Chapter 16
KEVIN LAY awake, listening for any sound that shouldn’t be there.
Carter was in one of the other rooms, and the entire fire department as well as the police were on alert.
The thing was, he had already tired of this routine.
It has been two days since the announcement, and nothing had happened.
He really had thought that some sort of action would be forthcoming.
Instead, there had been nothing, and he was beginning to get nervous that he’d misread the situation.
“Have you heard or seen anything?” Carter asked as he passed outside the door.
“No,” Kevin told him. “There has been no alert on any of the motion sensors in the yard or along the sides of the house. Maybe they saw through us and didn’t take the bait.”
“I’m beginning to wonder myself,” Carter told him.
“I’ve been going through all the known employees of Kraft and Hobson, trying to see if anyone jumps out at me, and nothing has.
I mean, there are some sketchy characters on the payroll, but no one with a history of arson.
Most of what I found was petty-type crime and a few guys who are on parole.
But if they try anything, they’ll be back behind bars. ”
Kevin got out of bed. “Do you want coffee or something to drink? I was going to try to rest, but it isn’t happening.”
“Sure. But I think we should look as quiet and dark as possible, so don’t turn on any lights, and try to stay away from the windows.
” It was after midnight, and they were hoping that someone would try something so they could get their hands on them and find out once and for all what the hell all this was about.
“I got it.” He went downstairs to the kitchen, started the coffee maker, and grabbed a couple of mugs.
He poured the coffee once it was done and returned upstairs to give a mug to Carter.
Then he went to his room, leaving the door open and sitting on the side of the bed, trying not to wonder when something would happen.
“With this type of thing, the waiting is always the hardest part. It can sometimes get under your skin. You have to be patient and drink plenty of coffee. Go on to bed and get some rest. If anything happens, I’ll get you up right away.
There’s no sense in both of us sitting up all night if nothing is going to happen.
” Carter left, and Kevin drank his coffee and then got back in bed.
He thought about calling Willy, but it was awfully late, and he was likely in bed, right where he should be. He did send him a text that he was thinking of him and missing him. Fortunately he didn’t get a response, which probably meant he was asleep.
Kevin was about to set his phone aside when dots appeared in the chat window. He waited for the message to come through.
There is someone outside the house. I don’t know who they are, but I saw a shadow move across the curtains. Benjamin just raced into my bedroom and is growling like crazy.
Kevin jumped out of bed. “Carter, get someone over to Willy’s. There’s someone outside his place.”
“On it,” Carter said as Kevin pulled on his pants. “Don’t think about going anywhere,” he added.
“But I need to get over there,” Kevin told him as he pulled on his shirt.
“It could be a diversion intended to get you over there. We stay here. Red is going to check it out with another unit. The fire department is being alerted just in case. So we stay here and see if they try anything.” Carter hurried toward him.
“One rules of the stakeout is you don’t leave your post. Stick with the assignment. ”
Kevin wanted to protest, but Carter held up his hand as he talked on the phone.
“What’s happening?” Kevin said frantically, ready to race to the door as Carter went silent. He shook his head and listened a little more.
“Red is almost there. The other unit arrived, and someone jumped the fence out of the backyard. They are giving chase….” He continued to listen and then smiled. “Kit has the suspect in custody,” he reported.
“Good. Is there anyone else?”
Carter shook his head. “They don’t believe so, but they’re going to search just in case.”
Kevin called Willy, who answered immediately. “They got someone, and the dogs are going nuts. At least they aren’t barking, but they’re pacing through the house, and there are enough flashing lights to wake the entire neighborhood.”
“So you and the kids are okay? It’s quiet here so far. Carter says I need to stay here and stick to my post.”
“Yes, you do. One of the officers needs to speak to me. I’ll call you back in a little while.
” Willy sounded confident. Kevin, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck.
He shoved his phone in his pocket and went downstairs, cautiously peeking out without moving the curtains.
The front of the house was quiet, with no one moving.
Next he checked the side and then the backyard, both of which were quiet.
