23.

Dunbrooke Drive, Friday, August 27, 4:55 a.m.

"Jess!"

Her eyes opened but she didn't want to wake up. "What time is it?" she murmured.

What was that smell?

"We have to get out of the house!"

She sat up or he was hauling her up, she couldn't say for sure which. "What's that smell?"

"Smoke. We have to get out!"

Smoke?

Jess came wide awake. Adrenaline rocketed through her veins. Smoke was thick in the air. She coughed. Her eyes burned.

What happened? Where was Dan? She reached out... tried to get her bearings. She couldn't see. Why didn't he turn on the lights?

The roar of flames whispered through the darkness. Fire. Oh G.o.d! They had to get out of here. She stalled. The baby. She shouldn't be breathing all this smoke. She tugged the neck of her nights.h.i.+rt up over her nose and mouth. "Dan!"

Hands clutched at her. She jumped.

"Right here. I've got you."

His arms went around her. He picked her up and held her tight against his chest. She blinked repeatedly, trying to see. Suddenly they were at the window. He helped her climb out and get her feet on the ground.

"Go," he ordered. "Get away from the house."

She ran bare foot across the dew-dampened gra.s.s, Dan right behind her. At the far side of the backyard she stopped, she doubled-over coughing. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"You okay?" Dan asked between his own bouts of coughing.

She nodded. What the h.e.l.l had happened? The sun wasn't up yet and the stars and the moon were doing little to light the sky. It was eerily dark around the house. All the exterior security lights were out.

The house was on fire. She saw flames through the kitchen window. The reality shook her all over again. "Oh my G.o.d."

Where were the sirens? Why had no alarm sounded?

Dan dragged in a big breath. "I need to call for help."

The house-and everything in it-was going up in flames. Jess groaned. "My bag is in there." She whirled toward Dan. "My Glock. My phone."

"Oh h.e.l.l." He ran his hand through his hair. "Mine too."

There was nothing they could do... they couldn't go back inside.

Dan's home, all his things, including the pictures of them he'd kept from all those years ago, were being destroyed as they watched.

A memory clicked into place. Ten years ago, the farmhouse outside Ruckersville... the cages and those young women.

Spears.

The epiphany hit with such impact that she swayed. He'd been digging in her past again. The night before she'd come home for Christmas ten years ago, she'd solved a case involving five missing women. They had been held in cages, just like the three he'd held captive in Tennessee only days ago.

Ten years ago that old farmhouse had burned down with Jess and one other survivor barely escaping.

He was taunting her with all that he knew about her, breaking her down bit by bit and giving her a preview of things to come.

She turned to the man at her side.

Spears intended to destroy Dan just to get to her.

7:50 a.m.

The fire was out.

Jess stood in the middle of the backyard staring at the smoldering rubble that had been Dan's home. Lori had brought Jess a change of clothes and a ponytail holder for her hair.

Her bag was gone, along with the world she carried inside it.

She sucked in a breath, swallowed against her dry, sore throat. But they were okay. The paramedics had checked both her and Dan and they were fine. She'd asked the paramedic about the baby. He'd suggested she see her obstetrician as soon as possible but didn't believe she had any reason to worry since they'd escaped the house basically unharmed.

Chief Black and Dan were having words. Judging by the body language it wasn't a casual conversation. The crime scene unit was here. Cops were everywhere. Dan's parents had showed up but he'd ushered them away.

"What do you suppose that's all about?" Lori asked, following Jess's gaze.

"Doesn't look friendly," Harper suggested.

Jess turned to the two detectives who were far more than just members of her team. "They found Captain Allen's wedding ring when they were looking for spy stuff in Dan's house yesterday."

Lori expression showed the shock she felt. "You're not saying they believe Chief Burnett had anything to do with his disappearance?"

Jess just wanted to cry. "I honestly don't know."

"Unbelievable." Harper shook his head.

"Tell me about it." Part of her wanted to share the other news with her friends, but just now she needed everyone focused on the case. "Anything from the brother in Boston?" she asked Lori.

"I have a call into him. I'm hoping he'll agree to a Skype interview."

Jess didn't hold out much hope but it was worth a try.

"No hits on Selma or Olive Vance's pa.s.sports," Harper reported. "If they've left the country they used an alias. We've checked with the bus station, AMTRAK and rental car agencies. No hits there either. Same goes for Ellis. They either had some other form of transportation or they're laying low right here in Birmingham."

"All right." Jess crossed her arms over her chest. She was still shaking. "Nudge the Vance sisters' parents again." She thought about that for a second. "Better yet, have Agent Manning do it. The feds will be taking this case anyway if the international connection we suspect pans out. Maybe the parents will react to the threat of a federal investigation."

"I'll make that call right now." Harper stepped away, his phone already in hand.

"Lori, you and Cook follow up with the ME. See if there's anything new with the latest victim. Check with all the surveillance details and with Gina Coleman at Channel 6. Maybe someone has seen or heard something new that we don't know about yet."

"You staying here?" Lori glanced around at the chaos.

