The front door opened, and he turned to see who was joining him. Sam shut the door behind her, shoved her hands in her pockets, and met him in the driveway.
She looked at him, dead in the eye. “Thank you.”
The urge to reach out and touch her was strong.God give me strength. He shoved his hands in his own pockets to keep them under control. “No problem.”
“I really mean it.” She sighed and looked away. “The last week has been stressful. Bella has been acting so out of character.” She turned back to look at him. “And to be honest, I kind of blamed Sophia.”
Liam started to say something, but she shook her head.
“I didn’t want to believe that Bella would make those kinds of decisions without someone influencing her. It turns out I was wrong about who was doing the influencing. And for that, I owe you and Sophia an apology.”
He gulped. “Thank you. Don’t be too hard on yourself. I might have thought Bella was a bad influence once or twice.” He gave a small smile.
One she returned. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. With the sun going down, the temperature was dropping. “Do you think the fire at my house has anything to do with the girls and the friends they’ve been keeping?”
“My first inclination is no. They were with the group of kids when your house was set on fire. Not to mention that none of the other fires included murder. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other players in our group of firebugs.”
She shivered.
He unlocked the SUV, pulled out a windbreaker, and handed it to her.
She paused for a second, accepted it, and slipped it on. “Thanks.”
Did she even notice that her touch on his hand lingered?
Liam wanted to draw her close and give her a hug. They’d both had a crazy day, but things were looking up. Only the silver star badge on his belt and a quiet check in his spirit stopped him from doing what he wanted to do.
He cleared his throat. “I plan to look into the names that Isabella and Sophia gave me and see if I can pull anything. I’ll get in touch with RPD too. Those kids may not be involved with your house, but it is likely they are, or know who is, involved with the other arsons.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Does it make me a bad person that I don’t want to do that? That opens the possibility of them forcing the girls to testify. I just don’t want them to have to go through what I went through. Not to mention them digging into Bella’s and my past and discovering our secret.”
He reached over and cupped her shoulder. “It’s the right thing to do, and I’ll be with you guys every step of the way.”
“That’s something else we need to figure out. You can’t keep showing up at the fire station. The guys are asking questions. I can’t tell them the truth.”
“Why not? I’m helping you with Bella. That’s all.” He let his hand drop.
“But it’s not all. I think we’ve turned a corner on the acting-out problem, so that excuse is gone. Now we have to move on to the bigger issue. Are we safe?” She bit her bottom lip.
“I don’t know that for certain. My gut says you are, but that’s not proof. Until we have solid evidence one way or another, you have to be careful.”
She nodded.
“Can we not be friends? Friends visit each other. Hang out. Things like that.” He shrugged his shoulders.
Even if he could see it leading to something more, he needed to tamp down the attraction. Not only was it unprofessional, but she didn’t seem to have a positive view of God.
Still, until they knew more about the arson and murder at her house, he would need to be in frequent contact with her. He could touch base with her via phone, but he would need to occasionally see her in person. And since she didn’t have a home, it would have to be around someone she knew—or at least in public, where someone she might know would spot her.
“The only way they’d believe us hanging out together is if we were dating.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
He choked on air and started coughing. How did she know he’d been thinking about that exact thing?
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Relax, I wasn’t serious. I’m not even sure they’d believe it then.”
He thought about what she’d said as he regained his composure. It wasn’t that bad an idea. Definitely a good reason for him and Sam to be seen together and talking to each other so much. He had been going to suggest using the girls’ friendship as an excuse, but that would only get them so far. “You know, that could work.”
She looked at him, dumbfounded. “You’re serious?”
