Risa nodded. “Honestly, I think she’ll be fine.” Ethan started to smile, until she continued. “Until she gets drunk.”
He stiffened. “Does that happen often?”
“No. We go out to a bar sometimes on the weekend, and, every once in a while, she’ll have too much. When she drinks too much, she talks too much...” Risa trailed off with an odd look in her eyes.
Ethan wanted to know what the rest of that sentence was but knew it wasn’t his place to ask. “Is there any way you can help keep her in the loop and keep her mouth closed?”
“You’re asking me to babysit my friend?”
“Unfortunately, I am. We need to keep this on lockdown. Right now, there’s a lot the public doesn’t know. In fact, there are things Kaylee’s parents don’t know.”
Risa almost gasped. “They haven’t seen the body yet?”
They both knew that once the Schultes saw the body, they would know their daughter had been murdered. He hadn’t told Risa all of it yet, either. If she was lucky, this would be the extent of her involvement in the investigation.
They had not liked it, but he was trying to keep the Schultes from seeing their daughter for two more days. He was hopeful he could crack something more on the case, maybe have something positive to tell them before he let them see what had happened to their baby girl.
Ethan changed the topic and threw out his next gambit a whim. “I owe you dinner. Would you like to go out…for dinner?” How many years had it been since he had stumbled asking a woman out? Then he reminded himself he wasn’t asking her out. Pausing, he looked askance at the snacks on the coffee table. “Do you eat meat?”
She smiled. “I prefer that it’s ethically sourced, but God, yes. I had a drive-thru burger last night and only what I could find in the apartment today. If you gave me a real meal, I might declare you my new favorite person.”
This had been a shitty day, and that statement shouldn’t have made him feel so good. But it did.
Chapter Nine
Risa thought maybe she shouldn’t be here.
He’d taken her out. O-U-T, out. It wasn’t the most expensive restaurant in town, but when she’d asked what she should wear, he’d said, “Nice.”
She’d thought of him as being in his standard FBI uniform— the suit and button-down shirt, the tie. But if she was going to match that, she needed to class up from her couch-surfing game more than a little bit. She’d told him she was in no position to get dressed in any reasonable amount of time. He’d only leaned back in the uncomfortable chair and said, “I’ll wait.”
She didn’t like the way her heart fluttered as she’d pulled on a blouse in a bright color. Her outfits had been limited because of the crutches and the boot. So the only thing that fit—her very nice pair of slacks—had to do the trick.
The whole time she got dressed, she imagined he was going through her things. Checking in her drawers in the small kitchen. Eyeballing the family photos to see if she’d lied about anything. Checking under the couch cushions for spare coins, potato chips, and maybe evidence. Okay, that last one was beyond ridiculous, but she could imagine him doing it.
When she’d asked, he’d told her she was cleared from being a suspect, and that was a relief. But then he’d asked how she’d slept, and that wasn’t. She’d had to admit it wasn’t good. While she hadn’t admitted she’d slept on the couch, he’d seemed to have guessed that.
Risa considered staying on the sofa a tactical maneuver. Her major concern was that she was slow on the crutches. While she could run if she had to, she was not going to maneuver well. The couch was central to the apartment, thus affording her the best chance to run to the door and brace it if someone tried to come in. It was also close to the fire escape beyond the dining-area window, which she wouldn’t hesitate to use.
However, that kind of thinking was not good for getting a decent night’s sleep. Eames, at least, seemed to be understanding. He hadn’t mentioned that he’d clearly woken her up when he arrived. Or whether he’d spotted the romance novel she’d been reading.
At dinner, he sat politely across the white tablecloth from her, ignoring the crutches jammed into her side of the booth. He asked her questions, and this time they were not about what had happened yesterday—not that he could have out here in public.
Instead, this felt more like a date.
“What made you want to become a firefighter?”
