Chapter 11 #2
She reached out and put her hand on Yun's shoulder. "You should go."
He turned his head and looked at her, his eyes narrowed and sharp. "I'm not leaving you with him."
Seaton had to make a decision.
She squared up her shoulders and stepped to Yun's side. "Daryl." An ache swelled in her chest, but she kept her hands down at her sides. She didn't want Daryl to know that she was struggling. "You were in the court when the judge said you need to stay away from me."
"That was some performative shit, baby. You had your moment.
You got the big, bad judge to bang his gavel and say that I'm supposed to stay away from you.
But how long are we going to play this game?
You've had time to get it all out of your system.
It's time to come home. The vacuuming isn't going to do itself.
The garden looks like shit! If you keep this up, I'm just going to put turf in and fuck it. "
Seaton wanted to laugh even as her face flushed red hot.
The garden? The floor?
His arguments weren't because he actually missed her or cared for her. It was that things around the house weren't getting done.
"I'm a person, Daryl. If you want the floor vacuumed? Get a Roomba. There are lawn services out there. I'm not your maid."
"Why should I pay for someone to do the things you always did for me?"
Her heart sank in her chest.
It was one thing to know that he was cold when it came to her.
It was quite another to know that he wanted unpaid help around the house.
Daryl's chair pushed back, the feet scraping loudly across the tiles.
Yun stepped in front of her, but Seaton moved around him, ready to stand tall.
Her step faltered when Daryl reached under his shirt and pulled out a handgun.
CADDO
Same stepped down off of Seaton's porch. Well, what was left of her porch.
The house was going to be condemned.
There was too much damage to the structure to repair it. It was going to need to be rebuilt.
He really didn't want to be the one to tell her that, but he wanted to be there when she was told. He wanted to let her know that he was there to help her with anything.
With everything.
They were already spending every evening together when he wasn't on shift, so they were already living together without calling it that. He was happy to continue 'not' talking about it but having her stay with him as long as she wanted to. He didn't care about the label, he just cared about her.
He walked up to Chief Blaise who was standing at the curb watching the whole situation.
"Chief."
The Chief nodded at him and slowly turned his head. "I'll come with you to talk to Seaton."
Sam let out a pent-up breath. "Thanks, Chief. I didn't want to be the one to tell her."
The Chief nodded again. "I get it. This isn't going to be easy for anyone. I'm just worried that this isn't as simple as just a fire."
Sam turned his head and the Chief pointed at something on the ground. "That part of a cushion?"
Narrowing his eyes at the spot on the ground in front of what had been a wall with windows. The brightly colored item hadn't caught his eye on its own.
Now that he was looking at it, he knew what he was looking at.
The cushions that Seaton had put on her chairs were that color and print.
He looked up and saw that the front wall of the house was charred darker than the area on the other side of the front door.
Now that he was staring at it without a wall of flame taking his attention, he could see what the chief was pointing out.
"The fire was set."
Chief Blaise sighed. "Someone set fire to the cushions."
Sam felt his gut twist in his belly. "My phone is in the truck. I should go and check my Ring camera."
He turned to head for the truck and almost collided with an officer.
"Caddo!"
"Hayden."
She put her hand on his shoulder and looked at the Chief. "Dispatch took a call. Seaton's ex showed up at the diner."
Sam saw the chief turning to look at him.
"Go, Caddo. We'll come after we finish here."
Caddo ran to the side of the truck and threw open the door. He dropped his coat and helmet on the seat and picked up his phone off of the floor. He slammed the door and ran after Hayden to her cruiser.
Sliding into the passenger seat, he felt the car lurch forward and he hung on to the 'oh shit' bar.
Hayden must have seen him in her peripheral vision. "You okay there?"
"I'm not going to put my seatbelt on, Hayden. As soon as we stop, I'm bailing out of the car. If you're going to give me a ticket-"
"I'm not giving you a ticket, just keep in mind that law enforcement is going to be in charge, Caddo."
He exhaled. "I just want to be there, Hayden. I want her to know that I'm there."
He saw Hayden nod her head as she took a corner hard enough for him to slide heavily into the door with a WUFF of breath.
"I know you want to be there for her, but you're going to have to stay out of the way. I... I know it won't be easy for you, but-"
"I know." He gripped the bar even tighter. "I know, Hayden... I just need to see that she's okay."
He heard Hayden swallow as if something was stuck in her throat. "I hope so. But I need you to stay back if we move in. We're trained for this."
He felt a little sick as her words sank in.
He hoped... He prayed that it wouldn't come to that.
Please, God, don't let it come to that.
They pulled up to a stop along the street leading up to the diner.
Sam flung the door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk. What he saw ahead of him made it hard not to panic and it took every ounce of restraint in him not to take off running toward the diner.
There were police cars in the parking lot.
On the street.
He didn't know what to think when he saw the SWAT vehicle on the street on the far side of the diner.
He knew their SWAT unit was top notch, but he hated that they were needed.
He turned his head and held up his hand to block out the light from the late afternoon sun. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to see through the glare on the glass.
What he saw made his heart squeeze tight in his chest.
Seaton's ex was pointing a gun at her.