Page 74 of Up In Smoke

A voice came in return and Ivy found her suspicion had been right.

She had to be crazy.

There weretwopeople in her house.

“Whoareyou?” the mysterious second person asked.

She recognized that voice, and still … It couldn't be. Sliding slowly forward, Ivy saw the back of the blond head, the hair tucked low at the neck, same as always. Her heart both soared and cracked.

Carlos laughed at the seemingly ridiculous question. “Left your phone in the other room? Too bad.”

His tone mocked. Freezing in her tracks, Ivy stood with one hand on the fresh paint of the wall, the other still clutching the phone. As she looked down, she saw the hand holding the phone was shaking. Hard.

She needed to call the detective. But she couldn’t. Thank God he hadn't picked up. She couldn’t bring him in on her sister.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Luke pulled to a stop behind the police cruiser that sat in Ivy's driveway. But even as he was opening his door, the officer was opening his and stepping out to face off. A frown pulled at his features and his stance was set wide, his hand on the butt of his gun. The officer planted himself directly between Luke and the house.

The young officer wasn’t someone he’d interacted with much. “Luke Hernandez, Redemption Fire Department.”

He pulled his badge out of his back pocket and held it up. This was one of the few times it was useful to badge someone as a firefighter. Unfortunately, it did nothing.

“I know who you are. I know you're in police custody. Why are you here?”

“No, not in custody. They asked me questions and let me go. I need to get in and see Ivy.”

But the officer held up one hand to stop him.

Jesus. He was so close. But Watson had told him before he’d left that they'd not found Carlos yet. With everything he had, he had to believe that Carlos wasn't already here.

“Carlos Hernandez is on his way here.” Luke said it with an authority he felt in his gut. “If he isn’t already here.”

“She's fine,” the young officer said, his hand making a braking signal as if to slow Luke down.

But Luke couldn’t. “If I’m not going in, then you need to.”

With his brows pulling together as he tried to figure out what to do, the officer said, “I need to call in and check on you.”

“Fine. But do it damn quickly,” Luke said. “And maybe, while you do that, walk up and knock on her door and make sure she’s still okay.”

“I just checked on her. She’s fine.”

Jesus. The kid was green, an overinflated sense of himself in that badge.

“You don't understand my brother,” Luke told him even as the guy dialed into the office. “He's a sociopath. He's calculating, and he's charming. If you just checked on her then that’s the best time for him to go in.”

The officer looked at him a little sideways. So Luke shut up.

With his phone to his ear, the officer said only, “Yes. Yes. Okay.” Then he turned to Luke. “You're cleared. But hold on!”

He yelled the last part as Luke began to run toward the house. But the officer dove out and grabbed his arm, tackling him to the ground. His voice growled down while he fought to turn Luke face down into the snow. “You're cleared from the police department. Not from Miss Dean yet.”

Oh, sweet Jesus, Luke thought, as if Ivy was going to say no. Then everything in him fell. Now that he thought it through, he had to consider that maybe she would turn him away.

He’d spent this entire evening being thwarted at one step or another.

But maybe he deserved it. He’d brought all of this to her doorstep. She didn't deserve any of it.

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