The Marshal's Hostage (10 page)

“Oh, God,” he heard Joelle say.

Dallas whipped around in her direction, and he followed her gaze across the room.

Hell.

The smoke, black and thick, was seeping under the door.

Chapter Ten

Joelle’s heart slammed against her chest.

“Sarah? Rudy?” she called out. She started across the room toward the door.

“No!” Dallas held her back. “Opening it could cause a back draft if there are flames on the other side.”

He sounded so calm and sensible. And he was right, of course. Dallas definitely wasn’t panicking the way Joelle felt that she was. She’d wanted to throw open the door and try to escape.

“Besides, if Sarah or Rudy was out there, they would have already called out to us,” he reminded her.

True. Both had had plenty of time to leave the building and get out of hearing range.

“Move as far away from the door as possible,” Dallas insisted. “And call 911 to get the fire department out here.”

Joelle did as he’d asked while he made his way to the door. Toward the smoke that was getting thicker with each passing second. Dallas covered his mouth with one hand and pressed his other palm to the back of the scarred wood door.

“It’s not hot so there’s no fire nearby,” he relayed to her.

Joelle had a split second of relief. Until Dallas tried to open the door. It didn’t budge.

“It’s locked,” he said, cursing and coughing. He backed up a little and bashed his shoulder against the door not once but twice.

The lock held.

Of course it had.

Joelle had made sure it was secure because she hadn’t wanted anyone breaking into the office and stealing or tampering with anything. But she was also sure of something else. There was no way either Dallas or she could have engaged that padlock while they were inside Webb’s office.

Someone had locked them inside.

Mercy.

The panic soared through her again, and she tried to focus on how they could get out of there and find the person responsible. Hard to do, though. Because combined with the events of the day before, Joelle had to consider that this was another attempt to scare them.

Or kill them.

“Who had keys to the lock?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. I got mine from the governor’s office.” But it was something she’d find out as soon as possible.

Dallas looked up at the ceiling where there was a sprinkler head. “Not working?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I didn’t check them when I started the inquiry.” But obviously it was out of commission. Either from not being used, or someone had tampered with it.

That didn’t help steady her nerves. Did someone want to burn them alive?

“The window,” Dallas said, hurrying back closer to her.

As they’d done before, they looked out the window together. No Rudy. No fire escape or ladder, either. Just a one-story drop to the ground.

“This better not be locked, too,” Dallas grumbled.

Her heart pounded even faster and harder, and Joelle held her breath while they tried to open the window.

It didn’t budge.

But they kept trying, and finally it gave way. Thank God. Apparently, it was just temporarily jammed.

The smoke was still coming from the door, and it coiled right toward them, causing both Dallas and her to cough. He pushed her closer to the open window. To the fresh air. It helped, but in that position Joelle noticed the blood spatter again. That sent another slam of fear through her.

The smoke might destroy the evidence.

And maybe that’s exactly what someone wanted. But how had the person known it was there? Dallas and she had just discovered it minutes earlier. Later, she’d need answers to that as well or decide if this was all just a horrible coincidence.

“We might have to jump,” Dallas warned her.

He stuck his head out the window and looked around the grounds. Not an ordinary glance, but one of his cop-type surveillances.

Until then, it hadn’t occurred to Joelle that someone might be out there, waiting to attack them. It might not be safe. But what choice did they have? If there was smoke, they had to assume there was also a fire that could eat through the entire building.

So they could burn or risk being shot.

“Stay close to the window,” Dallas added. “Try not to take in too much smoke.”

Joelle tried, but the smoke seemed to be coming in even faster and thicker. She yanked Dallas closer to the fresh air, too, when he started to cough harder. She wasn’t sure how much longer they could stay in the room, but she was afraid the fire department wouldn’t get there in time before they had to jump.

The drop suddenly seemed like a long way down.

Dallas and she could end up being hurt, and there was that possibility of someone being out there.

Even though her nerves were wired to the max, she couldn’t get her mind off the blood spatter. “You think we can tear off that part of the window frame?” she asked.

