Chapter 20
TWENTY
The firehouse smelled faintly of coffee, the usual morning bustle having died down.
Heat pooled behind Sam’s ribs as she remembered Liam’s attention—how he acted like a doting boyfriend at the station and when the girls were around.
The occasional hug, holding her hand. Focusing on her in a room full of people in a way she’d begun to crave.
When they were alone, he was professional but not distant or cold.
He kept his physical distance but still engaged in conversations with her.
Listened like he cared what she had to say.
She’d learned that his favorite television show was a classic black-and-white show about a widowed sheriff raising his boy in a small town.
He prayed over meals, and she’d seen him study his Bible on more than one occasion.
Last night, she’d sat on the bed and again pulled out the Bible that Barbara from the church had given her.
Barbara and Liam had both mentioned Joseph, so after quickly googling where to find his story in the Bible, she’d read about how his brothers had sold him into slavery.
How he’d been falsely accused and sent to prison.
And then she’d read: But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
God hadn’t rescued Joseph. And yet it said the Lord was with him and showed “steadfast love.” Honestly, she’d felt a bit indignant on Joseph’s behalf, and she wasn’t sure what to do with that.
In the end, she’d put the Bible back on the nightstand and gone back out into the front room, where the girls had talked them into watching a rom-com.
Liam had sat next to her the entire time, arm laid across the back of the sofa.
She hadn’t been able to focus on the movie, only on the weight of his presence.
All she could think about was how close his body was to hers and how it would feel if he dropped his arm to her shoulder and held her. Like he really was her boyfriend and this wasn’t all some lie concocted to keep her and her sister safe.
The walls around her heart were in danger of crumbling for a man who didn’t really have any interest in her outside of a job he had to do. A name in a file.
She’d grown too comfortable with Liam, and that scared her. Of all the people in the world to get comfortable with, her handler wasn’t supposed to be one of them.
Six years with the guys at the station, putting their lives on the line together, and those walls had stood. A couple of days with this man and she was losing control of her emotions. She was relying on him too much, and that kind of dependence made her uneasy.
“Earth to Sam.” Greer snapped his fingers next to her, cutting through her thoughts.
She shook her head. “What? I’m sorry.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You’ve been staring at the countertop for a while now. Everything okay?”
“Yes. I was just lost in thought.”
“Thinking about a certain marshal?” he teased.
Heat climbed up her neck and spread across her face. She ducked her head to keep him from seeing how her face betrayed her. “I have a lot of things on my mind.”
“I like this on you,” he said softly.
She turned and looked at him. “It’s the same thing I wear every day.”
“I don’t mean your clothes, you weirdo.” He laughed. “I meant you’ve been more relaxed the last couple of days. Not as uptight.”
“Uptight?” Was that how everyone saw her?
“Don’t take it the wrong way. It’s why we love you.
You’re always in control of your emotions, and even though you joke along with us, you don’t let yourself fully go.
” He stared into her eyes. “You’ve been so focused on being Samantha Williams the firewoman, and Samantha Williams, Bella’s big sister and mother figure, that you haven’t been just Sam.
I feel like maybe this marshal is helping you realize you’re more than just those titles you’ve given yourself and the responsibilities you’ve shouldered. ”
She opened her mouth to say something, but there were no words, because he was right.
“I’ll leave it alone for now.” He patted her shoulder. “I asked if you’ve already done the inventory on the medical closet. I need to pull some supplies.”
“Oh, not yet. That’s next on my list.”
“Good. I’ll stock the medical bags before you do that, so it won’t throw off inventory.” He wandered off.
Greer had given her a lot to think about.
Most of her life had just been surviving from one day to the next.
Was it time she started living? Liam couldn’t be a part of that equation, no matter what her feelings were telling her.
Once the danger passed, he would be out of her life, no longer her case officer.
He’d go back to his job protecting the courthouse.
On to the next assignment, the next witness.
Leaving her behind, holding the pieces of her heart she hadn’t realized he’d been chipping away.
Maybe she’d text Liam and ask him to pick her up later, and she’d get a good run on the treadmill. Clear her head. Her workouts had floundered since the fire destroyed her house.
