Fire Setters: A Shane Investigations: A gripping crime thriller filled with heart-melting romance and mystery

by Debra Erfert

  The sun was on the horizon, sending deep shadows along the landscape, but it was light enough to recognize Patrick standing in front of a tall man Candice could only see from behind. The man’s shoulders were wide and strong, his dark hair short.

  “Alex,” Candice whispered.

  “That man who hurt you is still here,” Joshua said, slowing down his steps, and huffing each labored breath.

  Her knees almost gave out. Each step through the sand felt like wading in hip-deep mud. “Let’s keep going,” Candice managed to get out. They were only a few feet away from the paved road when Patrick’s head snapped in her direction. His eyes widened as his mouth dropped open in obvious surprise. He fell back a step as his face drained of color. Just for a moment, Candice thought he might run. But where would he go? In the next instant, Alex turned around. He wore the exact same shocked expression as the detective, just for different reasons. Patrick must know that she’d report him, and he probably wondered about Zane, since he’d left her a few feet away from his unconscious body.

  “Candice!” Alex stepped toward Candice, but she held out her hand, palm toward him, stopping him from touching her.

  “I’m okay,” she said with energy she didn’t feel.

  “No, you aren’t,” Alex seethed. “You’re bleeding badly.”

  Candice glanced at the house. “It could’ve been worse. I was almost immolated.” Giving Patrick her full attention with a piercing stare that should’ve set his clothes on fire, she said, “Alex, I was wrong. It wasn’t Inspector Barbarize giving Zane the names of the boys. It was Patrick Donovan. He also took the gun from the evidence lock-up and gave it to Zane to, as he put it, scare me away from the Leavitts’ case.”

  She didn’t think it was possible, but Patrick’s eyes widened farther. He looked trapped. He must realize that she couldn’t have come up with that information on her own. “Yes, Zane Graham is alive, just not too well. You didn’t kill him any better than you did me.”

  Patrick lunged at her with his hands out. “Shut up, you bit—” Alex swung his big fist straight into the detective’s foul mouth, stopping him from reaching her. Candice had never seen a man’s feet actually lift from the ground while falling backward. He was knocked out with one punch. It was a good thing paramedics stood nearby.

  Chapter 22

  Candice couldn’t remember much after being loaded into the back of an ambulance, just bits and pieces as she phased in and out of consciousness. The only thing she could recall about the ride was Alex holding her hand while trying to keep her awake. She knew the drill. If she fell asleep with a bad head injury, she might not wake up again. But she had to fight against the heavy drowsiness. After eight hours in the emergency room, multiple blood tests, and a head CT scan confirming her concussion, the doctor transferred Candice to the intensive care unit. Now, Alex was sleeping in a chair he’d pulled up next to her bed, his arm on the edge of the mattress with his head resting on his bicep. He hadn’t left her.

  She gently stroked his soft hair. That simple motion woke him. It took a moment before he lifted his head, but his eyes instantly found hers.

  “Candice,” Alex said, scrubbing his hand over his face, “how’re you feeling?”

  “Ask me in a week from now,” she whispered. “Was Joshua transported?”

  Alex lifted her hand and studied the clean bandages on her burned fingers and kissed her palm. “He was treated for smoke inhalation in the ER. His folks took him home a few hours ago.” He recaptured her gaze. “He was a brave kid, going into a burning house to rescue you.”

  “Yes, he was. And he’s very smart. Any-university-he-wants-to-go-to smart.”

  “Can his folks afford it?”

  Candice actually felt like grinning for the first time in a dozen hours. “They will be able to after I set up an educational trust fund for him.”

  “You’re a very generous woman, sweetheart,” Alex whispered. “How’s your head?”

  Candice closed her eyes as a wave of drowsiness swept over her. “It hurts.”

  “The doctor said he put in metal stiches—”

  “Staples?”

