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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“ R ight here.” Jacob crouched at the back of the dressing room and shoved a rack of shoes over. He flipped the latch at the bottom of the wall, then stood and slid the bolt that secured the door shut. “Used to be a loading bay entrance, back when this place was a restaurant before I bought it. I was thinking of using it for storage. I just didn’t get to it yet.”

He looked back at her. “It’s been two years.”

The edge of a smile curled her lips, but it did nothing to extinguish the look on her face.

“Come on.”

Inside the door it was cramped. A few crates and a pallet, just junk mostly, littered the room. In one corner he’d had them install the new water heater. Jacob heard a rat scurry down one wall but didn’t react to it. Neither of them needed to acknowledge more living creatures in here with them.

Especially not after those insects had poured into the room, through the heating vent.

He wanted to shudder just thinking about it. The only reason he got through it this time was knowing she needed him to be strong. Talking her past her fears helped him reason it out. The last thing he’d wanted was for those bugs to be anywhere near him, but he’d worked hard to get over that particular fear.

The past wasn’t going to have him in a chokehold. Not that he blamed Addie if her history did. After all, she faced down killers. Something he would never want to do.

He didn’t want anything to do with crime. Or law enforcement.

The fact that she did impressed him. Even if it was about overcoming her fears and going after what drove her. He did the same thing, just in different ways.

For that matter, so did Hank.

Addie closed the door behind her. “Is there a way to get outside?”

“They boarded up the entrance, but it’s only two-by-fours. I can kick one out.” Jacob went to the exterior wall and pressed on one of the old boards. He could see out a gap between two of them. Only the air outside was so cold it hurt to stare out. All he got was a flash of light. Maybe a tree. “As soon as I kick one…”

She finished for him. “He’ll see.”

He pulled out his phone. “Whoever it is.”

“I’ll go first.” She was right that she should. After all, she was the one with the gun and the training.

“One sec.” He held the phone up by the exterior wall. Like the gap between the boards would let in a signal. It did give him enough to call out, maybe because there wasn’t concrete between him and the signal…he didn’t know enough about it. Or whatever tech had been used to jam his signal before and kill the phone line in his office.

“I’m gonna call Hank.” He put it on speaker so they could both hear.

Hank answered on the first ring. “Hey, I’m kind of busy, but what’s up?”

“Addie and I are trapped at my studio,” Jacob began. “It’s on fire, and we don’t know if we can get out. We think whoever set the fire is still outside.”

“I’ll call it in. But I’m across town. It’ll take me some time to get there, but I’ll get a patrol car and fire to your location.” Hank paused a fraction. “What’s the address again?”

Hank knew where the place was and what street, but Jacob gave him the number. The quicker help could get here the better.

“Tell them to hurry.” Addie’s voice shook. “If he’s out there, I want him in cuffs. There’s also a white pickup in the parking lot. I want an officer to take a look at it.”

“Copy that.”

It hit Jacob that there existed a shorthand between them. Some connection they had because both were cops.

Jacob wasn’t jealous. He didn’t envy the job they did.

He was just out of sorts, and this situation was far too weird. It made no sense. He liked his life, and he understood what’d happened to him by processing it through his camera lens.

The quicker Hank could get help here, the better.

“See you soon.” Hank hung up, and Jacob stowed the phone. “Anyone else you want to call? Russ, maybe?”

Addie shook her head. “I’ll call him later. I don’t want him to worry.”

Jacob nodded.

“What about your parents?”

He frowned. “Later is good. Not sure I’ll actually tell them, though. They live in Florida.” He shrugged, antsy for the fire department to get there already. “They moved there a few years ago.”

They also hated each other, and even though they were back together they’d made a point to ensure he knew he was the reason they broke up. Now he was out of their lives, they could make a go of it.

He was destined to be a point of contention between people he cared about. His parents. Hank and their coach. Addie and her mom. Hank and Addie.

“Have you been?” she asked.

Jacob blinked.

“To Florida?”

“Once, for Christmas.” He shook his head. “Eighty-two degrees on Christmas Day? That’s just wrong. It’s unnatural.”

She grinned, not lost in it but he’d succeeded in distracting her at least.

“Thanks for being here with me.”

“You like being in this situation?” She shot him a look.

“Of course not.” Did she really think that? “What I’m saying is being here with you is better than being alone.”

The truth was, he’d felt like he was alone for a long time. Years. Maybe ever since she left town, and took a piece of his heart with her.

Addie moved to him and hugged him. It was a surprise, but it warmed him that she closed the gap between them.

In the distance he heard approaching sirens. “I guess the cavalry is here.”

She stepped back with her cheeks flushed. Probably from the heat and the gathering smoke rather than any other reason. “I’m glad I’m not alone, either. Even if it was planned that I came here.” She shook her head. “Though that sounds crazy. I’m not sure anyone will believe it, even if it is true.”

Jacob nodded. “I’m sure you and the police can figure out what happened.”

