Page 7 of Burning Truth

Addie shook her head, dumbfounded. When she’d gone back through her old footage, realizing that the arsonist had been watching her for a while, it hadn’t taken her long to find the guy in the film. His name was Severn Moran, and she’d only figured that out because one of the corporate big wigs that advertised with them had been strolling through the conference room with Ron and seen his picture on the overhead screens. He’d frowned for a minute, trying to remember where he’d seen the guy. Then his expression had cleared.

“They were a security firm I hired for the unveiling. Lost and Found. All veteran crew. I love supporting our military,” he grinned, puffing his chest out, and Addie thought he wanted recognition for doing something that shouldn’t even be an issue.

Plugging the name into Google, she’d found the company. It was very highly rated, though they hadn’t been open long. And she’d found Moran’s name in the directory. There was no picture, but research was her jam. She’d researched a little more and found a picture of him in a military uniform. It had obviously been from years ago, before he’d been burned. It was definitely him, though, crowded between a bunch of guys and laughing. It made her heart hurt at the carefree look in his eyes. That hadn’t been the way she’d seen him at the warehouse fire.

Then, his face had been full of pain, and her soft heart had tugged at her.

She would have to ignore her heart, though, and she would have to make her own determination if he were the arsonist or not. She knew for a fact she’d never met him before in her life, but she also knew that now that she was on television, people sometimes responded to her like they were old friends. It was very disconcerting. She would hear her name called on the street and turn around and not recognize anyone. Several times she’d been swept up into conversations like she was an old friend, and it was so discombobulating when she realized she’d never met the people.

Moran she would have remembered, because even though he had scars, he had also been incredibly handsome. The strong bone structure was still there, and in the picture with his buddies he had piercing dark eyes. Or maybe it was just the lighting. She couldn’t tell for sure because the picture wasn’t clear. Obviously, he’d been a good bit younger, but Addie didn’t feel like he’d changed a lot since then. Well, other than the scars.

She’d tried to zoom in on the marks, but even with their technology at the station, it was hard to do. She looked for why he’d been injured, but she hadn’t found anything. Perhaps it had happened overseas.

If Detective Johnson was sure he wasn’t the arsonist, she would have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“When is he arriving?” she asked eventually. “If Jake and I get a call, we have to go.”

The detective nodded in understanding. “He didn’t specify a time. I’ll send him a text that you’re up to date on the situation and what your schedule is like.”

The guy would just have to play catch-up if he didn’t show up pretty soon.

The detective left and Addie went back to work, going over some notes from the previous day. Jake was picking up the van from the maintenance garage and as soon as he got back to the station, they were heading out. It was easier to drive around and respond to a call, and there were bound to be crashes tonight. There was a game going on at the Arena downtown, as well as a concert at one venue to the west. It was going to be a madhouse downtown, and she needed to be ready to respond.

Their first call came less than fifteen minutes later. Jake was literally pulling into the station parking lot, and she was heading down the sidewalk to meet him when she got the text. Addie paused long enough to respond to the text, and that was when the hair on her neck prickled. She scanned the area without lifting her head and caught movement from her peripheral.

She let out a little yelp as Severn Moran stepped out of the shadow of the building. She slapped a hand to her racing heart. “Oh, my gosh, you freaking scared me!”

The tall man just looked at her, part of his face, the scarred half, in shadow. “My apologies, Ms. Kingston. I just parked and saw your van pulling up. I’m Severn Moran.”

He didn’t offer to shake her hand, which she thought was odd. “Nice to meet you. And you might as well call me Addie, considering we’re dating now.”

Sorry, was that sarcasm in her voice? Yeah, it was.

One side of his mouth tilted up. “Agreed, and you can call me Severn.”

Was her tummy fluttering from that tiny smile? What the hell...

Addie had watched the video of him several times, but they hadn’t been able to convey how incredibly imposing he was. The dude was at least 6’3”, maybe even 6’4”, more than a head taller than her. He was built lean, but looked whipcord strong. Dark-haired, with the front hanging a little long down over his forehead. Was he trying to hide the scars running down that side of his face? It didn’t really work. He shifted toward the turnaround, and a parking lamp lit that side. It was more devastating than the video had shown. Layers of skin had been burned away, from the top of his forehead, down through his dark eyebrow, cutting it in half, then down his cheek and neck. The skin around his eye sagged a little, almost like it had melted in the heat. She wondered if it obscured his vision at all.

Forcing her gaze away, she glanced down the length of him. Work boots, black BDU pants with all the pockets, a t-shirt that seemed to be a size smaller than it needed to be to outline his ridiculous muscles, and an overshirt. Was that a gun holster on his hip? She looked back up at his face. He had the prettiest, most thickly lashed eyes she’d ever seen on a man. The irises were brownish green. She supposed they fell into the hazel range, though that seemed too tame. He wore no facial hair, and his mouth was tight with aggravation.

Damn... she glanced away, toward the van, trying to catch her breath. How long had she been staring at him? “Uh, Jake is waiting. We have a run.”

“Let’s go,” he said, motioning for her to precede him.

Jake was giving Severn the side-eye and looking to Addie for an explanation. She clambered into the van and took the bench seat along the wall behind Jake’s seat. That left a second singular seat for Severn in the back. The rest of the space was for their equipment. He slipped into the seat and slid the van door closed behind himself.

“Jake Wallace,” she said, “this is Severn Moran, a private investigator. The police have vouched for him that he is not my stalker, and we apparently have a plan. It’s a harebrained plan, but we have a plan.”

Jake gave her a probing look in the rearview mirror as he took off. She shrugged lightly and shook her head, letting him know it hadn’t been her idea.

“Nice to meet you, Severn.”

“Where are we going, Jake?” she asked, excitement thrumming through her.

“Multi-vehicle crash on 675.”

She strapped in and held on. Jake would get them there as quick as humanly possible, and she’d learned over the past few months that it was best if she didn’t watch the drive. “So,” she said, looking at Severn. Not that she could look anywhere else with the way the seats were positioned. “A private investigator, huh? Is that why you were at the warehouse fire?”

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