The Fire Still Burns (4 page)

“Dream on, Adam,” she said viciously while she ran from him.  “You'll never hurt me again!”

He heard his truck start and cursed himself for leaving the keys in the ignition.  Running after her was impossible, the pain ricocheting through his groin as the struggle to breathe kept him from moving.  She had damn near sent his balls careening into his throat.  He tried to call out for her, but couldn't find his voice.  He realized it was too late anyway as a cloud of dirt blew over him.

She had just stolen his truck.

Chapter Three

Adam saw Chief Parker outside of the station smoking a cigarette as he approached and growled a word obscene enough to make his mother faint, if she were around.

He had just walked all the way back from the Mulroney property, sweat dampened his T-shirt and his temper rose with every step he took.  His pride was battered, his ego badly bruised, and, judging by the smirk on the chief's face, he knew he was about to go through round two.

“Fine day for a stroll.” Chief Parker called out to him as he neared.

“Where'd she go?” Adam cut to the point, in no mood to hang around chatting it up with the chief when he had a little wench to find and set straight on a few things.  He noticed his truck haphazardly parked, but Brynn's compact piece of uselessness was gone.

“I knew it would be difficult for the two of you to work together, but I never thought she'd beat the crap out of ya and steal your truck.”  The chief let out a small chuckle, interrupted by a harsh cough as smoke came out his nose.

“She told you?”

“Nope.  You just did.”

“Dammit.  I’m glad you’re enjoying this.”  Adam wiped his hands through his sweaty hair in frustration.

The chief flicked his cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it beneath his boot.  “I always liked that little girl.  Full of spunk.”

“Yeah, well, where did she and her spunk go?”  Adam clenched his hands into fists, wanting to wrap them around her spunky little neck.

“I reckon she went to the farmhouse since she wanted to inspect the properties.”  The chief peered closer at Adam's face and chuckled.  “You're gonna have one hell of a battle scar tomorrow.”

Adam brought his fingers to his temple where the beginnings of a bump already formed and gritted his teeth against the pain and humiliation.

“You kids play nice from here on out.”  Chief Parker headed back into the station, his back shaking from holding the laughter in from his amused warning. 

“Play nice, my ass.”  Adam grumbled and walked around to the driver's side of his truck.  He climbed in, readjusted the rear-view mirror and cursed at his reflection.  A myriad of colors
surrounded the skin around his temple.

“Son of a bitch.”  Adam backed out of his parking space and headed toward the farmhouse his brother was murdered in, vowing if Brynn Harlow knew what was best for her, she'd hide herself somewhere before he got there.

~~~

Zeke had finally crossed the wrong person, Brynn concluded as she stared at the place where he'd burned alive, unable to feel any sadness at the loss.  Presumably, he had been tied to a column which stood in the middle of the house, then, the arsonist had soaked him in gasoline before dousing everything in sight, making a trail so he or she could be safe and clear before tossing the lit match.

His death would have been excruciatingly painful and, for that, Brynn was sorry.  No living creature deserved to endure that much pain, even if they regularly inflicted pain and misery on others, a talent Zeke mastered.

Brynn squatted in front of the column where Zeke had suffered his last moments and spoke to him as though the charred column were his tombstone.  “You're dead, Zeke, and Cal took his own life after stealing my money, so I'm back home again.  Who'd have thought I'd be involved in finding your killer?  I guess you want justice.  Ironic that you would want that, but then again, you always did have a swelled ego.”

Laughter escaped her, the rough sound holding no trace of joy.  “Of course you would want the one person who was able to hurt you to be punished, even though the people you hurt never got any justice, did they?  Except for this one, that is.  I'll find the killer, Zeke, because it's the right thing to do, but I hope you burn in a hell far hotter than the one you burned in here.”

Brynn stood and shook her head to shake out the negative thoughts inside it.  Wasting time thinking of the things that happened before she had left home
¾
the way everything she'd ever planned for fell apart
¾
wasn’t useful to her at all.  Recalling the way Adam spoke to her at the other site definitely wasn’t productive.  She was going to solve this case, grab the money, and go.

The fire had burned out large sections of the roof so she was able to see the stars twinkling overhead.  She'd missed the stars, she realized sadly.  Her son, Nate, had been amazed by the thick blanket of them his first night in Black Bear Gorge.  A smile escaped her as she remembered how in awe he'd appeared, and how hard he hadn't wanted it to show, trying to exude a level of aloof coolness all pre-teens struggled to uphold.

The stars reminded her it was time to call it a day.  In addition to dried sweat and dirt coating her clothes and some skin, she hadn't been able to find anything useful in the daylight hours and she certainly wouldn't find anything in the dark.

Disappointed by the lack of physical evidence, but still determined to succeed in her job, she walked through piles of ash toward the large gaping hole that used to be the side of the farmhouse, wanting nothing more than to soak away the smell of smoke in a tub of bubbles and sleep for at least half a day.

A loud creak from a dried out board sounded above her.  Brynn turned her head to the left just in time to see a beam swing in her direction.  Before she could move, something hit her from behind and she landed hard against the floorboards, air leaving her lungs with a
whoosh
.  Debris and dust flew in the air as a beam landed right where she’d stood a moment before.    

“Are you all right?”  A deep voice she knew all too well asked as she was helped to her feet. 

“Yeah, Adam, I'm… I'm fine.”  Her answer little more than a croak, her chest hurt from the polluted air rushing back in to her lungs.

Adam looked up, his eyes widened.  “Let's go.”

The rumbling sound above gave her all the warning she needed that this was not the time to argue. She ran with Adam out the opening, narrowly avoiding having the ceiling fall in on top of them.  They stopped by their parked vehicles and turned to see the farmhouse cave in.

“What the—” Adam doubled over, hacking hard enough to produce an organ.  “—the hell did you do in there?”

“I karate-kicked one of the supporting beams,” Brynn snapped through a wheeze, fear adding to her short temper.  “What do you think I did?  I'm not stupid.”

“I know, I know.  That just scared me to death.”  He rubbed his forehead, leaving a dark smudge behind, then, cleared his throat while returning his gaze to the remains of the farmhouse.

Brynn remembered she had left him back at the Mulroney property and cringed.  “I guess you're ready to hit me with some payback.”

Adam shook his head, still gazing at the heaped remains of the farmhouse.  “Not after that.  You could have been killed.”

He turned fiery blue eyes on her.  “What the hell were you doing here alone?  As a so-called expert, you should know the dangers.”

Brynn shrugged in irritation as the heat of a blush spread across her cheeks.  He was right.  Only an idiot would enter a potentially unstable property alone.  Or someone mad as hell, she concluded with a wry smile.  “The farmhouse held up for a month.  I didn't think—”

“Damn right you didn't think.”  He stepped closer, his finger pointed squarely in her face.  “There's been a lot of rainfall this past week, Brynn.  Strong winds.  You should have known better.”

“All right.  You've proved your point.”  Brynn flung her arms up and turned toward her car, wondering why the hell he cared whether she lived or died anyway.  His opinion of her was obviously very low.

“Where do you think you're going?”  A strong hand clamped around her arm and spun her around.  Eyes the color of an inky midnight blazed down into hers.  Brynn could do nothing but gawk as an unexpected blast of heat shot through her body.

“I asked you a question.”  His grip tightened around her forearm.

Blinking away the brief moment of desire, Brynn tugged her arm away.  “I'm going home, Adam.  We have nothing left to say to each other tonight.”  She started for her car again.

“I think we do.  You can start off by apologizing for taking my truck and conclude by thanking me for saving your life.”

Brynn whipped around and fisted her hands on her hips.  “I would have moved out of the way of the beam by myself and you don't deserve an apology, not after your behavior.  How dare you insult my morals and then assault me.”

“Assault you?”

“That little incident on the road.  No matter what this town might think of me, I'm not that damn easy.  I never was.”

She turned on her heel and marched to her car as Adam stood there in front of the stack of wood and debris that used to be a farmhouse.  She slammed the car door behind her, and only then did her legs stop trembling.  He was right.  He saved her from a potentially life-ending accident.  But, as much as he despised her, why did he bother?

