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“Sally, what happened?”
She dragged her attention from Luke to the man who knelt beside her. “Sheriff Anderson. I wish I knew. I really have no idea.” Sally covered her forehead with one hand and tried to squeeze her burgeoning headache away. It didn’t work.
“Are you and Jen all right?”
“We’re fine, considering. I mean, it looks like they’re getting the fire out, so it won’t be a total loss, right?”
The lean, dark-haired lawman studied the progress of the fire for a moment. “There’ll be smoke and water damage, Sally. I wouldn’t count on saving much. Looks like the roof and attic have sustained the worst of it. You’ll need someplace to stay until the landlord gets the needed repairs done.”
“Great. This is the last thing I needed right now.” Sally clamped her lips closed on the rest of her complaint. Her lack of employment wasn’t any of the sheriff’s concern, and he probably didn’t need to know she’d started and lost a new job in the same month.
“Do you have someone you can stay with for a couple of months?”
A couple of months?“I’ll figure something out.”
“I spoke with Gretchen a minute ago. She mentioned you have someone staying with you.” Ben removed his ball cap and gave her an apologetic smile. “Gretchen is quite a busybody.”
Tell me something I don’t know. “An old friend stopped by unexpectedly. Luke Harding—he got us out of the house, Sheriff. Otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened.”
The sheriff drilled her with his gaze. “Harding? As in Garrett Harding’s brother?”
“Yeah. That’s me, Sheriff.” Luke stood a few feet behind them.
The sheriff rose slowly and swiveled toward him. “Ben Anderson.” He offered his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luke. Your brother is a friend of mine.”
Luke hesitated slightly before accepting the sheriff’s hand. “My brother is a good man to have as a friend.”
“He’s sure proud of you.” Maybe Ben noticed the barely perceptible narrowing of Luke’s eyes and the tick just above his jaw too, because he pivoted quickly back to Sally. “Do you have a place to stay tonight?”
“Yes, she does,” Luke said.
That was news to Sally.
If the sheriff noticed her surprise, he didn’t let on. “I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Meanwhile, if there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
Before Sally had a chance to thank him, the night sky erupted in a deafening explosion. What was left of her house shot into the atmosphere as though in slow motion, and the shock waves rocked the ground beneath her. Instinctively, she scrambled toward Jen as pieces of what was once her home began to rain down around her.
Luke whisked Jen from Tiffany’s care, pointing her and Gretchen to the opposite side of the street. Both men shielded Sally and Jen from the worst of the debris as they ran for safety. Firemen yelled commands. People screamed. And above that, the roar of the out-of-control fire fueled a terror in Sally the likes of which she hadn’t known for a number of years.
No matter how hard she tried to ignore it, the truth wouldn’t go away. This was no accident. Someone had started her house on fire and then blown it up…to make sure no one survived. It was after midnight. She and Jen would still be sleeping if not for Luke. But that didn’t change the facts—someone had tried to kill them.
By the time they’d reached a safe distance in the neighbor’s yard across the street, the firemen had already switched gears. They’d gone to work saving the nearby houses, counting hers a complete loss.
“Sally, you got any enemies?” The sheriff’s straight-faced question at her elbow almost made her laugh.
As a matter of fact she did, and as soon as she could get a private moment, she’d have to make the call she’d dreaded for almost nine years, but right now she’d put on her game face and lie like hell. “No, Ben. Everybody loves me. You know that.”
“Well, that’s what I always thought, but do you mind telling me how you got those bruises on your face?”
In light of everything that had happened, Sally had practically forgotten about the altercation with Emmett and the bruises that had obviously appeared since then. Emmett was a creep, but blowing up her house and trying to kill her wasn’thishandiwork. She started to shake her head.
Luke pushed one side of her hair behind her shoulder, gaining her attention, then pointed to Jen, standing graveyard still at his side. “I know what you’re thinking, but what would it hurt to let the sheriff check him out? He deserves to at least answer a couple of questions to prove his innocence. If he’s guilty, you and Jen won’t have to worry about a repeat of this.”
He was right, of course. Sally believed she knew who the responsible party was, but what if she was wrong? She glanced at Jen again. Thank goodness her daughter had fallen asleep earlier with sweats underneath her nightshirt. The air could get a little nippy in the mountains in the middle of the night. Sally owed it to her little girl to check out every viable suspect until she knew, beyond a doubt, who’d destroyed their home and their lives. Her very real fear of retribution from Emmett once he learned she’d named him as a suspect would have to be set aside.
She was going to need some strong mojo for her headache before this night was over. Sally chewed her bottom lip as she faced the sheriff. “Emmett Purnell.”
“Oh shit.” Ben massaged the back of his neck absently. “What happened?”
