Confessing to the Cowboy - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,67
against the paint. Matt’s artwork that had decorated the walls were curled and blackened around the edges, but at least they were mostly still intact.
The smell of smoke lingered in the air despite the scent of frying potatoes and onions that Rusty had going in the kitchen.
“A new window and sofa, a fresh coat of paint and several loads of laundry and it will all be as good as new,” he said, in an attempt to take away the stunned look from Mary’s face. “It could have been so much worse.”
She blinked a couple of times, as if warding off the threat of tears. “I hated that sofa anyway,” she finally managed to say, the words a mixture of laughter and a sob.
Cameron threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close against him. “You’ll get through this, Mary. You’re strong. You’ve been to hell and back and I’m not about to let anything else bad happen to you or your son.”
She forced a smile up to him. “Then you better get going. You aren’t going to find the bad guy sitting here having breakfast.” She moved away from him and into the kitchen.
He followed behind but she ignored his presence as she talked to Rusty about breakfast service. Cameron left the café, knowing she was in good hands, but unsure where he stood with her. Right now he was her protector, but what would he be to her when this was all over?
Earlier, when he’d dropped Matt off at his school, he’d gone inside and spoken to Matt’s teacher to let her know that Matt was to be released only to him or Mary and should remain inside the classroom until one of them arrived to pick him up. He was also forbidden to take recess outside without close supervision. The last thing he wanted was a snatch-and-grab of Mary’s son. That would be the straw that broke her completely.
He headed to his office, eager to hear what his deputies had to share about their investigation into the fire scene the night before.
He met Ben Temple coming in. Ben had returned from Oklahoma City late last night when Thomas Manning had come back to town. Cameron motioned him into the office. “So, how did you find the big city?”
“Boring except for the drive home in the snow. That was a little bit of a challenge.” He sat in the chair opposite Cameron’s. “I’ll tell you, I don’t know if Thomas Manning can be bought off and paid for as a serial killer, but while he was in the city he took all of his meals at the truck stop where his wife used to work.”
“Interesting. And what time did he make it back here to Grady Gulch last night?”
“Just a few minutes after midnight.”
Cameron reared back in his chair and rubbed the center of his forehead. “So, he would have had enough time and could have set the fire at the café.”
“It’s definitely possible.”
“I think it’s past time to bring him in for some questioning.”
“Agreed,” Ben replied. “Want me to bring him in?”
“That would be great. As soon as I get Smokey’s report and the investigative report from Mills and Walkins, I’ll be going over those and there might be somebody else I need brought in.”
That was the beginning of one of the most frustrating days of Cameron’s life. Within an hour Ben had returned to announce that Manning wasn’t at home, nor was he at the café or anywhere else that anyone had seen him that morning. They agreed that Ben would sit outside his house and bring him to the office as soon as he showed up.
Smokey’s report yielded nothing more than what he’d told Cameron the night before. Somebody had broken through the window, crawled through and had shoved the sofa from the center of the room to block Mary from getting into Matt’s room. That person had then poured gasoline all over the sofa and had lit it on fire.
What made it even worse was that after talking to Matt this morning Cameron knew that the person who had set the fire had broken Matt’s bedroom window and made certain the young boy had awakened and gotten out to safety.
Matt couldn’t describe the man, he hadn’t seen him. He only knew that the breaking glass in his bedroom had awakened him and a deep voice had commanded him to get out, that his life was in danger from a fire. Matt could smell the