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“I’ll make sure he gets it out, sir.” Thomas jogged to the line of limousines, which by this time were all scrambling to get out with their passengers.
Grady scanned every person milling around on the walk just out of the way of the fire engine, ladder truck, and ambulance. He searched for anyone who seemed especially interested in Tinsley, who was walking away from the action instead of toward it like most people on the city street. A crowd was forming, looking skyward, as if they expected one of the upper windows to burst from heat and flames and smoke to pour out like in a Hollywood movie.
It didn’t happen.
Grady caught word from one of the responders that the fire had started in a trash receptacle and had been contained. He said there’d be an arson investigation and that the second floor would probably be closed off, but that once the smoke cleared, the rest of the hotel guests wouldn’t be affected.
He scanned the crowd again. This time his eyes connected with Nora, Palmer’s ex. Before Grady could cross the road, she turned and faded into the crowd. She would have had access to the bathroom without raising any suspicions, and she definitely had a motive. It seemed the list of suspects kept growing.
Perry came by the ambulance to see if Tinsley was okay, making sure to point out how he had smashed out the glass to retrieve the extinguisher and also making sure no one missed the fact that he’d been injured in his valiant rescue attempt. He had a small cut on his hand, which the paramedics insisted he let them look at.
Grady rolled his eyes.
Loretta patted Perry’s arm. “Thank you for your efforts to save my daughter.”
“Of course, Mrs. Wyatt. We can’t let anything happen to our dear Tinsley. I’m just grateful she made it out of there in time.”
JD slapped him on the shoulder. “We have you to thank then, Perry.”
Reggie was able to get the car around traffic, and he blared his horn. Grady gave him a thumbs up and moved toward the ambulance.
“I’m not going, Daddy, and that’s final.” Tinsley argued between gulps of water from the bottle she’d been given.
No one seemed to be able to make her, not her father, not her mother, not even Palmer, who ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Look, we can’t make her go if she refuses,” a paramedic told her worried parents.
“But is she okay?” Loretta asked in a shaky voice.
“Her oxygen level is back to normal. If she won’t go to the hospital, she should at the very least be checked out by her own doctor tomorrow. Just to make sure there’s no damage to her lungs or esophagus.”
“I’ll make sure that happens,” Loretta insisted. “Thank you very much for everything you’ve done.”
“I just want to go home.” Tinsley sounded tired and irritated, and Grady didn’t blame her. He preferred she be checked out at the ER as well, but it wasn’t his decision, and it wasn’t his place to push the issue.
“The car’s waiting, sir,” he said in a low voice in JD’s ear.
“Good. Thank you.” JD took Loretta by the elbow. “Go along, dear. Get in the car. Palmer and I will help Tinsley over.”
Once they were all loaded in the car and pulling away from the curb, Tinsley reached over and squeezed her mother’s hand. “Mother, your event. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m just thankful you’re okay, darling. The event doesn’t matter.”
“But it does.”
“Not another word about the damn event,” JD snapped, then dragged a hand down his face. “Sorry.”
“You’re on edge. We all are. It’s understandable,” Loretta insisted.
“Daddy, does this have something to do with me? With why I have protection?”
JD’s gaze flicked to Grady for the briefest of moments. “I’m sure it was just a careless employee smoking in the restroom. They ought to be fired.”
“And the door?” she whispered.
“It was just stuck, baby girl. Nothing more.”
Grady didn’t like frightening her, but he didn’t like seeing her treated like a child, either. She was a grown woman, intelligent, with a quick mind. He didn’t like keeping her in the dark.