"Just until Hayes picks me up. I need a new badge and a weapon and..." She groaned. "My bag and all my notes. My phone. It's all gone."

Lori gave her a hug. "All those things can be replaced." She glanced at Dan. "You and the chief are irreplaceable."

"You're right. I should be happy to be alive." She wasn't sure she would ever be happy again until Spears was dead.

"I know this isn't the time," Lori ventured, visibly hesitant.

Jess frowned. "What?" If either she or Harper was thinking of moving out of SPU, they could forget it. Wouldn't they be better off away from you?

"I'd like to go with you today. Hayes can work with Harper and Cook."

Expecting anything but that, the request puzzled Jess for a second, and then she understood. "I guess you saw through my big plan." No use denying it.

Lori nodded. "You've been keeping us at arm's length." She reached out, squeezed Jess's hand. "We're in this together. We want to help keep you safe."

That confounding tidal wave of emotions swelled up again. When had she become such a blubbering bundle of emotions? "I just don't want-"

"We know. But this is what we want. We want to help end this."

Jess managed a shaky, watery smile. "Okay. You're with me today."

"I'll pa.s.s along your instructions to the others."

Jess watched Lori cut through the crowd around Dan's house. She was wrong to try and protect her team. They were more than capable of protecting themselves.

Hopefully today they would get a break in the case. Ellis's part in this was still unclear to Jess. He would have a motive for being involved beyond simply following orders from Spears. The Vance sisters were young. They might very well have less of a personal motive and more of a grandiose reason for being puppets for Ellis and, by extension, Spears. Whatever their reasons, Jess intended to find them.

Her attention s.h.i.+fted back to Dan. Black stamped off, visibly angry or upset. Dan headed her way. She hoped the news wasn't as bad as it had looked.

"You okay?" The smile that tilted his lips under the circ.u.mstances made her heart stumble.

"I'm okay." She searched his face and saw the strain there. "The question is, are you okay?"

"Guess so." He glanced back at this house. "It looks like we'll be finding a new place to stay for a while."

"We'll stay at my place."

He shrugged. "Thompson gave the place the all clear. We can do that."

Suited Jess. "You're okay with my place?"

"As long as we're together it doesn't matter where we stay." His gaze slipped down to her belly before returning to meet hers. "I need you to be extra careful, Jess."

"I will," she promised. "Everything I do is about more than me now."

He reached for her hand and squeezed it. "It's about us. All three of us."

She wished she could leave it there. But she had to know. "What's Black saying this morning?"

Dan swiped what was likely soot from her cheek. "Besides insinuating that I burned down my own house to destroy evidence?"

"Please tell me he's not really going there?"

Dan shook his head. "I don't know, Jess. I think this might not be going away so easily."

The hope she'd held out wilted. Whether Dan chose to blame her or not, she had devastated his life. He was being framed and his home had been destroyed. The painting of them in bed together and the headstone crept into her thoughts.

Her being here had already cost him so much. Whatever happened she intended to see that she wasn't the reason he lost his life.

Birmingham Police Department, 11:59 a.m.

Jess stared at her new smart phone. It looked and felt almost like her old one, but all the photos and contact information were missing. She should have signed up for that backup plan she'd been offered. Oh well. Lori was forwarding contact numbers to her.

"I hate this." Jess set the phone aside and studied her new Glock. "I hate this even more." She'd had the other one, her second weapon in her entire career, for twelve years. This one looked basically the same. The weight was the same or very close, but it felt different. G.o.d, she despised change. She couldn't imagine how Dan felt.

"The call with Upshaw is in five minutes," Lori announced.

At least something was going right this morning. "I'm ready."

Dan was back in his office. He'd stopped by to check on her after his trip to the AT&T store. He had a flashy new phone too and a new weapon. That was one of the perks of living in the same city where you grew up-you had contacts. Dan had put in a call to a friend and weapons were delivered to them at the office. The forms were filled out, the background checks done and they were good to go.

Except it was all different.

She glanced at the temporary bag on the floor next to her desk. The clerk at the phone store had felt bad for Jess and provided her with a nifty tote bag that sported the AT&T logo. Until she had time to shop, it would have to do.

She grabbed a bag of M&Ms from her drawer and decided a snack was in order. Lori had insisted on taking her to a drive through for breakfast after leaving Dan's. She hadn't been hungry but Lori had been right to insist. Jess needed to eat.

The whole morning had pa.s.sed in a whirlwind of smoke and purchases. It was lunch already and she felt as if she'd moved backwards rather than forward. Hayes had gone for burgers. Jess rolled her eyes. This kid was going to be addicted to chocolate and red meat before he or she was even born.

She was going to be a horrible mother.

Another chirp from her new phone and Jess jumped. Every time her phone made the sound indicating she had received a new contact it startled her. Mainly, because her thoughts were all over the place. She didn't want to think what would've happened if Dan hadn't woke up this morning.

Though she doubted killing her in a simple house fire was what Spears intended, she felt certain he was attempting to create havoc and more distraction. He had certainly accomplished that objective.

When the fire marshal's report was in they would know the point of origin and the cause of the fire.