“Hey, Captain.”
He looked to the two sleeping girls. “Would it be possible to talk to you two alone?” He glanced between her and Liam.
Sam’s stomach churned. There was nowhere for the girls to go. Sam was all Bella had, and Liam was all Sophia had.
“Glover is here. Would you be okay if she took the girls to the vending machines down the hall?” Liam leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest.
Sam looked at her sleeping sister. She didn’t really want the teen out of her sight, but Captain Bennett must have something important to tell them, or he wouldn’t have asked.
Sam nodded and then nudged Bella. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
Bella started to stir.
Liam walked over to his sleeping niece and woke her up.
“Can you guys go with Marshal Glover to get some snacks so we can talk with Captain Bennett?”
Bella nodded and rubbed her eyes. The girls slowly made their way outside, Liam on their heels. He wasn’t gone but a minute.
“Okay, Captain. What do you have?”
Captain Bennett’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “I have no words. I thought I knew Caleb Dean.” He looked down to his feet. “I never would have thought he was capable of something like this.”
Tears stung Sam’s eyes. He wasn’t the only one.
Liam walked over to her and grabbed her hand in his. The warmth from his palm spread up her arm and enveloped her. “My team has Dean in their custody. We’ll get everything figured out.” He squeezed her hand.
“That’s not why I came though,” the captain said. “I wanted to talk to you about the fires.”
“Okay.” Sam furrowed her brows.
“The slaughterhouse is a total loss. But it’s the cold-storage facility that has piqued my interest, and I wanted to ask you two some questions.”
“Shoot.” Liam reached out and pulled a chair closer to the bed and took a seat.
“Sam, tell me what you saw when you went in.”
Sam closed her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was relive the nightmare.
Liam lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it, sending flutters swarming in her stomach.
What was she going to do when this was all over? He was acting like the dutiful guy in her life. Playing the part of a doting boyfriend. Was it all an act? Somewhere along the line, Sam’s heart had gotten involved.
She wanted more with Liam.
She swallowed her feelings and turned her attention to Captain Bennett. “Dean had poured gasoline all throughout the halls he led me down, and there was also gasoline puddled in the room where the freezers were.”
“How much gas would you guess was there?”
A lot. He had to have made several trips to get all of that gas.
She shook her head. “I’d say at least twenty gallons? Maybe not so much in the hallway, but definitely a lot in the freezer room.”
“That matches what we found in his truck. He had half a dozen five-gallon gas containers. He probably doused the slaughterhouse, refilled the containers, and then doused the cold storage.” Captain Bennett tapped his thigh with his right thumb. “Deputy Marshal Roberts, when you entered the cold storage, did you have a fire extinguisher or any other aid to put out the fire?”
Sam turned her attention to the man seated next to her.
“No, sir.”