“Nothing else right now. They have searched around the house and found no one else,” Carter explained.
“I’m wondering if this is it or if they were just trying to scare us,” Kevin said.
“I wish I knew. Red and the guys will locate a vehicle if there is one and then search it. We’ll see how much we can get out of our suspect and then go from there.
Maybe this is it, but I’m not particularly hopeful.
It feels like an opening move to me, especially since two of the notes came to Willy’s place.
” As much as Kevin hated it, he knew Carter was probably right.
Still, he worried that Willy and the kids were in danger, and that sent a chill up his back.
The last thing he wanted was to bring this to their doorstep. They had already been through enough.
The scent of gasoline caught in the air, and Kevin stilled. “Someone is here,” he told Carter, who got on his phone.
“Code Red,” Carter said as they hurried to the back of the house, where the scent was growing stronger. “Accelerant used. Get here now.” He turned to Kevin. “Go out the front. Somone will be here in moments.”
Kevin glared at Carter. “Bullshit. Come on. We have to get this guy before the house goes up.”
Carter pulled out his gun. “Stay behind me,” he said softly before easing open the back door. Kevin knew he was waiting for something to happen, but it was quiet… for a moment.
“Fucking hell,” someone whispered under their breath out in the yard. “Goddamn roses” followed.
Kevin motioned to exactly where he was. Fortunately the idiot had gotten caught in the wild roses that filled one corner of the yard and were covered in small thorns that grabbed anyone who got close.
Carter made his way to the corner of the house and peered around the edge of the wall. Kevin stayed still, bracing for the whoosh of ignition, his heart pounding, and yet his mind was clear and ready.
“Freeze, this is the police,” Carter said. Through the windows in the sun room, Kevin saw the red plastic can drop to the ground, spattering gasoline out of the spout.
The man took off like the hounds of hell were after him, racing for the back gate, which he might have left open after jimmying the lock, but the thing had a tendency to close on its own because of how it was weighted.
Seeing his escape route blocked, he veered to the side of the yard and then made a break toward the front.
Kevin was ready for him, pushing the fleeing man as soon as he got close enough.
He went sprawling through Kevin’s barberry bushes and fell against the fence. Carter was right there to cuff him.
“Jesus, this fucking yard hurts,” the suspect groused as Carter got him out of the flower bed.
Other officers burst through the gate, with two of them taking custody of the suspect and getting him out of the yard.
The fire department arrived next, and they foamed the back of the house.
The plants under the back sunroom windows and the siding on that side of the house would need to be replaced, but at least for the moment, everything was reasonably safe.
“How close did he get?” Kevin asked Chase, who stood looking at the foam that was absorbing much of the gasoline.
“All he needed to do was light it. But he really didn’t know what he was doing. This was no professional job. If he wanted to set the house on fire, he could have done it closer to the front. Sure, this would have gone up….”
“But it was an addition some years ago.”
Chase nodded. “Yeah. We’d have been here before this had a real chance to spread.”
“Maybe now we’ll be able to learn what was going on and more about why Willy’s building and the others were being burned.”
“I would hope so,” Carter said as he joined them.
“The other suspect lawyered up, and we expect this one to do the same. But we can still pit the two of them against each other to see what we can get. Red is pretty good at that sort of thing.” He shared a smile with them.
“At least we have them, and hopefully we can all sleep a little better at night.”
“I sure as hell hope so,” Kevin said. He stepped back and pulled out his phone to call Willy. “It’s over.”
“Did they come there too?” Willy asked.
“Yeah. I think they figured they needed to try for both places to be safe, but we were ready and got them. I’m safe. We did our part to help catch them, and now the police will do their bit to make sure they don’t do this again.”
“Thank God,” Willy said softly. “Are you going to come over?”
Kevin lowered his voice. “Just as soon as they’re done with me here.
” He needed to see Willy and make sure he was all right.
He needed to hold him tightly, smell his hair, and feel his smooth skin against his.
