Hearts on Fire 9: Her Shadows of Light (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “I have to wait until these stitches get taken out and the doctors, both in the hospital and the police department physician, give the okay. I think by Friday. Not sure,” Pat said.

  “I just need for the stitches to be removed. Maybe a few more days but I can do the job. They’ll probably play it safe and make me wait longer.”

  “That was so crazy how that fire and the explosions happened. We could hear them from the office, and when I heard the sirens, I was so worried about you guys, and I didn’t even know if you would be the ones responding,” she said to them.

  “It wasn’t a normal fire, that’s for shit sure,” Rusty said as he played with the rim of his glass.

  “No it wasn’t. I haven’t seen or been in a fire like that in several years, like when that blaze was set on purpose over at the abandoned warehouse by the swamp,” Reece added.

  Brighid felt instantly sick to her stomach. She had been so worried when she knew they were injured, but then to find out that her boss could be somehow involved with the fire was eating her up inside. She placed her fork down and then looked up to see them all watching her. Rusty reached out and caressed her hair.

  “We’re not going to lie. We’re worried about you going to that job of yours. It isn’t safe. Those men you work for could have something to do with this,” he said to her.

  “I don’t really want to work there anymore, knowing what could have possibly gone down, but if it helps to secure a criminal case, then I really should stay there,” she said.

  “But you don’t have to. Let the investigators handle it. They need to gather the evidence and prove arson and insurance fraud. We want you safe.” Reece took her hand and brought it to her lips.

  “I know you do, but if I leave now, for no reason at all, then they’ll get suspicious, and it could screw things up. Tobin said that the investigators got here tonight from Connecticut and should be making plans to go by the firm tomorrow and start issuing subpoenas and begin gathering evidence. They’re following their protocol. It’s better that I’m there and it looks like I didn’t know anything about them coming or that I shared my suspicions with Tobin and the investigators from the state police.”

  “I don’t like it.” Rusty stood up from the table. “How can you ensure her safety, Tobin? We don’t even know who the arsonist is.”

  “They have a name,” Tobin said, “and they did research on the guy and are making connections to other stuff. They’ll find him. In the meantime, this insurance fraud situation is pretty big. If they can get her bosses and charge them, then they could get more information on this arsonist they hired to do these fires. Then the state police and arson investigators from Connecticut can arrest the guy and charge him with numerous other arson fires and charges, including murder.”

  “Murder?” she asked, shocked that this was the first she was hearing about it.

  “Yes, Brighid. The investigators believe that the person who your bosses hired to start these fires to collect insurance money is the same person they’re after for a set of five fires where five women were killed. From what I gathered from the investigators from Connecticut, there was a similar substance—a residue—that was found at all the crime scenes linking them.”

  “Goddamn, they think this is the same guy?” Reece asked.

  “Then he’s somewhere in town as we speak,” Rusty added.

  “What does he look like? Can you get a hold of a picture?” Pat asked Tobin.

  “I can tomorrow when I meet with the investigators and our team in the morning. I would say by late afternoon we’ll have those subpoenas and the search warrants to get a hold of the computers and files in the office, plus phone taps, too.”

  “So this could all be over by tomorrow night?” Reece asked Tobin.

  “It very well could be,” Tobin said.

  “Then I need to stick with what I’m doing and go to work. It will all be over by tomorrow.” She gave Reece and Rusty a reassuring smile.

  Rusty sat back down and pulled her close. “Why not call in tomorrow and stay here with us. We could make love all day and snuggle in bed.” He kissed along her neck and then her shoulder.

  “I can’t. I need to be there by eight. I’ve been getting there early every day, and if I show up late, they’ll ask me questions.”

  “Well then, I say let’s clean up from dinner and head straight to bed for dessert,” Reece told her, and she chuckled.

  She ran her finger along his chin and then she slid off her chair and straddled him. He wrapped his arm around her waist, lifting her shirt in the process.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about where I want to make love to you.” He kissed her throat and then her lips.

  “Oh really? Like where?” she asked, practically moaning in his embrace.

  “What better place to eat you out than on the dinner table?”

  She gasped as he lifted her up, placed her onto the table, and lay her down. He spread her thighs and scooted closer right before he licked her bare cunt. She was even more shocked to realize that the others had moved the dishes off the table and made room for him to lay her down. They hadn’t said a word. It was as though they could read one another’s minds and knew exactly what they wanted. Her, to feast on.

  Tobin and Pat leaned over, pushed her shirt upward toward her breasts, and then began to suckle them.

  “Now this is a meal I certainly could get used to seeing on the table when I get home from work,” Reece said as she moaned from their simultaneous stimulating touches until she couldn’t hold back any longer and came.

  “Damn, I think I could get very used to this too,” she said, and they all chuckled, making her pussy spasm and her heart leap for joy at the love she had for her four very attentive and creative first responders.

