Chapter 6
SIX
Lydia felt utterly defeated as River pulled up in front of her house. The patrol car was no longer parked out front. “I’ll stay with you until we can get another officer to stand watch. Let me call and find out when that will be.”
As she sat next to him in the patrol car, Lydia only heard one side of the phone call, but it sounded like they were short of officers because of a bank robbery. He shut off his phone and turned to face her, blue eyes holding an intense warmth. “I can stay with you for now.”
River got Frankie out of her kennel and escorted Lydia up the walk. She pulled her keys from her pocket. Once inside, River gripped her arm. “Let Frankie and me make sure this place is secure.”
She watched as Frankie and River moved from room to room and then stepped outside into the backyard.
Lydia slumped down on the sofa and grabbed a picture frame from the side table. Elsie in her princess costume. She pressed the photograph to her chest and closed her eyes as they warmed with tears.
River returned.
“Hey.” He rushed over to her and gathered her into his arms.
She nestled against his chest, resting her palm where she could feel his heart beating. Frankie licked her hand. They were quite a team, these two.
“You don’t find all the children, do you? You said there have been times when there wasn’t a happy ending.”
He pressed his warm hands against her cheeks and looked her in the eyes. “Lydia, you can’t let your mind go there.”
The tears flowed down her cheeks and over his fingers. “I just have to face reality. There are times when the search doesn’t end well, aren’t there?”
He pulled away. “Yes, there are bad outcomes sometimes.” His voice was thick with emotion.
“What happened, River?”
He rose to his feet. He stared at the framed photo of Elsie then covered his mouth with his hand, shaking his head.
“A five-year-old boy died on my watch. I didn’t make the right choices.
” His voice faltered. “I should have asked more questions about the family situation.” He turned his back to her, resting his head in his palm.
This had to be what he’d been keeping from her. The thing that tore him up inside. She stood and touched his back. He turned to face her. “No child will die on my watch ever again.”
Even as she acknowledged the intense resolve in his eyes, she had to accept that regardless of River’s vow, the outcome for a missing child could not be controlled.
Lydia detected deep sorrow in River. It hadn’t been easy for him to share.
She gave him a sideways hug. “Oh, River, I’m so sorry. You didn’t have to carry that alone.”
He turned to face her. “You can’t give up hope. Stay strong for Elsie and I’ll stay strong for you. Deal?”
He was right. She couldn’t give up hope.
She had to believe that Elsie was alive and that she would be found.
She tilted her head to look at him. “Deal.” It would be so easy to fall for him.
She took a step back. That look in his eyes made her fear he would kiss her again.
This time on the lips. The pain of her marriage to Sloane flooded back over her.
There was a reason she’d vowed to stay single.
She needed to keep her perspective. Maybe the strong feelings for River were just because of the way he’d risen to the occasion in the worst crisis of her life.
His phone rang. He looked at it. “Ah, Eva. She always comes through.”
Lydia was grateful that the phone call broke the intensity of the moment. Was she just attracted to him because of the nightmare she was living through? She only heard one side of the phone conversation. “Gregory Larson, huh? What do you know about him and that land?”
River listened for a moment. “Yeah, give me the address. Let me get a piece of paper.”
Lydia handed him a piece of paper and a pen from the sofa side table. River nodded while Eva talked. “Okay, still, it might be good to talk to him.” He said goodbye and pressed the disconnect button.
Lydia took a step toward him. “What did you find out?” Again, she felt her hope rising. She didn’t know how much more of this emotional roller-coaster ride she could take.
“Gregory Larson owns about forty acres next to the hiking trail,” said River.
“I don’t know why, but his name sounds familiar.”
“He’s made a lot of money in real estate and owns many properties around Ridge and sells all over the state.”
“Maybe that’s it.” She’d probably seen one of his real estate ads.
“His house is on a different piece of property outside of town, but there’s a private skeet shooting range and a structure that functions as a clubhouse on his land that’s next to the hiking trail.”
“We didn’t see anything like that,” said Lydia.
He looked again at his phone. “Eva’s supposed to send me a map to show where the clubhouse is.” He studied his phone for a long moment. “Looks like it’s a couple of hills over. The boundary between the properties is right at that creek where Frankie and the other dogs lost the scent.”
