Page 5 of Scorched Secrets

“Understood,” Dr. Murry said. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

Faye lowered the phone, overwhelmed with guilt. Larry couldn’t have been much more than twenty-five years old. And he could die because some heartless arsonist had targeted her house.

Why? That was the confounding question.

“Faye?” Colin’s voice drew her from her thoughts. She stared at him, expecting to see anger in his brown eyes. She wouldn’t be surprised if he blamed her for his colleague’s injury. He looked grim but not angry. “Come with me.”

“Where?” She turned to stare at the house. Or rather what remained of her house. There was damage to the properties alongside hers too. Would her insurance cover all of this? What if others had been injured, or worse?

“Come with me to the Finnegan homestead. You need to get some sleep.”

Sleep? That was a laugh. “I won’t be able to sleep. And why do you call your childhood home the homestead? I’ve always wondered about that.”

“My parents started it, and we carried on the tradition.” He followed her gaze to the chaotic scene. “There’s nothing more we can do here. The team has it under control.”

He was right, but she didn’t have to like it. Tearing her gaze away, she tried not to appear as dejected as she felt. “You may as well take me to a hotel.”

“You won’t get a room this early.” He took her hand in his. “Is there a reason you won’t go with me to the homestead? I promise my family will make you feel welcome.”

Her exhausted brain couldn’t come up with a good reason. Colin was being neighborly, and really, if anyone else in the Finnegan family, say Alanna, had made the offer, she wouldn’t have hesitated. “Okay, I’ll come with you for now. But I can’t stay indefinitely.” It would likely take months for her house to be repaired, if that was even an option.

Did insurance companies total houses the same way they did cars? She figured she’d find out very soon.

It was difficult not to think about how hard she’d worked to rebuild her life after her divorce. Taking her small bit of equity out of the sale of their joint home, she’d added a small nest egg from her savings to purchase the Cape Cod. She’d liked that house; it was small and cozy but all hers.

Now it was gone, just like her car.

Gone. Her knees threatened to buckle, but she forced herself to walk back to Colin’s Jeep under her own power. Reminding herself they were material things helped keep things in perspective.

Yet it was impossible to ignore the sense of being violated. Her things weren’t anything fancy or expensive, but they were hers.

Now they were a pile of ash.

“Hey, you’re going to be okay.” Colin slipped his hand beneath her elbow as he guided her to the passenger-side door. “We’re here for you.”

“I know.” It was nice to have friends like the Finnegans. She straightened her spine and slid into the Jeep. She wasn’t sure sleep would come easily, but she hoped a few hours of rest would help her make sense of this.

When Colin jumped in behind the wheel, she glanced at him. “We’ll need to call my dad and Mitch Callahan.”

He nodded. “We will. Mitch can’t do much at your place yet; the scene is too hot. But he’ll be there tomorrow for sure.” He grimaced. “Maybe this time you should call your dad.”

She pulled out her phone and made the call. She ended up leaving a message, no doubt he was still in his meeting with the mayor. There were always budget issues when it came to police and fire services. Both were necessary, yet no one liked to pay more taxes to fund their civil servants.

“I keep coming back to the possibility this is related in some way to my dad, that someone is trying to get to me to hurt him.” She abruptly straightened and picked up her phone again. “I should have thought of this before! I need to warn Claire and Annie.”

“Good idea,” Colin agreed.

Unfortunately, her stepmother didn’t answer either. Not surprising. Faye liked Claire, but her stepmother made a career of going to the gym, shopping, having breakfast and lunch engagements, and generally doing nothing all day while staying away from home. Maybe Faye didn’t understand it, but since Claire made her father happy, she kept her thoughts to herself.

After working five twelve-hour shifts straight, doing nothing all day sounded nice.

“Your dad will keep Claire and Annie safe,” Colin assured her. “I still think there is a personal vendetta behind these attacks. Are you sure there haven’t been any contentious patient or family situations that we should be aware of?”

“Even if there were, I can’t really discuss my patients with you or Mitch Callahan or anyone else.” Patient privacy was a big deal in healthcare. “Besides, it’s a rare day I don’t have an irate patient or family member. But angry enough to do something like this? Setting fires to my car and my house?” She shook her head, fighting a wave of helplessness. “I can’t even imagine anyone who would take such a drastic measure.”

“I understand patient privacy, but this is serious.” He scowled as he threaded through traffic toward Brookland. It felt odd to be heading to the neighborhood where she’d grown up. Especially since she hadn’t lived there since heading off to college.

“You think I don’t know that?” The image of Larry’s blown pupil flashed in her mind. “I hate knowing Larry is suffering because of me.”

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