She turned just as Deputy Marshal Roberts walked into the bay.
“Speak of the devil,” she mumbled.
Once he spotted their group, he nodded. A solemn look on his face. Her anger quickly melted away. She bit her lip and wiped her hands on her pants. Every time he showed up, he had bad news. Was this about Bella?
She met him in the middle of the bay. “Deputy Marshal Roberts. Is everything all right?”
He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Is there somewhere private we can talk?” He looked over her shoulder.
Sam turned. Dean and Tate had remained at the ladder truck but watched the two of them with curiosity.
She moved around him. “Let’s go in the conference room.”
Once they were both in the room, Sam closed the door and turned to him.
“Is everything okay?” He lightly touched her forearm.
The question and gentle touch coming from him were unexpected. Not that she thought he shouldn’t ask her how she was doing, but it was the way he’d asked. Like he genuinely cared. He stood there, waiting for her to answer. It wasn’t just a comment thrown out to fill the silence.
Why did it make her want to tell him everything?
She couldn’t afford this right now. It was better to bottle it all up and shove it down in the dark abyss. “I’m good. Is this about Bella?”
“No. We’ve identified the person found in your house, and I have some questions for you.”
“Oh.” She slumped into a chair.
“Can you tell me about your landlord, Dr. Torres?” he asked.
“It was Dr. Torres?” She sat up straight.
Liam nodded. “We got the official identification today.”
She blew out a breath. “I didn’t know him that well. I know he was a doctor of some sort. We had a typical landlord-tenant situation. I paid the rent. Something broke, he fixed it. We’veonly talked a handful of times in the six years since we’ve lived here.”
“Over the years, did you have any issues with people looking for him at your house or contacting you about him?”
She shook her head.
“Did he ever do any surprise inspections or maybe monthly pest treatments?”
“He had a key to my house, but he always gave me twenty-four hours’ notice before coming over. He knew I was a firefighter and my hours were different.”
“Have there been any times you went home and thought something was odd or off? Like someone had been in your home without you knowing?”
She thought back over the years and couldn’t think of anything like that. “I never had any reason to believe someone had been inside without us knowing about it.”
“Do you know what he was doing in your house?”
She massaged her temple with her left hand. “I have no clue. He’d told me he was going out of town for a while. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since.” She looked at the marshal. “You’re sure it’s him?”
“His identity was verified with his fingerprints.”
“This proves that the fire and murder aren’t related to me and Bella. Our covers are safe?”
Liam drummed his fingertips on the conference table. “It leans in that direction but doesn’t mean we can let our guard down. Just in case he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Nausea filled her stomach. Bella could have been in the right place at the wrong time.