“So, it’s not likely even if Mr. Larson was on that property that he saw anything.”
“It might be worth it to talk to him. Maybe see if he would give us permission to search that clubhouse. It’s probably only used when people are up there shooting.”
Straws, thought Lydia. “In case Elsie was taken there and hidden? So, whoever took her hiked over two hills instead of taking her in the car that was seen at the time she disappeared?”
“I know it seems like Frankie would have followed the scent if she was taken that way. So much of this doesn’t make sense.
If I could just connect the dots.” He threw up his hands.
“With the rain and the creek, maybe it just distorted the scent too much.” He wandered over to the window by the front door, gazing at the street with his arms crossed over his chest. “I just don’t understand it. ”
She moved toward the stove. “I’m going to heat up some water for tea.” She filled the teakettle and placed it on the burner before turning it on. Frankie let out low growl.
“What is it, girl?”
Taking a step back from the stove, Lydia turned to look at Frankie.
She heard three popping sounds and then an intense hot energy picked her up and threw her backward.
The kettle hit her shoulder. Her back rammed against a piece of furniture and papers fluttered around her.
There was a giant black spot where her stove used to be.
Her heartbeat drummed in her ears as shock set in.
River was lifting her, telling her something she couldn’t quite process. He all but carried her through the front door. Had a bomb just gone off in her house?
* * *
With his own heart pounding, River wrapped his arm around Lydia’s waist and rushed her through the front door.
Frankie followed him. Though the explosion had been small only damaging part of the kitchen, it would have killed her if she hadn’t stepped away from the stove.
Frankie’s warning growl had saved Lydia’s life.
He pulled his phone out.
He didn’t even wait for the 911 operator to talk. “There’s been an explosion at 407 Weston Street.” He went down on one knee beside Lydia. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
She nodded. “I don’t think anything is broken.”
“Let’s go sit in my patrol car.” He was concerned that there might be another explosion. The outside of the house hadn’t been damaged at all, but that didn’t mean they were out of danger.
Frankie settled between them in the car. After a few minutes, River saw flashing lights and heard sirens approaching up the street. The fire truck pulled up first. They waited in the patrol car until the ambulance showed up.
River escorted Lydia toward a waiting EMT. Several of the firemen were walking around the outside of the house, but none had yet gone inside. One of them came toward River and Lydia.
“Can you describe exactly what happened?”
Lydia sat on the bumper of the ambulance and pulled the blanket the EMT had offered her around her shoulders. “There were popping sounds right after I turned on my gas stove, then I was sailing through the air.”
The firefighter put his hands on his hips. “We’re concerned that there might have been a gas line explosion, which means there might be a gas leak. I’m not sending my guys in there until we know it’s safe to enter.”
“You mean there might be more explosions?” said River.
The fire chief turned back toward the house. “Looks like an old house. Was the stove recently installed? Have you had any work done recently?”
“No recent construction.” Lydia shook her head. “I have to tell you that there have been other attempts on my life.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but we’ll figure it out.” The fire chief walked toward one of the other firefighters.
Lydia clutched the blanket close to her neck. “My house. My things. Elsie’s things.” The strain in her voice was like a knife stabbing his heart. One more thing had been taken from her.
After the EMT checked her out, River rested his hand on her shoulder. “You’re staying with me for now.” Dropping her off at a friend’s house might not be a good idea. At least with him, she’d be safe.
Lydia had a sort of dazed look on her face as she got into the passenger seat. River had loaded Frankie in the back seat.
“Do you ever feel like you’re living Job’s life? Now I can’t live in my house because of some kind of freak accident…if that even is what it was.”
Even if the explosion had been caused by a gas leak, he too wondered if it had been an accident or deliberate sabotage.
Either way, he wouldn’t leave her alone, and he certainly wouldn’t let her spend the night at some hotel when she was this vulnerable.
She’d come to his place, where he could offer her his protection.
With only a little arguing from her end, she agreed.
She weakly mentioned that she could stay with her in-laws, but she seemed worried about causing them more stress.