  Chapter 7

  Stark had everything in place. The bed was moved to the center of the basement. The locks, the chains, and bindings for her legs and wrists were secure, and there would be no way she could escape. The house he’d rented for six months was under Lenny’s name, the sap. He didn’t even know it. Just signed whatever Stark asked him, too. In fact, he’d even paid for most of what Stark had lined up in the house. He gathered all his tools, the table, and the training devices. He wasn’t going to give up on Brighid like he did the others. No, Brighid was different. She was stronger, tougher, calmer than the ones before her. She would be his greatest prize, an amazing ending to his career as a paid arsonist.

  The other day had been his last job. He’d lost his focus. He screwed up because he was thinking of her, his angel of fire. But it didn’t matter anymore. No one would find them. He would take a few days to break her in, to get her to listen and submit to his authority. Then they would leave town, move on to another location and work on their personal bonding time. But first he would show her the power he had and what exactly fire would help him to achieve with her.

  He glanced at his watch. It was almost time. She always got to work early, and today would be no different. Today, he would be there waiting for her.

  * * * *

  Matt Walsh was an auxiliary cop waiting to get hired on as a full-time deputy for the Treasure Town sheriff’s department. He was on the list, and basically, doing this job as auxiliary helped him to score points with the big shots and let them know how serious he was about law enforcement. Truth was he didn’t have much more time to waste. If they didn’t hire him soon, he would have to search for a different profession, preferably one that paid him regularly. So when he got the call from the department this morning about doing some security work for a potential situation that would occur later in the afternoon with some big shots from Connecticut, he figured he better say yes.

  It was kind of lame parking here since six a.m. Nothing was happening on the street near the Leisure Insurance Company. There were only a few cars parked and one black van, which had pulled up about fifteen minutes ago and had the word PVT Delivery in white on it. He’d never heard of it, and the van
just parked alongside another three spots near the front of the insurance firm. He couldn’t really see into the window of the van because they were darkly tinted, but then he noticed two other cars pull up and two men got out, exchanging hellos and never really taking interest in the van, so neither did Mathew.

  But then a man opened the door and stepped out of the van. He looked at the cars, and then he looked right at Mathew.

  The man had a big smile on his face as he walked across the landscaping and then the road. He came around the side of the police cruiser, and Mathew had his window down.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Nope, just waiting on my girl to arrive.”

  “Your girl?” Mathew asked.

  “Yep, and you’re going to be a problem.”

  It was really fast how quickly the man reached up and stuck Mathew in the neck. Mathew felt his body go numb very quickly. The man’s face was clear as day, and Mathew would never forget it. He memorized it before he passed out completely.

  * * * *

  Brighid was listening to the radio and heard about the bad weather coming their way tonight. Lots of heavy rain, winds, thunder, and lightning. The surf was going to be extra rough and the fear for flash flooding high. She would be glad when today was over and she could stay with her men at their place where she would feel safe and warm. She pulled into the parking lot at the office and noticed the police car across the way. Her heart began to race, and she wondered if something was already happening since Lenny and Ray were already there. But there didn’t seem to be anyone in the vehicle. She parked between Lenny’s car and the black van that she didn’t recognize at all. But the words on the side indicated that it was some kind of delivery van. She got out then opened the passenger door to grab her things.

  She heard a door open and turned just in time to see a man dressed in black. She saw his face and gasped, recognizing him as the same man from a few weeks ago and from the Station.

  “Get in the van, Brighid. You’re coming with me.”

  “No. Who the hell are you?” She stepped away from her car door to close it. He snagged her around the waist. She lost her footing. Her high heel rocked, and she nearly twisted her ankle as he pulled her into the van. She struggled to get free as she kicked and swung her arms. He swung back, backhanding her to the face, splitting her lip, and causing her to fall to the floor of the van. She heard it close hard, and then he was on top of her, hitting her and knocking her in the face, the stomach, and ribs.

  “No! Stop it, please. Please,” she screamed.

  He grabbed her wrists held them together and wrapped some rope around them. She could hardly see through the tears in her eyes and the pain that was making her gasp for breath. Her ribs felt broken, and her cheeks, lips, and eyes throbbed.

  He shook her hard, making her head hit the metal of the van. “You stupid bitch. You need to listen to me and obey me. Nothing else exists for you anymore but me. Nothing.” He tied her ankles together and then strapped a rope around her waist and secured her to the back of the seat on the passenger side. He climbed over the console and into the driver’s seat.

  “Here we go, angel of fire. Life is just about to begin for us.”

  Brighid cried hysterically. She knew who the man was. He had to be the arsonist who’d started all the fires, the killer who murdered people. Why was he taking her? What could he possibly want with me?

  “Why are you doing this? What is it you want from me?” she cried.

  “Your body and your soul.”

  * * * *

  “What the hell do you mean he took her? When? How do you know?” Tobin asked, yelling into the phone at Buddy Landers.