He had to know Willy was truly okay, and he wasn’t going to be able to relax for a moment until he did.
KEVIN WOKE in Willy’s bed but found his boyfriend missing.
He stretched and listened. Sure enough, laughter and giggles reached his ears.
He was safe, and so were Willy, Grant, and April.
He missed Willy already, but the aches in certain places reminded him that Willy had been a wild man once they had gotten alone behind closed doors.
He had been very sexily insistent on who was doing the driving.
Kevin smiled to himself and got out of bed, dressed, and went to join the others.
The kids were at breakfast as though nothing had happened, but Willy was ghostly white and seemed on one hell of an edge. Not that Kevin blamed him after last night. He had tossed and turned next to him for hours. “When is your first class today?”
“Nine,” he said softly. “I’ll be okay. It was a straining night, but the police got the suspects. I’m sure they haven’t learned much from them, judging by the fact that the guy here was already asking for a lawyer before they even had him in the police car.”
“Did they find their car?” Kevin asked. He had been too intent on getting to Willy to ask him last night.
Willy nodded. “It was a block away, and they already had it towed and searched it. I don’t know what they found, but Red seemed pleased, so I’m willing to bet they have enough to get tall, dark, and creepy to talk.”
“Did you see him?” Kevin gathered Willy in his arms just because he needed to hold him.
Willy nodded slowly and looked at the kids. Kevin took the hint and didn’t press with more questions. “Red says that he’ll call later to provide an update as soon as he can.”
“Okay.” He wished he knew what he could do to bring this whole thing to an end.
“They did say that once they found the car, they thought that there had been a third person. They said there were signs of someone else but that they couldn’t find them. So maybe they got scared off.” He sounded hopeful.
“Daddy, who got scared?” Grant asked as he munched on a french toast stick.
“No one. Finish eating so I can take you and your sister to school.” Willy’s voice was gentle, but there was no missing the nervous undertones. He slipped away and got the kids to finish their breakfast. Then he got them dressed and packed their lunches.
“I don’t know what to do,” he finally said as he put Grant’s lunch in his backpack. “Should I stay home from school in case they come back? If I don’t, I’m going to worry that someone is going to come and burn us out of our home again. And….”
“Go on with your life as best you can. I have to go back to my place, but I’ll ask Carter about having someone keep an eye on things here.
” This was turning into a real production.
“Don’t worry. Just call me between classes, and I’ll let you know any updates that I have.
” He hoped he was giving Willy the right advice.
Drawing closer, he pulled Willy into a hug and kissed him. “This will be over soon.”
“How do you know?” Willy asked.
“Because both guys in custody are going to want to save their own skin, and that means that they’ll flip on anyone they can, so I don’t think we have to worry about this any longer.
They walked right into a trap, and now we have enough evidence to put them away for a long time.
Arson is one thing, but what they did by trying to burn people’s homes is likely to be termed attempted murder, and that’s going to carry a whole lot of repercussions. ”
“I know this is over.” He released a deep breath. “And I’ll be okay. It will just take a little time for the immediacy of the situation to fade.” Willy looked into his eyes. “What is it? You look… scared.”
“Is all of this too much?” Kevin asked. “I’ll understand if it is and if you need to walk away. I get it. This sort of thing is more than most people bargain for. I know that being with a firefighter is going to be….” He didn’t know exactly what word to use.
“Special?” Willy supplied, to Kevin’s surprise. “How about hot?”
“Who’s hot?” Grant asked. “I not hot.”
“Just eat your breakfast,” Willy told him.
“We have to go soon.” He finished getting the kids’ bags ready and took Kevin’s hand.
“We need to talk about everything, but not right now. I have to get these two to school, and then I need to get to the college in time for class. You need to go to the fire station and get in touch with the police to find out what’s going on. We’ll meet back here for dinner?”
“That would be great.” Kevin took a quick kiss and then left Willy’s and headed to the station. He had plenty of work to do and reports that would need to be made. Nothing was ever finished until the mountains of paperwork were done.