by Debra Cowan
Taking a deep breath, she slid out into the chilly evening. She could do this. Just go in and tell Jack what she'd learned about Coontz, then go with him to interview the man. All business. All about the case.
Terra walked up to the wide porch of Jack's rented house and rang the doorbell someone had painted over. The modest neighborhood boasted small, well-maintained yards. Yellow and red leaves scattered across the grass and into the street. Where was Jack? His truck sat inside the open garage. She rang the bell again. And caught an acrid, familiar scent. Smoke.
Glancing down, she saw a wisp curl out past the screen door. "Jack!" She pounded on one of two vertical windows that flanked the door. "Jack!"
No answer.
She jerked open the screen, but the heavy main door wouldn't budge.
Alarmed, Terra sprinted off the porch for her truck. Jerking open the back door, she grabbed the first available tool, her shovel. She flew to the porch and jabbed the shovel into the window. Glass shattered. Smoke plumed out.
Early stages, her mind catalogued as she stuck a hand inside the splintered window. She unlocked the door, glass stabbing into her wrist. She could detect no noise or movement from inside. The sting of pain was nothing compared to the fear closing off her throat, her air.
She turned the knob and rushed inside. Jack lay in the fetal position on an area rug in the middle of the small living area's wooden floor. Grimy rope bound his hands and feet. His eyes were shut. He didn't move. A dark stain marred the collar of his camel-hair jacket.
Panic clutched at her. What had happened? Gripping the shovel, she hurried to him. A pile of rags burned several feet away. Clear liquid puddled near his feet. She took in the alcohol smell of lighter fluid. Once the rags ignited the floor and sucked up the liquid, the blaze would feed and rush them like a rabid animal. She had to get him out of here.
"Jack, can you hear me? Jack?"
He moaned.
"Come on, come on." She fumbled with the rope around his ankles. The knot gave. "Jack, wake up."
His eyelashes fluttered.
"Get away from him, Terra."
She jerked toward the voice. T. J. Coontz stood behind the front door. "T.J., listen to me. I don't know what happened—"
"Get up." His face hardened into something sharp and almost unrecognizable. "You can't save him. It's too late."
The odor of burning cloth and fire smoke spiked her already frantic pulse. She grabbed for her shovel.
"Don't."
He pointed a gun at her, some kind of semiautomatic. Held out his other hand. "We have to get out of here. I won't hurt you."
Jack's finger moved against her knee. Though elated, Terra kept from looking down.
"Now. We don't have much time," T.J. pleaded.
Praying Jack had given her a signal, she stood. Hesitated. She didn't have a plan, but she wasn't leaving Jack in here to burn alive. Even if T.J. shot her.
"Terra, please."
Acting on pure instinct that the cameraman wouldn't hurt her, she swung around and grabbed Jack under his arms. Turned him on his back. "I'm not leaving him! If you don't want the death penalty, you'd better help me."
Grasping Jack under the arms, she tugged. Flames climbed out of the burning rags, snaked toward the lighter fluid.
"Get away from him," T.J. yelled.
"No!" She tugged, hoping Coontz would come closer.
He ran over, waving the gun in her face. "There's no time."
"Then help me." Go down by Jack's feet. Please.
Fire ate the fluid in one gulp, crawled toward Jack. Terra pulled hard, felt him tense as if he might try to get up.
Agony sharpened T.J.'s eyes. He looked at her, then the gun.
"Help me," she urged again. "I'll go with you after you help me."
He moved to Jack's feet.
Jack's legs punched out, caught the other man square in the chest.
The gun flew from T.J.'s hand as he stumbled back, one foot landing in the fire. Flames snatched at his pant leg like greedy beggars. He screamed in horror.
Jack pushed himself to one knee, tried to rise. "Get out of here!"
"Not without you—" T.J. launched himself at Jack. Both men dropped like cement blocks.
Jack's hands were still tied. He fended off a flying fist with his shoulder. T.J. landed a blow that cracked against Jack's jaw. Fire skipped up T.J.'s pants, licked at the floor beneath Jack.
