Even as he pulls up to a house, he continues to speak into his phone. I get out of his car and follow him. He just opens the door and lets himself in. I follow him a little slower as I take in the two-story house.
It looks as if a woman decorated it. The walls are a light brown, and the modern kitchen has shades of yellows. If I didn't know Brecken, I would think he was secretly married; I may not know him all that well, but I do know he’s not married.
I walk past the kitchen and into the living room. Miller, Brecken, and Case all sit deep in conversation. Case is no longer on his phone. I just stand here like an idiot listening to them.
“Acetone?” Brecken asks. “That can be purchased pretty much anywhere,” he adds.
Miller leans forward placing his elbows on his knees. “Do you have any idea how much acetone they would need to start a fire that size? I mean, they would need gallons.”
Case nods in agreement. “But if they use it on a daily basis for their cocaine…” He shrugs. “Then it wouldn’t be a problem. They would already have it on hand.”
“True.” Brecken agrees.
“So who do you know that prefers to snort cocaine over any other drug?” All heads turn to look up at me, and I shrink back in embarrassment. Why am I trying to help? I don’t really even know what they’re talking about.
“What did you say?” Brecken asks.
“I, uh …” I lick my lips nervously. “Well, Case once told me that everyone has a drug of choice.” I look at him, and he stares at me with an unreadable expression. It makes me even more nervous. I should have kept my mouth shut. “If they would have had to have that much acetone already on hand … Who do you know would want to hurt Case and their drug of choice is cocaine?” I finish on a shaky breath.
Case finally smiles at me. “That’s a good way to look at it,” Miller says. “But we deal with people who sell it, not just use it. So you think it could be someone who prefers that drug when it could be someone who just sells a shit ton of it to their addicts.” Two sentences. It only took two sentences for him to crush my idea.
“I see,” I say softly. “Sorry. Thought I had it figured out.”
Case pats the seat next to him on the couch. “You did great, baby. Come sit down.”
Three hours later, I find myself nodding off. They haven’t stopped going through names and ways for someone to get to Case’s house unseen, and I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. I place my hand over my mouth as I yawn once again.
“I have a spare room,” Brecken offers.
I look over at him. I look at Case, and he’s staring at me as well. “Huh?” I ask looking back to Brecken.
“I have a spare room.” He nods his head down his hallway. “You can go to sleep in there if you want.”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head. “Thanks, though.” I look back at Case, and he sighs heavily. I frown.
“Go ahead and go lie down, babe. We’re gonna be here a while. Neither of us is safe until we figure this out.”
I let out a sigh of my own and then stand. “Okay. Thank you.” I look at Brecken, and he nods to say you’re welcome.
They start up their conversation right where I had interrupted it, and I take the hint. Walking down the hallway, Brecken calls out, “Second door on the left.”
“Thanks.” I open the second door on the left and don’t even bother to turn on the light. I can make out the bed from the light from the hallway. I close the door behind me to drown out their voices and take the four steps that separate me from the bed. I fall down onto the bed and close my eyes as I try to forget the fact someone out there is trying to kill us.
CASE
“What if we are looking at this the wrong way?” Brecken announces as we hear the spare bedroom door shut.
“Which is?” Miller asks.
“Maybe all this revolves around Taylor.”
“Why would it revolve around Taylor?” That thought makes me fist my hands.
“Her house was broken into before anything else happened.”
I shake my head. “She walked in on the suspect. He had seen her. If he wanted to hurt her, that would have been his best chance. Why wait a month later to go after her again?”
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Brecken says sounding confused. “They had to have been looking for something. The way they destroyed everything. They were on a mission. Just what was it?”
The morning after Blane had informed me about their house getting robbed, Brecken and I went over there while both Savannah and Taylor were away at work. We had delivered furniture and looked the place over. After that, I went up to her work to see her. That was when I gave her my card and offered her a job at Seven Deadly Sins. It’s crazy that was just a month ago. It’s crazy how fast your life can change “Maybe that had to do with Blane,” I offer. “Maybe his dad ran his mouth in jail that Blane was slinging drugs for him and someone tried to take advantage of that. Thought they could find his stash.”
“Do you think that their dad would really rat Blane out?” Miller asks sounding surprised by that thought.
“Absolutely!” I answer. “He is one sorry son of a bitch,” I hiss.
Brecken closes his eyes and inhales deeply. “Are you okay?” I ask him. He looks good for a man who was just shot ten days ago, but his dark eyes are heavy.
“It’s just been a long couple of weeks,” he responds.
I know he didn’t get much sleep in the hospital. And I know there is no place like being back at your own house.
I stand. “Go to bed. I’ll go get Taylor and we’ll go home. Get some rest. We can get back at it tomorrow.” I shouldn’t have come over here in the first place. I was just so pissed when I found out that it had been set with acetone. I had to tell them what I knew, and I thought if we were all in the same room, we could get it figured out. But we have been here for over three hours and we’re no closer than I was yesterday.
“Do you have a detail on her house?” Miller asks as he stands as well.
I nod. “Yes. And they will stay there around the clock until this is settled.” I turn around and start to walk down the hallway to the spare bedroom to wake up Taylor …
“Case?”
“Yes?” I turn to face them.
“Stay here.” Brecken points to the door in front of me. “I’m sure she’s already asleep. We’ll get a fresh start on it first thing in the morning.”
“I don’t think …”
“Stay!” he interrupts me. “Just get some rest. Tomorrow, we will go up to see Jones at the station and see if they were able to get any prints from your house.”
It stings that someone took everything I had. I never did spend much time at that house, but it was still mine. It was the first thing I bought when I moved here, and now it’s gone.
I nod my head. “Thank you.” Opening the door to the room, step in and find that he was right. Taylor is already dead asleep. And I’m tired as shit. I close the door and make my way in the dark over to the right side of the bed. I undo the belt on my jeans as I kick off my shoes. When my jeans fall to my ankles, I step out of them not bothering to even pick them up. I pull my shirt up and over my head and fall down onto the bed. I wrap my arm around her stomach and pull her to me. I smile to myself when I feel that she didn’t even take her clothes off. She was more tired than I thought.
I close my eyes as I let out a long breath. Not knowing what is going on is terrifying me. I feel like she and I finally have a chance, but some psycho out there is trying to take it away from us. And I refuse to let that happen.
TAYLOR
I wake up and sit straight up in an unfamiliar bed. I look around at the darkness as I take a deep breath.
“I know who did it,” I announce. I had a dream. I know, that sounds crazy, but somehow it all came together in my dream.
I look next to me and see that Case is asleep. What time is it? Grabbing my phone, I see it’s four in the morning and I reach over and shove him. “Case. I know who did it.”