terrible. Knowing that so many people were corrupt.”
“I couldn’t, with a clear conscience, continue to fight the system while being shoved in the background. Like I said, I was looking for an out.” He shifted. “The camp is the relaxed atmosphere I was looking for. Besides, I got to be around you.” He smiled.
When a message popped up on her screen, he motioned. “I’ll let you get back to it. Let me know if you need a refill.” He stood up and walked out.
After he left her, he when into his own office to manage his bills.
His parents hadn’t been rich by any means, but his inheritance had left him cushioned for the rest of his life.
He’d paid off the land and his truck and then had invested the rest in a couple of very smart choices, which had paid off more than he could have dreamed.
Working at the camp wasn’t a necessity. It was as much a hobby as him playing guitar and tinkering with the furniture. Without it, he probably would have slowly gone insane and been lonely. Besides, he enjoyed hanging out with his friends and being around Beth all the time.
When he finished up with his budget and bills, he went into the living room and snuggled on the sofa with Nutmeg to watch the news.
A few minutes later, the anchor’s calm voice cut into his thoughts.
“We have new developments in the fire that destroyed a second-floor apartment and a beloved local bookstore in Pelican Point last week.”
Aaron’s body went rigid. His eyes locked on the TV, Nutmeg shifting against his leg when he sat forward. So far they had yet to hear anything more from the police about the fire. He hadn’t thought much of it, since he figured it was taking a while for them to determine just how the fire started.
The screen flickered to a still image of Beth’s old building, charred windows gaping like empty eyes, next to an image of the building before. A banner rolled across the bottom: Investigation Continues Into Suspicious Fire.
The anchor went on, “Authorities released surveillance footage recovered from the bookstore’s security system. Though the video quality is grainy, it may provide critical leads.”
Aaron’s jaw tightened. He knew before the video even started who he was about to see.
The footage began. The angle was high in the outside corner of the bookstore, showing the staircase that led up to Beth’s apartment. The timestamp in the corner ticked away.
For a long moment, the space was quiet, nothing but the faint outline of bookshelves in the shadows. Then, movement.
A tall figure entered the frame. Even blurred by the camera, Aaron would have recognized the shape of Ian anywhere.
Broad shoulders, square build, beefy no-neck with arms like a gorilla.
That cocky, self-assured gait of his was a dead giveaway as well.
But what sealed it was the way he paused at the base of the stairs, glancing around as if checking for witnesses.
Then he pulled something dark from his jacket pocket, a mask. Slowly, deliberately, he tugged it over his face.
Aaron’s hand curled into a fist on his thigh.
The masked figure turned, took the stairs two at a time, and easily unlocked her apartment door as if he had a set of keys.
The video fast-forwarded, the timestamp rolling nearly ten minutes ahead before the camera caught motion again.
The same figure came barreling back down the stairs, faster this time, clumsy almost. His foot caught on the bottom step and he stumbled forward.
The camera caught him perfectly, mask slipping slightly as he went sprawling onto his hands and knees. For a frozen second, the side of his face was clear in the flickering light.
Ian.
Aaron’s chest clenched, a fierce mix of triumph and rage.
On screen, Ian scrambled upright, yanked the mask back into place, and bolted towards the door. The frame shuddered as he shoved it open and disappeared into the night.
The anchor’s voice returned, calm and measured. “Authorities urge anyone with additional information to come forward. While officials have not publicly identified the individual in the video, they have confirmed the fire is now being treated as arson.”
Aaron muted the TV, his pulse thundering in his ears.
Why in the hell hadn’t they arrested Ian yet? They had to know it was him. Anyone with eyes and a brain would know. Hell, the fact that both he and Brett had mentioned seeing him at the scene and that Beth had mentioned his name when she’d woken up should have been reason enough for questioning.
Add all the restraining orders and court dates Beth had had over the years to keep the man away from her, and you’ve got enough to lock the man up for a few nights at least.
He sat back slowly, dragging a hand over his mouth. Finally, finally, the bastard had slipped up. There was proof. Not just rumors, not just suspicions. Real, tangible evidence that Ian had been there, right as the fire had started.
Nutmeg whined, sensing his tension, and nudged his arm. He absently scratched her ears, his mind already racing.
Beth.
She needed to know. But he also knew what seeing that footage might do to her. The nightmare she’d had last night was proof enough of how deep Ian’s grip still reached. Still, he’d promised her that he wouldn’t keep her in the dark. No secrets.
He exhaled sharply, steadying himself. This changed everything.
And one way or another, Ian was going to go down.
He was still sitting there, jaw tight, the echo of Ian’s face burned into his vision, when the sound of soft footsteps hit the stairs. He turned just as Beth appeared at the bottom, pale and stricken, her hand gripping the railing like she needed it to hold her up.
One look at her and he knew.
“Zoey called,” she said, her voice thin, like it barely held together. “She told me there is footage of Ian sneaking into my apartment. I, I had to see it for myself.” Her eyes darted to the muted TV screen, then back to him. “She said it was on the news.”
“Yeah, I just saw it,” he said quickly, rising to his feet to walk over to her. He didn’t want her thinking he’d hidden it from her, not even for a second. “I was about to come tell you.”
She nodded once, but her shoulders were trembling. “Can you… show me?”
