Chapter 8
EIGHT
Jesslyn woke Friday morning finally feeling almost normal except for the stupid lingering cough, but she hoped that would fade over the next few days. And prayed the next time a killer came after her, it wasn’t raining or freezing cold.
She shuddered. She definitely did not want a killer to come after her ever again.
But she had a feeling whoever had shot at her in the church parking lot wasn’t gone. He’d be back.
And she was going to have to be ready.
She walked into the kitchen to find Kenzie reading a book and eating a plate of eggs and bacon between page turns. Jesslyn’s stomach rumbled. “Got any extra?”
“Yep. On the stove. Let me fix you a plate.”
Kenzie started to stand and Jesslyn waved a hand. “I’ve got it, thanks.” She fixed a plate, poured coffee, and sat across from Kenzie. “You guys have been great, but you don’t have to do this any longer.”
“You’re tired of me already?”
Jesslyn laughed. “No, I’ve slept away too many hours. I didn’t have a chance to get tired of you. You’re probably sick of hanging around here.”
“Never. How’s your head?”
Jesslyn touched the wound. “It’s fine. Healing up nicely.” She paused. “Did I really fall asleep in the middle of Casablanca ?”
“You did.”
“Wow.”
“I know. You need to repent of that behavior.”
“Cute.” Just as she took her first sip of coffee, her phone went off and she tapped the notification. “Uh-oh.”
Kenzie raised a brow at her. “What?”
“Fire at the Endurance Empire Gym.”
“Oh no.”
Jesslyn bit her lip and looked at Kenzie. “That’s my gym.”
“I know.”
“I’m back on duty as of right now.” Jesslyn raced to get ready, then hurried out to the rental that her friends had dropped off for her and loaded her gear into the back.
“You can’t do anything yet, Jess,” Kenzie said. “They have to get the fire out first. Why don’t you wait until you—”
“No, I need to be there and I need Nathan and Andrew to be there. They should be looking for him.”
“Yeah. Okay. Let’s go. I’ll follow you.”
Jesslyn’s heart pounded as she slid into the driver’s seat of her rental and gunned the vehicle in the direction of the fire. Kenzie fell in behind her, and their lights and sirens parted the traffic like a hot knife through butter.
Within ten minutes, she parked in the vicinity of the fire engines. Close, but not in the way if the firefighters needed to grab something from one of the trucks. She climbed out of her vehicle and assessed the scene, starting with the facility.
The building, engulfed in flames, was located on a piece of property just off the main road through Lake City. Jesslyn tried to picture it as it normally was. In a shallow valley surrounded by tall oaks that separated the businesses on either side of it. The parking lot ran the length of the right and front sides of the fitness center with the main entrance off the right.
Flames and smoke billowed from the building while firefighters kept their gushing hoses aimed at the destruction. The heat reached her and she stepped back, continuing to sweep her gaze over the crowd.
Kenzie joined her. “So far no one has been reported injured even though people were in the gym at the time.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
“It’s an off time during the day,” she murmured. “Most of the early morning crowd is gone and the lunch breakers haven’t gotten here yet.”
“So, does this person want to hurt someone or not?” Kenzie asked.
“I’m not sure. Mr. Christie was at the church, but his van was around the back. He cleans at night, and if he was at the back of the church, the front would have been dark and looked empty.” She shrugged. “And even at the back, if there was a light on, it wouldn’t have been unusual.”
“But the van?”
“Could have been mistaken for a church vehicle. He doesn’t have any kind of identifying logos or advertisements on the side.” She studied the building while she thought. “And here, it’s an off time. The arsonist started the fire away from the main workout space. It’s possible he’s at least making an effort to avoid hurting people. Assuming the two fires are related.”
“You think they are.”
“Not just related, but maybe somehow connected to me? It was my church, now it’s my gym. Once the fire’s out, I’ll look for other things that may connect them.”
Like purple stains.
Brittany Brown, the gym’s owner, detached herself from several members Jesslyn had seen but didn’t know. Brittany and Jesslyn chatted on a regular basis.
