On Fire

The glow of flames against the night sky shook him like an earthquake, opening a deep crevice on his normally smooth facade.

His mom was spending her first night in the building.

A helpless sensation pooled in his chest.

Rolling up to the scene, he assessed the response to keep his sanity.

The top floor of the two-story building was ablaze. Flames licked out of blown windows, acrid smoke turned the night sky blacker. Shaken, soot-covered residents milled on the lawn, but his mother wasn’t among them.

Panic constricted his gut as he jumped out of the car and charged toward the incident commander standing near the ladder truck.

“Fisk?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the status?” The ladder truck was fully extended, and Kade lifted his gaze to the corner apartment.

His heart stopped.

His mom stood on the balcony of her apartment, waving her arms.

He jetted toward the ladder, biting back a curse, but Fisk blocked his path and shouted an order above the noise of the pump. Strands of fire hose snaked along the ground, hissing and bulging with water. A couple of firemen opened the hose valve and turned the stream on the flames.

“That’s my mother up there!”

Fisk turned his gaze to the balcony.

“I’m going up!”

“No way!” The IC didn’t budge.

Rage blasted through his veins as he stared into Fisk’s sweat-streaked face.

“Turnouts. Where are they?”

Fisk grabbed his shoulder. “I can’t let you go.” Was it pity he saw in the veteran’s eyes, or concern? He didn’t know, but it did little to squelch his anger.

A fireman in full turnout gear bound up the ladder, moving toward Kade’s mother in quick increments.

Kade let out the breath he’d been holding and stepped back, focused on the man doing the job he’d done so many times he could do it blindfolded.

The fireman covered the distance and reached the balcony in a light spray of water from below that cooled the air around them to a breathable temperature.

His emotions settled the instant he saw his mom climb onto the ladder.

In a matter of minutes, she was being helped down and into his arms. “Thank God you’re all right. What happened?”

“I went out on the balcony and the door locked behind me. I couldn’t get back in, then the fire started. I don’t know how the door got locked.”

Uneasiness edged up his spine. “I’ll check it out, Mom.” He glanced up as the EMTs approached to assess his mother’s condition, but when he looked past them, his rage exploded.

There she stood, nightgown and all.

Savannah Dawson.

“Take good care of her.” He handed his mother off and charged toward Savannah like a man on fire, his flaming emotions barely contained inside his body.

Was she responsible for this? He’d get it out of her, no matter what.

THE WORD STARTED in a low monotone, grinding against Savannah’s eardrums. Over and over the sound repeated, until it turned into a single word.

Clarity flooded her brain and washed her into full consciousness in one jarring instant.

“Savannah! Savannah!”

She pulled free from his grasp, whirled and charged forward, only to come face-to-face with a wall of heat.

Stumbling backward, she slammed into his chest and turned to face the embodiment of her nightmare. Kade Decker. But she wasn’t dreaming. She pulled in a breath and nearly choked on the smoky air.

“Where am I?” Her skin tingled as he held her shoulders. She focused on his face in the glow of the flames, the fire in his eyes as emblazoned as the building behind them.

His anger was palpable. She could taste the bitter words on the end of his tongue, feel the excruciating pain that radiated from deep in his body, enraging his nerves to the point of disintegration.

She backed away, severing the physical bond between them, but it left her weak.

“How’d you do it, Dr. Dawson? Do you have an accomplice? Someone to torch the place while you stand outside in your nightie and watch?”

He stepped toward her.

She backed up, lifting her chin, daring him to continue with his tirade. He was judge, jury and extinguisher.

“You’ve lost it, Decker. I’d never hurt your mom or anyone else.”

Her words acted like a slap against his stubbled cheek and he sobered, taking another step toward her.

“You admit you know this is her building? Where’d you get the information?”

She swallowed hard, aware that she’d said too much, drawn his suspicions around her like a strait-jacket. Escape was impossible; he’d never believe she’d gotten the facts from his own mind, from his own thoughts. But the connection worked both ways for some unknown reason, didn’t it?

