her eyes, embarrassed that she had even considered it might have been him. She had sent her mom a text before going to sleep the night of her accident and knew she would be concerned.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetheart. I know it’s kind of late, but I wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I’m actually in bed. I took a pain pill and figured I would get a good night’s sleep.”
“Did you go to work today?”
A chuckle was her answer, and her mother sighed in return. “I should’ve known you would. Your father and I were thinking of driving up and seeing you sometime soon. Will you check your calendar and let us know what weekend looks good?”
She loved Hope City, but the one downside was missing her parents. They hated the big city, but with both still working, they were relegated to weekend visits unless it was a holiday or the summer when they could take more time off. Her father was a high school principal and her mother was the head of the Fine Arts program in their tiny county.
Tears pricked her eyes, and she quickly blinked them away. Why am I so emotional? Loneliness hit her and she said, “I’m not working weekends unless I get called in, so you and Dad pick a weekend, and we’ll make it work.”
“That sounds great, sweetie.” Her mom did not disguise the excitement in her voice. “I can’t wait to see you.”
With heartfelt declarations of love followed by goodbyes, they disconnected. Sliding down into bed, Harper propped her left arm on an extra pillow and closed her eyes once more. Images of Sean McBride moved through her mind as the drug worked its magic and she slid into sleep.
In a deep slumber, the phone rang twice before Sean jerked awake, grabbing it from his nightstand. The barest hint of daylight was peeking through the blinds, and he glanced at the clock. Jesus... six fucking o’clock.
“McBride,” he said, his voice still rough with sleep. He listened to the address of the suspicious fire. “You call Miller?” Receiving the affirmative, he climbed from bed, glad that he had gotten almost a full night’s sleep.
After dressing quickly, he poured coffee into his travel mug and climbed into his SUV. The fire was in a single-family home in a modest neighborhood. By the time he arrived, the firefighters were emptying and rolling their hoses. The dawn had broken and sunlight was casting a pale pink hue onto the blackened hole of a garage and one side of the house. At first glance, it did not appear that the house would be a total loss. It was evident that the fire had started in the garage, and he walked up the driveway to talk to the firefighters.
Jonas drove up a few minutes later, and he stalked to his partner. “Smoke detector went off and alerted the homeowner at about four a.m. He reports he got up and got his family and their dogs outside. By that time, he could see the garage was completely engulfed in flames and called the fire department.” Pointing to the house next door, he added, “That neighbor came out, concerned about the fire burning so close to his house, and hooked up a water hose, spraying the side of the garage until the firefighters came.”
“Preliminary report from the firefighters?”
“That’s why we were called in. According to the homeowner, there was nothing in the garage that should have spontaneously combusted. Mowing season is over, so while there’s a gasoline can, he said it was virtually empty. Obviously, there was gasoline in his car which was parked in the garage, but the fire appeared to start on the other side, closest to the door leading into the kitchen.”
“And their car?”
“Yeah…” Sean nodded to the car that was parked on the street.
“In this weather, he parked on the street instead of in the garage?” Jonas lifted his eyebrow.
Once they were given the okay by the firefighter in charge, they put on their hardhats and gloves and entered the garage. As Sean walked around, his gaze was pinned to following the fire’s behavior.
“No multiple points of origin,” Jonas noted aloud.
“Uh-huh. And it started close to the door leading into the kitchen as opposed to where any of the possible flammable liquids were stored.” It was easy to understand the firefighter’s suspicions.
Jonas knelt to look for evidence of incendiary devices, and Sean continued his inspection by walking through the door into the kitchen. The side of the