What Echoes Render Read online

  “Definitely David’s,” she supplied. Ian raised an eyebrow at her. “Kit figured it out. Caleb hardly matters, plus I know he won’t say anything anyway.”

  Caleb put his hand over his heart. “You wound me.”

  Ian rolled his eyes. “We’ll need his fingerprints to rule him out.”

  “I’m sure he’d be happy to provide them, but shouldn’t they be in some system somewhere?” Jesse asked.

  “Yes, but it’s easier if we can get them from him.”

  She nodded, making a mental note to tell David.

  “Wait, David was there when you were found?” Caleb asked, his coffee cup hitting the table.

  “Caleb, don’t,” Jesse warned.

  “Don’t what?” Ian pressed.

  “David was questioned in a suspicious fire in California. A young woman was seriously injured,” Caleb said, ignoring Jesse.

  “He wasn’t involved,” Jesse said with quiet certainty.

  “I can’t believe you dug into his life,” Kit interjected with barely concealed disgust.

  “How did you find out?” Ian asked, cutting them both off.

  “I have my ways.”

  “So enigmatic,” Kit said.

  “Kit, your sarcasm isn’t helping,” Jesse said. Her friend looked like she was going to argue, then thought better of it and swallowed whatever she was going to say with a sip of coffee.

  “I don’t buy it anyway,” Ian said.

  “Oh yeah? Why’s that?” Caleb sat back in challenge.

  “Because I saw him last night. No one is that good of an actor,” Ian responded.

  “Meaning?” Caleb pressed.

  “Meaning the guy looked like half of him wanted to go out and beat the shit out of someone while the other half was scared shitless to let Jesse go. Afraid something might happen to her if he did.”

  Jesse found herself staring at Ian. Was that really how David had seemed? To her right, Kit let out a little sigh.

  “Seems like you know the feeling?” Caleb’s voice was condescending and intended to provoke Ian. Why Caleb would want to do that, Jesse didn’t know, but it worked. Just not in the way he’d probably hoped.

  “Yes. I do,” Ian said. “Last year a serial killer came after Vivienne. Not only was he a sadistic bastard, but he was someone she’d known her entire life. So yes, I know what it’s like to have someone you love threatened and believe me it wasn’t something he was faking.”

  Someone you love? She glanced at Kit who was looking at her with curiosity, her head cocked to the side. She looked back to Ian who was still leveling his gaze at Caleb, not backing down from his assessment. Finally, Caleb shrugged off Ian’s matter-of-fact pronouncement of his feelings and looked away.

  “So what now?” Jesse asked.

  “You go back to your house tomorrow, have a look, and let me know if anything is missing. Have you called the boys?” Ian asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, I didn’t tell them everything. I just said there was a break-in.”

  Ian gave no indication of what he thought of her decision. Kit and Caleb shared an indecipherable look—the first thing they’d shared since she’d come downstairs.

  “We’re going to keep following up on what evidence we have, like running the tire treads, and we’re still combing the woods. In the meantime, you should spend some time thinking about who might be doing this. And even if you think there isn’t any reason for someone to hurt you, try thinking of it another way.”

  “Such as?” Kit prompted.

  “Maybe think of someone who would want something from you.”

  “Still a long shot,” Jesse answered.

  “I know, but you’re going to have to give it a try. All these things started happening when you met David, maybe it’s about him,” Ian suggested.

  She didn’t think so, but then again, she’d had a hard time believing anyone would really want to hurt her and she’d clearly been wrong about that. So she nodded her agreement. As a group, they rose and walked to the door. Halfway there, Jesse’s phone rang. With a glance at Caleb, because she couldn’t help it, she said a quick good-bye then ducked away to take the call.

  ***

  When Jesse walked back into the kitchen twenty minutes later, Caleb was the only one there. He handed her a glass of wine, then gestured for her to sit. She leaned against the kitchen counter instead. He shrugged, then did the same.

  “Where’s Kit?” she asked.

  “She’s in her office. Someone called, her agent or something. Said she’d be tied up for a while. So, you’re still seeing him.” His abrupt change of topic wasn’t a question so she didn’t bother answering. “That’s too bad. I kind of like you,” he said with another shrug.

  She let out a huff of laughter. “I know you do. But not like that. What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “You’re a beautiful woman,” he commented.

  “And you’re full of shit. Sit your ass down and tell me what you’re doing here.”

  She moved to the table, sat down herself, and fixed him with a stern look. He sighed and followed her to the table.

  “You are kind of pushy,” he said, sitting across from her.

  “I have two teenage sons, you haven’t begun to see pushy. So let’s try this again, what are you doing here?”

  She didn’t miss the glint of humor in his eyes, though his face didn’t move a muscle. “I heard from a little bird about what happened last night. I was stateside so decided to fly up and see for myself.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can.”

  “Not good enough.” She took a sip of the buttery chardonnay, not taking her eyes off him.

  He tried to stare her down, but obviously it had been a long time since he’d teed off with a mother, if he ever had. Come to think of it, Kit had never mentioned her parents, maybe their mother was never in the picture. The errant thought made her frown.

