It was impossible not to stare up at him, not to let her smile burst into bloom. The press forward from the class behind hers kept her moving. That is, until her resident drama queen dug in her heels.
“No. It’s too loud.” Alexis slammed her hands over her ears. Her best friend Tammy did the same. That started a chain reaction of panic that rippled down the line. Alexis had made sure she was the center of attention.
Erica pulled the six children most likely to implode from the line and turned the class over to her parent assistant. Tucked in the corner, Erica gathered the kids in a semicircle, their backs to the concrete wall, facing her. She conjured up her most patient voice. Before she could use it, Mike squatted down to their level.
“Hey, everything’s all right. There are only friends here.”
Their focus shifted to him.
“Do you promise?” Alexis asked.
Erica swore she’d batted her eyelashes.
“Cross my heart.” Mike drew an X over his heart.
“Well…” Alexis eased her hands away from her ears as she scanned the red fire engine. “If you promise it’s all right, I guess we could go closer.”
“Then let’s move along.” Erica scooted them toward the rest of their class. “We’ve taken up enough of the firefighter’s time.”
“No problem at all. That’s what I’m here for.” His smile bathed Erica in a warm glow. A smile she fully returned. So much for discretion. Any fool looking would know the truth.
The children provided the excuse Erica needed to make an easy escape, but the little buggers scurried ahead to rejoin the group, effectively deserting her before she could move. The rush of students and teachers that had been so prevalent before was now nonexistent. She was alone. With Mike.
He filled the gap, separating her easily from the rest of the world with his bulk alone. Her heart raced. Skin tingled.
“Sleep well?” he asked.
Heat flushed her from head to toe. “I did after receiving a rather risqué phone call. Once the tension from that abated, I slept like a baby.”
He sucked in a breath and stared at the concrete wall behind her for a few seconds before turning those blue eyes her way once more. “Wish I could say the same.”
Erica tilted her head. “Oh? Busy night?”
He took a step forward. She told herself to take a giant step back, but her feet refused to budge. “I couldn’t turn my mind off.”
“Because I’d turned it on so well?”
His nostrils flared on a deep breath. Her heart pounded against her sternum. If they’d been alone, she knew he would have had her shoved against the cement wall and her legs wrapped around his waist.
“You’ll be home by three thirty?” he asked.
“Oh yes,” she concurred.
He tapped the brim of his helmet and returned to his post. “Who’s excited to see this big boy in action?” he called out.
“We are,” the kids shouted.
Erica’s thoughts went to another type of action with the big boy himself. Mike would be all over her the second she walked in the door. She couldn’t wait to have him to herself for the weekend, and not only for sex. The quiet comfort of his physical presence would help dispel the frustrations she’d had to deal with. Nothing came easy, that was certain.
Keith had asked for her to visit him in the hospital. Erica refused to see him. Anything she had to say would come from her attorney to his. End of story. If she’d had grounds to file a restraining order against Keith, she would have done so. Karen had hauled ass before Posner could reach the fire station on Tuesday. She’d used the firefighters’ distraction over a call to slip out. Of course, Keith pointed the finger at his sister, according to what Posner had told Erica. She didn’t ask for specifics. Didn’t care. All Erica wanted was a divorce and to be shed of Keith’s debts and any responsibility for the fire, which their insurance refused to cover since arson was involved and the investigation was ongoing.
Erica tensed up thinking about it. No physical evidence linked Keith to anything. Sandy refused to respond to calls, so no rape charges had been filed. As for Betty, her doctors considered it too soon to approach her about filing extortion and blackmailing charges against Keith. In doing so, she would have to admit her own failings, and Betty wasn’t at the point yet to do so. Posner’s frustration matched Erica’s. Once Keith was released from the hospital, there was nothing to keep him from leaving.
To kill again.
Her phone vibrated in her skirt pocket. Erica retrieved it, pressed her hand against one ear to cover the noise, and searched for a quieter corner as she answered.
“Sorry to bother you, Erica,” Detective Posner said. “I’m desperate.”
“I know. I wish there was something I could do to help you.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said. “He’s being released today. One thing he’s repeatedly asked for is to talk to you. I’d like to put a wire on you and give him what he wants.”
Mike would go ballistic.
“We’ll be nearby the whole time.”
“When?” she asked.
“Today. I’ll get your attorney to set up a meet, with your agreement. I can stage a team near the house. I’ll meet you at the school with a female deputy to place the wire. You’ll be safe.”
She glanced at Mike, the joy on his face as he interacted with the children. All the horrible things Keith had gotten away with, the things he was sure to do again and again until someone stopped him, ran through her mind. If she had the power to do so, how could she live with herself if she didn’t try?
“I’ll do it if Mike agrees.” Because she wouldn’t make this decision without him.
“I’ll call him right now.”
Erica didn’t bother to tell him Mike was busy. “Don’t call me back. If this is a go, be here at two forty-five with Mike.”
“Got it. Mike’s the key to everything.”
More than you’ll ever know.
