“Oh, okay, I get it now. I forgot about your shoulder,” Todd said, reaching for a chair. “Sucks for you guys though.”
Josh gave Todd a look before saying to Em, “I’m fine. You don’t have to baby me.”
“Not that fine or you wouldn’t be so testy.” Todd put an elbow on the table and cupped his chin in his hand. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you grumpy. It’s kind of a hot look on you.”
Em held back a snort of amusement. Todd was right. Josh was grumpy… and hot. “I’m not babying you. I’m taking care of you just like you took care of me. Enjoy it while it lasts.” She kissed his stubbled cheek and walked into the kitchen. “So what brings you here this early?” she asked Todd, reaching for the mugs in the cupboard.
“Fire chief cleared us to go into Seaton House, and I figured you’d want to join me.”
“I do.” She poured their coffee, added cream and sugar, and brought them over to the table. “Did you talk to Gwen?” she asked, handing Josh and then Todd their drinks. Gwen had been providing security for the house last night at Em’s request.
“I did, and you were right. Steve showed up an hour ago. He brought coffee and muffins as an excuse for coming.”
Jenny had arrived five minutes after they’d finished giving their statements last night. She had Charlotte with her but not Steve. They’d learned he had a cold and had stayed home. Steve had shown up a few minutes later. Supposedly his cold medicine had knocked him out, and he hadn’t noticed the sirens or emergency lights until just then.
“Gwen didn’t let him in, did she?”
“No. She said he didn’t seem interested in going inside. He was more interested in showing them the damage the rocks had left on the window frames and where he’d cleaned up the egg.”
Steve had said he wasn’t surprised by what had happened. Jenny had acknowledged that he’d shared his concerns with her, and she felt bad for going ahead with the Embrace Your Inner Witch town hall meeting, fearing that she’d made things worse. But Steve had placed the blame on Peter O’Brien for stirring the pot, which, according to Steve, had resulted in rocks being thrown at the windows and the house being egged.
“None of which actually happened because you’d been keeping an eye on the house,” Josh said.
“Not to mention that was the first time I’d heard about it from Steve,” Em said.
“Which he realized when you gave him your cop’s stare, and why he tried to draw Neil into it,” Todd said.
“Neil didn’t exactly corroborate his story,” Em said.
“Probably because he was still trying to process his son’s confession about trying to connect with his mom and then you and Josh sharing that you see dead people.”
“Dead person would be more accurate,” Em said.
“No. I’m pretty sure it’s dead people,” Josh said, taking one last swallow of his coffee before pushing back from the table. “We saw the woman in the turret window.”
“Right.” She frowned when he got up from the table. “Where are you going?”
“To grab a shower and then I’ll go with you to Seaton House. I don’t have a class until ten.”
Short of calling in sick for Josh, Em couldn’t figure a way to get him to stay home for the day and rest. He wasn’t impressed when she kept checking in with him as they did a walk-through of Seaton House. The main floor had suffered significant damage from not only the fire but from the water.
“I’m a volunteer firefighter, Em. I’ve done this before so go do your thing and don’t worry about me.”
“You haven’t done it in a sling so just be careful.”
Todd grinned. “You two are so cute.”
“Shut it,” Em and Josh said at the same time and then smiled at each other.
“You don’t have to be so cranky. No one’s going to want to be around you two until you get some somethin’-somethin.’”
Josh rolled his eyes. “I’ll be right back,” he said and walked outside. The doors and windows had been left open to deal with the smoke.
“Has anyone ever told you have a one-track mind?” Em asked Todd as she crouched beside the propane blower and looked up at the landing.
“Yeah. You. What are you looking at?”
She nodded at a brick on the third stair from the top. “We’re supposed to believe that the brick was thrown through that window, hit the propane blower, which sent it rolling down the stairs, and then set the area rug on fire. Except there’s barely any glass on the landing or on the stairs.”
Josh came back inside. “There’s barely any glass inside because it’s on the ground below the window. The brick wasn’t thrown from the outside. It was used to smash the glass from the inside.”
Em smiled. “Which is why there are no dents or scratches on the propane blower that would indicate it had been hit by a brick.” She rolled the blower onto its side. “But there is an imprint of a shoe. It looks like a man’s size eleven, and by the tread, my guess is it’s a tennis shoe.”
“I didn’t have to go outside and investigate, did I? You already had it figured out,” Josh said.
She shrugged. “Let’s just say you confirmed my working theory.”
“Look at him. He’s so into you, it isn’t funny. You two really are annoying to be around. I’m going to interview our number-one suspect.” Todd glanced at Em. “Unless you want to.”
“No. I’d rather it was you.” She was a hundred percent certain Steve was responsible, and she was angry at herself for not holding him accountable for the swatting.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up,” Josh said, reaching for her with his uninjured arm. “Neither of us suspected Steve would go this far.”
“But he did, and Charlie and Mike could’ve died.”
“And you and Gus.” He drew her closer. “But you’re all okay.”
“Thanks to you.” She played with the knot on his sling.
“Me and Brad.”
She moved her hand, cupping the side of his face. “I love you, you know. I love that you believed me and that you didn’t question that Brad was there, but most of all, I just love you for being you.”
He turned his face and kissed her palm. “Todd’s right. I’m completely into you. You’re very hot when you’re in cop mode.”
“I’m glad you think so, but between Steve and my inability to solve Clara’s murder, I feel like I’ve lost my mojo.”
“Let’s go check out the basement again. It was dark when you were looking, and you had two scared kids with you.”
“You’re right. And it makes sense that the box would be hidden down there. They’ve basically torn the second floor apart and haven’t found it.”
“Plus, Willy sent the boys to the basement,” Josh pointed out.
“And Clara died there,” Em said, pulling on the string that dangled from a bald light bulb at the top of the basement stairs. “Weird,” she said when the light bulb turned on. “It didn’t work last night.”