Everything was gone. There was just a big black pile of charred concrete and brick where her home used to be.
She knew it was her fault.
Her mother ran over to her, wrapped in a dirty blanket. She had smudges of soot on her cheeks and a lost look in her blue eyes. Her mom’s arms wrapped around her, covering them both with the blanket, and it was al Lana could do not to shove her away. It wasn’t safe to show her love like this in public. She was probably being watched.
Lana wondered if the tears roling down her mother’s face brought Kara as much sick pleasure as her screams had.
“Where’s Dad?” asked Lana. “Is he okay?”
“He’s with the fire chief right now.”
“Show me.”
Madeline Hancock led Lana over puddles and through a crowd of neighbors. Carter Hancock was standing near the front of the fire truck, staring over the ruins of his house.
Lana hesitated for only a moment before going to him.
“Dad,” whispered Lana, choking back her tears. She couldn’t stop herself from hugging him. He looked so shaken, so devastated.
“Lana,” he said, as if he was surprised to see her.
Lana checked him over for visible signs of injury but found none. He was pale and shaking but looked unhurt. She knew that didn’t mean a damn thing, though. For al she knew he was screaming on the inside, rough, ragged screams of pain and loss. She knew what that was like al too wel.
“I think the roses may survive,” he told her as if it was the only thing holding him together. “They were far enough away from the house that the fire didn’t get them. If the water didn’t rip them apart, they may be okay.”
Lana wiped away a soot stain from his wrinkled cheek. “I’m sure they’l survive.”
He gave her an absent nod.
Madeline took her husband’s hand, and together they stared at the charred remains of their home.
Lana turned away, unable to stand witnessing the suffering she’d caused for even one more second. Standing behind her a few feet away was Caleb. He was watching her, looking invincible and strong, and she struggled against the urge to go to him and let him take away this nightmare, too. But unlike last night, this was real, and she had to face it.
Lana ripped her eyes from him and just looked at the soggy ground. “What are you going to do?” she asked her mom. “Do you want to come stay at my place?” She regretted the words the moment she said them. No way could her parents stay at her place. That would make them even more of a target than they already were.
“We’l go stay with Jenny and Todd. They have more room, and little Taylor wil take our mind off this mess like no one else could.” Taylor was their one and only grandchild, and they doted and fussed over him as if he were the only child on earth.
“Is there anything you need? Anything I can do?” asked Lana.
“No. Jenny’s on her way, and I know you’ve got your fundraiser coming up. You concentrate on that and don’t worry about us.”
Lana nodded. Her parents held each other. She turned away.
Lana puled herself together as tight as she was going to get and marched over to Caleb. “I want you to put a guard on my sister’s house. And Stacie’s.”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “Does this mean you’re ready to talk to me?”
“Wil you do it or not?”
“I wil.”
“Even if I have nothing to say.”
“We both know that’s not true,” he replied.
“Answer my question. Wil you do this or not?”
“Yeah. I’l do it.”
“No strings attached?”
“Is that what you want?” he asked her, and she knew he was talking about more than just her request for help. He was talking about them—about what they’d shared last night.
Lana shoved the thought away before it could take root. One night of kiler sex did not equal a relationship. She couldn’t let herself think otherwise, no matter how much she wanted to. “Yes. That’s what I want.”
Caleb’s expression hardened, closed up. He puled out his cel phone and pressed a button. “Assign guards at the Cramer residence as wel as her sister’s house.” He paused. “Yes, twenty-four/seven. Don’t let them know you’re there.” He hung up, looking at her with that same cold expression. “It’s done. No strings attached.”
Lana’s eyes closed in relief. At least she’d managed to get her family and her friend that much help. It wasn’t much, but it was something. More than she could have done alone. “Thank you.”
“This isn’t going to end here,” he told her. “Whatever is causing this is only going to get worse.”
Not if she cut everyone out of her life. Kara only wanted to hurt the people Lana loved, so al she had to do was pretend she didn’t love anyone. She was good at pretending, and she was going to start with Caleb. “I don’t want you folowing me around anymore.”
“Tough shit.”
“I mean it. I’m tired of having you trail after me like a puppy dog. Go home. Send someone else if you have to, but stay out of my way.”
He stepped closer, and she had to tilt her head back to look into his eyes. “I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.”
“You don’t know anything,” she told him, using the bitchiest voice she could muster.
“I know you’re scared.”
There was no way she could fool him with a lie about that. He’d been right by her side through the nightmares—both the real thing and now the ghostly remnants of it. He would see right through her lies.