~~~

“Brynn.”

Brynn rolled over, burying her head beneath the pillow in an attempt to drown out Linda Harlow’s intruding voice.  She had returned home late only to field a thousand questions from her mother, deal with her sulking son's over-dramatized problems, and then proceeded to spend several hours tossing and turning in her bed, remembering the feel of Adam's velvety tongue as it invaded her mouth earlier in the day.  All she wanted to do now was sleep peacefully and without dreams.

“Brynn Guinevere Harlow!”  The cover was pulled back from her head.

Even half asleep, Brynn managed to cringe at the use of her awful middle name.  “What, Mama?  I'm sleeping.”

“He's here.”

“Who's here?”

“Adam Good.”

Fully awake, Brynn sat upright in an instant.  “Did he see Nate?”

“No,” Linda narrowed her eyes.  “Don't you think you ought to tell him about Nate before he does see him?  It's bound to happen.”

Brynn stumbled toward her dresser, her mother's words tripping her.  “He knows I have a child.  I was pregnant when I left.”

“You know what I'm talking about, Brynn.”

Brynn feigned ignorance, pretending she hadn’t heard her mother as she quickly stripped out of her nightclothes and pulled on a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt.  “Where's he at?”  She found her Nike running shoes under the bed and sat to pull them on.

“Outside.  Dang it, young lady.  When are you going to admit it?”

“Admit what?  I already told you nothing bad happened last night.  Keep your voice down before Nate hears you.”

“That's not what I mean and you know it.  I'm talking about you confessing to the truth about your boy.”

Brynn gulped as she looked at her mother.  Linda Harlow, a mere five-feet-three inches with a slight build, was a typical girlie-girl all the way down to the red highlights and pink toenails, but the green-eyed glare she gave Brynn as she stared her down with her small fists firmly planted on her fuzzy pink- robed hips was lethal.

“You were pregnant when you left here but you weren't carrying Cal's child.  Maybe you weren't sure who the daddy was—”

“I have to go.”  Brynn stood and attempted to walk past her mother before the woman further insulted her character, but Linda grabbed her tight around her elbow and yanked her back.

“The point is…I know Nate is Adam's son.  He has his eyes…and quite a bit of everything else to tell the truth.  Adam deserves to know.”   

“Adam knows all he needs to know.”  Brynn moved past her mother, unconcerned with hair and makeup.  She needed to get to Adam and get him away from the house before Nate decided to peek out a window or worse, go outside.

“Why can't you just tell the truth about things, Brynn?  You used to be such a good girl…”  The pleading, exasperated tone in her voice made the insult even worse.

Brynn paused in the doorway, a cold bitterness crept through her veins.  “I'm not a girl anymore, Mama.  I'm a woman and what's the point of telling the truth when you've already made up your mind about me?”  

Not waiting for an answer, Brynn turned and left the room, running smack into Nate in the hall.  “Nate, baby.  Are you all right?  What do you need?  Shouldn't you be studying?”  The questions tumbled out of her mouth rapid fire as she tried to recall everything that had been said between she and her mother.  “How long have you been standing here?”  She studied the blond pre-teen’s cool blue eyes for any sign he’d heard the discussion between her and her mother.