She ended the call, squared her shoulders, plastered a smile on her face, and walked back to the demonstration. Mike was walking toward the far end of the parking lot, phone pressed to his ear. He scowled in her direction, then motioned for her to join him. Erica skirted the group and hurried his way. The outburst she expected never came.
“I don’t like this,” he said. “But the choice is yours.”
She wanted to cry. “I want him stopped. If I can do that…”
“Okay, then,” he quietly replied and lifted the phone to his ear. “You’ve got what you want, Posner. But understand this. I refuse to be any farther away from her than a shout.” He cut the call and dropped the phone into his pocket. “Now that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” he told her.
“Tell me about it. But could we live with ourselves if he killed again and we had the power to stop him?”
“I wished I’d killed him when I had the chance.”
“Me too.”
They both knew Mike’s words were trash talk. Hers…not so much.
“I’ll tell you this much,” he said. “If he so much as looks at you cross-eyed, I will kill him.”
She met the intensity in his eyes with her own. “I’m trusting you to do just that.”
* * * *
As much as Erica willed herself to remain calm, her nerves still felt like live wires dancing across her skin. She would have felt better if Mike was by her side. The end decision was to only have the female tech come after school let out, disguised as a computer repair person. The point was to trap Keith, but Erica knew how well he played the game. Him watching from a distance was a very good possibility. He had to believe she was alone. She wasn’t, but he had to believe it. They’d planned well.
Deputy Collins smoothed her palm over the wire taped to Erica’s torso. The contraption felt like a straitjacket. The comm bud in her ear wasn’t much better. She’d been assured it wasn’t visible, that it was small and her hair covered it. Erica would swear it was the size of
a golf ball and wished she had one for the other ear that was a direct link to Mike. All communication was being filtered through Posner. He’d hear everything Erica did, and he could provide her guidance and information.
“All set. As long as he doesn’t touch you, you’ll be fine,” Deputy Collins said.
“He won’t,” Erica said.
The woman’s look said “newbie.” Erica wouldn’t waste her breath trying to explain that Keith would rather eat ground glass than touch her. Of course, there was more at stake here. He’d killed people. Lots of people. He was a desperate man with a short fuse.
“Sound check again, Erica,” Posner said in her ear. He was staged at Mike’s house with his people.
“I hear you. Do you hear me?” she responded.
“Loud and clear,” he replied. “Deputy Collins is going to stay close until you reach Mike’s house. We’re set to go there.”
Posner wanted her facing Keith on neutral ground. She’d refused and had stood firm that they plan the meet at Mike’s. It’d throw Keith off guard, frustrate him, and that’s when he always started running off at the mouth. The last she’d heard, he’d agreed to the location. She wasn’t holding her breath. After she’d turned the class over to her assistant for art projects earlier, Erica had worked with Mike, making some plans of their own, taking into account every and any move Keith might make.
For all of Posner’s promises to keep her safe, the only person she trusted to do so was Mike. Well, and the people on whom he depended every day. Mike wasn’t the only one who was only a shout away—her firefighter family was going to be close as well.
It would only take one second for Keith to kill Erica. It didn’t matter that it wouldn’t make sense for Keith to do so. Or that he had no motive and had been the one who’d kept pressing for her to talk to him. If murder had been on his mind, he wouldn’t have left such a sloppy trail. This was a man who’d gotten away with a lot. He was careful, clever, and covered his tracks well. Which made this ploy to see her beyond questionable, when a wiser move would have been to get the hell out of town. He wanted something. Knowing Keith, she was betting it was money.
Her phone blinged. She pulled it from her skirt pocket and read the text aloud. “Keith’s in the school parking lot by my car. A cab dropped him off.”
Deputy Collins jerked her head up. “How do you know?” she asked at the same time as Posner.
“Because Trish Delaney just texted me.” Trish was in the school office, staged to carry out the plan Mike had painstakingly created. Erica texted her a quick “got it” and returned her phone to her pocket. On her person, traceable…just in case.
“My vehicle isn’t far from yours,” Collins said. “I’ll delay. Keep a good distance from him.”
“Thanks.”
Erica gathered her things and headed for the parking lot. The tape pulled at her skin. She ignored it, focusing instead on her face-to-face meeting with Keith. Her plan was simple—treat him like a petulant second grader. Erica wouldn’t allow him to bait her, wouldn’t be pulled into an argument. He had no power over her. That would drive him nuts. She planned to use it to her advantage.
Trish’s van was in the visitor parking lot. Erica’s car was closer to the office. Keith lounged against the side of her car like he had every right to be there. His clothes weren’t new, but they also didn’t look like the ones he might have worn when he’d been lost in the desert. No blood stained either the jeans or the oversize Raiders T-shirt she swore she’d seen way too many times, and he had on dirty sneakers too. Looked like he’d packed before he’d set the house on fire. Now to find a way to make him admit it.
She tried not to watch as Collins headed toward a white utility truck in the visitor area. Keith had to think the woman was insignificant. He shoved away from her car when he saw Erica but made no move to meet her halfway.
Erica pulled her keys from her tote, ready to use them as a weapon if necessary. She had to get close enough so Posner could pick up Keith’s conversation yet stay far enough away to avoid harm. She swung her tote bag over her torso to create a barrier between them, wishing it was steel-plated in the event that his T-shirt hid a gun in the waistband of his jeans. No, Keith was too careful, and this was too public a location.