She stared up at him, focusing a statement over and over. I’m innocent, I didn’t do it.

“So who did?”

His verbal answer to her silent question sent a shiver up her spine.

She turned and bolted through the crowd, racing into the street, hoping for a moment to think. A moment out of his turbulent thoughts, but she could feel him behind her.

She slowed her pace, listening to the decisive slap of his shoes against the asphalt, accentuated by the thud of his cane.

It wasn’t any good. She could never mentally outrun him. She stopped and turned to face her tormentor.

KADE SLOWED UP, staring at Savannah Dawson where she stood under a streetlight, haloed in illumination.

She was no angel, even if she looked like one now, but he was about to clip her wings. She had too much information, too many answers for someone with no knowledge about the fires.

He stopped in front of her and squared his shoulders. A hint of mercy stirred in his veins.

She raised her gaze to his, her eyes glimmering in the shallow light.

His breath caught as he stared into her face, seeing her clearly for the first time tonight.

Her eyes were blue. Ice-blue. The color of heaven. But why did she hide them behind colored contact lenses?

Suspicion quickly replaced his surprise. “You know you have to come down to the station?”

“Yeah. I know. I only hope it proves I didn’t start this fire, or any of the others.”

“How’d you get here, Savannah?”

“I must have walked, but I don’t remember doing it. I don’t remember anything until I looked up at you a moment ago.”

He wasn’t sure he believed her, but she’d certainly been out of it when he’d spotted her. He must have yelled her name half a dozen times before she acknowledged him.

“I’ve heard of sleepwalking crimes. They’re rare, but stranger things have happened.”

“You think I started this fire while I was sleeping?”

He couldn’t answer her outright. It was a bizarre idea and he didn’t believe it to be a fact. Suspicion fisted in his gut. “Let’s go. Forensics needs to process you.”

“Wait a minute. I’m not an object—”

“But you are a suspect.” Fear flared in her eyes and he felt her helpless reaction for an instant, then the odd sensation vanished. “They’ll take your night gown and robe, check for residue. Chances are you’ll be home before dawn.”

“Great. Let’s get it over with, prove I’m innocent.” She swallowed, and he felt her apprehension. His heart softened. “It’ll work out. It’s a simple procedure, painless.”

“I know.”

“There’ll be a squad car to take you downtown.” He grasped her elbow as they started back toward the scene. A tingling sensation worked its way up his arm, but he didn’t let go of her. He couldn’t risk losing her this time.

“I need to check on my mother.”

“She’s going to be fine. She was rescued in plenty of time.”

He wanted to press her further. Her information was too strong to be coincidental. It sounded more like firsthand knowledge.

They reached the ambulance and he looked into the back where his mother sat on the gurney, holding an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.

She lowered it when she saw him. “How many times do I have to tell them, I’m fine!”

“Relax, Mom, they’re just doing their job.”

“They want to take me to the hospital.”

“Let them. I’ll be down in a couple of hours to pick you up. Bring you back out to the house.”

She shook her head in disgust. “Not much choice, I guess.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

“I went out onto the balcony looking for some air, but when I tried the sliding glass door to go back in, it wouldn’t budge. I must have spent an hour out there trying to decide what to do. That’s when I saw the glow of the fire through the drapes. I wish I could tell you more.”

“It’s okay.” He patted her hand. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

She put the mask back on and waved him off.

He turned to find Savannah standing a short distance away, her hands in her robe pockets, staring at the smoldering building.

He was drawn to her and moved in closer, sensing a degree of fear escalating in her body.

“What is it?” He put his hand on her back, making her jump.

“He’s here. Watching.”

“Who’s watching?” He turned her, clasping her shoulders in his hands.

“The man who did this.” She suddenly went limp and rocked forward.

He caught her or she would have collapsed, but the sudden contact jolted him, infusing his body with a sensation of weightlessness.

She regained her footing and the feeling inside him dissipated.

