Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
B laine saw the thin plume of smoke from the road, rising up from the trees in the area close to Xanthe’s cabin. He parked next to her rental car, heard shouting from below as soon as he opened his door.
Xanthe.
He slammed it shut and ran for the top of the wooden staircase that wound down the hillside. The scent of the smoke hung heavy on the air. People were shouting near the bottom of the stairs.
Racing down them, his heart lurched when he saw the smoke coming from Xanthe’s cabin.
Allistair stood near the open front door, hands in his hair in clear distress as he stared into the cabin.
“What’s happened? Where’s Xanthe?” Blaine demanded.
Allistair looked over at him, face pinched. “She’s trying to put out the fire, won’t come out no matter what I say.”
Oh, fuck no.
He rushed past Allistair into the foyer. Saw the shattered bits of glass all over the floor and the gaping hole where the sliding glass door was. “Xanthe!”
“In here,” she called back.
He turned left, couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Xanthe stood inside her bedroom doorway, aiming a garden hose at the flames spreading toward her, with nothing to protect her except for her shirt, which she’d pulled up over her mouth and nose.
“What the hell are you doing ? Get out now .”
“They won’t get here in time,” she snapped, continuing to spray the hose at the flames. “My house will be burned down by the time they do.”
He rushed over, grabbed her by the arms and whipped her around, wrenching the hose from her grasp. The smoke was thick enough to sting his eyes and throat. “Out. Now.” He dragged her out through the front door, ignoring her struggles and protests.
“All my stuff is in there,” she shouted, twisting in his grasp, trying to dig in her heels to stop him. “It’s my home!”
“And your life is way more important than it or anything in there.” He half-carted her outside, undeterred, and up the first set of wooden steps.
“Damn straight,” Allistair said as he followed beside them. “Shit, girl, you just took a decade off my damned life.”
Not in the least bit cowed, Xanthe yanked free of Blaine’s hold and spun to face her home. Flames shot out of her bedroom window on the left side of the cabin, licking their way up toward the roof.
The cedar shingles were covered in cedar and fir needles. The bit of rain they’d had several days ago wouldn’t be enough to soak them. Once the flames reached that natural layer of kindling, the entire structure would go up.
“You called 911?” he asked her, his heart slowing now that he knew she was safe.
Xanthe nodded, covered her mouth with a trembling hand as she watched the cabin burn.
Blaine cursed and pulled her into his arms. She gripped the backs of his shoulders, shuddered, holding on tight. “I don’t believe this. I feel like I’m in a waking nightmare.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “I’m so sorry, bright eyes. I’m just glad you’re all right.” Jesus Christ, the memory of her standing there trying to douse the fire with a fucking garden hose wasn’t going to leave him anytime soon.
Allistair rubbed her arm in consolation as he stared down at the burning cabin. “She said someone threw a rock through her sliding glass door. There was a note on it.”
Blaine stiffened and drew back slightly to look at her. “What did it say?”
Xanthe pulled in a shuddering breath and let go of him with one arm to pull a piece of paper from her pocket.
His insides clamped tight. WHORE.
The block printing looked eerily similar to the note from her windshield.
Jesus Christ. “Come on,” he said to her in a firm voice and drew her to his side. “We need to go to the top and wait for the fire crew.” And he needed to talk to Rafe personally.
He and Allistair supported her on the climb up to the top. A redheaded woman he recognized as one of Xanthe and Allistair’s coworkers was there, face pale with shock. “What’s going on?”
“Someone set her place on fire,” Allistair muttered and continued past her.
Blaine opened the passenger side door of his car and settled Xanthe inside. Her face was drawn, pale, eyes red and watery from the smoke. “You cold, sweetheart?”
She nodded, jaw quivering. Shock starting to take hold. “A l-little.”
He went to the trunk and brought a blanket back for her. Wrapping it around her, he glanced at Allistair. “Stay with her. I need to make a call.”
Walking a short distance away, he called Rafe directly and explained what was happening. “Fire crew’s en route. I’ve got both notes with me.”
“Shit, she just can’t catch a break, can she?”
“No.” And it pissed him the hell off. She didn’t deserve this. Any of it.
“I’ll be up there soon as I can. Hang tight.”
Blaine went back to the car, switched places with Allistair and sat back on his haunches to study Xanthe. She looked a bit better, her color more normal. “Rafe’s on the way. Fire department shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Too little, too late,” she said in a dispirited tone that made his chest squeeze.
“Yeah. I’m here though, okay? Whatever happens, I’ll be here.”
It took another seven minutes for the sound of the siren to carry on the air. A few more for the fire engine to appear at the end of the access road linking the research station to the highway.
He stayed with Xanthe while she explained what had happened. The fire crew rushed into action around them, but the awkward position of the cabin down the slope stretched the limits of their longest hoses.
Rafe arrived. An hour after that, the fire crew trudged back up the staircase with their hoses and other equipment.