She heard that one a lot. It wasn’t a profession women usually wound up in, but there were growing numbers in the field. She explained how she came from a family of firefighters—her grandfather, an uncle, her dad, and her oldest brother. They’d never discouraged her from becoming one, too. So it wasn’t until academy that she’d heard anyone even suggest she wasn’t up to par.
He laughed then, his greenish eyes glinting. “I bet you showed them.”
She only shrugged and tried to keep the smirk off her face. She’d been born for this job, but she didn’t say that.
“You grew up here in Dark Falls?” He steered the topic in a meandering fashion.
“Oh Lord, no. My family is from Cheyenne. I got recruited here a couple of years ago.”
“They recruit firefighters?” He seemed startled. It wasn’t mean, only that he didn’t know.
She liked that he was willing to ask. So many guys pretended they knew everything. “Apparently, this department got its first female firefighter somewhere between eight and ten years ago. And she got on okay. But about three years later—as the chief tells it—they discovered that her shift always had the highest close rate on their cases.”
Ethan frowned. “That seems odd.”
“I know. Doesn’t it? So the chief studied it. It turned out when she subbed for someone, that shift got a higher close rate. It wasn’t even the shift. It was her.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “She was magic?”
“Almost.” Risa grinned. “Turns out, she was a woman.”
“They didn’t already know that?”
“Oh, they did. They just didn’t know what it was worth. So they hired another woman for one of the other shifts. And that shift suddenly had a higher close rate, too.”
Ethan leaned forward. She enjoyed being able to keep him on the edge of his seat. He’d shucked out of the suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and planted his elbows as he listened intently.
“It turns out people are very willing to talk to women—more so than with men. Maybe they’re embarrassed to tell the male firefighters what they really did that started that blaze or maybe they’re just more comfortable with women. But it turns out when we ask, we get answers.”
“Huh.” Ethan narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down.
For the first time, she wondered what he was thinking.
Then he told her. “They might talk to you because you’re ... well.”
She felt her eyebrows go up. She shouldn’t have done it, but she wanted to know so badly. All this conversation was probably not appropriate between a witness and an FBI agent on a case, but he didn’t seem to take issue with it. So maybe they weren’t breaking any protocol. For a moment she wondered if this could actually be a date.
“It might be because you’re beautiful,” he offered it up almost too casually. “You’ve got a great smile. You’re easy to talk to.”
The compliment made her face heat. Despite the warm fuzzies that gave her, she steered the conversation away.
“Maybe it’s because I’m a woman. They’re the same way with all the women. Thus, the chief has tried to recruit us wherever he can. Every station, every shift, at least one female firefighter. Apparently, some of the other cities are wondering what he’s up to. They haven’t figured it out yet.”
Ethan laughed, a bold deep sound that spoke of crackling fires, good whiskey, and something a little erotic. “It does make sense. I’ve noticed there are certain things that people will tell certain partners that I have, when they won’t talk to me. Or they’ll talk to me and not
my partner. Sometimes we push it—you know, good cop/bad cop.”
“That’s a real thing?”
He grinned. “Sometimes. But who people talk to is different with everybody.”
She only nodded and decided turnabout was fair play. “What made you want to be an FBI agent? Is it a family thing?”
He shook his head no and then said, “Well. Actually, I do have a cousin who’s also in the bureau.”
“Is he an agent like you?”
“She,” Ethan corrected mildly. “And yes. In fact, I’m confident she has a much higher security clearance than I do.”
She heard something in his words, something wistful or maybe remorseful, and she wondered what it might be that he regretted. Then she reminded herself that it wasn’t her place to wonder. Maybe when the case was closed, she thought.
Far too soon, dinner was over and he was taking her home. He helped her up the stairs and even checked out her apartment, declaring everything clear. It was the first time she’d been truly worried.
Risa stood at the door, promising to do all the bolts after he left. He’d made it back out to the landing, giving her instructions. “Keep the windows locked. Do the chain on the door…it looks like you’re not using it regularly.”
She wanted to ask how he could tell, but she had more pressing concerns.