“How do you know that?” He stared at the crowd of bystanders, searched the faces, scrutinized anyone who didn’t fit, but they all fit. Many of them he’d known from his childhood growing up in Montgomery.

“Do you see him? Can you tell me who he is?” He whispered the questions in her ear, catching a whiff of vanilla on her skin.

“He’s not in the crowd, and I don’t know who he is.”

“Then how do you know he’s here?”

She looked up at him, and his breath caught in his throat. She was beautiful, and for an instant the outside world fell away. Desire raced through his system, sucking him into a tornado of sensation that spun him around and spit him out.

“I can’t see him…I feel him.”

Kade raked his hand over his head and tried to translate her words into something that made sense. “I wish to hell I knew what you were talking about.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him around to the side of the ambulance. “I’m psychic. There, I’ve said it. If you can make sense of it, great. If you can’t, too bad.”

He was ready with a humorous comeback, but her teeth were clenched, her face serious, her expression close to desperation. Something he knew far too much about these days.

“I had no idea.” What was he supposed to do? Indulge her fantasy? “So where is he? Give me a direction, something to go on. That’s what you do, right?”

She closed her eyes and extended her hands, palms facing forward. Like something out of a science-fiction movie, she turned in a circle.

Kade held his breath, hope knotting his nerves together, but reality set in as she finished her pirouette and opened her eyes.

This was nuts. He squeezed his cane handle, considering her odd demeanor with skepticism.

“Over your right shoulder, there’s a grove of trees. He’s hiding there.”

Should he believe her? Or should he stuff her in a squad car and get to work on this investigation using material he could see with his own eyes?

“Fine, you can discount my empathic observation, or you can check it out for yourself.”

How had she known about his doubts, or how deep they ran inside his head? “I’ll humor you this once, Savannah. Then you’re going downtown.”

If his statement frightened her, it didn’t show on her face. Her slight, “you’ll see” smile, however, bothered him. She could have staged the scene to throw the investigation in another direction, away from her, but there was only one way to find out.

He turned, spotted the grove of trees and limped toward them.

The stagnant air was heavy with humidity and smoke. He made his way across the span of lawn to the point where the grove stood as a gateway into a densely wooded area, thick with water oak and pine.

The light stopped where the tangle of vegetation began. He hesitated. The hair on his neck bristled and oddly enough, he could feel her watching him, nudging him forward, begging him to accept her proof. Believe her claim…take the bait.

He shook it off and stepped into the grove, listening for the sound of movement, anything that would indicate he wasn’t alone.

Irritation jetted through him as he moved deeper into the stand, determined to disprove her information.

The grass rustled to his left.

He focused on a cluster of shadows and stepped toward the sound, ready to scare the hell out of whatever small creature had the unfortunate luck of crossing his path.

A flurry of movement disoriented him. He heard footsteps behind him, but it was too late.

Someone slammed an object against the back of his head and his world went black.

SAVANNAH’S MIND went blank for an instant.

Kade was in trouble.

In a full sprint, she ran to the grove, pausing near the overgrown opening, before pushing into the center of the trees.

The light was minimal, but she could just make out the shape of a body on the ground. “Kade!”

He moaned. “Get out! Run!”

“He’s gone.” She knelt next to him, helping him into a sitting position. She brushed his shoulder with her hand, feeling a degree of his pain.

“Looks like you and your mom get to share an ambulance ride tonight.”

“I don’t need an ambulance. I need the guy who just tried to take my head off.”

“I should have warned you.”

“You knew this was going to happen?”

“Not exactly, but I felt his desperation when you cornered him.”

“I’d like to say I believe you, but…”

“Save it, Decker. I eat skeptics for breakfast and I’ve dined on the finest. Why do you think I hide my abilities and my eye color? It’s to protect myself from people like you.” She picked up his cane and stood up, feeling exhausted.

“Can you get up on your own?” She already knew he could, but she helped him to his feet anyway, placing the cane in his hand.

“What’s wrong with your hip?”

“I was in an accident.”

“Is it painful?” She knew the answer; she’d tapped into the sensation.

