Page 71

Worried, I bent down. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not feeling well.”

“Where are you hurt?” Concern surged through me as I checked her face, neck, and body.

Kiera cupped my face, smiling. “I have a severe case of the Forrest Syndrome. A kiss would suffice.” She kissed me, and I forgot about the explosion and anything else I had to do tonight.

She broke the kiss, leaving me wanting more. “I’m ready to go get my stuff from the campground now.” She buckled her seatbelt and sent me a seductive wink. Then her phone rang. “Hi, Nora.”

As I drove out of the parking lot, Kiera’s startled voice had me stopping. “What’s wrong?”

Fear splashed on her face, and I hated seeing it on her.

“My cabin is on fire. The firefighters are there now.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

KIERA

“What the hell happened here?” Forrest asked Nora and the facility manager named Warren, who had come in on his day off because of the fire.

“I don’t know. I was busy registering a visitor when a boy came into the office shouting about the fire.” She turned to me with trembling lips. “I was so worried you were inside. But the firefighters confirmed they didn’t find a body. I’m so sorry about your belongings.”

Forrest stalked over to the firefighter and the police officers with their cowboy hats. I recognized some of them from the attack incident.

“I can replace them,” I said, my heart aching. My computer was gone. It was a good thing I only brought a spare and had saved all my files onto the company’s shared drive. So all my photos were safe.

I placed a hand over my camera, grateful that I had it with me. If it had been at the cabin, it would have been gone too. Now I had to buy new clothes and luggage, which meant more money out of my pocket.

Nora left to help recent visitors, and I stood alone, staring at the sad cabin. Half of the cabin had crumbled to ashes while the other half struggled to stand. It would probably collapse any time.

Tears streamed down my face. What had caused the fire? Was there an electrical issue I didn’t know about?

“I’m sorry about y-your cabin.” Hank appeared beside me with tears in his eyes too.

“Thank you. I’ve had such bad luck since coming here.”I should go get some sage or a good luck charm tomorrow.This negative crap had to stop. “Did you see what happened?”

Hank’s shoulders slouched as he looked at the debris. Sadness swam in his eyes. He was probably used to seeing the cabin every day, but it was now replaced by destruction.

“I f-found this near the d-debris.” He pointed to an area and gave me a travel-sized bottle of lotion that hadn’t been damaged by the destruction.

I held it in my hand, remembering that I’d given the Uber driver a package for his wife. This brand of lotion was a high-end European brand. Very few stores carried it here because of its price. Had a recent visitor used this brand? Or had the person responsible for the fire dropped it?

“Thank you, Hank.” I rushed over to Forrest, showed him the lotion, and told him of my suspicion.

He snapped a picture of the lotion, took my hand, and walked over to the police officers.

“Detective Donnelly,” Forrest interrupted their conversation. “This was found outside of the cabin. Can you add that to the evidence bag?”

“Where exactly did you find that?” Bruce asked me in an unpleasant tone.

I remembered seeing Hank recoil from him the last time he was here.

Being protective, I said, “On the ground near the collapsed porch.” If the police officer had done his job thoroughly, he would have found it. “Maybe you missed it.”

He flicked me an irritated look. “Our workisthorough, miss.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t. Just trying to help,officer.” I wasn’t in the mood to deal with incompetent cops.