  No doubt taking advantage of her moment of distraction, Caleb changed the subject. “You’re going to have to get used to the fact that there is someone out there who wants to hurt you, and until you accept that, you’re never going to be open enough to start considering why.”

  “You and Ian have worked together, haven’t you?” she countered. Two could play that game.

  For a long moment they simply stared at each other, waiting to see who would give first. Her question had come to her out of the blue, but now that she’d asked it, she found she didn’t really need him to answer. It was the only thing that made sense; it was the only way Caleb could have known about last night. Not to mention Ian’s complete lack of surprise at finding Caleb in Kit’s kitchen.

  “Why do you care, Caleb?” She didn’t have to stretch herself much to sound more curious than challenging. She wasn’t upset about him being involved, but it just didn’t make sense to her. She knew he liked her, as a friend and as a friend of his sister’s, but none of it warranted the level of involvement she was sensing from him.

  “What happened?” she pressed. His eyes slid away to the expansive view beyond the massive windows. Green hills covered in maple trees and fields of hay dotted the landscape, but Jesse sensed that Caleb wasn’t really taking in the scenery

  “A lot of things have happened,” he said. “A lot of people have been hurt by decisions I’ve made or haven’t made. If I can help Ian figure this thing out before you get seriously hurt, I will.”

  There were so many layers to that statement that for several minutes she just sat there, sipping her wine, watching him watch the hills.

  Then she spoke. “I see.”

  His eyes swiveled to hers. “What exactly do you see?”

  “I’m curious, Caleb, what’s the value of a human life these days?”

  He flinched at her question then looked away again.

  “I’m curious, really,” she continued. “I mean do you have to save one person to make up for another person dying? Or is it two people you have to save? Or more?”

 
; His jaw ticked and his hand tightened into a fist. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re right, I don’t. Tell me,” she conceded simply.

  “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “If I’m some part of your redemption, if only in your eyes, I think I should know about it. Whose life will I make up for, Caleb?”

  “Some things can’t be made up for.”

  She was surprised he even managed to speak; his jaw was so rigid.

  “You’re right, some things can’t. And yet you’re trying, aren’t you?” She’d cornered him. They both knew it. She no more believed he’d intentionally killed an innocent person than she believed David was involved in the fire all those years ago. But for some reason, he believed he had been responsible. And though she didn’t doubt that, rationally, he knew one life saved did not make up for one life lost, emotionally, things weren’t that clear. And emotions, for a guy like Caleb, were a messy thing.

  “Look Caleb.” She reached out and placed her hand over his fist. “I’m not going to pretend I know what you’ve done or what you’ve lived through. But I do know a thing or two about death and dying. Almost every doctor I know who has lost a patient wonders if there was something they could have done differently. A decision that might have changed the outcome. And the truth is, maybe there was. Maybe that person didn’t have to die on that day. But the other truth is that we can only do what we can do. We can only make the best decisions we can with the information we have. And sometimes we just have to hope we’re right.”

  “And sometimes we’re wrong and someone dies,” he said.

  “And sometimes we’re wrong and someone dies,” she agreed.

  The sound of Kit’s office door opening down the hall brought the moment and the conversation to an end. Caleb withdrew his hand from under hers and stood up.

  “I don’t want to deal with Kit right now. I’m going out. I’ll be back. Do not, I repeat, do not leave this house until I get back.”

  She thought his directive was a bit of overkill, but she also thought it best to pick her battles, so she just nodded her agreement. The front door was slamming behind him when Kit walked in.

  “Where’s he off to?” Kit asked, pouring herself a glass of wine and sitting in the seat her brother had just vacated.

  Thinking of the weird tension between the siblings, Jesse leaned forward, “I don’t know, but I think we have a few things to talk about, don’t you?”

  CHAPTER 15

  DAVID TAPPED HIS PHONE on the desk in front of him and pondered his last conversation with Jesse. This was her second night back in her house but the first night he wasn’t with her. Being on shift had never sucked so much in his life. He hated leaving her, hated the thought of her being there alone. But she’d promised to set the alarm, including the motion sensors, and Ian had promised she would be well looked after.

  All that aside, the conversation he’d just had with her had left him feeling more unsettled than it should have. Of all the things in her home to be taken, the only thing missing was a framed picture of Jesse’s house and the surrounding landscape. He knew that fact was important, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why. Nor could he figure out why the perpetrator had taken one of Matt’s trophies from his room—the one that had ultimately been used on Jesse. She had said that both items had more sentimental value than anything else—the trophy happened to include a small framed picture of Matt and his dad taken the week before Mark had died—and she could no more explain why those items had been picked than he could. And judging by the conversation he’d had with Ian earlier that day, the apparent randomness of those two items was pissing Ian off, too.

  “Don’t you look preoccupied? What’s up, Hathaway? Contemplating how to grow your perennials next season?” Dominic leaned on the doorframe, crossing his arms. David’s life was much quieter than most of the other guys, or so they thought, and was, by default, the subject of much ridicule. Usually, he played along, but he wasn’t in the mood tonight.