  “Yes, into your scalp. They had to shave a little bit of your hair around the cut, but with all your hair, you’ll never miss it,” Alex said, grinning. But then he lost those beautiful dimples as he leaned closer to her face as he spoke. “Sweetheart, you have a serious concussion, and you lost a lot of blood. You almost died. The doctor told me that you’re going to be in ICU for forty-eight hours before they move you up to a regular floor for at least another three days. He’s out in the hallway with about half of the police department. You have a lot of people worried about you.”

  “Where’s Patrick?”

  Alex’s jaw twitched, like he was biting down on something distasteful. “He was treated at the scene. I knocked a tooth out of his filthy mouth. And then he was booked into county for two counts of attempted murder. There’s a detective waiting with Captain Gleason who’s going to do the internal on Donovan. He needs to take your statement on what happened.”

  “Is he a friend of Patrick’s?” Candice carefully asked, knowing there was a brotherhood between the officers.

  “He knows him. Pretty much everyone on the department knows Donovan, but this guy is honest to the core. Don’t worry.”

  “Alex, how did you know where to find me?”

  “As soon as Joshua left on his bike, the security guard called me about what Joshua told her. She sent her partner to check on you and found a spilled soda can on the floor, along with a pool of blood. Your backpack was on the counter, and I knew at that point you were in serious trouble. I also knew Donovan was the guy who took the gun from the lock-up. His name was on the sign-in log the same evening you were shot. I had dispatch radio him to get his location, but he didn’t respond. They also tried calling his cell phone, and he wasn’t answering that, either. While dispatch kept trying, Captain Gleason had sent the rest of the department out looking for his car. It was the city’s number one priority. I had an idea of how to find him. I called Graham’s office to find out if Graham Construction had a new subdivision going up.”

  “I take it he did?” Candice asked sleepily.

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you call the fire department?”

  “I did.” Alex gently stroked her hair away from her face.

  “Good.” Candice closed her eyes. “I need to finish my investigation of Zane Graham,” she whispered.

  Alex leaned up and kissed her lips. “Don’t worry. I know you will. You can do anything.”

  Epilogue

  The sunshine felt good, warming Candice’s skin while they waited for the Thanksgiving turkey to fry. She’d never seen a turkey get deep fried before then. It was fascinating—and loud. Reclining on the lounge with her feet up and resting was the only thing she was allowed to do, per doctor’s orders. Alex’s family did everything to prepare the five long picnic tables pulled end-to-end, set up on a large grassy area near their ranch house. The tables were covered with several red-checked tablecloths, with cobalt blue enamel plates speckled with white spots and paired with matching enamel cups. They even had speckled knives, forks, and spoons resting on the red-checked cloth napkins. Alex’s sisters, cousins, nieces, mother, aunts, and both grandmothers brought out side dishes, desserts, lemonade, and bless their sweet souls, orange soda, while the men rode horses, with the exception of her granduncle Homer. He nibbled black olives and flirted unabashedly with the ladies while they worked. Alex rode his stallion, Beau. They were both stunning.

  Candice had stayed in the hospital for a total of seven days instead of the predicted five when the doctor wasn’t happy with her progress. Now, she didn’t have any physical proof, but she strongly suspected Alex’s mother persuaded him into keeping her as long as possible. Candice really didn’t mind. Alex had stayed, making sure that when she needed her blood pressure checked or drawn, or anything else that would disturb her precious slumber, they were all
done at the same time and not staggered.

  When Candice was finally released a week ago, the Leavitt family had been standing next to Alex’s truck parked at the hospital quick pickup area to welcome her, along with a small contingent of police officers, including Officer Anna Eddington and her detective fiancée, Lee Adams, Captain Gleason, and the security guards under her employ. Even the fire crew who had helped her stood nearby, with Edward smiling brightly.

