The Widow's Protector

by Stephanie Newton

  “I found a rock that looks like a rabbit!” Sean was already wet up to his ankles.

  So much for staying near the path. She’d be finding that rock in the washing machine tomorrow. “That’s a nice one.”

  Hunter chuckled under his breath. “I hid under this bridge in the water for two hours once, waiting for Jimmy to walk by. I jumped out and splattered him. It was awesome.”

  For so long, every memory of Jimmy just hurt, but the thought of Jimmy and Hunter stalking each other through the woods made Fee laugh. “The memories of us as kids are good, now, right?”

  Water rushed under the bridge as the silence stretched. A shaft of light through the trees caught the gold in his brown hair. He turned to her, the smile reaching his eyes. “Yeah. It was good.”

  Sean ran up the bank, his wet Converse tennis shoes slapping onto the ground. “Look at this one! It’s brown and pink!”

  Hunter lifted Sean and threw him over his shoulder. “Look at this one, Red. It’s a sack o’ taters.”

  He bounced up and down as Sean squealed with laughter, then turned his head and watched to make sure Fee didn’t trip on the path. With one arm gripping Sean around the waist, he reached back to hold her hand with the other.

  For just a minute, she could imagine that everything was all right with the world. No shadows in the past, no friend in the hospital, no arsonist. She wondered, though, with everything going on, how long could the feeling last?

  * * *

  Fiona stared down the back street toward the rear entrance of her building, the same back street where just days earlier, she had pulled Sean from certain death. She was steps away from the door but those few steps could’ve been miles.

  She hated that the arsonist had managed to make her afraid in her own hometown. Her own home felt creepy, violated—so much so that she’d abandoned it to come to her store. She was far from helpless, yet this man—if the arsonist was a man—had the ability to make her feel like the power to do something to stop him was just out of her reach.

  Community helped. The time with her family last night, church this morning. The walk in the woods with Hunter this afternoon. They all reminded her that she wasn’t in this alone. I know I’m not alone, Lord.

  She took one step and then another, taking a deep breath of the brisk April air, letting the familiar darkness enfold her. She could hear the muted noise of the television blaring from old Mrs. Whitwer’s house. Out on Main Street, one of Patrick O’Roarke’s teenagers was on his way home from work. No one else in town had subwoofers. She started toward the back entrance of The Reading Nook. Fitzgerald Bay was still the same place she knew and loved. One person couldn’t ruin everything. It wasn’t possible.

  At the back stoop, she pushed the key into the lock. Jim Morrison started to sing, “Hello, I love you,” her current ring tone. She stopped, digging her cell phone out of her shoulder bag, glancing at the caller ID. “Hey, Hunter, what’s up?”

  “Just calling to see what you were doing at the store on a Sunday night.”

  “Bridget came by and said she was making cookies for her class and Sean begged to go with her to her house. He’s spending the night, so I’m here to work. Are you stalking me?” She laughed and pushed her key into the lock.

  “Nope, just getting ready to have my Cap’n Crunch cereal for dinner and realized I was out of milk. Had to run to the Stop-n-Shop.”

  She leaned against brick wall beside the door. “Aah, the dinner of champions. And bachelor firefighters.”

  “I got some ice cream, too. Half Baked…your favorite.” His voice, familiar and, at the same time, so rumbly and sexy, made her smile.

  “I would, except I’ve already had to extend my time on the treadmill by twenty minutes to make up for last night’s ‘sundae night.’”

  Hunter’s truck slowed in the entrance to the alley. “I’m going to wait here until you’re in and the door is locked.”

  “You really don’t have to do that, Hunter. I’ve worked nights here a thousand times.”

  “Be that as it may, I’m protective. Sue me.”

  “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” She laughed again. “I can’t afford the attorney fees.”

  Fiona turned her key. She heard a click, and her world exploded into flame.

  * * *

  A fireball engulfed the street. Hunter couldn’t process what he was seeing. His body moving without his mind telling it to, he slammed the gear shift into Park and sprinted toward the flames. “Fiona!”

