Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
To Do:
- Grocery list for CA
- Does Winston count as a carry-on?
- Ship binders
A rough tongue on her elbow roused Claire from sleep. Sunlight streamed through the window, and a disgruntled corgi stared back at her. Rosie whined and nudged her. Apparently she had decided it was time for breakfast.
Claire sat up in bed. The dresser Luke had moved in front of the bedroom door was still there, and none of the bedroom windows were cracked. Aha! She hadn’t sleepwalked despite the mountain of stress. Who needed medication now, Dr. Goulding?
Out of habit, she picked up her phone. There was an excellent chance half a dozen emails from Brad would litter her inbox.
Her stomach dropped.
“That’s weird.”
“Huh?” Luke grunted, head under a pillow. Rosie leapt onto the bed and licked his earlobe.
“I have all these voicemails. I thought maybe Brad was trying to get in contact, but none of these are from him. There’s one from my landlord for the warehouse. He hasn’t called me in years.”
He couldn’t care less what she did as long as she kept the rent checks coming. She jumped out of bed and stood, playing the one from the landlord on speaker.
“Miss Hartley, this is Mr. Dressler, your landlord. We need you to come down to the warehouse as soon as you can. There’s been a fire.”
The phone slipped from Claire’s fingers. Her knees went weak, and she crashed to the floor. Luke grabbed her arm and spoke to her, but everything was muffled like she was underwater. The edges of her vision went spotty and dark.
“Breathe, Claire. Just breathe.” Luke knelt next to her on the carpet. Rosie jumped and licked at her face. Winston whined from his bed in the corner.
She grabbed Luke’s hand and stared, hard, into his eyes. “What. The fuck. Did they do?”
“It’s gone. Everything’s gone.” Claire knelt in the ashes of the warehouse. The acrid stench of melted plastic and charred wood invaded her nostrils. Steam rose from the soggy piles of ash. Despite the West Haven Fire Department’s best efforts, the fire had burned so hot and so long that Happily Ever After’s headquarters had been taken down to the studs. Several policemen and firemen were investigating the electrical box at the far end of the lot. Luke, Sawyer, and Kyle were with them.
Her heart thumped uncomfortably fast and hard. Tears were on the verge of spilling out, but she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. This wasn’t a fluke electrical fire. She would bet her last dollar an ESA henchman was hightailing it out of West Haven, cackling over a gas can.
Nicole squeezed her hand. “It’s just things, Claire.”
An easy thing to say for someone whose life was amazing and perfectly on track.
“It wasn’t just things. It was everything we had built.” Claire rose to her feet and tugged on the corner of a sharp piece of metal. The Eiffel Tower she and Mindy had made for a client’s escape room proposal the previous year fell to the concrete floor with a clatter.
“Countless pieces of equipment. Client records. Boxes upon boxes of memories and reusable decorating materials. All gone.”
Mindy bent over and tugged something from the ashes. A charred remnant of a shoe broke apart in her hand. “The sparkly shoes,” she whispered mournfully. They had been in a display case in the office, a relic from Nicole’s proposal. All three girls had a matching pair. They had worn them all together at Nicole’s wedding, but now they never would again.
“The binders are at Luke’s house, right?” Nicole asked tentatively.
Claire nodded. “Thank god. Luckily we’re renting everything for Brad’s—oh my god.” She clapped a hand to her forehead.
“What?” Mindy asked sharply. Her green eyes narrowed.
“The saddle. From Karen’s childhood. It was in the office.”
They all turned toward the remains of the small rectangular room that used to be the office. There was nothing left, not even a splinter of wood from their desk. The one-of-a-kind saddle with hand-carved tooling and silver overlay that Brad had dug out of Karen’s parents’ storage locker was gone.
“Fuck.” Mindy’s hand fisted in her hair.
“He’s going to kill us.” Claire’s knees buckled. A high-pitched ringing buzzed incessantly in her ears as a scatter of black spots appeared over her vision. “I knew I should have kept it at the house. We’re so screwed.”
“Hey.” Nicole knelt next to her and gripped her arm. “Deep breaths. Come on.”
Claire’s head spun, and she fought for breath. She had pictures and itemized lists of everything in her inventory, but she never dreamed she would actually have to make an insurance claim on everything her business owned. This kind of loss was incalculable. And how long would it take to replace everything? To find a new space to rent?
There was so much left to plan this year. Luke’s documentary premiere alone was going to use half the things in her warehouse. And she had lost something irreplaceable. The panic was rising in her chest again, and the deep breaths she was forcing in weren’t helping.
“Do you think it was them? ESA?” Mindy whispered. She and Nicole tugged Claire back to her feet.
“It has to be.” Claire kicked a hunk of ash. The toe of her shoe grew warm. “They blew up my car last year. What’s to stop them from burning down my warehouse?”