  The internal investigation on Patrick had wrapped up just yesterday. He’d been on suspension during the two weeks the detective dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s, and then the chief had fired Patrick from the department with charges sent to the district attorney’s office. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t talk to that detective to ask the details of what he found out about why Patrick gave Zane the names of the boys in the first place—not that Patrick would be willing to spill his guts about the connection. As Alex reminded her, he had the right to remain silent. Patrick hadn’t said a single useful word after he saw Candice walking up to him as the house he’d started on fire burned brightly. Candice suspected it was plain, old greed. She planned on sitting in at the trial to find out. He was being held without bail.

  Zane Graham had been in the hospital for overnight and then taken into custody the next morning for shooting her. He was released on bail because his business would keep him in town, so said his attorney. She guessed the judge had agreed with him.

  Alex had taken the detective to the guesthouse and let him go through all her paperwork and files, with her permission, to gather what he needed for a good head start on his investigation on the man and the way he collected his “drop-in” property. But Zane was already talking with the district attorney about a plea bargain dealing with the shooting for his testimony against Patrick. He denied setting fire to her apartment building. Candice got the feeling Patrick did it, but that may never be proven. She was pretty sure he’d never leave prints on the power supply box like a child would do.

  Alex’s mother, Marina, had invited the Leavitt family to their traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but Meagan said they’d spend the holiday with her family up in Flagstaff. The insurance adjuster approved the Leavitts’ claim last week, and their plans for rebuilding their home were on the drawing table of a man who knew Grandfather, a good man with original designs. It would be fun watching its progress.

  Liz was with her family, but she had invited Daryl to eat a mixed Mexican-American traditional dinner to eat with them. Afterward, they’d be going to his parents’ house for dessert.

  Candice opened her eyes at the sound of Alex’s tender voice so close to her.

  “Dinner’s almost ready, sweetheart,” he said, sitting on the edge of the lounge near her knees and taking hold of her hand. “How’re you feeling?”

  He’d been asking her that same question at least three times a day since her abduction. “I’m doing fine, Alex. But I am hungry.”

  Alex gazed over at the picnic tables full of food. “Homer hasn’t brought you anything to snack on?”

  Candice snickered. “He’s been too busy, talking with your grandmother.”

  He did a double take to where Granduncle Homer carried a bowl of something and was following his eighty-seven-year old widowed grandmother. “Uh—that would be interesting.”

  “He’s been without his wife for too long.” Candice looked at her granduncle. “I think they make a cute couple.”

  Alex grinned at Candice. “And that was, what? His second wife?”

  “That’s right. It’s been two years since Agatha died. I’m glad to see him take interest in another woman.”

  “It could be love,” Alex whispered.

  “Or it could be comfortable companionship,” Candice countered.

  “Do you think he’d want to get married again?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised at anything Homer does. He always amazes me.”

  Alex leaned in closer to her. “You always amaze me. I love you, sweetheart.”

  Candice thought now would be a perfect time to tell him what had been in her heart. She reached over and touched the side of his face with her hand. “And I’m in with love you,” she whispered before she gave him an enthusiastic kiss to his willing mouth and tumbled deeper in love with every passing heartbeat.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Debra Erfert uses the pen name DJ Erfert for her paranormal suspense/thriller books, and Debra Erfert for her romance, romantic suspense/mystery books. She is an Amazon #1 Best Selling author, and award-winning fine artist who lives in a southwest desert city in Arizona with her husband, Mike, a Public Information Officer and Emergency Preparedness Officer for the fire department, where the average summer temperatures are well above 100 degrees—truly hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. After raising two Eagle Scouts, she now spends her time writing and shooing her polydactyl cats away from her keyboard.

  Other Book by Debra Erfert

  A Strange Twist of Fate

  Snowdrift

  Changes of the Heart

  Relative Evil

  Window of Time

  Window of Death

  Window of Darkness

  Window of Time Trilogy boxed set

  Window of Secrets, Mission: Oasis de Huacachina (Novella)

  The Royals of Monterra: It Takes a Sleuth

  Synapses (Novella)

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