Terra grabbed her shovel. T.J. brought his arm back to hit Jack again.
She swung.
* * *
Outside, Terra turned her attention to Jack. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, dragging in lungfuls of air. "Yeah. Are you?"
"Yes. I'll be back." Leaving Jack sitting in the cool grass beside the still-unconscious T.J., she sprinted to her truck and called dispatch.
A woman from the next yard ran over. "I saw smoke and called the fire department. Is everyone all right?"
"I think so." Terra breathed in deep draughts of air, cold sweat trickling between her breasts. "Thank you."
She heard the distant scream of a siren. Hopefully the guys would arrive in time to save most of the house.
The woman looked at Jack, then at the man crumpled on the ground. "What on earth happened?"
"Police business, ma'am." Jack leaned over and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt, slapping them on a motionless Coontz.
"Oh." The woman took a few steps back, joining other onlookers from the neighborhood.
Station Two's rescue truck pulled up with their ladder truck not far behind. Captain Sandusky saw her and hurried over. She gave him a brief rundown of what had happened and arranged to talk to him later. After she'd checked on Jack. She knew what had happened so she didn't need to investigate this blaze.
She turned to the woman who'd called the fire department. "Please be available to give your statement to Captain Sandusky, all right?"
The woman nodded, her eyes huge as she took in the firefighters spilling out of the rescue truck. They fell into place with the military precision of trained soldiers. Hose out, hydrant connected, marching forward. Another siren chirped under the roar of pressurized water and Terra saw a black-and-white pull up.
Coontz stirred, moaning.
Looking pale and weak, Jack touched the back of his head. Blood smeared his fingers. He got to his feet, unsteady enough that Terra moved quickly to his side.
Until now, she had acted, not thought. But now fears rushed in. Was Jack really all right? What had Coontz done to him?
He planted one booted foot on T.J.'s back and motioned to the patrol cop. "Get this guy in your car."
While the officer half dragged, half carried Coontz to his black-and-white patrol car, Terra turned to Jack. She started to reach for him then dropped her hand. Seeing him laid out by Coontz had shaken her to her core. She wanted to touch him, kiss him. Her hands curled into fists, pressed against her thighs. Her voice was uneven. "You need to see the paramedics."
"So do you."
"I'm fine."
Watching her warily, he gently picked up her hand. Her gaze followed his. A cut across her right wrist oozed blood and she remembered the jab of pain when she'd reached inside the broken window.
Jack's eyes darkened with fury, sending a shiver across her shoulders. "He would've hurt you, whether he meant to or not."
He started for the patrol car.
She followed. "Please let the E.M.T.s check you out."
"I want to talk to Coontz first."
"After that, will you let them look at you?"
"Yes."
He stalked over to the car. Coontz sagged half into the back seat, his feet still resting on the pavement.
"Don't kill him," Terra said, hoping to ease the rage on Jack's face. "We don't have any proof yet it was him."
"Oh, it was him." Jack planted a hand on the car's roof, leaned down into the man's face. "Wasn't it, Coontz?"
Blood trickled from T.J.'s ear and down his neck
. His gaze, though dazed, focused on Terra. "I would never hurt you. I only wanted you to notice me."
"You murdered people, you scumbag. She sure as hell noticed that."
Terra shot Jack a warning look. She didn't want Coontz clamming up.
"Investigator August, Coontz here had a juvenile record for arson. You might as well talk, T.J."
The cameraman's lips flattened. Terra wondered if she would be able to get anywhere with him.
"A juvenile offender, T.J.?" She stepped up to the car, residual shock and adrenaline making her voice tremble. "You killed Harris and Dane, didn't you?"
He hesitated, then nodded.
Pain plunged through her like a blade as she thought of Harris. "Why?"
"This was between you and me." He looked confused, as if he thought she should already know. "They had no place in it."