Ethan had more to say, though. “Sleep in your bed tonight.”
“Because I’m safe?”
He paused before answering. “Because the fire escape—” he pointed through the small unit to the window, “is a way out, but it’s also a way in. The bedroom window is too high to access from outside because you’re second floor. But it’s low enough that you can jump if you have to.”
Her alarm must have shown on her face because he jumped back in. “I’m sorry! I wouldn’t leave you alone if I didn’t think you’d be okay. All these ‘escape scenarios’ I think of are just a hazard of the job. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Because you think Kaylee was murdered by a serial killer and that he might still be around?”
Though Ethan looked surprised, he didn’t say “no.” What he did say was, “I think you’re safe.”
Nodding but concerned, Risa closed the door behind him. She bolted everything and even slid the chain closed like he’d said. But she’d noticed her doormat was askew when they’d walked up to the door. That had never happened before. Almost as though someone picked it up to look for a key…
She went to sleep in her own bed that night, but with a very uneasy feeling.
Chapter Ten
Risa was grateful that the next day was Saturday. She slept in as best she could. She’d slept better for being in her bed, but a little worse for Ethan’s lack of answers.
Though Risa should have been on shift today, her ankle meant that she was off. Because it was Saturday, Leah was not working her nine-to-five job and could come over and spend time during the day.
On the phone, Leah had asked if she was sleeping okay. Risa thought the question was about having seen the body of the slain girl. Risa, sadly, had seen worse, but that wasn’t what had kept her up. It was the doormat. Stupid, but so odd.
“Ethan cleared the apartment before he let me in. I didn’t even ask him.” Risa fought the smile that wanted to creep across her mouth. “He didn’t push his way in, either. He held my arm walking up the steps.”
“Like a date?” Leah exclaimed.
“Oh, no. He was probably afraid I’d tumble backwards.”
“Those stairs are a menace even if you aren’t on crutches.” Leah did them in heels most of the time.
Risa didn’t tell her friend how Ethan had held out his hand, silently asking if he should do the key, and she’d let him. He’d politely asked, “Do you want me to check the place?”
Maybe she should get Ethan back again to scope her apartment out again tonight. Just to be sure. Though it wouldn’t be necessary if she didn’t leave the apartment. Then again, she thought, if nothing else it would let anyone who might be watching her know that she was getting periodic visits from an FBI agent.
But Ethan wasn’t coming today. He had a murder case to crack. Leah, however, was. She’d found several movies on Netflix and decided the two of them needed to eat as much popcorn as they could. Good friend that she was, she asked what kind of food Risa wanted her to bring.
All she had to say was, “I have been craving Chinese!”
No questions asked, Leah showed up with all her favorites. She’d not complained when Risa wanted to sit at the table like a civilized human, and she’d fetched plates, silverware, and drinks without having to be told where anything was. That, Risa thought, was one of the benefits of having a very good friend.
She and Leah were a bit of an odd couple, and they knew it. Leah’s job was desk-bound with regular Monday-through-Friday hours. She was petite and curvy, blonde-haired and blue-eyed—as if to spite the Indian side of her heritage. Risa, on the other hand, was tall and athletically built. Her job was purely testosterone-driven, and instead of working in an office and wearing a nice suit, she wore turnout gear, fire-retardant boots, and often a face mask.
But for whatever reason, she and Leah worked. They had each other’s backs. Leah was the first person whose home Risa had gone into as a firefighter in Dark Falls. On her very first shift, barely knowing her way around—so of course she didn’t get to drive the rig—they’d had a call for a condo unit fire. The fire had started from a loose wire sparking in the kitchen.
That condo had belonged to Leah and her then-boyfriend. Just like the Dark Falls Fire Department chief had predicted, when Leah got home and saw all the devastation of her property, she had immediately turned to Risa. The two women had been inseparable ever since.