  Dominic must have sensed it because he moved in and sat down across from him.

  “Everything okay?” The teasing was gone from Dominic’s voice.

  David flicked a look at his friend. He didn’t want to open the can of worms that would be Jesse with his teammates, but he could use a little insight, another brain on the subject.

  “A friend of mine has had a couple of weird things happen to him lately,” he started, intentionally changing the gender of his “friend.” “He’s had his tires slashed, someone tried to run him off the road, and then someone broke in and stole a few things. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.” He had also intentionally left out the bombing of Spin-A-Yarn since any mention of that would make it patently obvious just how much he was altering the story.

  “Jealous girlfriend?” Dominic suggested.

  David shook his head. That was about the only fact he knew for certain—it was not a jealous boyfriend. But maybe there was someone stalking her? Maybe there was a man out there who thought he should be her boyfriend, instead of David, and was upset about having David in the picture? But why the photo and the trophy?

  “Angry husband?” Dominic offered.

  “Meaning?”

  “If he’s running around with a woman who happens to be married, maybe it’s the husband doing all those things,” Dominic explained.

  David almost said the spouse is dead, but then the ghost of a thought settled in his head. He sat forward, frowning.

  “Jealous husbands suck,” Dominic added. “Of course, that’s not to say I didn’t deserve what I got,” he added. His “relationship” with the hot little redhead with the rings had ended much like David had thought it would. But since he’d never said “I told you so,” he’d felt a growing sense of loyalty from the younger man.

  “I don’t think it was a jealous husband, but you did give me an idea.” David stood and looked around for a moment, sorting out his next move. “Excuse me, I need to go check on some files.”

  Dominic watched him, then stood, too. “Sure, just let me know if I can help.”

  David nodded as he walked out of the room and headed down to the archives. Everything was online, now, all fire reports, suspicious or otherwise, but the main computer was down in the basement.

  Flicking on the light as he walked into the rarely used room, he sat down and turned on the computer. A few minutes later, he was culling through the reports of the fire that had killed Mark Baker. If the threats to Jesse weren’t about her, maybe they were about her husband. It still didn’t make a ton of sense, but at this point, he felt they were all grasping at straws and this was just one more.

  When he was through researching, he leaned back in the chair and thought about what he’d just read. It seemed like an accidental fire, but all he had was the report. Some of the pictures were online, but not all. Neither was the schematic of the building. He picked up the phone and dialed the extension of the central office that provided administrative help. After being told the schematics would be available to him in a few days, he printed out the report and placed it in a folder.

  “Hathaway?” Kurt, one of his teammates, called from the top of the stairs.

  “Yeah, down here,” he answered.

  “There’s someone here to see you. In reception.”

  Not expecting anyone and figuring they could wait two minutes, he shut down the computer, made sure the workspace was tidy, and after turning off the light, made his way back to the main part of the station. Walking into reception, he saw the form of a man, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and boots, standing with his back toward him. He was tall—taller than David—and stood with a military rigidity that gave David pause. And when the man turned around, his gold eyes flashed with something not altogether nice.

  “I’m Caleb Forrester.”

  David knew the name, of course he did. Jesse had told him about the few times she and Caleb had talked earlier in the summer and he also knew
from his earlier call with her that Kit’s brother had just arrived back in town.

  “Is everything . . .” His voice trailed off. He was unsure why Caleb would be there unless something had happened to Jesse.

  “She’s fine.” His reply was curt and David was beginning to get the sense that whatever conversation Caleb had in mind, it would be best not to have it in the fire station.

  “Let’s go outside.” Not bothering to see if Caleb followed, he headed through the front doors. Looking around the parking lot, he spotted a black Range Rover backed into a spot. Knowing it didn’t belong to anyone from the station, he headed toward it.

  “Jesse and I have chatted quite a bit over the last few months,” Caleb said, coming to David’s side. They reached the car and David leaned his hip against it, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t doubt Jesse’s fidelity for a second. But she had said she and Caleb were friends, and there was nothing friendly about the man in front of him.

  “I know, she told me,” he replied.

  “She’s a beautiful woman, Hathaway.”

  David knew when he was being provoked and didn’t want to give this guy any satisfaction by responding. But still, it was hard not to tell the guy to go fuck himself. The only thing that stopped him was knowing that Jesse did consider him a friend.

  “What do you want, Forrester?”

  “I want to know if you have anything to do with the shit that’s been happening to Jesse.”

  A moment of rage crashed through him at the thought and he wasn’t quite as successful biting his tongue this time around.

  Caleb continued, not the least bit fazed by David’s language. “It all started when she met you. The day she met you, I believe,” he pointed out.

  David’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not me.” His voice was quiet, like the calm before the storm, and it seemed to catch Caleb’s attention.

  “Prove it.”

  David considered this. He didn’t have to have this conversation, but in some strange way, he sensed that if he could get Caleb’s focus off of him, he might actually be an asset on this case. The guy seemed to care about Jesse. He wasn’t really sure how he felt about that, but if the man could help keep her safe, that was what was most important.