Chapter 20
Dutton woke suddenly, his heart racing with the image of Benny, his foster father, holding a gun on him. It took him a moment to realize he’d been dreaming of the old man. It was something he hadn’t done in years.
He blinked the sleep from his eyes, glanced over at Dahlia, who was still asleep, and then at Shortcake, who was on his chest. The pup was looking at him with concern in her big brown eyes. “It’s okay, Shortcake,” he whispered.
She just kept staring.
He scooped her up, carefully slipped off the bed, and closed the door behind them as they left so that he wouldn’t wake Dahlia.
Shortcake wiggled in his arms, and he took it as a sign that she needed to go out. Together they went out the back door. He placed her on the ground and watched as she sniffed around, looking for her perfect spot.
As he stood there, the details from earlier that day kept running through his mind.
Why had Grady been on that roof? Why, after all the years that had gone by, had he shown up now and attacked Dutton?
It didn’t make sense. Had he been harboring a grudge that long?
Dutton would have thought that Grady would be happy to have Benny behind bars.
That old man had been terrible to all the foster kids, forcing them all to do things they didn’t want to do.
Grady was a year younger than Dutton, and he had been beaten more than once when he hadn’t complied with the old man’s requests.
Shouldn’t he have been happy to be out from under the old man’s thumb?
Dutton couldn’t really know, he supposed. He hadn’t seen or talked to anyone from that house since the day he’d testified against Benny. He’d walked away and tried his best to put the past behind him.
Shortcake was still sniffing around, taking her sweet time, something she usually didn’t do while taking care of business.
Most times he took her out, she did what she had to do and then immediately asked him to play.
He watched as she sniffed the entire perimeter of the fenced area of the yard.
She was almost methodical about it as she walked along the fence.
But when she got to the corner near the house, she stopped walking and started sniffing harder, her little body on full alert.
“What is it, Shortcake?” he asked as he walked over to her. He was expecting to see evidence of another animal, but instead, when he leaned down to inspect the area, he saw the clear imprint of a boot.
Fear and rage warred for dominance. The imprint was far too big to be Dahlia’s, and Dutton knew he hadn’t been traipsing around in that area of the yard. Unless there was a worker Dahlia had hired for some reason that he didn’t know about, there shouldn’t be a fresh print.
“Who was here, Shortcake?” he asked as he looked around, searching for any clues.
The Havapoo continued to sniff with conviction and started running back and forth in about a two-foot area.
“Is something here?” he asked her as he crouched down to look closer.
Shortcake gave a little bark and then a whine before she pressed into his leg.
“I hear you, girl. Something’s not right, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. I promise.”
Dutton inspected the area thoroughly, searching for anything that was out of place.
When he didn’t see anything other than the boot print, he looked for evidence of another print or some sort of trail.
It took a bit of work, but he soon found that there was another half print on the other side of the house.
But there was no trail, and nothing was out of place.
He looked up and the proverbial light bulb went on.
There was no trail because whoever had been there had gone up, not around.
Just like Grady.
It was why Shortcake was stuck in a loop, sniffing the same area. He ground his teeth and went into Dahlia’s garage, where he found a ladder. A few minutes later, he was at the top of the ladder, looking for clues on the roof. He didn’t see anything at first. But then there it was.
A small ball of red light was circling the chimney. He opened his senses, and fire magic washed over him, nearly knocking him right off the ladder.
He grabbed onto the gutter as he swore loudly and then pulled himself up onto the roof. After carefully making his way over to the chimney, he put his hand right into the middle of the glowing light. It immediately erupted into flames.
Dutton’s instincts kicked in, holding the fire away from his skin while he focused on neutralizing it.
The magic was strong. Just as strong as the magic that was used earlier that day in town.
There was no doubt in his mind that Grady was responsible for the fire spell.
He had mentioned that he knew about Dahlia and that Dutton was spending a lot of time with her.
Sweat was pouring down his face by the time he neutralized the fire spell, and when he was done, he just sat on the roof, catching his breath.
“Dutton?” Dahlia called.
Shortcake started to bark.
“There you are girl. Where’s Dutton?” he heard her ask.
“I’m up here,” he called.
“What? Why?”
He wasn’t surprised she hadn’t seen the ladder. He’d set it up on the side of the house since it was closer to the chimney. Dutton crab-walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at her confused expression. “You don’t want to know.”
“I can assure you that I do,” she said. Dahlia had scooped up Shortcake and was holding her close to her chest.
“Of course,” he said. “Give me a minute. I’m coming down.” Dutton carefully crossed the roof and climbed down. By the time he set his foot on the ground, Dahlia had found the ladder and was waiting for him.
“Let’s go inside,” she said. “It’s chilly out.”
She was right. His sweat-soaked shirt along with the mild autumn wind had him shivering.
“You look really tired,” she said once they were inside. “How long did you sleep?”
“A couple hours,” he said. “I was actually feeling better until I had to neutralize a firebomb on your roof.”
Her eyes went wide with both shock and fear as she pulled out a kitchen chair and plopped down into it. “Firebomb? What do you mean, firebomb?”
Shortcake jumped up into her lap, clearly realizing that her mother was in distress.
He took a seat across from her and reached for her hand, already knowing that this was going to be hard for her.
“When I took Shortcake out, she was going crazy, sniffing an area around the house. That’s when I found a boot print.
I eventually found another one on the other side of the house and realized that since there wasn’t an actual trail, someone must have been on the roof.
So I checked. That’s when I found a firebomb spell surrounding your chimney. ”
Her entire body went rigid. “Around the chimney? Someone was trying to blow up my house?” Her voice continued to rise with each word. “Why?”