  Where was she?

  “Fiona!” His eyes searched the rubble in the alley—splintered wood, burning cinders—and saw the arch of a shoeless foot barely visible under what looked like the door to her shop. The door was huge and solid, but he lifted it a few inches and placed it on the ground beside her.

  She wasn’t moving, one leg crumpled beneath her and her wrist bent at an awkward angle.

  “Oh, baby.” He crouched next to her and brushed away the hair from her face. He’d left his phone in the truck, but he couldn’t leave her. “Fiona, wake up. Please.”

  Her eyelids fluttered but she didn’t move. In the distance he heard sirens. Someone had already called the police or the fire department or both. “Help’s on the way.”

  Paper debris, the flash-and-burn ash from the explosion, rained down around them. Her eyelids fluttered again and this time, she squinted them open, furrowing her brow, as if she were trying to figure out what he was doing bent over her. She tried to raise up and, gently, he pushed her back. “Wait, Fiona. Don’t get up.”

  She brought her arm around to her chest and cradled her wrist. “Hurts.”

  “There was an explosion, Fiona. You were thrown back in the blast.” He glanced at the building, the popping of the fire concerning him. So far, it didn’t seem to be spreading beyond the storeroom.

  Fiona licked her lips and closed her eyes, opening them again in less than a second. “My shop?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t been inside. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  A fleeting smile drifted across her face as her eyes slid shut again. “I’m okay.”

  When she opened her eyes again, she said, “Fire?”

  Turning toward the building he gave it a better look. He couldn’t judge for sure from this vantage point, but he wasn’t leaving her. “I can’t tell from here.”

  “Click,” Fiona said.

  Her thoughts still weren’t really connecting, he could tell. “What do you mean?”

  She moved and whimpered. “Hunter, everything hurts.”

  He wanted to help her, lift her in his arms and cradle her close, sheltering her from harm, but he knew moving her would be the worst thing he could do. He had to clear his throat to get the words out. “Just stay still, Red. We’ll get you to the hospital.”

  Her eyes opened again and this time he saw clarity in the bright blue depths. He let out a breath, realizing as his chest hammered that he’d been waiting, waiting for some sign that she would be okay.

  “I heard something click, right before I opened the door.” She took a breath, swallowed hard, continued. “I didn’t have time to think it had sounded weird before everything…exploded.”

  Where was the medical response? They should be here by now.

  He heard the footsteps running toward them and moved to block Fiona, grabbing her sister into his arms as Keira struggled to get to Fiona. “She’s conscious, but she’s injured. I think her wrist might be broken, so go easy.”

  “Okay, I got it.” Keira dropped to her knees beside Fiona. “Fiona?”

  Instead of reaching for her sister, she grabbed for the walkie-talkie at her collar. All radio protocol disappeared as she looked at Fiona, bruised and bleeding on the ground. “Deborah, this is Keira Fitzgerald. I know you rolled the fire department, they just got here, but we’re going to need a bus. My sister’s hurt.”

  Deborah Sandino, the dispatcher, responded and Keira dropped her walkie-talkie back into
place. “Fee, honey, you’re going to be okay. We’re going to get you to the hospital.”

  Fiona squinted at her sister. “I don’t need an ambulance.”

  “You definitely do.” Hunter spied a cut on her forehead. “No arguing.”

  She struggled to get up again, and again, Hunter eased her back to the ground. “Don’t move, Fee. We’re going to put you on a backboard until you get checked out at the hospital. Keira, can you stay with her? It’s about to get really busy and we need her out of the way.”

  At Keira’s nod, he ran for the apparatus, passing Jacob and Nate as they hoofed it for the building with the hose. Liam met him at the engine. “Sit-rep?”

  Hunter tried to focus his thoughts enough to give him a coherent situational report. “Fiona was in an explosion. She’s conscious, but she’s hurt. Ambulance is on the way. Keira’s with her.”

