Page 39 of Fire Fight

I could practically hear his teeth grinding together as he considered his next move. Likely, he knew he’d never talk me into leaving, but he gave it a final shot anyway.

“You really need to leave, Aspen. Don’t give this guy any more opportunities to hurt you.”

I shook my head emphatically, my dark hair whipping around my shoulders, slapping me in the cheeks. I looked him dead in the eye, brooking no room for argument as I said, “I can’t do that, Sheriff. I’m sorry, but this is personal now. I’m not going anywhere.”

With nothing further to say, I left the room, but the sheriff wasn’t done, and his murmured parting words found and followed me anyway.

“It’s your funeral.”

thirteen

. . .

ASPEN

The momentI exited the police station, I pulled up short on the sidewalk out front and swore healthily.

I still didn’t have a car.

And the last thing I wanted to do was walk all over this town in search of the impound lot where Black Betty had ended up.

So, with my tail between my legs, I huffed and walked back inside.

“Did you forget something, Miss McKay?”

“I was hoping you could direct me toward the impound lot? I need to get my vehicle back.”

“Oh, sure!” she said, leaning forward and sliding the glass window that separated us open. “It’s on Aspen,” she chuckled, and it took me a moment to realize she was naming a street and not me. “If you follow this road out front down three blocks and take a right, it’s down that way on your left. Can’t miss it.”

“Great, thanks!”

I turned to leave, but she called after me, and when I faced her again, she brandished a piece of paper.

“You’re going to need this,” she said. “It’ll get your car out of there without having to pay the fees.”

“You’re an angel,” I breathed.

Twenty minutes later, covered in sweat and in dire need of some pain pills, I stood in front of my car and the piece of paper flapping under the windshield wiper in the gentle breeze.

“Did you put that there?” I asked the lot worker who’d walked back here with me.

“No, ma’am. We parked it and left it alone.”

Then he tipped his hat and disappeared.

Each step closer to the vehicle weighed heavier and heavier until I stood close enough to reach up with shaky fingers and retrieve the paper.

Everything about this felt inexplicably wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on why, only that I knew I wouldn’t like what I found when I unfolded it.

Welcome to Dusk Valley, Aspen McKay. We hope you enjoyed your baptism by fire. A shame you survived, though. You should know I don’t like loose ends. Until we meet again, little cockroach.

A cold pulse of fear slithered down my spine, raising the hair on the back of my neck. I glanced around, looking for a perpetrator, but found no one.

I was alone, and who the hell knew how long this note had been waiting for me. Had they placed it there immediately after attacking me? No, that wouldn’t make sense. Not if they’d intended for me to die in that fire.

That could only mean someone had snuck into this lot and left it there, knowing it’d be waiting for me when I was released from the hospital and claimed my vehicle.

Was this their attempt at driving me out of town? Or was this them merely fanning the flames on my desire to catch them?