Chapter Sixteen #2
But apparently the man did have some sense. “At least call and let Mom and Dad know you’re okay,” he said. “Half the town listens to the emergency scanner. This is going to be all over the area by morning.”
“I’ll call them,” she said.
“I’m going to give you something for the pain,” Hannah said to Ian. “Then I recommend you let us transport you to the hospital. You need to have your hands seen to as soon as possible.”
He didn’t protest, since the bulky bandages on both hands made doing much of anything impossible, and the pain medication they had administered was already making his vision fuzz at the edges. Bethany kissed his cheek and promised to follow him to the hospital.
“Be careful,” he told her as he lay back on the gurney.
“Don’t worry.” Aaron spoke from behind her. “I’ll follow your Jeep all the way to Junction.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she said, anger sharpening her voice once more.
“Someone tried to kill you tonight,” he said. “I’m not willing to take a chance at them trying to force your Jeep off the road or ambush you on some dark stretch of road.”
“You should be doing something more useful than babysitting me—like trying to find the person who set the fire.”
They appeared ready to square off for an argument, so Ian interrupted. “He’s right,” he said. “Don’t take any chances. Let him follow you.”
She leaned into the back of the ambulance and touched Ian’s leg. “All right. I’ll do it for you. But they have to find out who’s doing these awful things. This can’t go on.”
Maybe it was time to give up, Ian thought, though he couldn’t say the words out loud. Risking someone’s life—Bethany’s life—wasn’t worth continuing.
But everything in him rebelled against quitting. Against letting his unseen enemy win.
* * *
Bethany waited at the hospital while the emergency room doctor treated Ian.
Aaron had insisted on waiting with her. She ignored him, focused on her worry over Ian and her fury over whoever had done this to them.
Remembering those frantic moments in the trailer when Ian had picked up that heavy chair and hurled it at the window, only to have it bounce off made her shaky inside.
And then when he had finally broken the glass, the fire had roared to life.
She had literally felt it licking at her back and smelled her own singed hair.
She had been terrified and panicked as she’d tried to climb out through the broken glass.
Then Ian had grabbed hold of her and pushed her out. In those moments in his arms afterward, lying on the cool ground while the inferno had raged only a few feet away, she had never felt more cherished.
The doors from the outside hissed open, and Sheriff Travis Walker entered. Bethany sat up straighter. Everything about the sheriff, from his crisp, pressed uniform to his movie-star looks, made her want to be on her best behavior. He zeroed in on Aaron. “Deputy Ames,” he said.
Aaron sat upright, almost dropping his phone. “Sir.”
The sheriff turned to Bethany. “How are you doing, Miss Ames?”
“I’m okay,” she said. “I mean, I’m pretty shook up, but physically, I’m fine. Ian was burned pretty badly when he pulled me out of the trailer, though.”
“I wanted to hear from you what happened,” he said. “And Ian, too, when the doctors agree it’s okay to talk to him.”
“Of course.”
The sheriff took the seat across from her, which Aaron had vacated. Her brother stood to one side, arms folded, like a bodyguard. “Tell me, in your own words, what happened tonight,” Travis said.
“Where do you want me to start?”
“Start with when you got to the trailer. Was that this evening?”
“Yes. We got there about seven o’clock. It was already pretty dark.”
“Did you see any other vehicles on the way into the canyon?”
“Not after we turned onto the county road. But when we pulled up to the trailer, Walt Spies was waiting for us.” She told them about Walt and his warning to Ian and the note he’d said someone had sent him.
“We talked to Walt,” the sheriff said. “He says he was home by seven fifteen. His wife backs up that story.”
“He still could have started the fire and it didn’t burn enough for us to notice until half an hour later,” she said.
“We’ll be checking into all of that,” the sheriff said. “What happened after Walt left?”
Bethany told the same story she had related to Aaron and Hannah. “Ian said someone had jammed the door so it wouldn’t open. And our cell phones wouldn’t work. You should check to see if anyone tampered with the satellite dish.”
“We haven’t had a chance to examine the door,” Walker said. “But we found the satellite dish. Someone or something had smashed it.”
The door to the emergency room opened, and Ian stepped out. Both hands were wrapped in bulky bandages, and the skin of his arms and face were bright red, glistening with some kind of ointment or cream.
Bethany leapt up and went to him, though she resisted the urge to throw her arms around him, out of fear of hurting him. “What did the doctor say?” she asked.
“I’ll have some pain, not too much scarring. I have to come back tomorrow to have the burns cleaned and dressed, but I should regain full use of my hands.”
The sheriff joined them. “Mr. Seabrook, I have some questions for you.”
“He already talked to me,” Bethany said to Ian.
“All right.”
They returned to the grouping of chairs where she and the sheriff had been sitting.
Ian took the chair beside Bethany, while Aaron resumed his place next to the sheriff.