The station alarm blared.
“Truck 4, Engine 4. EMS. Structure fire at Fourth and Main.”
Adrenaline kicked in. She jogged to the engine bay and joined her colleagues. They donned their turnout gear and climbed into the engine. As the sirens wailed, she continued gearing up, listening for the report from Lieutenant Fischer.
“Commercial fire at an abandoned building.”
Murph staged the engine while the ladder truck pulled up behind them.
Sam jumped down, grabbed the line, and started running it toward the structure like she’d done a hundred times before. She was first on the hose—her job was to advance the line inside.
Captain Bennett gave his three-sixty report and doled out instructions.
The ladder crew forced entry, cleared the building, then worked on ventilation. Sam entered the building behind them, heat slamming into her as she stepped through the doorway.
She crouched low and aimed the stream at the base of the nearest flames, moving methodically as she pushed forward.
The building was thick with smoke, the kind that clung to the lungs and made the eyes water, even with the SCBA.
Pockets of smaller fires had been set throughout the space, but in the middle of the expansive open area just ahead, one massive blaze roared with a fury that her gut said wasn’t accidental.
She dropped into a textbook defensive firefighting stance, crouched low and balanced, her body angled behind the nozzle as she aimed the water at the smaller fire in front of her. She needed to put out these flames before moving on to the inferno ahead.
The fire hissed and snapped. A sharp crack from above cut through the roar of the fire. Something heavy gave way somewhere.
Pain exploded across the top of her head, and an unbearable weight piled on top of her. The hose slipped from her hands as her knees buckled and she pitched forward, the world going dark.
Liam had spent the last hour with Glover, going over the LLCs and financials of Dr. Torres. “Dr. Torres’s membership in the LLCs is the only connection to the arsons. The LLCs don’t share any other members or managers. The properties aren’t next door to each other or connected in any other way.”
Glover leaned back in her chair. “You think Dr. Torres paid someone to set these buildings on fire to collect the insurance money? We’ll need to subpoena the insurance companies to determine the scope of the policies.”
Liam nodded. “I think something happened between Dr. Torres and whoever he hired. Maybe he decided not to pay out, or maybe their arsonist found out he was going to disappear, but for whatever reason, he or she lured Dr. Torres to Sam’s house and killed him, then set the house on fire.”
“Without more evidence, we won’t know for certain, but it’s definitely an angle we need to investigate. The fact that he was killed in Sam’s house and that Sam’s sister had been involved with the firebugs could all be a coincidence.”
He needed to talk to Samantha about all of this. Maybe she could shine some light on it. She’d admitted she’d not had much contact with Torres, but the smallest thing could be what he was looking for.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and called her.
The phone rang until voicemail picked up.
She was probably out on a call. He’d wait for her to call back.
In the meantime, he’d look into the known associates of Dr. Torres.
His death proved that whoever was in charge was trying to clean up a mess.
That mess included Samantha, Isabella, and his niece.
His phone rang, Sam’s name filling the screen. “Hey, Sam.”
“No. This is Greer.” His voice was strained. “She was taken to the hospital by ambulance thirty minutes ago.”
Liam was up and running down the hall. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know yet. We just got the fire put out. I went looking for her phone to give you a call. A vent collapsed on top of her. She was unconscious when they pulled her from the building. She’s had trauma to the head, resulting in a laceration.” Emotion filled Greer’s voice.
Liam stopped outside the conference room, where Sophia and Bella were hanging out. “Okay, Greer. Which hospital?”
“She was taken to Renegade Mercy General Hospital. Lieutenant Fischer rode with her while the rest of us worked the fire. I’ll text you his number.”
“Thank you.” Liam opened the door and faced the teens. “Get your things. We’ve got to go. Sam was hurt at work and has been taken to the hospital.”
“What happened?” Bella’s face paled.
“I don’t know yet. Greer is texting me Lieutenant Fischer’s telephone number. As soon as I get it, I’m calling him.”
The girls rapidly gathered their things, and they all took off down the hall to the elevator. The doors opened immediately after he pushed the button. They loaded into the elevator, and Liam jammed the close button. “Come on.”