Hearts on Fire 4: Kisses Sweeter Than Pie(10)

“Nina, are you okay?” Johnny asked as he gripped her arm. She was standing up and so were they. Both men towered over her and now Trent was looking over her body. She crossed her arms over her chest in hopes of hiding her aroused nipples from his stare.

She turned away from them. “I’m sorry, who do I speak to about this fire? When can I go back to my apartment?” she asked.

“You may not be able to get back to your apartment at all,” Johnny told her. She gasped, the reality of this night was crashing down upon her. She felt her stomach churning, and her heart pounded inside of her chest. She’d lost everything. She had nothing left but what was on her back.

“Oh God.” She covered her mouth and closed her eyes. She felt herself losing her balance when strong arms held her and assisted her in to sitting back down on the end of the fire truck.

Johnny covered her legs with his hands as he knelt down in front of her.

“It’s going to be okay, Nina. We have a lot of assistance programs here in Treasure Town. You’re not alone.” He held her gaze.

She shook her head, and tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I am alone, and now I have nothing. Not even the pies I baked for Sullivan’s. That was going to be my first job to introduce my homemade pies to the boardwalk. I baked eight pies tonight and they needed to be at Sullivan’s by 8:00 a.m. Now they won’t hire me. I lost the opportunity because some jerk gets off on setting things on fire? Why is this happening to me? Why? Everything I owned was in that apartment. Including the money from the pies I sold today. There’s nothing. Are you sure it’s completely destroyed in there?” she asked as she looked up toward the smoking building. There wasn’t any more fire but just smoldering ash and firefighters pulling down siding and broken windows. To her the building looked intact and the firefighters did get to the scene quickly.

“That’s what you were trying to drag out of there? A bunch of pies you needed to get to Sullivan’s?” a firefighter asked, joining the conversation.

She nodded. “I can’t believe this is happening.” She closed her eyes.

“Let’s get back to the person you saw today by the Dumpster. You said you think it was a teenager?” Trent pushed.

“She saw someone? You think it may be our arsonist?” Ace asked as Chief Martelli joined them.

“I didn’t see anything. I’m sorry. I was mistaken.” She knew she sounded guilty or at minimum like she was lying. She was. She even saw the teen’s face and could give a description, but that would bring her more trouble. She couldn’t let these men know who she was, her last name, or anything about her. It would only put her in further danger.

“You don’t need to be scared, Nina. My name is Trent Landers, Johnny’s brother. I’m an arson investigator and we’ve been trying to track this arsonist down for months. He’s caused a lot of damage, but this situation, this fire is the worst. He’s stepped it up and someone, you, could have been killed,” he told her. She stared at his dark eyes and even darker hair. He was tan and muscular and seemed older in a very attractive way.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you,” she whispered. Trent released an annoyed sigh. She kept her head down and shivered until someone placed a blanket over her shoulders. She was shocked as feelings of guilt filled her body. Why should she feel guilty for not helping these men? She didn’t know them and she didn’t owe them anything. Even though the firefighters rescued her, sort of, she just couldn’t help them. It would place her life in danger. Six months she’d been on the run. Six months and no sign of Rico or his crew of thugs. Maybe she’d actually gotten away. No, she couldn’t help the arson investigator. This wasn’t her problem, her responsibility. Surviving, living was her responsibility. Nothing more.

“Sit back and rest. We’ll need to see the damage to the building before we can let you back into your apartment to see if we can salvage anything,” Trent told her, and he sounded disappointed. Great, now she could feel guilty and even worse about that, too.

Nina saw two more men walk onto the scene and both wore badges. One was the sheriff. She was immediately on guard. She needed to be smart about this. She had to be.

She watched from the corner of her eye as the sheriff and the other man, who was just as tall and filled with muscles, stood beside him. He glanced at her and she thought he looked familiar. She turned away.



* * * *



“Is the young woman okay?” Jake McCurran asked Johnny, and Johnny nodded.