Rafe spoke to one of them, and Blaine recognized Grey in his helmet and turnout gear.
Lachlan’s younger brother. A fulltime firefighter and member of the island’s volunteer search-and-rescue team.
Grey came over with the fire captain. “Hey, Xanthe.”
She remained huddled in the blanket, looking so lost it was all Blaine could do not to pull her into his lap in a futile attempt to shield her from any more pain. “Hi.”
“What’s the status?” Blaine asked, knowing she had to be out of her mind with anxiety.
“Fire’s out,” the captain answered. “You may be able to salvage some of the contents, but between the fire and the smoke and water damage, I’m afraid the structure is a total loss. I’m sorry.”
Xanthe’s shoulders slumped and she pulled in a shuddering breath. Blaine pulled her close again, feeling helpless to protect her from the loss. Filled with a lethal fury at whoever had done this. Whoever had left those notes had almost killed her twice now. “Thank you.”
“Wish I had better news for you, Xanthe.” He set a fatherly hand on her shoulder. “We managed to save a few things, a couple pieces of art. The boys are bringing them up now.”
“I brought you this,” Grey said, holding out a two-foot-tall orca statue to Xanthe.
She stared at it a moment, then took it. Cradled it to her chest as she blinked fast and lowered her gaze. Blaine’s heart wrenched to see the tears rolling down her soot-stained cheeks. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Of course.”
Allistair stepped closer to run a hand up and down her back. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Want to come home with me? Get cleaned up, eat junk food, and get drunk?”
“I’m taking her to my place,” Blaine said in a tone that left no room for argument. End of discussion. “It’s secure.” Until whoever was behind this was caught, Xanthe was at risk. Over his dead body would he let anything else happen to her.
Allistair gave him a hard stare. “That’s up to Xanthe.”
Fair enough. Blaine respected his loyalty and protectiveness. “Xanthe?” he said to her.
“It’s okay, Al. He’s right,” she said.
Allistair relented with a nod. “All right. But you know you can text me anytime if you need something.”
“I know. Thank you.”
“Ah, sweetie, of course.” He hugged her, leveled a warning look at Blaine over her shoulder. “You take good care of her.”
“I will.” The very best.
He put her in his car and started the short drive north up toward Cedar Point.
“I need to call my mom,” Xanthe said, fishing in her pocket for her phone. Her voice hitched a few times throughout the call as she explained to her mother what had happened.
“Maybe I will come out for a visit,” she said a few minutes later. “I don’t know what the hell to do right now.”
“You can stay with me as long as you want,” he said when she got off the call.
“Thanks. You sure that won’t be weird with Maddy there?”
“No, and she won’t be back from the mainland for a day or two. It’s a big house, and she won’t be here much longer anyway.” He turned down the road he lived on, a spectacular view of the ocean on the left, and the privacy of a dense evergreen forest on the right.
Xanthe nodded. Was quiet for a few moments. “So, whoever tried to run me off the road last night didn’t realize it was Maddy. And now that they know it wasn’t me, they burned down my house to get back at me for whatever they’re mad at me for.”
“They set fire to it when you were inside it,” he corrected. Convinced that this was attempted murder, not just arson.
She went quiet, her expression sobering.
“Can you think of anyone with a grudge against you?”
She snorted. “Yeah, plenty. Including the local fishermen who don’t like me pushing for restricting their salmon catches.
The fish farmers, who hate me because I keep trying to get them shut down.
Then there are the loggers and industry people…
including some developers you might know,” she added with a pointed look.
It was a longer list than he’d hoped. But he would follow each lead on it until he found out who had done this.
His protective instincts were on overdrive as he pulled into his garage and shut the motorized door.
It was still and quiet when they walked into the house.
He showed Xanthe to the ground floor guest suite.
With her emotions all over the place, she would want privacy and no pressure from him. Everything was stocked and ready.
“I’ll see if Maddy’s got anything you can borrow to wear for now. We’ll get you new clothes tomorrow. Take your time cleaning up. I’ll be upstairs if you need me. And hey.” He caught her arm as she turned toward the hall. Stared into her eyes. “You’re safe here.”
When she only nodded and didn’t say anything, he left to give her privacy and went directly upstairs to his office. Within minutes he’d started compiling a list of names to start looking at. Once Maddy got back, she could help him narrow the search and rip into these people’s lives.
The moment he found out who was behind all this…He would personally destroy them.
He paused in the middle of typing a command sometime later when Xanthe appeared in his peripheral vision. She stood in the doorway wrapped in nothing but a white towel, short hair damp, arms and legs bare, her gaze direct. Locked on him as the tension crackled in the air between them.
His mouth went dry, heart thudding. “Hey,” he said, his whole body tightening. Fighting the instinct to walk over there and stake his claim in the most elemental way there was. “You need anything?”
“You,” she said simply, and dropped the towel.