Risa had headed over to visit the woman after her shift ended, so she was there when Leah’s live-in boyfriend had gotten violent over the fire. After he suggested the fire was Leah’s fault and she kicked him out, it had again been Risa that Leah turned to. It was Risa who told her she’d been lucky to get out before she wound up married to a man who might get even more abusive.
Risa admitted that in those early days when Leah was on her couch, often crying herself to sleep, she’d thought that Leah was as emotionally weak as she was physically tiny. It turned out, Risa was wrong. That was probably why they were such good friends.
Risa had been a firefighter for a handful of years in Wyoming, so she knew the job before she knew the city of Dark Falls. She’d been recruited—or maybe the better term was seduced—here by a higher paycheck and a cheaper cost of living, and a chance to get out from under her family name. Her father, of course, had saved his best friend from certain death in a heroic rescue that also, of course, defied his captain’s orders. These days, any firefighter who did that would be terminated immediately, so there was no way Risa or her oldest brother would ever live up to the Caldwell name. Her brother was okay with that; Risa was not. Getting out of town had allowed her to make her own way.
Having Leah as a friend had allowed her to start fitting in. Having Risa as a friend had allowed Leah the confidence to change something that had been embedded into her. Now, Risa knew exactly who to call when her ankle was propped on the edge of her couch, and she knew that she could tell Leah, as she had yesterday, that she needed time alone to sleep and mope. Leah fully understood, and Risa had known, too, that Leah would be back this morning making sure everything was okay. It did her heart good. She still didn’t have a lot of friends here, but she had Leah.
After the first movie finished, Leah insisted on homemade milkshakes—for which Risa was tremendously grateful. But then, Leah began asking questions.
“Risa, there’s something in your eyes when you talk about the other day. I’ve got to ask, though I know you probably can’t answer. Kaylee Schulte, she didn’t just fall, did she?”
Risa pressed her lips together. She’d promised Agent Eames she wouldn’t tell, but lying to Leah was difficult. She couldn’t
tell the truth.
Her friend caught on. “How bad was it?”
This time Risa gave a single word. “Bad.”
Still, she didn’t mention the feeling she was starting to have that she was being watched. Surely, she was just being paranoid.
Chapter Eleven
Even though he’d worked late into the night on Friday, Ethan got up early again Saturday and headed back into the office. His dinner the night before with Risa had been his only real break.
He’d managed about four hours of sleep and was only home the extra twenty minutes it had taken to check all his locks before falling face-first onto his mattress. He’d taken a quick shower this morning and been back out the door. He’d been ready for this. Despite being parked in a town with no branch office, he was still an FBI agent.
Ethan was grateful that he’d taken Risa out to eat. Though he’d considered just bringing her food, their little “date” had been better. In his own mind he called it “taking care of his witness” and wondered if he could write up an expense report that said something to that effect.
He hadn’t mentioned it to Risa but, before he’d gone to her house to get her statement, he’d spent a good portion of his day in the morgue. He only hoped she couldn’t smell it on him during their interview or the meal. There hadn’t been a spare minute to shower in between the two, but he had put the car windows down on the drive over hoping that would dissipate some of the scent that clung to him. Colorado at least had clean air.
Despite the green atmosphere and community feeling brought out by bike trails, sculptures on the roadsides, and boba shops on every corner, the city had a darker side. He’d been hoping everything was as granola as it appeared, but Kaylee Schulte was proving that theory very wrong. Even more disturbing information came to light during the autopsy.
As difficult as it was to watch an autopsy—simply because of the gore factor—it was harder to watch one on a person who’d been murdered. On the upside, it fired him up and made him determined to solve the case. On the downside, it bothered him to get such intimate details about a life cut short. The person he was viewing had probably never intended for strangers to see those facts. Autopsies included everything from what had been eaten for breakfast to possibly the last time they’d peed and if they’d had sex in the past twenty-four hours. Combine that with a cell phone he could check, and he could pretty accurately piece together the last hours of a person’s life.
Dark Echoes: (Dark Falls, CO Romantic Thriller Book 7) Page 4
