Page 59 of Condemned By Secrets

Anna closed her eyes on a gulp as that image flashed in her mind. When she opened them, he was still squatting in front of her. “No. Why are you doing this?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why is the mayor? Why does anyone?” He laughed as if the answer was obvious. “Money, sweetheart.”

Anna flinched at the endearment, and he sneered. “Oh, that’s right. You’re Monroe’s sweetheart, aren’t you?” He stood and flicked the lighter open. “Well, don’t worry. He’ll be joining you soon.”

Fear for Luther made her face turn ashen. Anna’s breathing quickened, and black spots colored her vision. She clutched her chest and shook her head to clear it.

The officer grabbed a piece of wood from the pile on the floor where the roof had collapsed. At the door, he lit it with his lighter. The spark slowly burned the board, but the officer held the lighter in place until the flame spread and caught fire.

As she watched, tears tracked down Anna’s cheeks in silent salty streams. “Please.”

He ignored her plea and stepped through the door. When he closed it, it banged shut loud enough to make her jump.

She was sitting in a building soaked with kerosene, and the cop was about to light it on fire. Her fear turned into terror. It seized her lungs, and her breathing intensified.

I don’t want to die!

Anna’s heart raced, and her pulse pounded so loudly in her ears that she didn’t hear the flames at first. But as smoke started to draft in through the wall planks, she heard the crackling of a fire eating hungrily through the fuel-drenched wood.

I have to get out of here!

She had to think! Panicking wasn’t going to help her. Anna clenched her jaw and forced herself to take a deep breath until she’d swallowed down enough of the fear to focus on looking for a way out. She saw flames licking up the walls on all sides of her. But the roof. The fire hadn’t spread there yet. If she made it up to the hole, she’d be able to get out.

Anna glanced around the floor for anything she might climb on and stopped searching on a cry. She’d forgotten her leg. With shaking fingers, she pulled at the rope around her ankle. The heat from the fire added to the heat of her struggles, and she was drenched in perspiration. Her eyes were starting to water from the smoke, but she tugged as hard as she could . . . to no avail.

Though she pulled hard enough on the rope for it to cut into her fingers, it didn’t loosen. Coughs racked her chest, and she dropped the restraint, gasping for breath through the dense gray haze filling the room.

I can’t breathe!

The dark was coming for her again, creeping in slowly at the edges of her vision. Anna couldn’t fight it off, and, as her eyes slid shut, she prayed Luther would be safe.

CHAPTER 23

Luther’s stomach was rock hard with fear by the time he turned onto the road leading to the Cooper Farm. He’d gone to Anna’s apartment and the historical society, but she hadn’t been at either location. When he’d tried calling her again, and she still didn’t answer, he knew something wasn’t right. His gut told him she was in trouble, but he had one more place to look for her before he accepted that.

She’d told him about her project with the farm, and it was the last spot he could think of that she might be. If she wasn’t there, he was calling in a favor and tracking the GPS in her car or her phone. Whatever he needed to do.

As he drove closer to the farm, the scent of smoke filled the cruiser. Luther looked for the source, but the tree branches full of green leaves were dense enough to hide it from view. The smell made his adrenaline spike. It didn’t make sense for someone to be burning anything on the farm. Not this time of day and not when the place was abandoned.

When Luther cleared the trees, the farmhouse filled his view. It glowed an angry orange as forked flames ate at the centuries-old wood. The stone in the construction had slowed them down, but the blaze smoldered on.

Time moved in slow-motion as two things occurred to Luther.

Anna’s car was here.

She was in that house.

He blinked and slammed his foot on the accelerator. Time sped forward, and so did his heartbeat as he raced toward the house.

When he was close, he stopped, jumping out of the cruiser with only one thought.

Anna.He had to save Anna.

Luther refused to believe she was anything but alive. Fear for her safety threatened to make his hands shake. Pushing it away, he focused on what he needed to do to get her out of there. He grabbed a blanket and his emergency kit from the trunk of his car, but it wouldn’t do much good against the flames licking at the front door. At least notdry.

He needed water. Luther glanced around in a frantic state until his eyes fell on a barrel next to one of the outbuildings. He ran toward it. If it was hollow, it might be filled with rainwater.

When he reached it, his breath burst out in relief. With jerky movements, he dunked the blanket and soaked up as much of the rainwater as he could.

---