“She was renting the apartment upstairs. She escaped through the fire escape and made it out,” he added.

“No injuries?” Detective Buddy Landers asked, looking back toward her.

“A bad cut on her side but she refused going to the hospital.”

Jake thought Johnny seemed upset. “You think she should be going?”

“It’s pretty bad, but she signed the papers and I can’t force her.”

“Who is she?” Buddy asked.

“Don’t know. Like I said, she was renting the apartment upstairs. It seems like she lost everything she had. She’s pretty upset.”

“Damn, well, we’ll connect her with Red Cross, and they can assist her, too,” Jake said.

“I don’t know. She seems suspicious to me. I don’t get it,” Trent told them with a firm expression on his face as he stared at Nina.

“Suspicious? How so?” Jake asked and Trent explained about her saying she saw someone and then retracting her statement.

“Maybe she’s just afraid the person might come after her. Perhaps Buddy and I could talk to her and let her see she would be safe. It would just be an anonymous tip,” Jake suggested.

“We can try,” Buddy said.

“She’s not budging. There’s something up with her. Mark my words,” Trent added, sounding untrusting.

“We’ll try,” Jake told Trent and then nodded toward Buddy.



* * * *



As they approached the young woman, Buddy realized why Johnny and Trent were acting so odd and kept looking over at the woman. She was extremely attractive. When she turned to look up toward him, he locked gazes with the most amazing eyes he had ever seen. They looked like the eyes of a porcelain doll or some exotic native woman, yet her complexion seemed more Italian than Hispanic or even Indian.

“Miss, I’m Sheriff McCurran and this is Detective Landers. We wanted to personally come over here and make sure that you’re doing okay. Is there anything that we can get you?” Jake asked.

Buddy was grateful because right now all he could absorb was the woman’s beauty from eyes and hair to lips and chest. The blanket she wore over her shoulder was hanging off on one side, revealing more tan skin.

“I’m fine. Thank you,” she whispered and then nibbled her bottom lip.

Jake pulled out his notepad and a pen.

“I just need a little information from you as we write up a report of this incident along with Engine 19. Can you tell me your full name?”

“It’s Nina.”

Jake raised one eyebrow up at her. “Full name?”

“Do you really need that? I mean what are you going to do with the information?”

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Buddy asked her. She gulped and widened her eyes. She shook her head, but something in Buddy’s gut twisted. Call it instincts from being a detective all these years and just plain experience. What kind of trouble could this pretty little young woman be in? He observed her closely.

“Then giving us your name is necessary. We have to cover all aspects of this investigation. Now last name, too,” Buddy said.

“Valez,” she whispered.

“How long have you lived in the apartment here?”

“Three months.”

“Where did you live before?”

She hesitated and looked at Buddy. Again his stomach clenched.

“Where?” Jake pushed in that authoritative way that definitely made most people respond immediately.

Nina looked him over. “What relevance does this have to your arson investigation?” She stood up from the fire truck, letting the blanket fall off her shoulders. Buddy absorbed her figure and the fact that she wore no bra under her tank top. She was well endowed. He was shocked by his body’s reaction and the sensation of attraction that hit his chest immediately. He didn’t even know who this woman was, and her attitude told him she was hiding something. Trent was right. He focused on Jake’s tone.

“Nina, you need to cooperate.” Just then someone called out Jake’s name. It was Trent and he was waving him over.

“I’ll continue with the questions, Jake,” Buddy offered and took the pen and pad in hand and looked at Nina. Jake gave her a firm expression before walking away.

“We need to know who you are. It’s part of the process.”

She looked at him and nibbled her bottom lip. “I’m not involved in the arson investigation aspect of this case. I don’t know you, this sheriff, or anyone else around here. I don’t see why I have to give all my personal information to strangers.”

“We’re the law. A serious crime has been committed. You probably lost all your belongings and valuables in that fire and justice will be served. We will find the one responsible for this.”