Chapter 9
NINE
Sam bit her lip to keep from laughing. Sophia’s question had caught Liam just as off guard as it had her. Mr. Straightlaced Marshal was flustered, and it was disarming how she’d noticed.
“Uh—” He glanced at Samantha, a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face.
“Our house is perfect,” Sophia said. “Bella can stay in my room with me, Sam can sleep in your room, and you can have the couch. Bella and I are the same size, so we can share clothes and everything.” Excitement tinged her voice.
“Except underwear. I want my own,” Bella added.
Sam had to agree about the underwear, but not about the roommate status.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Sam saved Liam from being the proverbial bad guy.
“The two of you have gotten into trouble together recently.” She turned in her seat to look at the teens.
“Plus, I’m sure your uncle has a lot on his plate as a US marshal, and he doesn’t need two extra people running around his house. I won’t make him sleep on the couch.”
“Oh, he doesn’t mind. That’s the gentlemanly thing to do.” Sophia waved her hand in dismissal.
Liam coughed. The poor man.
The phone vibrated in Sam’s hand. She looked at the message from Dean.
Saved by her bestie.
“Thank you for the offer, but we’re going to have to pass. We’ve got another place to stay.”
If this whole situation wasn’t such a tangled mess, she might have considered it. But for both her and Liam, there were professional lines that needed to be maintained. Not to mention the two girls had gotten into trouble together recently.
“Where are we staying?” Bella asked.
“Dean and Cass are going to let us stay at their house.”
“Joy.” The word was coated in sarcasm.
“I thought you loved Charlie and Bobby.” Sam typed a quick thank-you to Dean.
“I did. When they were babies. Now they’re annoying four-year-olds. Did I tell you Charlie had a frog in his pocket the last time we were over there?”
“No, but I was there when Cass found it.” Sam smiled at the memory of her friend pulling the frog out of her son’s pocket.
Bella might not enjoy the boys as much as she used to, but they would be a good distraction in the midst of everything going on right now.
Liam pulled his vehicle into the station parking lot. The bay doors were open, and her coworkers were standing at the entrance, waiting for her arrival. Dean must have told them they were on their way.
Liam parked the vehicle in front of the public entrance.
Sam climbed out of the SUV and waited for Bella to join her before trudging toward the bay.
“Sam.” Dean was the first to approach her. He wrapped her in a hug. “Cass will be here in a few minutes.”
“She doesn’t need to pick me up. I have a car, and I know where you live. She didn’t have to come all the way over here.” Dean and his family lived thirty minutes away, outside of town. She didn’t need to be stranded there with her car here.
“It’s no trouble. Plus, the boys have some energy they need to burn, and what better place than the firehouse?”
Isabella joined them.
“Bella, you gave us all quite a scare.” He gave her a quick hug.
“I’m sorry.” She hugged him back.
“We’re just glad you’re okay.” Dean stuck his hand out to Liam. “I’m Caleb Dean.”
Liam and Sophia had followed them into the station.
“Liam Roberts.” He shook hands with Dean. “My niece, Sophia.”
If Sam wasn’t mistaken, that handshake lasted a fraction of a second too long as they sized each other up.
Dean and Cass were the first people she and Bella had met when they’d moved to Renegade. Dean had taken her under his wing when she’d started at the station. He was like the older brother she’d never had.
“Thank you for bringing Bella home earlier. We thought she was the one inside.” Dean gritted his teeth.
“No problem.” Liam stuck his hands in his pockets. “Any idea whose body it was?”
Dean shook his head. “Not yet. We put the fire out and went back on call. Fire marshal, police, and forensic pathologist are still out there.”
Sam’s throat constricted. Everything they owned was gone. They literally only had the clothes on their backs. Her knees buckled, and she grabbed one of Liam’s arms to keep from falling.
His muscles tensed beneath her palm. “Whoa.” He steadied her with the other hand. “Are you okay?”
No, she wasn’t okay. Far from it. “Must be the adrenaline wearing off.”
“Come on, Sam, let’s get you inside.” Dean grabbed her other arm and led her into the dayroom.
Greer jogged over and handed her a bottle of water. “Here. Can I get you anything else? Have you eaten?”
She loved her crew. They were the family she’d never had. Sure, there was constant ribbing and friendly competition, but when one of them needed something, they all stepped up.
She shook her head. Food was the last thing she wanted right now. The thought of it made her nauseous.