“For the most part, yeah. But I’m working through it.”

She pulled his arm around her shoulder and they stumbled out of the grove in silence.

Nick Brandt spotted them and crossed the lawn, a frown on his face. “This isn’t summer camp kids. It’s no time to be sneaking off into the woods.”

Kade grinned at his friend, but didn’t take his arm off Savannah’s shoulder. He liked the way she fit next to him, liked the tension he felt trapped inside her body screaming to get out. It was sweet torture with a twist. The contact made him feel better, eased his pain.

“You’ll like what we found on our foray. A voyeur with a club. He was watching.”

“I’ll get a team in here. If he left anything behind, we’ll find it.”

“Then there’s Dr. Dawson.” He purposely stared down at her. “She arrived on scene in her nightie again. Better check her for residue.”

“He really needs the bump on his head examined. It’s affecting his brain.”

He liked the glimmer of challenge he saw in her cool blue eyes.

“I’m sorry, doc, but you’ll have to come with me.”

“Gladly.” She pulled free of him. “If it proves I’m not your firebug.”

Kade watched her walk away and be helped into the backseat of a black-and-white, satisfied when it pulled away.

“Better get that knot looked at, buddy.” Nick Brandt moved up next to him.

“I’ll live. Why didn’t you clue me in about Dr. Dawson’s…interesting talent?”

Nick shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Would you have believed me?”

“Probably not.”

“Do you remember that kidnapping case a couple of years ago, the little girl who went missing down in Mobile? Her kidnapper was in a car accident shortly after the ransom drop and died before he could tell us where the girl was?”

“Yeah, made the news in Chicago.” Kade fingered the back of his head, feeling for blood.

“Dr. Savannah Dawson found her.”

“No kidding…”

“From the station downtown. She’s the real deal, buddy. An honest-to-goodness, credible psychic.”

Kade sucked in a long breath and let it out, trying to get his head around the details. “Is that your only case?”

“There are dozens just like it. She’s my department’s secret weapon. I can’t disclose every case she’s worked. If the media got hold of it, we’d take a beating. We’re already being scrutinized on a daily basis. It’d be fuel on fire.”

“You’re right. And she said as much tonight. I got the impression she’s been ridiculed for her talent.”

“Yeah. This city’s got a knack for putting folks through the grinder for being different.”

Admiration stirred in his mind. Savannah Dawson was a survivor. He liked that.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“You said she grew up in Atlanta and moved here five years ago.”

“Yeah.”

“Where was she born?”

“She’s a native. Born right here in Montgomery.”

A chill screamed through his body, waking up a long buried memory.

“I’ve got to get down to the hospital, check on my mom. I’ll be back to have a look as soon as this mother cools off.”

“No problem. Maybe we’ll have some forensics on your assailant by the time you get back.”

Kade squeezed his cane and limped toward his car. Gritting his teeth, he climbed in and fired the engine.

He’d known Savannah Dawson once upon a time, as sure as he knew his own name. Now he had to confirm it.

Chapter Three

Kade tried to force up the sliding glass door latch, but it was melted in place. It proved one thing. His mom had been locked out when the fire started.

Relief coursed through his veins as he turned back into the charred apartment where the arsonist had left his mark in the middle of the room. A point of origin that had dropped from the ceiling onto a tile. Too bad the intense heat had destroyed the incendiary device itself, leaving him little to go on.

Fear worked its way into his mind. His mother’s home had been targeted, but had she? Most firebugs didn’t give away get-out-of-fire-free cards or lock their victims out of a fire.

Don Watson from the crime lab entered the apartment with his kit. “Want that door?”

“Yeah. The lock mechanism is of particular interest. My mom claims when she tried it from the outside, it was locked. The fire started not long after that. I want to know if it failed, or if someone intentionally pushed the lever down.”

“You got it.”

Kade made his way through the apartment, flicking his flashlight beam over every inch. Most of the items he remembered from his childhood were here, covered with soot and water, a total loss.