He jerked his head toward Trish’s van. “She work here now?”
“PTO meeting.” A ruse, of course. When he looked confused, she added, “Parent Teacher Organization. This isn’t where we agreed to meet. I’m not happy with you about that.” Not to mention a million other things.
Keith shoved his fingertips into his jeans’ pockets and rocked on his heels. He had that superior smirk he got when he thought he had the better of someone. “Did you really think I was going to go to that bastard’s house? You fucking him yet?”
“Best. Sex. Ever,” she freely admitted. Do pass that on to Mike, Detective Posner.
A grimace twisted his face. “Enjoy it while you can. It won’t last. So, were you fucking around when we were married? I saw how you two looked at each other.”
Not being baited was harder than she’d thought. “I wasn’t.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you were.” He snickered. “I was.” He stared at her for a moment or two, waiting for her to respond. When she didn’t, his smirk grew. “Yeah, me and Sandy had quite the thing going. Boy, did she get pissed when I tried to break it off. Threatened me with all kinds of things.”
Really? That’s how he was going to play this off? Why was she surprised? “I don’t have time for lies, Keith,” she quietly replied.
He glanced at his feet, a clear admission of guilt as far as Erica was concerned. He shrugged. “She pissed me off one too many times. She deserved to be taken down a notch. I didn’t hear her complaining at the time.”
“I guess the knife at her throat had something to do with that.”
Keith laughed. “Boy, you’ll believe anything. But then, I already knew that. I was counting on it. Bet you believe whatever line Mike feeds you too. You realize he’s only fucking you because—”
“Is this what you wanted to talk about? Because I really have better things to do than this.” She made a move toward the back of her car, intending to get in on the driver’s side.
Keith blocked her way. “I need your help. I know I haven’t exactly started this out the right way. I’m sorry. I get nuts when you won’t… You’re so stubborn. If you’d just…” He heaved a sigh. “It wasn’t personal. I was desperate for money. I didn’t know where else to go. Karen and Wayne had been blackmailing me for years. They kept demanding more and more.”
“I’m sure Betty knows exactly how that feels.”
“What did you expect me to do?” he shouted. “Let them kill you too? They did it before, you know.”
“Odd that you didn’t care to tell me you’d been married before.”
He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. “Too painful.”
It was hard not to laugh. “And what were they blackmailing you with?”
“My first wife and I were… Well, drugs. Buying, selling. With Karen and Wayne. Things went south, they killed her. I cleaned up my act and tried to turn my life around. They’ve been dogging me ever since, following me no matter where I go.”
“So all of the things you’ve done—marrying me, blackmailing Betty, suing the fire department—were because they were blackmailing you,” she said.
“Yes. Well, not the thing with Sandy. She just fucking pissed me off. A man can only take so much.”
“You killed a man, Keith. Set the house on fire.”
“No, no, no. Not me. Karen did that. They showed up and started arguing. She threw that big-ass vase of yours at him and knocked him out, then held the gun to me and ordered me into the car. I drove with her out to the desert, where she knocked me out and left me to die.”
“You said your car was stolen.”
“It was. I had to take a cab to get here today. I found out it was her and Wayne, playing games,
making threats. When I got back to the house… Baby, you’ve got to believe me.” He shot his hand out. Erica ducked his grab and took a giant step back. “I’ve been an ass, I’ve used people, but I’ve never laid a hand on anyone, and you know it.”
“Except Sandy Freeman.”
“Damn it, Erica!”
She reared back her fist, ready to slice her keys across his face.
Keith raised his palms. “Okay, okay. Look…I came to you for money. Help me out, and I’ll give you a clean break, sign whatever papers you need so you can be a free woman, drop my lawsuit against the fire department.”
So he could live to kill another day.
“All I’ve got is twenty bucks on me.”
“Come on, Erica. Now who’s lying,” he said. “I know you’ve got shit tucked away in that safe-deposit box of yours. We’ll head to the bank, and I’ll never darken your doorstep again. A thousand should do it. Pretty cheap price for peace of mind.”
Erica debated her next move. He’d yet to break or give her anything noteworthy. She had to get him to the house, nearer Posner and his team, be the thorn under his skin. “I’ll need to go home for the key first.”
“I ain’t stepping foot in that bastard’s house.”
“No one asked you to. Meet me there, and then you can follow me to the bank.”
He jammed his hands on his hips. “How the fuck do you expect me to do that? Did you not hear me say I didn’t have a car? A cab brought me here.”
“I’m not getting in a vehicle with you.”
“You will if you want me out of your life. Don’t be stupid. You’re no good to me dead.”
Which was why she was still alive. Once he had the money he wanted…
“Here”—she peeled her car key off the ring and handed it to him—“meet me at Mike’s. I’ll have Trish give me a ride.”
“Bullshit. I said I wanted to talk to you alone.”
“And I said I wanted to meet you at Mike’s,” she shot back. “You want money, you play by my rules.”
Wrapped in Flame Page 19