Terra shook her head. He didn't come off as crazy, but this made no sense. "I thought you and I were friends. Harris and Dane weren't going to take away from that."
"We can be more than friends. I would be good for you. But you never noticed me, even when I set all those fires."
"How many, Coontz?" Jack's voice was hard, vibrating with tightly leashed anger.
"Five." He stared at Terra with adoring eyes. "Dane was so pushy. I knew you wouldn't like that."
"I didn't."
"He kicked me off your interview last night. He told me you didn't want me there, that the two of you were going out afterwards."
"You surely knew better than that."
"I did. I know you so much better than he did."
"Is that why you killed Reynolds?" Jack asked. "So he couldn't be with Terra?"
T.J. clamped his jaw tight.
"Why, T.J.?" she appealed quietly.
He hesitated then said, "He figured out I was setting the fires."
The information Terra had uncovered that very afternoon clicked in her mind. "He knew you were fired from Wates Photography Studio, didn't he? And that you dated the hygienist from the dental office you torched? Is that how he put it all together?"
"At first, Dane only knew that I'd worked at the photography studio, which is what got him nosing around. Then he found out about the hygienist at the dental office dumping me."
"Why burn the janitorial supply store? Did you steal the accelerant from there? You always used the same fire starter."
"I knew you'd figure it out." A smile etched his soot-streaked face. "You would've noticed me much sooner if those guys hadn't distracted your attention from me. From us."
Setting the fires had been T.J.'s way of getting her attention without risking rejection. How sad. And horribly twisted.
"I knew you would be the one investigating, since you're the only fire investigator in town." He looked so proud, so perversely pleased with himself that Terra's stomach turned.
"But you didn't count on me, did you, Coontz?" Jack shifted, his face sallow in the wash of streetlight. Shadows cut a jagged streak across his cheek.
She thought back over the summer, all the fires. "The first fire. It happened three days after you loaned me that camera."
"Yes. That's when I knew we'd be good together." He glared at Jack, hatred making his eyes glacial. "I saw you with him. On the porch at your house. I tried to warn him, but he was too stubborn."
"People throwing Molotov cocktails into my house tend to hack me off," Jack bit out.
The other man looked pleadingly into her eyes. "He can't make you happy, Terra. I can."
"I had to move out of my house after you threw your fire bombs." Jack straightened, rubbed at his eyes. "How the hell did you find out about this place?"
"I have a buddy at the utility company."
He threw the guy a disgusted look.
Terra's nerves were raw. She wanted to wrap this up, get as far from T.J. as she could. "You were outside my house on another night, weren't you?"
"Yes." A fierce frown snapped his brows together. "I knew what you two were doing in there. I couldn't stop it, but I couldn't let it go on."
"So you ambushed me tonight, beat the hell out of my head and tried to burn me alive," Jack growled. "We'll have more questions later." He turned to the patrol cop. "Get him out of my sight."
"Come with me, Terra." T.J. reached for her.
She shook her head.
"Please—"
Jack stepped in front of her, shoved Coontz's legs into the car and slammed the door.
She wrapped her arms around her waist, watching the police officer drive away with Coontz. What a sad and twisted man. And how pathetically ironic. He hadn't wanted her and Jack together; thanks to Jack, they weren't.
She should leave now, but she couldn't until she knew he was all right.
He turned, his gaze steady on her face. She pointed to the firefighters waiting next to the rescue truck.
"We need to talk," he said.
"After you see them. I'm worried about your head. What else did he do to you?"
"He hit me with a pipe or something. That's all."
"Let's go."
"I will. If you agree to hear me out afterwards."
Her lips firmed. She couldn't imagine what he wanted to say. If he was going to repeat how wrong they were for each other, she'd gotten it the first time.
His eyes glinted stubbornly. "That's the deal. Please."
"Okay."
About fifteen minutes later, the cut on his head had been bandaged and so had the one on her wrist. His lungs were clear, as were hers. He thanked the E.M.T. and stepped onto the curb as the rescue truck pulled away.