“What about you, kiddo?” Greer asked Bella.
“I could use a snack.” She shrugged.
Bella seemed to be taking today’s events in stride, which was good. Of course, she hadn’t been exposed to as much emotional trauma as Sam. She hadn’t spent what had felt like an eternity thinking her sister was dead. Grief had a tendency to drain people. Emotionally and physically.
Bella followed Greer into the kitchen.
Liam cleared his throat. “If you’re good, Sophia and I are going to leave.”
She nodded. “We’re good. Thank you.”
He dipped his head in farewell and turned to Dean. The two men shook hands again before Liam and Sophia walked out of the dayroom.
Dean knelt in front of Sam. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Concern filled his features.
Her chest tightened, and she took a deep breath, struggling to release the tension. “I’m just tired.”
“Sam.” Cass rushed into the dayroom, her dark hair streaming behind her. She wore her usual slim jeans with a black T-shirt.
Dean stood up to face his wife, then looked at the bay door. “Where are the boys?”
Cass waved toward the bay, her smartwatch snug on her wrist. “Out there, bothering Holt and Tate.”
Zachary Holt and Logan Tate, the firefighters who manned the ladder truck, would entertain the two boys just fine, but Sam wouldn’t let them loose in a gas station with a hundred dollars.
“Cass, why don’t you drive Sam and Bella home with you? Me and one of the guys will bring her car after shift.”
Sam sat up. “You don’t have to do that. I can drive.”
Dean shook his head. “You think you can now, but I don’t think you should.”
He was most likely right. She’d had an adrenaline dump, and if her knees buckling were any indication, the crash was coming.
Sam stood up. “Let me at least take off my pants and boots.”
“Easy there, this is a public place, and there are children present.” Tate galloped into the dayroom with Charlie on his back.
She smiled half-heartedly.
“Giddy up, horsey.” Charlie kicked Tate’s side.
Tate whinnied and galloped away.
Sam shook her head and went into the bunkroom.
An hour later, she’d had a shower and was now sitting on the couch in the Deans’ spacious living room, wearing a department T-shirt and sweatpants she’d swiped before leaving the station.
The aromatherapy mister on the wood-and-glass coffee table emitted lavender. Cass’s way of taming the boys for bedtime.
“Here you go.” Cass handed her a glass of wine. “I figured you might need this.”
“You have no idea.” Sam took a sip and leaned her head back.
“So, did that hot guy with the teen I saw walking out of the station have anything to do with you?” Cass wiggled her perfectly trimmed eyebrows, her long brown hair now in braided pigtails.
“Unfortunately.” Sam lifted her head and took another sip of wine before resuming the lounging position, propping her legs up on the coffee table.
The image of Liam standing in the dayroom before leaving flashed in her mind. Black slacks, white button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He’d tossed the tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of the shirt at the Marshals’ office. The man was handsome, no doubt about that.
“‘Unfortunately?’” Cass looked at her expectantly. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“His niece and Bella have been getting into trouble together at school.” She still needed to do something about Bella sneaking out, but she didn’t have it in her right now. Bella was alive because she’d disobeyed. It went against everything Sam held dear—but how could she be mad about that?
Cass said, “Shame. But at least he’s easy on the eyes.”
“Aren’t you married?” Sam rolled her head so she could give Cass the evil eye.
“Doesn’t mean my eyes stopped working.” She stuck her tongue out.
Then she stood up from her spot on the recliner, sat down next to Sam, and wrapped an arm around her.
“I know today has been rough. I just want you to know that I’m here for you.
If you need anything, just ask. I mean anything.
You and Bella are welcome to stay here as long as you need. ”
“Thank you.” Sam swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat, closed her eyes, and thought about this afternoon.
Her house had burned down, with a body inside.
Liam wasn’t convinced that it was related to DeLuca.
And she wasn’t entirely convinced either.
She had followed all of the Marshals’ instructions.
Bella had misbehaved the last couple of days, but Sam was sure she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their safety.
So why had the house been set on fire?
And who was dead inside?
Thanks to the fire, she didn’t even have the telephone number for the man the landlord had said would take care of anything that came up.
Her eyes burned. She squeezed the bridge of her nose.
The phone in her pants pocket started to vibrate, then the generic ringtone that came with the phone started to play.
She pulled the phone from her pocket and saw Orange Street Church flash on the screen. She sighed. Liam had kept his word about contacting the church.
The things she was willing to do for her sister.