With Kenzie at her side, Jesslyn met Brittany halfway. “Are you all right?”
Sweat and black ash coated the woman’s normally fair skin and her friendly eyes were shadowed. “I’m okay. We all got out, thank goodness. The alarms saved us.”
“Where’d it start? Do you know?”
“Several alarms went off at around the same time. One in the women’s bathroom. One in the childcare area, which was empty at the time, praise the Lord, and one in the spare equipment room.”
“Can you access the security footage from your phone or laptop?”
“Yeah. It should all be in the cloud or on the server.”
“Great. We’ll need a copy of that.”
“Of course.” Brittany rubbed a hand across her forehead, smearing the soot. “I can’t believe someone would do this. I mean, why?”
“We’re looking into that,” Kenzie said, and Jesslyn nodded. It was too soon to flat-out state that the person might be targeting places Jesslyn frequented, but she was putting every other location she could think of on high alert—including her favorite grocery store, doctor’s office, coffee shop ... and the Cornerstone Café, of course.
Movement at the edge of the property shifted her focus. Someone stood there, heavy coat on, hat, gloves, long pants, and work boots. She wasn’t sure why she noticed him. Maybe because of his stance. Arms crossed, head low, alone. Out of place. She started toward him, wanting a look at his face. He glanced up and caught her eye. Looked away. Then stepped back.
“Kenzie?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you detain that guy in the green coat and black hat?” She gave a subtle nod toward the man.
“The one looking ready to run?”
“That’s the one.”
“Consider him detained.”
Kenzie got on her radio and officers gave chase. Jesslyn hurried behind them. “Catch him,” she whispered, “please catch him.”
They would. They had to. Because she had a bad feeling that this fire was all her fault.
NATHAN TRACKED THE FLEEING MAN.
“Got him in my scope,” Cole said. Not to shoot, but to give them information as to the direction he was going. “Take a left at Collier’s Drug Store and ... I lost him. He could have gone inside. I never saw him come off the sidewalk. Catch him coming out the back. King has the store.”
“I’ve got the back.” Nathan changed direction, vaguely aware of the others behind him. Some in front of him. All with one goal.
Catch the guy.
He ran to the alley that would take him to the back of Collier’s. Two other officers followed him. A helicopter buzzed overhead. Finally.
At the back of the store, he pulled up. The other officers stopped next to him. “He come out?” the tallest one asked. Tremaine, his badge read.
“I don’t know. Kenzie? Anything?”
“Negative. Sending all customers in the store out. He could be hiding in here somewhere. Gonna need some backup.”
“On the way.” James’s voice came through the comms.
“You guys stay here,” Nathan said. “I’ll go around the front and join Kenzie.”
He entered the store to find it empty except for Kenzie, James, Sampson Greene, and his K-9, Otis. Greene eyed him. “Can’t track a man without a scent article.”
“I know.”
Kenzie backed away from the storage room. “It’s clear.”
James lowered his weapon. “The whole place is clear.”
“Well, he didn’t just disappear,” Nathan said. He took a step forward, then stopped and looked up. Walked a few more paces, then stopped again and listened. “Maybe he went up, not out,” he said, his voice low.
Kenzie nodded. “Just thinking that. But from what access point?”
James went back to the storage room. “Start looking.”
They fanned out and started the search once more. Nathan checked the restrooms, then the women’s changing room. He hesitated. A black curtain drawn across the back was darker in one area. Because sunlight had faded the other part? Weapon ready, he stood to the side and whipped the curtain aside.
An open window. It exited to a hallway, not to the outside. “Found his exit point.”
The others joined him and they all climbed through. Cold air hit him. It might be inside, but it wasn’t heated. Cole nodded right. “Cross and I’ll go this way.”
“Kenzie and I’ll take left.” Nathan swept down the hallway, praying the guy didn’t step out of a doorway and open fire. They were all sitting ducks at the moment.
But it was quiet, the doors to other businesses clear. When he reached the end of the hall, he paused. Stairs leading up to his right, the sidewalk in sight through the window at his front. Going with his gut, he took the stairs.
