Page 61 of Keel

“I’ll watch you two until you make it to your house.”

“Thanks.”

Garnet hugged her, then Ansley, then headed out, hurrying across the street as Ansley headed to her house. She waved to Garnet and shut the door, locking it behind her.

Sleep didn’t come easily, so she rolled out of bed, disappointed that Keel wasn’t home. The house was so quiet, it felt like she was breaking a rule walking around this late at night. Of course, Forest had rules she had to follow, but Keel didn’t put rules on her like her ex had. If she woke up in the middle of the night, he wouldn’t yell at her to come back to bed.

She wandered into the kitchen, staring into the refrigerator for a long moment before heading to the front of the house, staring out the window at the dark street.

Something was wrong. It wasn’t as dark as she expected, especially at Sonja’s place. It took her a moment to realize Sonja’s house was on fire.

Frankie burst into action, throwing the door open, forgetting the alarm. The alarm going off was a good thing since she’d left her phone in the bedroom and didn’t feel she had time to go back for it. At least the alarm company would alert emergency services.

She reached the front door of Sonja’s house, unsure how to get inside. She felt the door handle with the back of her hand. It wasn’t hot, so she tried to turn it.

The door swung open, and she stepped in. A blur of fur rushed past, heading outside. At least the cat wasn’t trapped in here. She would worry about catching the cat later.

She looked up, and the wall of flames blocking the kitchen kicked off a flashback of her screaming for her parents. Tears filled her eyes, and she wasn’t sure if it was the smoke or emotions.

Panic swept through her as flames licked at the ceiling. She froze, fear hot as the flames rolling along the ceiling.

She’d been too afraid to act as a teenager, and her parents had died. This time, she wouldn’t bow to the fear. She wouldn’t let Sonja die.

Chapter 36

Keel rubbed his hand over his face as he pushed away the exhaustion. They were close to being done if only the brass would shut up. They’d already decided to keep watch and not make a move yet.

He was almost at the point of telling the guy to shut his trap, but that wouldn’t go over well. Someone at a higher rank had to tell the guy to shut up.

After another twenty minutes of listening to the guy drone on, they were done. Nothing had changed, except that guy had expelled a lot of air and they’d had to breathe it in since they were in the same room.

He grabbed his phone and was about to look at the screen when Chase stopped him.

“Hey, I was wondering if you could look at a house with me.”

“Oh, are you moving?”

“Yeah. It’s close to your place, about a half mile away.”

“Sure. Do you know when you’re viewing the property?”

“This weekend or after work next week. I’ll have to see what dates they come back with.”

“That’s awesome. It’ll be nice to have you living closer.”

“Sure will.”

They both headed out to their cars. He was satisfied with their decisions tonight. He was almost to his car when his phone buzzed. He turned over his phone, seeing he had an alert that his alarm was going off.

He stopped walking and opened the alarm application. “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Chase asked.

“The alarm is going off.” His phone rang, and it was the alarm company. He answered, worry slipping through him as the guy on the other end of the line asked for his safety word. “I can’t give you that. I don’t know what’s going on. Have you looked at the camera feed?”

“Just a moment, sir, I’m pulling that up now. It looks like someone ran out the front door of your place and into the street. Oh crap, the house across the street from you is on fire.”

“Shit.”