Kal was on the floor with his hands bound behind him.He was still operating under the delusion that his money and his lawyers would protect him.Barrett looked down at him for a moment.He felt no anger or satisfaction—just the recognition that the threat had been neutralized.
Barrett turned to see Cadie sitting against the wall where she'd slid during the confrontation.Her dark hair was disordered, her skin pale.Her clothes were wet with gasoline.
But her eyes were clear.She was looking at him with the same fierce determination that had driven her to leap onto Kal's back when every instinct should have told her to stay in the chair and wait for rescue.Instead…she had fought back.
Barrett crossed the room.He knelt beside her and put his hands on her shoulders.The impact against the wall had left her shaken, but he saw no signs of serious injury.
"Cadie?"he said.
"I'm okay."Her voice was hoarse, but steady.
Barrett pulled her to him.He was careful of her bruised back and shoulders, careful of everything about her.He held her against his chest and felt her embrace.The room was quiet except for the muffled sound of Kal's continued protests from the floor and the distant wail of sirens that had just become audible from somewhere outside the building.
Sullivan was coming.Backup was on the way.The building was intact.Cadie was alive.
Barrett held her and breathed.
Against the far wall, Olivia sank to the floor.Her legs folded beneath her as though they had simply stopped supporting her weight, and she sat on the hardwood with her back against the plaster and her arms around her knees.She stared at nothing.The tears had stopped, and what remained on her face was an expression of such complete emptiness that it was difficult to look at.She was a woman who had destroyed her life for a man who had just told her that she hadn't mattered to him.
She didn't try to run, or to help Kal.She sat on the floor resigned to the inevitable.
The sirens grew louder.The event room filled with the sound of approaching vehicles.Barrett heard the squeal of tires on the street outside and the slamming of car doors, followed by the heavy sound of boots on the stone steps of the entrance.
Sullivan's voice came from the front of the building, authoritative and controlled."Charleston Police.We're coming in."
Barrett shouted, "Back here.Performance hall.Scene is secure."
The sound of boots on the wooden floor grew closer, and Sullivan appeared in the doorway with two uniformed officers behind him.His eyes swept the room in a single assessment, taking in Kal restrained on the floor, Olivia sitting against the wall, Barrett with Cadie, and the dark stains on the floor."It smells like gasoline."
"Yeah, Kal tried to turn this building into a bonfire," Barrett said.
Sullivan turned to one of the officers."Call the fire department.Let them know what we've got here."Then he crossed to where Kal lay on the floor."Kal Davis, you're under arrest."He recited the man's rights, then ran through his list of crimes.
Kal lifted his head from the floor.His face was flushed and his eyes were wild with fury.But he seemed to have run out of threats.
One of the uniformed officers lifted Kal from the floor and ushered him out of the room.
Sullivan turned to Olivia, who hadn't moved from her position on the floor.
"Olivia Stewart," Sullivan said.His voice was quieter now, not gentle but measured."You're under arrest."
She let an officer help her to her feet and stood while he secured her hands behind her back.She looked at Cadie, and Barrett observed the exchange.
"She was kind to me," Olivia said.Her voice broke on the words."Your aunt was kind to me, and I killed her…forhim."
Cadie didn't reply.Olivia's gaze locked with hers for a moment, before she looked away.Then the officer escorted Olivia out of the room.
Sullivan looked at Barrett and Cadie.His expression softened by a fraction, enough to show the man behind the badge.
"The fire department is on the way," he said."They'll want to ventilate the building and clean up safely.You two need to get out of here and get checked by the medics."
Barrett helped Cadie to her feet, keeping his arm around her waist as she steadied herself.She winced with discomfort, and he adjusted his grip to take more of her weight without being asked.Cadie asked him to stop at her aunt's office to get her purse and jacket.Then they walked down the hall and out the front door of Stratton House into the morning light.
The street was filled with vehicles—two police cruisers, Sullivan's unmarked car, and an ambulance.Officers moved between the vehicles and the building, establishing a perimeter.Neighbors had emerged from nearby houses and stood on porches and sidewalks, watching the activity with the concerned curiosity of people who understood that something significant had happened to the old building on the corner.
Barrett guided Cadie to the ambulance.A paramedic met them and began assessing Cadie while Barrett stood beside her.The medic checked her eyes and her reflexes, then examined the bruising on her back and the skin on her wrists.Then he checked for signs of concussion.
"You'll be sore for a few days," he said."I'd recommend getting a full checkup with your doctor, but I don't see anything that requires emergency treatment."
