Page 66 of Our Lips Are Sealed
“I know how to drive,” she had seethed when they first pulled onto the interstate, and he’d made the mistake of telling her the car was veering too close to the shoulder. “It’s getting from point A to point B that’s the problem. Now, back off and wait until I ask for help.”
They hadn’t spoken since, and Liam had resigned himself to riding on the highway’s bumpy edge the entire way back to Florida.
“How bad is the fire?” he asked Samuel.
“I’m not sure, but we need to move fast. Make sure Jamison stays close.”
Liam hung up and cleared his throat. “There’s a fire between Port Michaelson and Firewater. The highway is closed, but Samuel is going to take an alternate route.”
“What?” The panic in her voice had him wincing. “But this road leads right to Haven.”
“Uh, no, it actually doesn’t,” he replied, causing her to freak out further. “But we’re going to be fine. Just keep up with Samuel.”
Jamison’s mumbling shifted into what sounded like a whispered argument with herself, and Liam was on the verge of telling her to pull over so he could drive when his phone rang with a call from the Jacksonville field office. Hawkins had briefed them hours ago, requesting assistance in the manhunt for Toby.
While he laid out his plans with the Jacksonville team lead, Jamison hooked the exit ramp too fast, and Liam said a silent prayer with one hand on the door and the other on the dashboard.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” she growled when his face scrunched in legitimate fear. “I thought you were supposed to be some kind of brave FBI agent or whatever.”
The car leveled out on the highway, and Samuel’s SUV picked up speed ahead. Jamison slammed on the gas, shooting the sedan after them. “I knew we should’ve brought Betty!”
“Is everything alright?” the agent on the phone asked. Liam thought his name was Sanders or Sanderson, but he wasn’t sure. The internal screams of terror in his head while Jamison weaved through the traffic had wiped the information from memory.
“Yep, all good here,” Liam croaked, attempting to keep his tone professional. “My team will arrive tomorrow. Have you contacted Detective Mathis? He can instruct you on where to head.”
“I’ve tried, but there’s a fire east of Port Michaelson that has Mathis tied up,” the agent said. “It jumped the highway and is burning to the south. With the road being blocked, all we can do is sit tight until it’s under control.”
Liam told Agent Sanders/Sanderson he would call him back and dialed Samuel’s number. “I heard the fire crossed the highway and is moving south. Is that true?”
“It is,” Samuel replied. “They’re bringing in fire departments from surrounding counties to help, but the call to evacuate Firewater is imminent.”
“Annabeth isn’t at the house alone, is she?”
“Abe is there, and Mathis sent officers as promised,” Samuel said. “Ty and Dee are gathering their things to evacuate and come to the house since Haven sits on a stretch of Shepherd’s Bayou wide enough to make the threat to the estate minimal. Do you need Ty to grab anything from the townhouse for you?”
The entire case file was spread throughout the townhouse’s kitchen and dining area, along with his computer. Liam told Samuel where Ty could find everything. “How much longer before we get there?”
“We’re close, maybe twenty minutes out,” Samuel answered. “But Cohen, there’s something else. My dad is at the control line, and he’s not doing all that great with this. The house he built for Laura Jean sits directly in the fire’s path.”
Liam couldn’t imagine the emotions running through Ben right now. In a matter of hours, the man could essentially be watching his memorial to Laura Jean, and the home they’d once planned to raise their family in, go up in smoke.
“Look, I know I need to be there with my dad,” Samuel went on. “But I can’t bring myself to leave Evie and the girls alone with just a couple of cops. If you can give me twenty minutes at the control line, I think I can convince him to come back to Haven with me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll stay behind and keep them safe.”
Liam hung up with Samuel, and explained to Jamison what was happening. Of course, the first question out of her mouth was, “Who were you saying you would keep safe?”
“You.”
Jamison snorted. “I can keep myself safe.”
“I bet you can.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, she switched lanes, overshooting the move and auto-correcting hard enough to make the tires squeal. “By the way, I’m sorry about last night.”
“Don’t be. I had a good time.”
“But we could have had a better time.”