Travis went through the same questions he had asked Bethany.
Ian confirmed their conversation with Walt.
He hadn’t seen anyone suspicious around the canyon, and he hadn’t received any new threats.
“Walt gave us the note he received,” the sheriff said. “We’ll take a closer look, though I don’t know if it’s going to tell us anything else.”
“Do you know if the firefighters are finished in the canyon?” Ian asked. “Is the fire out?”
“They’re keeping someone there overnight to make sure it doesn’t flare up again,” Travis said. “The trailer is a total loss, but the fire didn’t spread to any equipment or construction supplies.”
“I’m sure the fire was deliberately set,” Ian said. “The front door was definitely jammed, and the damage to the satellite dish points to someone not wanting us to be able to summon help quickly.”
“We’ll know more after the fire department completes their investigation,” Travis said. “But the preliminary opinion is that this was arson.”
“Not just arson,” Ian said. “Attempted murder. Smashing the satellite dish made it impossible to call for help.”
“Who hates you enough to try to kill you—and Bethany?”
The questions jolted her. Part of her had known she could have been killed in the fire, but hearing the words out loud, and the acknowledgment that someone could have wanted her to die, threw her world off-balance.
“I don’t know,” Ian said. He didn’t look as afraid as she felt, but maybe that was the pain meds he had been given. Mostly he looked tired. Defeated.
“What about the protestors?” Travis asked. “Have any of them been particularly aggressive?”
“No. There hasn’t been any picketing or even anonymous notes since the day the climber was injured.”
“Do you have any security cameras?” Travis asked.
He grimaced. “I have a whole system of cameras ordered, but I’m on a waiting list to get the system installed.”
“Is there anything else we need to know?”
Ian shook his head. “I can’t think of anything.”
“Where will you be staying, in case we need to contact you?”
“I’ve got a hotel room here in Junction. Tomorrow I’m going to arrange for a new trailer for the worksite.”
“Is that safe?” Bethany asked.
“I’ll be fine.” His mouth tightened, and the defeated look receded. “I’m not going to let whoever this is put a stop to the project.”
“The site of the fire and the immediate surroundings are still cordoned off as a crime scene,” the sheriff said.
“I have contractors scheduled to work in the canyon,” Ian said. “They’re mostly cleaning up now.”
“They can do their work, as long as they avoid the cordoned-off area.” The sheriff turned to Bethany. “I’ll need you and Ian to come into the office and read and sign your statements—tomorrow, if possible.”
She nodded. “I’ll be there,” Ian said.
When the sheriff and Aaron were gone, she turned to him. “You didn’t have to book a hotel room,” she said. “You could come back to my place.”
“I’m not sure your parents would like that. And before you remind me that you’re a grown woman, they own the apartment.”
“They couldn’t expect me to kick you out on the street.”
“I’ll be fine in the hotel. It’s only for a couple of days. And I don’t want to do anything to come between you and your family.”
There were times when she would have welcomed more distance between herself and her parents and siblings, but probably not the kind Ian meant—the serious, even permanent kind.
“They just need to get to know you,” she said.
Sure, Ian was reserved and a little intimidating.
Maybe not the kind of man they had ever envisioned her with, if they had pictured her with anyone at all.
But she had recognized the soft, vulnerable place inside him that very first day in the rental office, when he’d cooed at the infant she’d held. “I know they’d love you then.”
Ian patted her shoulder with one bandaged hand. “It takes time to get to know someone. Let’s give that to them instead of forcing the issue.”
He was also sensible. Not the daredevil she had expected when she’d learned he was a mountain climber who drove a Porsche.
“You may have noticed—I’m not the most patient person in the world,” she said.
“I’ve got more than enough patience for both of us, and you inspire me to be a little more impulsive.”
“I wouldn’t call you impulsive.” But he hadn’t hesitated when it had come to risking his life to save hers. She slipped her arm in his and leaned close. “I hate that your hands are injured. Do you hurt very much?”
“They’ll heal,” he said. “And you’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
“I’m here because you saved me.”
“You would have gotten out on your own.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. The flames had come close to overwhelming her. Would she have found the strength on her own to escape them?
The door to the waiting room opened again, and Aaron reappeared. “Time to go home, Bethany,” he said.
“I have to take Ian to his hotel,” she said.
“I’ve called an Uber.” He stepped away from her. “Go with Aaron. The doctor said they’ll reduce the bandages tomorrow, and I should be able to drive again. My Jeep will be fine in the garage here until then.”
Bethany wanted to argue that he shouldn’t be alone tonight. But maybe that was being too clingy. “Call me tomorrow,” she said.
“I will.” He hesitated, then bent and kissed her. A proper kiss, too, which left her feeling a little dreamy. Cherished—there was that word again. Loved, but not overwhelmed by anyone else’s expectations. A feeling she could get used to.