  Liam tossed him the Basic Life Support kit. “Danny, get the backboard. Let’s go.”

  They ran toward the place where Fiona lay on the ground. Hunter tossed the kit on the ground and pulled the C-collar out. To Keira he said, “We’ll put the cervical collar on her first. Okay?”

  Liam was at Fiona’s head. “I’m getting a little tired of getting called out to check on my cousins.” He pulled a small penlight from his bag and shined it into Fiona’s eyes.

  “Stop, Liam. I have a headache.”

  Liam smiled down at Fiona and tucked his penlight back into his pocket. “Maybe because you tried to fly? Pupils are fine.” He stabilized her head and nodded at Hunter, who then placed the collar around Fiona’s neck.

  She blinked up at him. “That’s good, right?”

  “Yes, sweetie, that’s good. No worries, now. We’re taking good care of you.”

  Danny slid the backboard against her side while Hunter straightened her legs. “Okay, Fiona, I want you to be as still as possible. We’re going to roll you and put the board underneath you. We’ll do all the work. Remember, you don’t move.”

  “On the count of three.” Liam’s quiet control eased the mad gallop of Hunter’s heart. But he couldn’t help but think he had let this happen. He hadn’t protected her.

  He and Keira rolled Fiona to the side. Danny laid the board against her back and they eased her down on another count of three. Her mouth had gone white and she was taking shallow, rapid breaths.

  Liam reached for the strap on the top of the board. “Fiona, you still with me?”

  She squeezed the word out between her teeth. “Yes.”

  A siren wailed as the ambulance arrived. While Danny strapped down Fiona’s legs, Hunter leaned forward. “You’re going to the hospital, but I’ll be right behind you.”

  His jaw clenched as he watched Liam and Danny place Fiona gently on the gurney that the paramedics had pulled out of the ambulance, and strap her down again. They slid her into the ambulance and Liam banged on the door.

  And Hunter watched as they drove away with his best friend. She was his friend. So why did he feel like they were carrying away his heart?

  He hadn’t prayed in a long time, but he found himself asking God to hold her in His hands. Surely God’s hands were stronger, wiser than any on earth.

  Hunter walked toward The Reading Nook, intending to check on the fire, but he stopped. Her shop would survive. The guys on A-shift would make sure of it. He didn’t need to wait for a sit-rep on the fire. He needed to be where she was, at the hospital.

  A building was a building. Fiona was the most important person in his life.

  He ran for his truck, not even sure where he’d left his keys when he’d abandoned it earlier. He did glance back at the little strip of shops where days earlier little Sean had been trapped and Betsie had come so close to losing her life. This close call with Fiona put him over the edge.

  Anger seethed inside him. That someone would willingly put the lives of people he loved at risk was unconscionable. One person had already died. How many more would it take before they caught this arsonist?

  The noise and hubbub of the fire scene was such second nature to Hunter that he barely noticed it. He slid into his truck and slammed the door. He needed to get to Fiona. She came first.

  When he knew she was okay, he was going to turn over every rock until he found the arsonist who was putting them all in danger.

  SIX

  The doors to the emergency room slid open as Hunter walked in. The whole drive there he had alternately reassured himself with the thought that if she’d been really bad, they would’ve life-flighted her to Boston and that despite the explosion and tumble she had taken, all signs were good. She’d been responsive, breathing on her own, fighting them to get up.

  He stormed the check-in desk. “Fiona Cobb?”

  The receptionist looked up. “Excuse me?”

  “Fiona Cobb. She was brought in by ambulance.”

  The receptionist typed into the computer, frowned, slid on her reading glasses and typed some more while Hunter paced the length of the counter. She looked up over the top of the glasses. “You’re family?”

  Hunter stopped. “No, I’m…” What was he? Friend? Brother-type-person? Significant other, sort of? “No. Not family.”

  She tilted her head, pushed back her readers onto the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to wait out here. If she gets admitted, it’s possible that she can have visitors.”

