Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Sam lay in another hospital bed, surrounded by the smells of antiseptics mixed with smoke. Bella curled into her side. Safe. Sam stroked her hair. “Bella, you don’t have to keep anything from me, you know that, right?”
“I was scared.” She sniffled.
“I know you were, but whatever it is, we can deal with it together. From now on, come to me right away. Okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
As they settled into silence, Sam’s thoughts turned to Liam.
He’d come for them. Saved them despite being injured.
He’d risked his life for them. Then, when it was all said and done, he had bounced between her room in the emergency department and his own.
Checking on everyone. Not to mention he had his own wounds to deal with.
Dean had done a number on him. First with the knife wound and then the punch to the face.
Her stomach roiled at the thought of Dean.
She couldn’t wrap her mind around everything.
Her friend, brother, was the one responsible for kidnapping her sister and trying to kill them both.
Not to mention everything else that had gone on.
The laundry list of crimes Dean was responsible for was most likely growing as they sat here.
Sophia was curled up on the couch, asleep. Out cold now.
Liam had come and gone from the room a few times. Each time he entered, his eyes softened when their gazes connected, and heat consumed her stomach. This man was her hero. He’d saved her and her sister at great peril to himself. Thank you would never be enough.
There was someone else she needed to thank as well.
In the dark, minutes from death, God had sent Liam to save the three of them when Sam couldn’t do it herself.
And for the first time, she could also see the ways God had been with her in the middle of her trouble.
Dean didn’t have to lock her in with the girls, but she was so glad he hadn’t separated them.
And as warped as his reasons had been for shutting them in the walk-in freezer in the first place, that had given Liam the time he’d needed to get there and save them.
Thank You, God. I’m sorry I’ve spent so many years doubting Your goodness.
Liam popped his head in and looked to her first. “Hey.” His eyes softened. “You have a visitor. If you’re up for it?”
She nodded.
Captain Bennett stepped into the room behind Liam.
“Sam.” The older man had aged ten years in the last twelve hours.
“Hey, Captain.”
He looked to the two sleeping girls. “Would it be possible to talk to you two alone?” He glanced between her and Liam.
Sam’s stomach churned. There was nowhere for the girls to go. Sam was all Bella had, and Liam was all Sophia had.
“Glover is here. Would you be okay if she took the girls to the vending machines down the hall?” Liam leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest.
Sam looked at her sleeping sister. She didn’t really want the teen out of her sight, but Captain Bennett must have something important to tell them, or he wouldn’t have asked.
Sam nodded and then nudged Bella. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
Bella started to stir.
Liam walked over to his sleeping niece and woke her up.
“Can you guys go with Marshal Glover to get some snacks so we can talk with Captain Bennett?”
Bella nodded and rubbed her eyes. The girls slowly made their way outside, Liam on their heels. He wasn’t gone but a minute.
“Okay, Captain. What do you have?”
Captain Bennett’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “I have no words. I thought I knew Caleb Dean.” He looked down to his feet. “I never would have thought he was capable of something like this.”
Tears stung Sam’s eyes. He wasn’t the only one.
Liam walked over to her and grabbed her hand in his. The warmth from his palm spread up her arm and enveloped her. “My team has Dean in their custody. We’ll get everything figured out.” He squeezed her hand.
“That’s not why I came though,” the captain said. “I wanted to talk to you about the fires.”
“Okay.” Sam furrowed her brows.
“The slaughterhouse is a total loss. But it’s the cold-storage facility that has piqued my interest, and I wanted to ask you two some questions.”
“Shoot.” Liam reached out and pulled a chair closer to the bed and took a seat.
“Sam, tell me what you saw when you went in.”
Sam closed her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was relive the nightmare.
Liam lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it, sending flutters swarming in her stomach.
What was she going to do when this was all over? He was acting like the dutiful guy in her life. Playing the part of a doting boyfriend. Was it all an act? Somewhere along the line, Sam’s heart had gotten involved.
She wanted more with Liam.
She swallowed her feelings and turned her attention to Captain Bennett. “Dean had poured gasoline all throughout the halls he led me down, and there was also gasoline puddled in the room where the freezers were.”
“How much gas would you guess was there?”
A lot. He had to have made several trips to get all of that gas.
