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Then everything went black.
27
Hoyt
I fishtailed on my way out of the Police Department parking lot, one hand controlling the truck as I dialed Rios with the other. The phone rang. And rang.
“Pick up. Pick up. Pick up, damn it!”
At last he answered. “Hey, Hoyt, I?—”
“It’s your father.”
“Wait, what? What’s my father?”
“He’s the one behind the fires. Some of them anyway. I think he’s at the house. Caroline texted me earlier, thinking it was me, and now she’s not answering the phone. I’m on my way out there. Where the hell are you?”
Rios swore. “North end of the island, near the edge of the Sutters’ property. Leaving now, and I’ll call the others.”
“Hurry.” Disconnecting the call, I made it out of the village limits and floored the gas pedal.
The truck leapt forward, and I blessed Stan Jenkins for putting a Corvette engine in the thing. Other vehicles honked as I flew by, weaving in and out of traffic on the two-lane coastal road that would get me home.
I hadn’t yet called the police. They were in the middle of an interrogation, and if I was wrong, I’d just cause more problems for Caroline and her family with Chief Carson. I didn’t have any idea who else might be in the house when Rios was with Gabi, but anybody would be better than Hector.
Please God, let me be wrong. Please let this be an overreaction.
But as I caught a little air cresting the last hill in the road, I spotted an unfamiliar truck parked in front of the house. For a few long moments, I wrestled with myself. Come in blazing and obvious or take this fucker by surprise? I had no backup. Not yet. So I slowed the truck and eased it down the drive, deliberately angling behind the other vehicle to block its escape.
Throwing myself out of the driver’s side, I didn’t even shut the door before racing as quietly as I could up the steps and around to Caroline’s door. Even before I tested the knob, I could smell gasoline.
Fuck.
The door was unlocked. I eased inside, and even without the quick sweep of the lower floor, I knew no one was down here. I could hear the drone of a low voice upstairs. I needed a weapon. But the butcher’s knife wasn’t in the block on the counter. Was that because the guy upstairs had used it on her? My blood chilled at the thought. Wasting no more time, I crept up the treads, blessing the effort I’d spent learning which ones creaked and might need replacing.
At the top of the stairs, I paused. Caroline had been in the bath when she texted. I eased across the hall, peering around the door that had been left ajar. At the sight of the blood on the edge of the tub and trailing across the bathroom floor, my heart all but stopped.
A male voice was coming from Caroline’s room.
Easing closer, I peered into the room and froze.
Caroline was gagged and tied to a chair. Blood dripped down from her bruised temple. Her robe had slipped off one shoulder, partly baring one breast. Her head was bowed, and I couldn’t tell if she was conscious.
The room itself was in total chaos. The wooden shelves she’d used to organize her things had been broken and arranged in teepees around the space. Her sheets had been ripped and turned into trailers all around her. The pillows had been slashed; the stuffing pulled out and scattered as more fuel. The stink of gasoline was stronger here, and I spotted Hector splashing it in a circle around his daughter.
One spark and everything would go up in a blaze.
Hector continued to mutter while he worked. “—make you pay for your disrespect. A daughter must obey her father. No woman is going to leave me.” He tossed the can aside and flicked the lighter in his hand.
“No!” I hurtled into the room, diving forward and tackling him around the middle.
Hector stumbled back, our joint momentum sending us crashing into the French door. It shattered on impact. We hit the ground hard, rolling over the scattered shards. He dropped the lighter, but not before the spark caught on the tattered cotton sheers now billowing in the breeze. The fabric ignited with a whoosh. I’d have less than a minute to get the fire out before everything went up in an inferno.
I pushed to my feet, my gaze on the fire. My mistake. Hector’s fist connected with my jaw, sending me stumbling back.
Regaining my feet, I rushed forward. “You’re not getting away with this.”
“You’re not going to save her this time.”