“They’ll pay.” Mindy bent down and dug through the ash. A moment later, she pulled out the “Happily Ever Afters” sign.
Nicole dusted the sign off, but it was hopelessly singed. Black soot obscured the words, and the edges were charred from the heat. Claire took it from her and hugged it to her chest. It was too much. The rescue, her family being targeted, Brad’s proposal, living in LA, Barney’s sentencing. How much was one person supposed to take? How far could she bend before she shattered?
Nicole and Mindy stood on either side of her. They wrapped her in a tight hug. A stiff wind ripped through the skeleton of the warehouse, and ashes spiraled at their feet.
Mindy pulled back and held both of Claire’s arms. “Look at me,” she ordered.
Claire raised her eyes slowly like a sullen child.
“You are Claire Freakin’ Hartley. This is not the end of your story. This is a tiny, cowardly blip that someday we will laugh about when all of ESA is rotting in federal prison.”
Claire raised her eyebrows. “You really think law enforcement is going to bring down all of ESA? It’s impossible.”
“We don’t need all of ESA,” Mindy said, taking a step back. Her eyes were bright. “A cult without a leader is nothing. If we find the leader, everything else will crumble. That’s basically Cult Theory one-oh-one.”
Claire sighed. “Who’s to say there isn’t an equally power-hungry idiot who’s second in command? This may never be over. I’m going to have to move abroad.” Her Canada plan was looking more attractive by the minute. “Besides, we have no idea who’s in charge. The only person we know for sure is involved with ESA is Professor Taylor and he’s been missing for months.”
Nicole leaned in. “When we’re finished here, we’re going to stage a Code Purple and spruce up Murder Binder 3.0. We’re going to track down the professor, catch whoever’s in charge, stomp on his testicles, and then we’re going to burn his house down.”
Claire and Mindy stared at Nicole.
“Sorry, hormones. I stand by what I said, though.”
A car rolled into the parking lot behind them. Claire braced herself. Who was it going to be? An insurance claim adjuster? More cops? The press? Someone else who was going to ask questions that she didn’t have answers to?
Jack Hartley stepped lightly out of a nondescript black sedan. It must have been a work vehicle. His frown lines were extra pronounced today, but his salt-and-pepper hair was still perfectly molded into place. Between the hair and his well- tailored black suit, James Bond might as well have been walking into their midst.
Claire lifted one hand in a weak greeting.
“I came as soon as I heard. I’m so sorry, Claire.”
She shrugged. “I guess this is what happens when you piss off a bunch of serial killers. And have the misfortune of sharing DNA with the head of the task force trying to take them down.”
Jack wasn’t a hugger, but concern radiated from him as he put one hand on her shoulder. Her stepfather, on the other hand, was the best hugger she knew. When she had a bad day in high school, Roy would hold her close and whisper kind things in Spanish until she felt better.
“I have someone coming down from the Bureau to check out the scene.” Jack withdrew his hand and put it in his pocket.
“Thanks,” she said. It wouldn’t do any good. She needed a nap, a platter of tacos, and a gallon of tequila. But she still had to deal with the insurance company. And triple-check her packing for LA. And close down Luke’s house. Now that ESA had destroyed nearly everything she owned, Brad’s proposal was more important than ever. She couldn’t delay even by a day. No matter what happened, she was getting on a plane first thing Monday morning.
“I know you’re leaving soon, but Tanya’s made you some soup. I’ll put it in your car before I leave. I’m going to talk to the officers.” Jack turned on his polished shoes and set off for the clump of people at the other end of the lot.
“What do vegan Wiccans put in soup?” Mindy whispered loudly.
There was movement at the other end of the lot. Two officers joined her father and headed back toward her.
Claire squared her shoulders as the officers approached. “Let me guess. Arson.”
The cops exchanged a glance. “We believe so. We found multiple points of origin and evidence of accelerants. Here’s the incident number for your insurance claim.”
She took the paper. “Great. Well, luckily, the perpetrators were a secret organization that I’m not allowed to talk about. You can ask this guy.” She gestured to her father before turning on her heel. The Happily Ever Afters sign was still clutched under one arm.
“Tacos?” Luke said as he appeared at her elbow. His hand snaked around her back, and he pulled her close.
She nodded and turned to look at the smoldering remnants one more time. Wind stirred the ashes. The warehouse had been like the third member of Happily Ever Afters, graciously hosting every harebrained scheme Claire and Mindy could concoct. They had spent countless hours brainstorming around their polished conference table and wandering the aisles looking for the perfect romantic decor. And now it was all gone.
She turned away, focusing on the warmth of Luke’s arm around her. ESA would never take another thing from her. They were going to pay.