Dallas looked at it, and then he made another check of the smoke and grounds. He grabbed the edges of the frame, obviously trying not to touch the spatter pattern, and he pulled hard. There wasn’t room for Joelle to help, but she did keep watch out the window. That’s how she spotted the movement.

And that movement came from Rudy.

He came running out from the side of the building. “I can’t get in through the front door,” Rudy yelled. “Somebody locked it up tight.”

Great. Whoever was behind this had gone through a lot of trouble to trap them. Was that person Rudy? If so, they were looking down at the man who wanted them dead. Or at least the evidence destroyed.

“I’ll get a ladder,” Rudy added, and he raced back around the building and out of sight. Maybe he was genuinely trying to help them.

Or appear to be, anyway.

Dallas only glanced at the man, and he continued to pull and tug at the frame. “Hell. It’s not budging.” He looked at the ground again. “If we get down there in time, we might be able to use a hose to help keep the fire away from this room.”

That was a long shot, but since she was coughing like crazy, Joelle didn’t see they had much of a choice. Of course, there was a chance that the smoke could damage the evidence, as well. She had the pictures on her phone, but she doubted the lab would be able to get much info from that. And certainly no DNA match.

It seemed to take an eternity for Rudy to return, but when he finally did, he had both a ladder and Sarah with him. The woman screamed and put her hand to her mouth when she saw the smoke.

“Start trying to put out the fire,” Dallas instructed Rudy the moment the man had the ladder in place.

Rudy nodded and headed for the hose that was on the ground near some rosebushes. Sarah rushed toward them and held on to the ladder to anchor it in place. Both were obviously doing all the right things to save them, but Dallas clearly didn’t trust either Sarah or Rudy. He drew his gun before he started down the ladder.

“Stay close to me,” Dallas whispered to her.

Joelle did. She also grabbed her laptop and bag. There wasn’t room for many of the folders, but she stuffed as many as she could into the bag.

“Hurry!” Dallas insisted.

She hooked the bag on her shoulder and climbed out the window as best she could. Not easy to do in heels and a skirt though. She moved down the rungs along with Dallas, and when he reached the ground, he lifted her the rest of the way down. He glanced at Sarah. Then Joelle.

“Come with me,” he insisted, taking Joelle by the wrist.

Clearly, he wasn’t going to leave her alone with Sarah, and that was fine with Joelle. Yes, she could probably overpower the woman if Sarah suddenly became unhinged and attacked, but Sarah was wearing a bulky sweater with pockets, and she could be concealing a weapon.

Or this could all be a massive overreaction on Joelle’s part.

Still, someone had set fire to the place, and the most obvious culprits were the two people who were just a few feet away from them. Sarah was staring up at the smoke oozing through the window, seemingly frozen in shock. Rudy was pulling at the hose to get it to stretch closer to the building.

“Does your key work on the back door?” Dallas asked her.

“I think so.” Her hands were trembling, and she was still coughing, but Joelle rifled through the bag, came up with the keys and handed them to Dallas.

As he’d done in Webb’s office, he put his hand on the door. “Not hot,” he relayed, and he proceeded to open the latch on the metal bar lock. While he did that, he looked back at Sarah. “Is there another hose?”

She gave a shaky nod. “On the side of the building. I’ll get it.”

Good. A second hose might be too little too late against a fire, but it was better than nothing.

Dallas threw open the door, and Joelle braced herself for the smoke to come billowing out. It didn’t. There was some, but not nearly as much as there’d been in Webb’s office.

“What the hell?” Dallas mumbled, and he stepped inside.

“Don’t go in there.” Joelle raced toward him and tried to pull him back. But she stopped when she looked around the back entry.

No fire.

Just wisps of smoke snaking along the floor.

The entry was a long opening, more like a corridor, with rooms feeding off it, and they could see all the way to the front door.

No fire there, either.

Dallas stepped in farther, and with his gun still drawn, he inched his way toward the stairs that were close to the entry.

“Keep watch behind us,” he whispered.

