Page 14 of Rescued Dreams (Last Chance Fire and Rescue #8)

FOURTEEN

F or a little while, Ridge had managed to set aside the conversation with his stepdad. How the old man had figured out who Amelia was and where she lived was anyone’s guess. None of it made sense, and with back-to-back calls, it was easier to push it away and worry about it later.

All of it had added up, and in the heat of the moment, after he and Amelia had almost died—that had been a seriously close one—he’d found himself frustrated with her distraction.

She seemed to be more than a little shaken about everything that was going on, making him wonder if she needed to take a break from work for a couple of days.

They could get a floater to take her place on the truck, but the last thing he was going to do was make the suggestion.

If she thought he was looking to bench her, even for good reason, she would hit the roof.

“Lieutenant Foster.”

He turned from the sink, where he’d been rinsing dishes, and spotted the receptionist in the doorway of the open-plan kitchen.

She said, “There are two cops here to see you.”

He grabbed a towel and dried his hands. “Thanks.”

Officer Thomas and Officer Tazwell stood waiting in the entryway, looking around at the space.

“I’m pretty sure this firehouse is bigger than your whole precinct, am I right?” Ridge grinned.

Thomas stuck his hand out, and Ridge shook it. “Because we don’t sleep in our house. We’re out on the streets arresting criminals, not at the station all shift. Or out spraying water on people’s stuff.”

Ridge laughed. “What brings the two of you here?”

“Just a follow-up about everything that’s been happening in the last few days.” Tazwell looked around. “Is Patterson here?”

The receptionist behind the desk called over, “I looked around for her but didn’t see where she was. I’m trying her phone now.”

Ridge shook his head. To the cops, he said, “There’s a conference room just down there. Give me a couple of minutes.” To their receptionist, he said, “I’ll go grab her.”

He rounded the halls to a set of stairs that went up to the roof and took them two at a time. The door to the roof had been left ajar, a triangular-shaped piece of wood wedged in the opening.

He left it where it was so the door didn’t lock itself and stepped onto the open—and empty—gravel expanse.

Amelia sat on the edge of the roof on the side of the building where trees blocked the view from the street. Staring at the mountains, she had her hands planted behind her, bracing her weight so she could lean back and watch birds and planes fly overhead.

“Hey.” He approached cautiously, not wanting to scare her into flinching and see her slip over the edge to the ground. “Thomas and Tazwell are here to talk to us.”

Amelia let out a long sigh.

“Do I need to apologize?” He hadn’t done anything the average lieutenant wouldn’t do on any given Tuesday. Especially one who was new to the job and facing the stress of back-to-back calls. But right now, they were something more than firefighter and lieutenant.

Given the time they had spent in her house talking about personal things, they were a whole lot more than that now. But still something far from where he had wanted them to be for a long time.

Where he still wanted them to be.

If Amelia gave him any kind of green light, then the twins would get their wish. Ridge wouldn’t be leaving Last Chance County anytime soon.

At least, not without Amelia.

She didn’t look at him. She kept her gaze on the mountains in the distance. “Do you think you need to apologize?”

Danger. Danger.

This was absolutely a trick question.

“I can give you a bunch of reasons why it wasn’t anything abnormal for the job we do. I can also give you a bunch of reasons why I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

She looked at him then. “I don’t need you to apologize.” Amelia held out one hand and bent her knees, planting her feet on the edge of the roof.

He grabbed her elbow and hauled her to her feet.

“I’m not a delicate wallflower, Lieutenant. I actually thought you might have been making up for all the times I yelled at you.” She gave him a tentative smile.

“Because you think I’m a delicate wallflower or someone who needs to get their own back? I don’t do revenge. It’s usually not worth the effort.”

Her expression shifted. “Revenge. That’s something I hadn’t thought of. But you’re right. It isn’t usually worth the effort. Unless you’ve convinced yourself it’s the only way to get satisfaction. Or if something changed in your situation…Hmm.”

Ridge frowned. “You’re saying you think someone might be trying to get revenge against you? That seems like something the police would want to know about.”

He took a step back.

Amelia hesitated.

“You can trust them. You know these cops, and you know they’re going to do everything they can to fix what’s happening.”

Amelia said, “Trust doesn’t come easily. I’m guessing that’s true for you as well, considering I knew you had sisters but didn’t know they lived with you until the other day.”

“True.” Ridge couldn’t argue with that. “These cops are people we’ve worked with before.

Not the kind who don’t care about good people.

Or don’t care about anything but their aim.

These aren’t the kind of cops who have such a narrow focus that they don’t notice when innocent people get caught in the crossfire. ”

“I’m counting on it.” Amelia followed him to the door.

It almost sounded like she wasn’t certain they would believe she was one of the good guys.

Downstairs in the conference room, the two uniformed cops studied the whiteboard. They turned when Amelia and Ridge came in.

Amelia greeted both, but far more professional rather than personal, the way he had. “How can we help you?”

