Meaning there might have been accelerants involved, as well as the candle. But they wouldn't know that for sure until the fire marshal got here. She walked over to the sink. No extra cups, no spoons, nothing to indicate that Lana had drunk coffee with anyone else. She walked towards the back door. Old slippers, summer sandals, and a worn pair of lined rubbed boots stood in a tidy line to one side of the doorway. In the doorway itself, mud tracks. Obviously from the boots of Manny and his men ... except for one. She frowned, stepped to one side, and squatted in front of it.
The footprint wasn't small, nor was it as fresh as the others. And it was a different print pattern. She pointed a finger at it as she glanced up at Manny. “Any of your men wearing different boots today?"
He frowned and shook his head. “Regulation down the line."
She picked up one of Lana's boots and flipped it over to study the heel and sole. There was mud caked on it, indicating Lana had gone outside earlier today, but the pattern was different from the muddy pattern on the floor. “You want to keep your men away until we can get a photo of this?"
Manny nodded. Savannah rose and headed back out to the car. Ronan met her at the gate.
"The doc confirmed what Manny said. There doesn't appear to be any obvious signs of injury, beyond those related to the fire."
She nodded. “Lana had a visitor before the fire started."
"Neighbors spotted them?"
She shook her head, and opened the car. “No. I found a footprint that doesn't tie in with either Lana's boots or the boots used by Manny and his men."
Ronan reached into the car and grabbed the crime-scene kit. “Doesn't mean it belongs to the person who set the fire."
"No, but it might. You want to go interview the neighbors while I take a few photos? Rex, the neighbor on the right, reported the fire."
"I'll start with him, then.” Ronan hesitated and looked around, as if to see who was near, then added softly, “There's something I need to say."
Her stomach clenched. She knew it was about Cade, about what they'd been talking about before, without even skimming his thoughts—not that she ever did that with Ronan. Or any of the other ranger's, for that matter. “Can't it wait?"
He shook his head. “I know you think Cade coming back into your life is a bad thing, and if I'm looking at it from a purely selfish point of view, I tend to agree. But mostly, I don't."
She raised an eyebrow. “Why on earth not?"
His gaze met hers, and once again there was a touch of sadness in those clear gray depths. Yet there was also determination. And on some inner level that frightened her. Her life was about to change, and she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for it.
"Because until now,” he said, “you've been living your life like a sleeper, just going through the motions, but never truly experiencing them."
She opened her mouth to deny his statement, but he raised a warning finger, stopping her.
"His arrival here has awakened something in you, Savannah. Don't let it go back to sleep, because it's truly beautiful to see."
"Ronan—"
He smiled and caught her hand, then raised it to his lips and kissed it gently. “There's no need to say anything. There never was."
He released her, handed her the kit, and turned and walked away.
And she knew it was as much a symbolic walking away as it was literal.
She took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to control the swirl of ... not hurt, but at the very least, regret. Yet deep in her heart she knew that what he was doing was right for them both.
Even when Cade finally left Ripple Creek, there would be no going back to the easy loving she and Ronan had once shared, if only because the wild wolf within her had indeed woken again. That part of her, the part she'd subdued for so long, had always wanted more than just a comfortable existence or relaxed loving. It wanted lust. It wanted the unquenchable fire of needing to be with someone so badly it seemed like she'd die without him. Most importantly, it wanted to know what it was like to be the object of one man's undying passion and love.
Those were things she could never find in Ronan's arms, no matter how much either of them might want it.
But she'd found most of it with Cade—then and now.
Fate, she thought as she brushed the heel of her hand across her eyes, had to be a woman, because it sure as hell was one big bitch.
Chapter Seven
Cade combed the remainder of the temporary color through his hair, then stepped back to study the effect.