Joelle looked behind them and spotted Rudy, who was pulling a hose into the entry. Joelle didn’t see any sign of a weapon, thank God, but she kept watch just in case.

The smoke got much thicker as they approached the stairs, and Joelle started coughing again. Dallas moved her back, but not before she got a glimpse of the metal trashcan about halfway up the stairs.

Smoke was spewing from it.

“I’m betting there’s another one just like it outside of Webb’s office,” Dallas mumbled, and he added some profanity.

It took a moment for that to sink in, and it didn’t sink in well. There was perhaps no fire. Just someone playing a dangerous game.

After all, if they hadn’t gotten the window open in Webb’s office, they could have died from smoke inhalation.

Outside, Joelle heard the sounds of sirens. The fire department, no doubt. Even though there apparently was no actual blaze to put out, she still welcomed them because the smoke could damage the evidence inside the office. Plus, if Rudy or Sarah had done this, then it meant Dallas had some kind of backup with the firemen.

Dallas hurried her out of the building and into the backyard where Rudy was standing and shaking his head.

“Who the hell would do something like this?” Rudy snarled.

He sounded genuinely upset, but Joelle knew that sort of response could be faked. It was the same for Sarah. Dragging the hose around the side of the building, she appeared to be in near-panic mode.

But Joelle didn’t trust either of them.

The sirens got louder, and she and Dallas hurried to the front where the driver brought the fire engine to a quick stop. The firemen jumped off.

“It appears to be just smoke,” Dallas explained. He pulled back his jacket to show them his badge and pointed to the top floor. “But just in case it’s more, try to keep the water damage to a minimum. There’s evidence pertinent to a murder investigation in the locked room at the top of the stairs.”

One of the firemen nodded, and they started pulling their gear from the truck. Hopefully, they’d be able to contain that smoke without damaging the blood spatter.

“Who did this?” she whispered to Dallas.

When he didn’t answer, Joelle followed his gaze. Not to the building or the firemen. But to the woods on the right side of the grounds.

“Wait here with the firemen,” Dallas insisted a split second before he took off running.

Joelle nearly went after him, but he shot her a stay-put glance and raced toward the thick cluster of trees.

She saw it then. Or rather she saw a man.

Definitely not Rudy. This guy was taller, bulkier, and he had on some kind of uniform, like those that the employees from the electric company wore. The moment that Dallas started toward him, the guy turned and ran.

Sweet heaven. What was going on now?

Joelle had been certain that either Rudy or Sarah had set that smoke attack, but maybe she’d been wrong. Whoever this person was, running away wasn’t a good sign.

She made another quick 911 call, and this time requested that the sheriff send someone out to Rocky Creek. The dispatcher said he would, but that it would take at least ten minutes.

That was too long.

A lot of things could go wrong in ten minutes.

Joelle desperately wanted to go closer, to see what was happening. And she especially wanted to help Dallas. But he’d be furious if she disobeyed his order to stay put. Besides, she could end up being a distraction and that could cause him to get hurt or worse.

“He needs help,” she said to one of the firemen, but they were all focused on getting inside the building. One of them used bolt cutters to get through the lock, and they threw open the door.

Joelle couldn’t stop herself. She went to the corner of the building so she could pick through the trees and see what was happening with Dallas. He had to be all right. And she didn’t even try to push aside that she shouldn’t be feeling this much for him. She’d deal with that later.

For now, she just wanted him safe.

She caught sight of the man in the uniform again. He was weaving through some trees, still running, and headed toward the back. Joelle knew just about every inch of the woods, and about a quarter of a mile away was the creek and plenty of trails that a person on foot could use to escape. She didn’t know what part this man had played in locking them in, but she definitely wanted him caught.

Her heart was pounding again, right in her throat, and Joelle was about to beg the firemen to help Dallas. Then she saw him push aside a low-hanging limb just a few yards behind the man who was running away.

She grabbed on to one of the firemen and turned him in the direction of the chase. “Help him,” she insisted.

When the fireman didn’t move fast enough, Joelle forgot all about the sound reasoning she had for staying put. She started running toward Dallas and the man who was escaping.