Anthony Thomas sat on the edge of the first row of tables.

Olivia Tazwell, also a blonde like Amelia but a few years younger, said, “We have been looking into the reports from the two fires where you spotted a possible suspect, and the attack that happened here.”

Amelia stiffened at that.

Tazwell said, “It’s nothing to be ashamed about, Amelia. Being overpowered doesn’t mean you’re weak.”

Ridge wondered if she knew that was true from personal experience or from what she’d seen as a police officer.

She continued, “Is there anything else you can tell us about the fires or what happened here?”

Ridge had always seen Amelia as impervious to anything. This impenetrable wall. He’d broken through a tiny bit in the couple of dates they’d gone on, but she’d shored up when she’d cut him off personally. Now it was like he could see through the cracks.

Problem was, beneath the surface, she was overwhelmed. Scared. Maybe he was projecting a lot of what he thought she should be feeling because she wasn’t giving him much. But he was certain he could see fear in her eyes.

Amelia held her arms straight, her hands in her pockets and her body tense. “One of them said ‘Where is it?’”

Tazwell shifted her weight, and the heavy belt cops wore creaked. “Do you know what he was referring to?”

Ridge figured it was the same thing his stepdad had asked about. While he was thinking about it, he sent his mom a text asking how Gary knew that Amelia was Chief Hilden’s daughter. If the information was public knowledge, how come he hadn’t heard it?

Amelia seemed hesitant to answer Tazwell’s question.

“Could it be connected to the repeated break-ins at Amelia’s home?” Those were public record—even if her real name wasn’t. “Are the police aware that she’s potentially in danger with the frequent threats and property damage?”

The cops shared a glance. Thomas said, “What calls?”

Amelia spun around to glare at Ridge.

“You think you’re safe at home?” He figured she would know he meant back in her cabin, but Ridge wasn’t going to share that with anyone, not even cops. He knew what she considered sacrosanct. “It could all be connected.”

She pulled her hands from her pockets to set them on her hips. “Or none of it is. Firefighters meet disgruntled civilians all the time.”

Tazwell shook her head. “What’s your address, Amelia? I’ll look it up.”

Amelia gave her the number and street.

The cop frowned. “I thought that place was abandoned.”

Ridge said, “Does that make it okay for people to smash it up or tear holes in the walls?” Not to mention it wasn’t abandoned right now, with Kane and Maria occupying rooms there. Anyone who broke in was in for a nasty surprise. “It’s someone’s property.”

Officer Thomas looked up from making notes on his phone. “I’ll pull the reports and find out who has been responding to calls. Okay?” Before either of them could answer, he said, “It gives us more to look into, which increases our odds of finding a lead—and a suspect.”

Amelia pressed her lips together and nodded.

Officer Tazwell said, “If you’re the target of people looking for the money the old chief hid?—”

“Assuming there’s even anything to find,” Amelia pointed out.

Tazwell nodded. “The allure of wealth is enough for some people, even if the chance of finding it is slim. But that’s at the house. Now we have incidents at fires and here at the station. So why now? What has changed that means all this is happening now ?”

“Good question.” Ridge settled on the edge of a table. At least the back-to-back calls of this shift had settled into a quiet so they could have this conversation in the first place. They needed to work out what might be going on.

Amelia gasped. “I haven’t done anything, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Tazwell said, “No one is saying you have. We aren’t here to accuse you.”

“You didn’t bring this on yourself,” Ridge tried to reassure her. “And you aren’t to blame, Amelia. We all want to help you. No one wants you, or anyone here at the firehouse, to be in danger.”

“I know you want the firefighters to be safe.” She sniffed. “This is about the department for you, but it’s also my life.”

The door opened before he could respond to that.

He didn’t like that she wasn’t a hundred percent convinced he was in this to make sure she was protected. Why did it seem like she didn’t know she could trust him?

Their receptionist said, “Lieut—Patterson? There’s a woman at the front desk asking for you.”

“Thanks.” Amelia took the out and practically ran from the room.

“I’ve never seen her like that.” Tazwell bit her lip.

“Me either,” Ridge said. “But we don’t talk without her.” He glanced between the two cops. “You’re gonna look into this?”

Both of them nodded.

“Thanks.” He walked them to the entryway, where Amelia was sitting on one of the waiting-area chairs with a visibly pregnant woman who had to be mid-twenties. The same blonde hair as Amelia, but not many more similarities.

He saw the cops out, his mind spinning with all that had been happening. Right now, it seemed like a bunch of random pieces to a puzzle he couldn’t discern yet. Eventually it would become clear, but until then, they had to fight blind and try to get through it unscathed.

Amelia gasped. Whatever the woman had just said to her, she was terrified by it.

Ridge wanted to intervene, but Amelia glanced over at him then, and the look on her face said she didn’t need his help.

After that conversation with the police, she had every right to be frustrated. They had no answers to any of this.

But she also had to know that he wasn’t going to quit helping her.

He was in this for the long haul.