“I’m sure it’s because of me,” he said, dropping her hand.
Guilt ate away at him. None of this would be happening to her if he hadn’t walked into her life.
If he hadn’t been a part of Benny’s operation when he was a kid.
Or maybe if he hadn’t testified against him.
He didn’t know. He just knew that this was on him.
“No,” she said firmly. “It’s because some crazy person is out to get you. There’s a difference.”
Not that he could see. Not really. The end result was the same.
“I’m not going to let you beat yourself up about this,” she said firmly, her eyes alight with conviction. “It’s not your fault you were stuck in an abusive foster care situation, and it’s not your fault that this is happening now. Understand?”
“But—”
“Dutton,” she said, quietly this time. “I won’t let you blame yourself. What I need to know right now is if the firebomb is still a danger to us or if you were able to completely disable it.”
“It’s no longer a danger. I neutralized it,” he said. “But I still need to check the rest of the property to make sure there isn’t another booby trap waiting to be sprung.”
She closed her eyes for a long moment, took a deep breath, and said, “Okay. Let’s go see if we can find anything. I’ll go with Shortcake and see if she sniffs anything out while you do your thing.”
Before he could say another word, she stood and went to get Shortcake’s harness.
Dutton went into the kitchen, downed a glass of water, and then disappeared to change his shirt and grab a sweatshirt.
By the time he reappeared, Dahlia and Shortcake were already out in the front yard, checking for anything unusual.
He joined them, gave Dahlia a kiss on the cheek, and said, “If you see anything or even suspect you’ve found something suspicious, don’t do anything.
Tell me, and I’ll investigate it. Understand? ”
“Yeah, okay.” Some of her earlier fierceness had softened. Now she seemed wary and unsure of exactly how to proceed. “But what should I be looking for?”
“Any footprints you don’t recognize. If Shortcake seems disturbed by a scent.
Or, and this is the most important thing, if you see any glowing light that isn’t a house or yard light, tell me immediately.
The firebomb was a glowing red light that surrounded the chimney.
I think Grady is putting his spells on the roofs because it’s less likely anyone will see the glow there during the day. ”
She nodded. “All right. We’ll see what we find.”
He gave her a quick hug. “If there is anything you are unsure about, anything at all, call me over, okay?”
“I will.”
“Be careful,” he said.
“Right back at you.” She let Shortcake lead her around the grounds while he took off to investigate her vehicle, the trees on the property, her storage shed, and to check the house one more time.
After an hour of searching, none of the three of them had found anything worth worrying about.
“Now what?” Dahlia asked.
Dutton had been thinking about that while he was hunting around her property. “We have to call Drew.”
“Yeah. Makes sense.” Dahlia reached for her phone and called the sheriff’s office.
Dutton heard the sheriff swear on the other end of the line when she explained what Dutton had found.
She ended the call. “He’s on his way over.”
The two of them went back inside, made coffee, and waited for the law to show up.
Drew was there in less than ten minutes.
Dahlia already had the door open for him by the time he made it to the porch.
“Tell me everything,” Drew said, laying a recording device on the kitchen table where they were seated again.
Dutton went through his story again.
Drew was silent, listening to all the details. When Dutton was finished, he said, “Show me the footprints.”
The two of them went outside so that Drew could inspect the evidence. He took a couple of photos and asked, “Is there anything to see on the roof?”
“I don’t think so. I neutralized the spell, so the glow is gone now. Forensics from the Magical Task Force would likely be able to identify traces of the magic, but…” Dutton shrugged.
“That’s problematic considering Agents Parker and Avery would probably be sent to investigate,” Drew finished for him.
“Yeah.” Dutton just wasn’t sure what the next step should be. He knew that establishing magical evidence was important, but considering the agents didn’t want to believe that Dutton wasn’t a part of the string of fires, he just didn’t know what would happen if they called them.
“That’s not ideal.” The sheriff paused and then said, “Listen, I have a few other contacts at the MTF that I trust. I’m going to reach out to them to do an investigation on this for us.
In the meantime, can you and Dahlia stay somewhere else?
I’d be more comfortable if you weren’t here until we’re sure it’s safe. ”
“I did check for other spells,” Dutton said.
“I understand, but we just don’t know if this Grady person, assuming he is the one who did this, is going to come back here. I’d rather you weren’t here for that.”
“There’s my house,” Dutton said. “But at this point, who’s to say it’s not targeted too?”
“We’ll check on it as well. In the meantime, find somewhere else to stay, and I’ll be in touch.” The sheriff walked off, leaving Dutton to decide the next steps.
He walked back in, told Dahlia that Drew wanted them to leave for safety reasons, and that they needed to find a place to stay for at least the night.
“We’ll need a place that takes Shortcake,” she said. “I’m not sure the inn allows pets.”
Dutton didn’t know either, but he had somewhere else in mind. “I want to go to Briggs’s house. If he’s okay with it.”
“You don’t think Grady knows about him?” Dahlia asked. “If he targeted my house, he might go after your brother, too.”
“That’s precisely why I want to go there.
We need to check to make sure his house hasn’t been targeted.
” Plus, Dutton knew that if needed, Briggs and Melissa would watch over Dahlia while he went to battle Grady.
Briggs’s magic was often unpredictable, but Melissa had the power to harness the magic of other witches.
Together, they’d be able to keep her safe.
But he kept all that to himself. He knew that if he planned to look for Grady, Dahlia would either try to stop him or insist on going.
Neither one of those scenarios were going to work for him.
“You’d better call him, then,” Dahlia said.
Dutton got out his phone and called his brother. And once Briggs was up to speed and on board with the plan, he went in to tell Dahlia to pack her and Shortcake a bag.