He watched between the gap between the boards. When he heard a couple of firefighters come around the corner, Jacob kicked out a board in the middle of the wall. Not enough for them to get out, but it was enough to get the firefighter’s attention.

“Hey!” The two of them rushed over, and Jacob recognized one. “Zach, we need help.”

Zach Peters was a fire department lieutenant. He grabbed his radio right away. “Chief, they’re on the D side, halfway down. We can get them out.” To Jacob, he said, “Either of you hurt?”

Jacob shook his head. “How did it go with your sister and the doc?”

Zach hesitated a second as though Jacob had surprised him. Then he shook his head.

Jacob winced. “Sorry, man. That’s rough.”

“Um, you guys wanna get out of there?” Zach glanced between them.

“Yes, we do.” Jacob felt Addie’s hand on his back.

Zach spoke over his shoulder. “Let’s get them out!”

He gave a couple of orders to his firefighters, and they all started to move. Like coordinated actions they’d rehearsed until each strike of a tool was anticipated and each man—and the woman Jacob spotted—knew exactly what to anticipate.

They pried the boards away and cut the rest. Made a hole big enough for him and Addie to get out.

“The cops showed up, too, right?” Addie glanced around. “We believe there might be an armed man around here. He’s the one we think set the fire.”

“A shooter?” Zach asked.

Jacob motioned to her. “This is Special Agent Adelyn Franklin. FBI.”

Zach’s eyebrows rose.

“Yeah.”

Addie turned to Jacob. “What does that mean?”

All he could think to say was, “Zach and I are in the same Bible study. It happens online, so we can call in from wherever.”

“Like the firehouse.” Zach held out a hand and helped Addie out.

Jacob left after her.

Zach motioned to the front of the building. “Let’s get you two to the EMTs, get you checked out.”

Jacob nodded, though aside from the smoke inhalation, the rest of their issues were internal. In the sense that, as much as they might want to believe it, they weren’t as past what had happened as either of them thought.

Before she got back, he’d have said he put it behind him a long time ago. Now it was clear he hadn’t. The moment Addie showed up it was like everything he did to convince himself it wasn’t a factor seemed to shatter and their shared history came back in full force.

Hank rushed around the corner. “Jake! Addie!” The detective jogged over and the three of them hugged as a group. “You guys!”

Jacob winced at the volume of Hank’s voice right by his ear and pulled back. Hank tugged Addie under his arm so that her shoulder was wedged right by his duty weapon holstered there.

“We’re okay,” Jacob held out his hand for Addie. “But we need to get checked out by the EMTs. Make sure we aren’t hurt.”

Addie took it, and something inside him slid into place. Hank walked with them so, Jacob reiterated everything to his friend. They were given oxygen masks and told to sit. Hank kept him talking about everything. When the detective started to ask the same questions in different ways, Jacob said, “Is this an interrogation?”

Addie shifted beside him, sat on the back step of the ambulance.

Hank ran his hand over his head and back. “Sorry. I just can’t believe this.” He motioned to the side and looked at Addie. “Your car? You could have died. Both of you could have died in there. Your livelihood is ruined.”

Jacob shrugged.

Addie tipped her head to one side. “Aren’t you upset?”

“Neither of us is hurt badly. It’s just a building.” But he knew for sure when he renovated after the smoke cleared, he’d be upgrading the safety features—and security. “I’d rather focus on who that was, and why they did this.”

She said, “Is there a plate on the pickup?”

“Reported stolen yesterday.”

Addie sighed.

Jacob glanced between them. “It could’ve been anyone?”

Hank frowned. “If you had security, we’d have his face on camera.”

Jacob tried not to feel that as a jab from his best friend, but it stung anyway. “Someone tried to kill us. Pretty sure it’s not my job to figure out who that is. I’m not the one who’s a cop.”

He meant Hank, but Addie reacted as well. She handed the oxygen mask back to the EMT and stood. “Guess I should get to work, then.”

“Addie—”

She walked off and didn’t look back at him.

Hank shook his head. “You’re out of practice.”

Jacob had his backpack. He didn’t need to get in the studio until tomorrow when the scene would have been cleared. “I should find out if I can go home.”

Hank held up a hand. “Hold up. The captain isn’t going to let you leave.”

“That guy who stood in my living room and asked me for an alibi on Celia Jessop’s time of death when the investigation had barely begun?”

“Why do you think he did that?”

“Because I might incriminate myself by answering wrongly?”

Hank motioned Jacob to go with him, away from Addie’s direction. It was the last thing he wanted to do but followed anyway. One glance told him she was talking to the fire chief. He was still worried about her—even if he wasn’t a first responder. It wasn’t like he’d ever be the one responsible for her safety, though he could help.

“Jacob.”

He turned to Hank and realized Captain McCauley stood there. Beside him was Alan Lachlan—lieutenant when they had been kidnapped, now the police chief. “Gentlemen.”

“You need to come with us,” McCauley said. “We have something we need to talk to you about.”

Jacob gritted his teeth. “What’s going on?”

The chief’s expression hardened. “In the car, Wilson.”