Footsteps darted, pounding just above him on the flat roof. Nathan shoved out the door at the top of the stairs and caught sight of the fleeing man. “Hey! Stop!”
The guy looked back over his shoulder, spun once more, and aimed himself toward the edge of the other side of the roof.
Nathan had a bad feeling. “Don’t do it!”
Of course the dude ignored him. Nathan added speed to his steps and reached, grasping for a handful of the loose-fitting green coat, but his fingers scraped the material and the suspect leaped over the edge of the building.
Kenzie’s gasp echoed in his ear. Nathan came to a skidding stop and pinwheeled to keep from vaulting over. He looked down, expecting the worst, but to his surprise, the guy’s gloved fingers were attached to the gutter of the neighboring building. “Help!”
“Hold on!” Nathan gave the man’s location and officers closed in, but Nathan could see his fingers slipping.
“Help me! I’m gonna fall!” The terrified screech echoed in the air.
“Great,” Nathan muttered and backed up as far as he thought he might need. He’d jumped that distance before. Barely. When he’d been a lot younger.
One hand slipped off and the guy cried out, arm flailing. Nathan took two more steps back.
“Don’t you dare,” Kenzie said.
“I don’t have a choice.” He needed that guy alive.
With Kenzie shouting in his ear, Nathan ran and vaulted over the open space below, soaring for a brief second before he landed just beyond the suspect. Nathan hit hard, his left leg buckled, and he rolled, gasping at the pain that shuddered up his hip. Then he shifted, clamped down on the wrist of the dangling possible arsonist, and held on.
“Th-thank you.”
“Shut up.”
Nathan tuned into his surroundings. Officers were finally on the roof and heading toward them. James, Cole, and Andrew led the way, all with ferocious frowns on their faces. Cole dropped beside him and added his strength to haul the guy up and over. In seconds, he had him on his stomach, hands cuffed.
Andrew turned to Nathan. “Are you out of your ever-lovin’ mind?”
“Absolutely.” Now that they had the man in custody, he allowed himself to take inventory. His leg ached, but his hip hurt with a vicious bite. Please, God, don’t let it be broken.
“Are you hurt?” Andrew asked.
“Yep.”
“Then I’ll spare you the lecture until after you’re discharged from the hospital.”
“Appreciate it.”
His friend’s sheet-white face betrayed his fear for Nathan. Nathan hated it, but if he hadn’t made the jump, Mr. Potential Arsonist might be dead. And if he wasn’t the arsonist, he might know who was. As well as who might be after Jesslyn and why.
Cole held up a wallet. “No ID.” He jerked the guy to his feet. “Let’s go, kid. You’ve got some questions to answer.”
“I want a lawyer.”
“I see you’re not a complete idiot. We’ll get you a lawyer.” He looked down at Nathan. “Get medical attention.”
“Planning on it.” He really prayed his hip was still in one piece.
Cole shook his head, his lips tight. “What made you do a dumb thing like that?”
“I was channeling my high school champion long jump days.”
“Dude...”
“I know. Dumb.”
“ So dumb.” Cole’s face softened. “But the guy’s alive and so are you, so we’ll focus on the positive.”
“Yeah. That’s a good idea. Let’s do that.”
“Can you get up?” Andrew asked him.
Time to find out. He started to rise and hissed at the stab of lightning. He stilled, then gathered a breath and held out a hand for Andrew to help him up.
“Well?” Andrew asked once he was on his feet.
“It hurts, but doesn’t have that ‘I’m going to puke from the pain’ feel.”
“Then it’s probably not broken.”
“Thank God.”
“Might have cracked something, though.”
He might have. “I’ll get it x-rayed and we’ll find out for sure.”
“James probably has Lainie on standby at the hospital.”
“Don’t tell Jesslyn about this.”
“Won’t have to.” Andrew pointed to the sky. A news chopper hovered, cameras aimed at them. “Time to wash your cape. I think your Superman impersonation is going to go viral.”
“Fabulous.”