Was Alice Decker the target or a random victim? Frustration threaded through him, stitching up a solution he could live with. He wouldn’t take risks with her safety; he wanted her to leave town, go to visit relatives, get as far away from Montgomery as she could until he figured this out and put the arsonist behind bars.

He paused at his mom’s bedroom door and shined the light inside. The beam swept across her bed, and surprise squeezed in his chest. He pulled the beam back to the bed where a long lump lay with the covers pulled over it. His mom’s full-length body pillow. A therapeutic apparatus she used to support her limbs when she lay on her side.

Had the arsonist mistaken the lump for Alice Decker?

Fear twisted around his nerves, giving voice to his self-doubt. He couldn’t afford to screw this up.

“Hey, Decker. The door’s open.”

Kade turned off his flashlight and returned to the living room. “What’s it look like inside?”

“Broken. When your mom closed it, the latch dropped, locking her out. It’s missing the spring that holds the latch up.”

“That failure saved her life. Whoever started this fire thought she was in bed. He or she had no way of knowing Mom was on the balcony when the fire took off. Let’s dust. Maybe a print survived the inferno, and I want to access the attic.”

“Will do.”

Kade leaned on his cane and took a deep breath, but he couldn’t relax, couldn’t pull it together when there was a maniac out there setting fires. But how was his mom involved? Was she a random target? In the right place at the wrong time?

He studied the burn pattern in the middle of the living room floor. “Did you find anything left here?”

“Nothing readily visible, but there was a clump of fibrous material.” Watson shuffled around in his collection kit and pulled out a clear plastic bag. “It could be part of the melted carpet, or the ceiling tile, but it stayed intact. I’m going to analyze it under the microscope, get a look at the weave pattern to determine what it is.”

Kade took the bag and held it up to the light coming in through the open sliding glass door. The clump of fiber was knitted together in a circular pattern.

“Looks like a filter.” He held the bag out for Watson to inspect.

Don turned on his flashlight and examined the evidence. “You’re right. It could be what’s left of a cigarette filter. That could be evidence of an incendiary device. I’ll run it through the tests, get something definitive.”

“Thanks.” Kade took one last look around the burned-out room and hobbled to the door. His hip was killing him. He needed to slam back a couple of pain meds to survive the afternoon.

The search warrant for Savannah Dawson’s house would be coming down within the hour, and he wanted to be there when it was executed.

SAVANNAH GLANCED UP from her notepad and considered the patient sitting across the desk from her, but her attention sagged as he blew his nose on a tissue.

“I’m sorry this upsets you, George, but you need to come to terms with the breakup. Once you let the painful memories go, you can begin to heal.”

“I know, but it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. She meant so much to me.”

She pushed the box of Kleenex toward him. He pulled out two more and dabbed at his nose.

Changing the subject might get them past George’s tearful stage, something that happened at the beginning of each session, but today it had gone on too long. She’d have to properly analyze it, maybe contact a colleague and get his take.

George had an extreme obsessive personality and trouble controlling his compulsions. It was one of the worst cases she’d ever encountered, but he was making progress, she thought.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes.”

“Good. That’s our time for today. Have Charlene make you an appointment for next week at our regular time, and I’m sorry I missed our 10:00 a.m. yesterday.”

He reluctantly got up from the chair. “I should come to see you more often.”

Savannah stood up. “More problems?”

He dropped his gaze, then looked up again. “I like you. You make me feel comfortable and understood. You’ve helped me get through this tough time in my life.”

“Two hours a week is sufficient. You’re making wonderful progress.”

George Welte nodded his head, moseyed to the door and gave her one last glance over the top of his thick glasses before he slid out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Savannah sat back down in her chair, her mind absent. She was no good to her patients or herself in this state. Since surrendering her nightgown, robe and slippers at the police station last night, she hadn’t been able to get Kade Decker off her mind. He was like a CD looped out on the same song, and she couldn’t stop playing him. Then there was the search warrant, probably being executed at this very moment. A physical manifestation of his mental determination to prove her guilt.