  “They found Matt Walsh unconscious in the front seat of the patrol vehicle. He was injected with some sort of chemical that knocked him out. Paramedics are bringing him to the hospital now. Brighid’s car door was open and her bags on the ground, plus one high heel. The investigators are here, too. We’re looking at the surveillance video, and it looks like the arsonist took her, Tobin. He’s driving a black delivery van, and we got an APB out on it now. Jake’s getting the helicopters up and sending a message along to the surrounding towns.”

  “Son of a bitch. I knew I shouldn’t have let her go to work alone. She shouldn’t even be there.”

  “I know. The investigators are trying to figure out why he took her. We have the picture of the guy and are spreading it through to all the cops and the public. You should be receiving a text from me now.”

  Tobin looked at his phone. He pulled over to the side of the road.

  “Wait a minute. I’ve seen this guy before.”

  “You have? Where?”

  “At the Station one night. He started talking to Brighid when she came out of the bathroom, and she looked uncomfortable. I got over to her and was going to introduce myself, but the guy gave me an odd look and then told Brighid he would see her soon. She said she really didn’t know him but that he showed up at the office one day and claimed to be a client, but then he left. This is the arsonist? The guy those investigators believe killed those women?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck. We have to find her. He’ll burn her and then kill her like the others.”

  “The investigators are looking up any places where he could have taken her in the vicinity. We’re also questioning Lenny and Ray. They don’t seem to lying about not knowing the arsonist came to take Brighid. They’re pretty upset about it.”

  “I don’t believe them. They know something. They have to know a hideout or a safe house for this guy. There’s too much money involved to not be prepared. I’m going to get my brothers, and then we’re coming there. Someone had to have seen that van.”

  Tobin turned around and headed back to the house. He called his brother Pat to inform him of the situation and to get ready.

  “What the fuck do you mean the arsonist has her? How the hell could this happen? What does he want with her, Tobin?” Pat asked, raising his voice.

  “I don’t know. I have no fucking clue.”

  “You said this is the guy they believed murdered women? Burned them in fires? He’ll kill Brighid.”

  “Not if we can figure out where he is and stop him. I need all of you to help me. I’m not going to stand by and wait for the other investigators to try and get a location. The waiting and not physically helping to do something will make me lose my fucking mind. I’m coming by the house now. Get the guys and be ready.”

  They were going to figure out where this guy had taken Brighid. She had to be scared out of her mind. He’d told her she was safe and that she was protected.

  He gripped the steering wheel and felt the tightness in his chest. She was their woman, their responsibility, and he’d failed her. When he thought about having the information about the serial arsonist and about the information the state police investigators gave him about the connection and believing it was the same man, Tobin should have immediately taken precautions, even if they were overkill.

  He banged the steering wheel with his fist as he clenched his teeth.

  I sat there last night and told her she was safe. I told my brothers that there was nothing to worry about and that this would all be over by tonight.

  Brighid could be dead by tonight.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

  He thought about his brothers. They were resourceful and well trained. Together, they had to find her. Her life depended upon it.

  * * * *

  “Holy shit, did you see that?” Billy Parker stated as he swerved his Mustang to the side. A black van came whizzing by him around the corner from his development.

  “Billy, what are you doing? Why are you turning around?” Shelly, his girlfriend, asked him as she grabbed onto his arm. He shrugged it free.

  “That guy is going to kill someone. There are little kids running around this development waiting for school busses and stuff.”

  “So we’ll call the police and let them handle it. Call your cous
in. He’s friends with Sheriff McCurran.”

  Billy shook his head, and as he came around the corner slowly, he saw the van pull into the driveway of an old house, one everyone thought was abandoned. Recently they’d seen lights on inside and knew someone was renting it but never saw a face.

  “There, see he lives right there and probably was just in a hurry. Forget about it. I don’t want to be late for first period or Mr. Miller is going to give me detention again. It sucks. Come on.” She tugged on Billy’s sleeve.

  He watched the garage door close, and it didn’t sit right with him. If he saw that van again driving recklessly, he was definitely going to call his cousin. He turned around and headed back out of the development and right to the high school.

  Chapter 8

  Brighid could hardly breathe. The air was so thick and she was sweating so much she was passing in and out of consciousness. Sweat dripped from her brow and down her neck, and she wished for something cold, even just a gentle breeze or an open window. She pulled on the bindings. She couldn’t see them but felt them against her wrists and against her ankles. She realized, too, that she had no clothes on, only her panties and bra. Everything hurt. Her mouth, her cheeks, her ribs, and her inner thighs. It was pitch-black wherever they were. She inhaled and could smell what she could only describe as a basement odor. Cement, mildew, maybe mothballs. It made her feel sick.

  She heard a noise, a scratch-like sound, and then she saw the flame.

  She heard his voice.

  “You keep fighting me, angel of fire. That’s why you pass out. What I gave you this time will make you relax and accept your fate.” He brought the candle closer toward her. He turned it sideways and the hot wax dripped onto her skin, singeing her.

  “No. No,” she cried out, but it sounded as though she was talking so slowly, like some weird cartoon show where the voices were slowed down to sound really weird. He pulled back.