He helped her over to the sofa, then sat next to her and hesitated only long enough to brace himself. Then he unmuted the TV, grabbed the remote, and rewound the segment on his cable provider.
They sat side by side, his arm hovering near her back, close enough to steady her if she faltered. The footage rolled again, the bookstore stairwell, the dark figure, the mask sliding into place, the way he moved like he owned the place.
Beth’s breath hitched when Ian easily unlocked her door. He hit pause.
“How did he get a key?” she whispered.
“That’s a damned good question.”
“I only had one. Even my landlord…” She paled further. “Linda, she owned the bookstore downstairs. You don’t think she’d give him a copy, do you?”
“We can call her and ask,” he suggested.
“Keep going.” She motioned towards the television. He hit play again and they watched as Ian stumbled on the bottom step and his face flashed in the grainy light. Her knuckles went white around the back of the sofa.
“It is him,” she whispered. “It’s obviously him.”
Aaron put a hand over hers, firm and grounding. “Yeah. It’s Ian. No question.”
Without waiting, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Brett. His friend answered on the second ring.
“Tell me you watched the news,” Aaron said without preamble.
“I’m watching it now,” Brett growled. “Son of a bitch.”
“Do you think you can come over here,” Aaron asked, glancing over at Beth. “We need more eyes on this and power when we call the police over to file an official report.”
“On our way.” Brett hung up before Aaron could ask who the “our” was.
Half an hour later, the house was full. Brett, Zoey, Elle, Hannah, Scarlett, Aubrey, Dylan, Liam, Levi, and Owen all crammed onto the living room and kitchen. The footage played again on the TV as the group rewatched the scenes in grim silence.
When it ended, Zoey was the first to speak. “That’s him. No way it’s not.”
“Agreed,” Brett said, arms crossed, his expression carved in stone. “You could pick Ian’s lumbering ass out of a lineup from a mile away.”
Owen leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “You’re telling me the department hasn’t picked him up yet? This is textbook arson. Hell, it’s textbook attempted murder and it’s all on video.”
Aaron’s teeth ground together. “They’ve had his name from day one. Beth named him the night of the fire. And they still haven’t touched him.”
Levi let out a sharp bitter laugh. “It’s because he’s one of their own.”
Beth flinched, and Aaron immediately shifted closer, brushing his hand down her arm in reassurance.
“Not anymore,” Aaron said, his voice like steel. “He’s burned too many bridges. They can’t cover for him on this forever.”
Brett pulled out his phone. “Let’s make it official. I’m calling the police station and having a the chief come take all our statements. Hell, we’ll all sign affidavits saying it’s him and file them with the courts.”
“Agreed,” several people said quickly.
When the police finally arrived, the tension in the room was thick enough to choke on. Aaron and the others laid Beth’s history, the restraining orders, which she had reprinted from her emails, her feeling that Ian was present the night of the fire, and now this footage.
The chief and two of his officers exchanged a glance that Aaron didn’t like one damn bit.
“We’ll look into it,” the chief said carefully.
Beth sat up straighter. “Look into it? You saw the same footage we did. That was Ian. Both of you know he’s my ex-husband.
He’s broken into my last two apartments and when I filed reports against him, you did nothing.
I have restraining orders against him and when he breaks them, you look the other way. ”
“Now, ma’am, we don’t like interfer?—”
“Bullshit,” she broke in, shocking everyone in the room. “It’s literally your job to protect women like me from men like him. Either you and your department are complicit in helping him terrorize me, or your scared of him yourself.”
That seemed to hit the mark. All three men straightened up a little.
“What are you going to do if he gets his hands on me? What if I’d died that night?
What if he kills me?” She motioned to her friends surrounding her.
“I can guarantee everyone in this room will shout about your ‘not wanting to interfere’ to all the media outlets and, most importantly, to the courts. She took a step forward and lowered her voice. So the question you should be asking yourself is whether you can you afford not to do anything.”
The chief shifted, his voice dipping into that cautious, patronizing tone Aaron knew too well. “We have to be careful here, Ms. Thorne.”
“God damn it, Jerry,” Brett broke in, “you know as well as everyone in the station that Beth and Ian have been divorced for almost five years.”
The chief nodded. “Miss Ellison, given your history with Officer Thorne…”
“He should be ex-officer Thorne at this point,” Aaron cut in, his voice sharp as glass, “if you want to save yourself and the county from a lawsuit.”
The man’s eyes moved to him and seemed to still. “I’m just saying that emotions can cloud judgment. We need to be absolutely certain before moving forward with any action.”
Aaron’s vision went red for a second, and he had to curl his fists at his sides to keep from stepping closer. “You’ve got a video of him going in with a mask. You’ve got him coming out minutes before the fire. You’ve got a documented history of harassment. What the hell more do you need?”
The younger of the two officers had the decency to look uncomfortable. The chief just said, “We’ll review the evidence. That’s all I can tell you for now.”
And with that, they left, like they hadn’t just brushed off the most damning evidence Aaron had ever seen in his life.
The room was silent after the door clicked shut.
Beth’s voice was the one that broke it, soft but shaking. “They’re not going to do anything, are they?”
Aaron turned to her, anger and resolve burning hot in his chest. “Oh, they will. One way or another, they will.”
“I’m calling my lawyer,” Owen said. He took his phone and stepped out the back door.
“What now?” Beth turned to him, fear clear in her eyes. “What happens now?”