  Hunter scrubbed both hands up his face, stopping to rub the heels of his hands in the hollow of his eyes. Possible she could have visitors if she was admitted. He was desperate for information now. Fiona and Sean were his family, whether he could claim them as such or not.

  The doors opened again and Keira walked in with her brother Douglas. “Keira. They won’t tell me anything about how she’s doing.”

  Keira didn’t reassure him or even smile, just kept her hand on her utility belt. He narrowed his eyes in question. Something was not right.

  “Did you hear something on the radio? Keira, tell me.” Hunter didn’t know what was going on, but whatever it was, he couldn’t take her silence. Something had clearly changed since he’d left her at The Reading Nook.

  Douglas stepped forward. “Hunter, I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to ask you to come with us.”

  “Did something happen to Fiona? What’ve you heard?”

  Fiona’s brother shook his head, his blue eyes solemn. “As far as I know, her condition is still serious but stable. They’ll upgrade as soon as they’re sure she’s out of the woods.”

  “So what’s going on?”

  Keira stepped forward and put her hand on his elbow. Her eyes were on her brother. “Let’s take this outside.”

  “Take what outside?” Hunter was normally known for keeping his cool in the most hair-raising circumstances, but their stoic refusal to answer his questions was affecting even his famous calm. He looked around the room at the others in the waiting room who were clearly more interested in watching them than what the television provided.

  Fiona’s sister gripped his elbow, the expression on her face inscrutable. “Hunter, please.”

  Douglas held out a hand toward the door. “We need to ask you a few questions and we’d like to ask them at the station. Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

  “Am I a suspect?” The idea was ludicrous. Hunter looked from one stony Fitzgerald face to the other. They were serious. “Fine. Anything to get this crazy idea out of your heads. But before we go, you go in there and check on Fiona.”

  Douglas opened his mouth to speak but Keira cut in. “I’m going back to ask about her. Douglas, you wait with Hunter outside.”

  Hunter walked out the doors of the emergency room with Douglas right there beside him. “Not going to let me out of your sight, are you?”

  Douglas shoved his hands in his uniform pants pockets. “For what it’s worth, this is not fun for me. But if we didn’t bring you in, it would look worse on you—and on the family—than things already do.”

  �
�What are you talking about?”

  Douglas refused to say any more, looking instead at the various cars parked in the lot until Keira came out of the hospital.

  “What did you find out about Fiona?” Hunter’s blood pressure thrummed in his throat.

  “Not much. She’s gone to X-ray to check her wrist. They’re also going to do a CT scan of her head to make sure there was no damage since she was unconscious for a few minutes. I’ll come back and check on her when I get off duty.”

  The official police vehicle that Douglas drove was parked by the curb. He opened the back door for Hunter. Hunter hesitated, every muscle in his body screaming that getting in the car was a bad idea.

  Douglas sighed. “The sooner you get this over with, the sooner we all get to move on.”

  Hunter met Douglas’s eyes. “You do realize that by detaining me, you are giving the real arsonist and murderer more time to cover his trail.”

  Douglas spoke drily. “I’m well aware of that possibility. Get in the car, Hunter, before I cuff you and toss you in myself.”

  It was a telling indicator of the state of Hunter’s mind that he actually considered pushing the issue. But he got in the car and allowed Douglas to drive them to the station.

  He would answer their questions. Not because they suspected him, but because if they crossed him off their list, it would leave them more time to search for the actual killer.

  * * *

  Fiona didn’t exactly leave the hospital against medical advice. She just hadn’t wanted to wait around for the doctor to come in and tell her that she was free to go. Her wrist wasn’t broken, but it was badly sprained. Just what she needed to make life more interesting when she was going to need every available hand to clean up The Reading Nook.

  She’d had one of the hospital shift workers drop her off at home with a promise to keep it on the down low. Getting dressed on her own was proving to be a little more difficult than she imagined with this splint on her wrist. She settled for a soft cotton sundress and a cardigan sweater. It might not be the best thing for digging around in the rubble of her building but it was, at least, manageable.