Page 13 of Crash and Burn

Marina made it clear she was done as she radioed the other officer for an evidence bag. While she waited, she asked again, “Is there anything else you remember that might be pertinent?”

They both shook their heads, and he was relieved the long night was coming to an end. Marina bagged the box and carried it gingerly at her side. That worried him.What was so special about that box?But he knew better than to ask.

Marina thanked them both, and let Maggie know she’d be looking into the break-in. It was standard and trite and he got the impression that Maggie wasn’t expecting much as she walked the two officers down the hall and thanked them.

But as the officers headed out the front door, Maggie blurted out, “I heard a rumor.”

Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, worrying Sebastian for the umpteenth time that night. He was learning to read her signals and he didn’t like this one.

Sure enough, she blurted out, “I heard that the Blue River Killer was active again.”

Once again Marina Balero went dead still.

Oh, shit,Sebastian thought. There was no reason for her to react that way, unless …

Chapter Twelve

The following morning, Sebastian headed into Spill the Beans for his usual day-off coffee. If he woke up and felt like he needed the activity instead of the sleep, he’d get dressed and walk over.

Today, he was here because he hadn’t yet been to bed. He’d left Maggie to climb into her own shiny antique bed, but he hadn’t shaken last night off enough to sleep himself.

Lucille ran the coffee shop, having converted it from a deli when her father passed. Such a small town thing … And Sebastian found himself wondering if Maggie saw it as quaint or backward.

He’d seen her in here, but that might just be because it was the only coffee shop in town. There were Starbucks’ in Lincoln, and Scooters in Beatrice, but Spill the Beans was the only local option.

He’d grown up here. This place and the people made sense to him. He’d gone away for college, but not that far. Not any place as big as Los Angeles, and he couldn’t help but wonder what Maggie thought of his small hometown and her intruder.

Wasn’t that the whole point of moving to a town like this—getting away from “big city crime”? Only, he knew it didn’t work that way, and he hoped Maggie did, too.

Despite the fact that he opened the door to the shop and immediately spotted her tucked into a back booth with Rex and his daughter, he didn’t want her to move away. She was trying her damndest to establish a business here, but locals weren’t much for trusting newcomers, even if she was Sabbie’s great niece and she’d been here for plenty of summers as a kid. Maggie was still “new,” and trusting her with their wills or divorces would take time for Redemption.

As he moved forward in line, he hooked his shirt on the edge of the counter and put a small tear in the old white t-shirt. It was wearing thin, the FD logo on the upper left and across the back were severely faded, and he wasn’t quite sure why he’d worn it. Maybe because it was soft and he wasn’t fully in his head today. Maybe being a firefighter was who he was and he needed to remind himself of that.

He watched as Rex leaned down and said something to Hannah, giving the toddler another toy. Sebastian adored Hannah fiercely, but every time he picked her up he took a fresh jolt to his system. She was exactly the size of the Miller baby.Tyler.

He stepped forward in line trying to fight off the memories. Hazards of the job, he told himself. Live saves were rare, he told himself as he shoved his hands in his pockets to keep his sudden flash from the past from being obvious.

He’d be glad when Hannah got bigger and the weight and size of her didn’t remind him of the toddler he’d carried alive out of the house … the same one who’d been gone by the time Sebastian tried to hand him to his mother.

“Sebastian? Sebastian?”

He’d been moving forward in line automatically and hadn’t realized he’d reached the front and that Penny had asked him what he wanted. “Oh sorry.”

After placing his order, he stepped aside and waited.

“Bas! Bas!” Hannah called out, having spotted him even if Maggie and Rex were too caught up in each other to notice anyone else.

He would have gone over and said hello. He was okay, really. It was just always that initial jolt when he lifted her. He would get over it. Every one of them had a shitty story like that, and he was no different. But as he turned to offer a wave to the little girl, he saw Maggie’s and Rex’s hands were clasped tightly together.

Maggie was looking deeply into Rex’s eyes.

He was the intruder. He waved quickly at Hannah and forced himself to step outside to wait. He didn’t need to see that.

Or maybe he did.

Maybe he needed the reminder that Maggie wasn’t his and never would be. Rex was a decent guy, and one of the brotherhood. Though, honestly, it was more like a ‘cousinhood’ until things got rough. He would need Rex at his back one day, and Maggie was severely off-limits.

Sebastian couldn’t say he was impressed with the way Rex was handling fatherhood, but having never had a child of his own, Sebastian didn’t think he was one to judge. When he heard his name called, he ducked back in and grabbed his drink from Penny, trying to ignore her over-eager smile.

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