She shook her head. “I’d say at least twenty gallons? Maybe not so much in the hallway, but definitely a lot in the freezer room.”
“That matches what we found in his truck. He had half a dozen five-gallon gas containers. He probably doused the slaughterhouse, refilled the containers, and then doused the cold storage.” Captain Bennett tapped his thigh with his right thumb.
“Deputy Marshal Roberts, when you entered the cold storage, did you have a fire extinguisher or any other aid to put out the fire?”
Sam turned her attention to the man seated next to her.
“No, sir.”
Captain Bennett nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket. “I want to show you two some pictures.” His tone and demeanor were out of character for him. What was going on?
He turned his phone around and showed them. A blazing inferno filled the screen. “Swipe left.”
Liam took the phone and moved so they could look together. “That’s the slaughterhouse.”
Liam swiped through two similar photos before he landed on a photo of the cold storage. It was still standing. The flames had been put out.
“Keep going,” Captain said.
The next photo was taken in the hallway that Dean had led her down. There were some scorch marks on the ground, where gas had been poured and lit on fire. The damage was inconsistent with what she knew about fires. Her heart thudded in her chest.
The next photo was of the open room containing the freezers. There were still puddles of gasoline all throughout the room.
But there were no burn marks.
Sam gasped. “It should have burned.”
Liam’s gaze was focused on the photo. “It was God.”
Sam shook her head. “What?”
“God protected you and the girls. Just like He led me to you.” Liam shrugged. “I’m sure forensics will go through there, and they’ll tell us some scientific reason why it didn’t burn up and why you all survived. But by natural means or otherwise, God saved you.”
“You think so?” Had God been in the midst of it all this whole time?
“I believe He saved you.” Liam nodded. “When I got there, both buildings were on fire. I didn’t know which one to choose. I was afraid of being wrong. God nudged me to the right building and to the right freezer so that I could get you all out.”
There was no use in denying it. She hadn’t been alone in that warehouse, just like she hadn’t been alone all along.
“Sam, God was looking out for the four of you today,” Captain Bennett said.
A tear rolled down her cheek. She looked to Liam. “God really did protect us today. He’s been holding on to me this whole time, and I’m finally seeing it.”
Liam brushed her tear away with his thumb. Relief softened his face.
Peace that could only come from God settled over her—steady, quiet, real. “I’m so grateful.”
Liam handed the phone back to Captain Bennett. “Thank you, sir.”
The captain stood. “I’ll leave you two alone for now, but there will be an official investigation into both fires. The fire marshal will be in touch.”
All she could do was nod.
He let himself out of the room.
“Liam, what does all of this mean?” she asked.
He looked her in the eyes and cupped her face with his free hand. “It means God has a plan for your life, and He wasn’t going to let Dean or anyone else interfere.”
“I still feel like I have so many questions. So much to learn. And yet, at the same time, somehow I feel…peace.”
Liam smiled. “That’s actually a pretty good description of faith.”
She reached over and slid her hand across his cheek. “Will you help me?”
Pain flashed in his eyes, and he gulped like her touch cut him open.
Was it pity? Regret? Or something deeper—something she was too afraid to hope for?
She dropped her hand to her lap and looked away. She’d gone too far. She was asking too much. Why did she have to ask him?
Liam gently turned her face to his. “I can’t be your handler anymore.”
Tears poured down her face. “I’m sorry. I’m so foolish.” She tried to turn away, but he held fast.
“You don’t understand. I can’t be your handler anymore. Not when I feel the way I do.”
Sam swallowed. “How do you feel?”
“I feel like God brought me to Renegade to find you.”
Sam’s heart swelled in her chest. “Really?”
He nodded. “I love you, Sam.”
Emotion clogged her throat.
He studied her face. “I want nothing more than to help you, but I need to get this situation with Dean wrapped up and take care of a few things. Will you wait? If you feel the same, I’ll figure out how we can make this work without breaking the rules.”
“I will.” Her heart soared. God had saved her life, and now He was giving her everything she’d ever wanted. Someone who loved her.
“Good.” He squeezed her hand and bent down. “I want to kiss you so bad, but I can’t. Not right now.”
He was such an honorable man. And he was all hers. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I can wait.”
“Knock, knock,” Glover said from Liam’s office door.