She turned and walked away because there was nothing else she could do. The farther away from Caleb she got, the safer he’d be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Caleb let her go, knowing Jack was on her trail like a shadow to watch her back. He’d seen Jack’s dark sedan slip out behind her, unnoticed. She’d never see him, but he’d keep tabs on her and make sure she stayed safe.
For now, that’s al Caleb wanted. Or at least that’s what he tried to tel himself. The lie didn’t work any better than Lana’s had.
He surveyed the damage to her parents’ home. Whatever she was hiding was getting bigger every day.
Maybe something here would clue him in to what Lana was hiding. He scanned the crowd for the person in charge and found Detective Hart looking right at him. He was as good a place to start as any.
“We meet again,” said Detective Hart as Caleb approached him.
“You investigate arson as wel as robbery?”
“Who said it was arson?” asked Hart, his hazel eyes glittering with inteligence.
Caleb shook his head. He must not be thinking straight to be trapped as quickly as that. “What do you think?” he asked.
Detective Hart glanced over at the house and gave a shrug. “I think it’s more than just a coincidence that two properties connected to Lana Hancock have been singled out in the same week in a very dangerous way.”
“You got a theory?”
Hart laughed. “Not one that wil beat yours, I’l bet. Care to share?”
“Sorry. Can’t help you.” Caleb almost wished he could. There was something about Hart’s quiet competence that reminded him of David. Man, what he wouldn’t give to have David at his back right now. Not that he begrudged his friend time with his new wife. Caleb would be doing exactly the same thing that David was—doting on his bride
—if he’d been given half a chance.
As if.
“The doctor next to Lana’s office keeps reporting a suspicious man sitting outside. When our patrol car shows up, no one’s there. I’m assuming he’s one of yours?”
Caleb didn’t confirm it but said, “I wouldn’t worry about him if I were you.”
“Wouldn’t want to waste precious resources,” said Hart with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I realize that you’ve got a job to do, but so do I. I won’t step on your toes. I just want to know what we’re up against. These events aren’t just some punky kids on a crime spree. It’s more than that.”
“Is it?”
“Don’t give me that secretive shit. I know that you’re military, and based on the limited information available, you’re probably Special Forces. You wouldn’t be here if this wasn’t big.”
“It’s ilegal for me to operate inside the United States. I’m just a guy on leave protecting my girlfriend from some pranksters.”
“Yeah, and I’m the fucking tooth fairy. Drop the crap and tel me what I can do, even if you don’t want to tel me why. Miss Hancock’s been through hel enough already.”
Caleb hadn’t expected the detective to know about her past, though he guessed he should have. She was something of a local celebrity. Thanks to the press, everyone knew she was the girl who was taken hostage and lived to tel, the girl who came back and devoted her life to helping kids.
“That’s why I’m here.”
“It’s also why I’m here. I don’t want to see a sweet girl come to a bad end. Let me do my job.”
Caleb didn’t want to bring anyone else into this mess. He had enough men already, and no matter how much Hart reminded him of David, he wasn’t David. Didn’t have David’s training or history. “Sorry. Wish I could help.”
Hart uttered a caustic string of curses, stomped off a few feet, ran a hand over his face and came back. He was like a freaking buldog, refusing to let it drop. “I hear there’s a big shindig going down at the youth center,” said Hart calmly as if his little fit had vented off al that frustration.
“In a few days,” said Caleb.
“Gonna be lots of kids there, from what I hear.”
“You heard right. Is that a problem?”
“Not for me. In fact, plenty of us on the force think what Lana’s doing is great. We’d love to come out and lend a hand.”
Caleb finaly puled his head out of his ass far enough to figure out what Hart was offering. Police protection. “I suppose we can always use the help,” he told the detective.
“That’s good to know. I like a cooperative man,” he said with no lack of sarcasm.
Caleb just grinned, liking Hart more by the second.
“Who should I contact?” asked Hart.
“Me. Lana’s got enough on her plate with the art auction, so some of my buddies and I are helping run the carnival side of the fundraiser.”
“Buddies. You mean coworkers.”
Caleb confirmed nothing. He didn’t want to draw any attention to the fact that there was a team of former and active Delta Force operators hanging out in the middle of Missouri.
“Whoever they are, I’d love to meet them. When’s our first meeting?”
There was a little more than a week until the carnival, and Caleb figured Hart would need some time to organize things on his end. “How about right now?”
Hart raised his dark eyebrows. “Don’t you need to folow Lana home?”