"I'm glad you're all right," she said stiffly, hating the fact that she still wanted to throw her arms around him. She turned to leave.
"Terra, wait." The soft ache in his voice stopped her.
"I'm tired, Jack. You've got to be, too."
"This is important."
"We can wrap up tomorrow. I need to talk to Sandusky."
"I don't blame you for wanting to go," he said. "But could you give me just a few minutes?"
She bit off the retort that she'd been prepared to give him a lot more than that. As the adrenaline drained out of her, exhaustion crept in. His close call, coupled with her waning self-control, meant she couldn't fight with him right now. "Okay."
She finally turned. Uncertainty clouded his eyes, the shadow of fear. Surely she misread that. Jack Spencer afraid?
"Will you come with me?"
She glanced around. The fire was out. Water gurgled into the street grates. The crew had their hoses packed and were loading onto the ladder truck. "Where?"
"The garage."
She frowned, but walked across the grass and up the driveway with him. Once inside, he stopped next to the driver's side door.
Lines of pain creased his forehead and fanned out from his eyes. His head must hurt like the devil. The part of her that couldn't dismiss him surfaced. "I'm so sorry, Jack. That's quite a knot on your head. If it weren't for me, this wouldn't have happened at all."
"My head isn't what's bothering me."
"What is?" Her gaze took him in, hungrily if she were honest, as she looked for other injuries.
He stepped closer and she stiffened, lifting her head to look him in the eye. Warn him off.
"I made a huge mistake by telling you I didn't want to be involved. I do."
She blinked.
He opened his truck door, pulling out bunches of tissue-wrapped flowers and a grocery bag.
"Flowers?"
"Three kinds." He handed them to her, a riot of gold, purple and burgundy. "No roses."
"Good idea." She took them reluctantly, feeling herself being drawn into those blue eyes.
"And…" He reached into the bag, pulled out a carton of ice cream and a liter of root beer. Vanilla ice cream dripped down the side of the container.
Her gaze challenged his. "That's melted."
"It wasn't supposed to be."
"You were going to give me flowers and ice cream?" Sh
e clutched the bouquets tight, uncertain about where he was going. Not sure she wanted to know.
"Flowers and ice-cream floats. To start working on your forgiving me."
Despite how she'd tried to protect herself, her heart cracked open a tiny bit. "You were planning to bribe me?"
"I was desperate." He grinned, making her knees soft. "I'm willing to bribe or beg."
"Is crawling part of your plan?"
"Sweetheart, I'll crawl on my belly if that's what you want."
"I don't know about this, Jack."
He took her hand, sliding his thumb across the pulse in her wrist. Earnest blue eyes sought hers, urgent and determined. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Terra. It wasn't your job that had me backing away. It was panic. I was afraid of losing you."
Though she should probably pull away, she kept her hand in his. "My job hasn't changed, Jack." She swallowed, saying the words even though they ripped at her. "It's not going to."
"And it shouldn't. I wouldn't ask you to do that."
She bristled. "No, you certainly won't."
"I'm trying to tell you…I'm an idiot. I thought I could walk away, but it was already too late. You're part of me, Terra. I can't go five seconds without thinking of you, wanting to talk to you, needing you."
A surprised breath shuddered out of her. "But you said—"
"Don't remind me." He moved another step closer and cupped her shoulders. "When I saw you in that hospital, all I could think of was losing you the way I lost Lori. How it felt to love her, then lose her in a flash, with no warning, for no reason. I couldn't let myself go there again. But I was already there. With you. And I panicked."
His warmth wrapped around her. The clean earthy scent she loved was mixed with smoke. Her heart softened. "I was afraid, too, Jack."
"I thought I'd never find another woman who would make me want to take a chance again, but I did. You're that woman, Terra August." He rested his forehead against hers, his breath warm against her skin. Weakening the guard she'd worked so hard to raise against him.
"I never should've walked away from you. Please say you forgive me."
"I can't argue with your reasons for walking away, Jack. Something could happen. To either one of us."
