His phone buzzed on his hip. Jacob. He punched Connect.
“Griff, there’s another fire. This time behind your house.”
Dammit to hell.
“I’ll send my deputy inside to stand watch over Ginny while you go home.”
“What’s wrong?” Ginny asked as he hung up.
“A fire behind my house. Jacob’s there. I have to go.” He explained about the deputy. “Stay inside your room, Ginny. Bouldercrest could have set this fire to lure me away from you, so don’t go anywhere until I come back.”
He gave her a quick hug, hurried out the door, waited until she locked it then jogged down the stairs.
* * *
IT WAS ALREADY HAPPENING. Robert was targeting Griff because he was helping her. No one was safe if they got close to her.
Why had she let down her guard for even a moment?
Praying Griff’s house was okay and grateful his brother was meeting him there, she locked the door, then stepped into the shower. That kiss with Griff taunted her. Sweet and tender, but she’d tasted need and desire, a potent combination.
Griff knew how to respect a woman. To give, not simply take as Robert had done. To step away if she asked.
She didn’t want to ask. She wanted him to kiss her again. To feel his lips on her and his arms around her and to know that she wasn’t alone.
The hot water usually calmed her, but anxiety felt like needles pricking her skin. She quickly rinsed off, then towel-dried her hair and hurried to dress.
Just as she opened her suitcase, the sound of a telephone ringing echoed. She reached for her purse, then realized it wasn’t her phone. A chill slithered through her as she felt in her bag. Buried beneath her underwear, she found a burner cell phone ringing.
Her heart raced, but she steeled herself as she answered. “Hello.”
“It’s good to hear your voice, love,” Robert murmured. “I’ve missed you.”
She closed her eyes and envisioned her sister’s face in her mind. Felt her sister’s terror as Robert had wrapped his hands around her throat.
Then Joy’s face. She hadn’t known the woman, but she imagined her shock and terror when she’d realized the man she thought charming was a sadistic animal.
And Mitzi, the sweet, friendly young woman who liked to bake.
“You took Mitzi, didn’t you?”
“I warned you not to leave me.”
“She has nothing to do with us, Robert. Please let her go.”
“I can’t do that now, love. You have to be taught a lesson.”
Emotions thickened Ginny’s throat. “I’ve learned my lesson. Just let her go.”
His heavy breathing echoed over the line. “Not until you admit you belong to me. I told you that the first time we made love.”
She swallowed hard at the memory. That night had started off tender and romantic. But when he’d held her arms above her head, looked into her eyes and declared that she was his, fear had rippled through her. The romance and tenderness had evaporated. In its place, she’d seen a dark, obsessive streak.
“I don’t belong to you,” she said matter-of-factly. “I told you that when I left. But Mitzi shouldn’t have to suffer because of me.”
“And I told you that I’d never let you go.”
His sinister tone made bile rise to her throat. “You killed Joy Norris, didn’t you?”
A bitter laugh rumbled over the line. “She wasn’t you, my love. No one else can ever take your place. Don’t you know that by now?”
She inhaled slowly. “You need psychiatric help, Robert. Turn yourself in and get some counseling.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me, Reese. But when you make promises, you should keep them. And you promised yourself to me when you crawled in my bed.”
He was twisting everything to his advantage. Her therapist had warned her that abusers were manipulative and made the victims feel as if they were at fault.
“I didn’t promise to let you abuse me or murder anyone,” she retorted. “Now let Mitzi go, Robert, and leave me alone.”
“I will never leave you,” he whispered darkly. “Never.”
“But I don’t love you.” How could she love a monster?
“Because of that fireman,” he said, his voice terse.
She breathed in and out again. “He has nothing to do with this.”
“You spent the night with him,” Robert said. “You cheated on me.”
“We would have to be a couple for me to cheat on you,” she quipped. “And we’re not a couple and never will be.”
A tense heartbeat passed. His breathing became more erratic. “But we will be together again. And this time it will be forever.”
“That’s not going to happen, Robert. Forcing me and killing my sister and other women won’t make me love you.”
“Because you’re in love with him?” he said bitterly.
No, she wasn’t. Was she?
“Once he’s gone, you’ll come back to me.”
She opened her mouth to tell him that Griff meant nothing to her. She had to protect him. But the line went dead in her hands.
* * *
GRIFF HIT THE ground running as soon as he made it back to his cabin. Relief hit him when he realized the fire hadn’t spread to his house.
But he spotted the blaze in the woods behind his property, ran around the cabin to the backyard and down the hill into the brush. The fire engine had managed to park in close proximity to the burning leaves and trees, and his team was already geared up and spraying the flames from the fire hoses. Smoke billowed above the treetops and floated into the sky, a thick gray that obscured the clouds above.
Jacob stood at the edge of the scene, a grim look on his face. “Those boys didn’t start this,” he said as Griff joined him. “I’ve already checked with their parents and they’re at home. Seems the parents took action after the interrogations and are monitoring their movements.”
“It’s Bouldercrest,” Griff said, his pulse hammering. “He was here before. Now he’s leaving me a message.” That lighter he’d found at the ridge probably belonged to him. And so did the boot print.
Jacob wiped sweat from his brow. Already the scent of burned lumber and grass permeated the air, and ashes swirled in the breeze, the fire threatening to spread to other areas of the woods as the embers fell onto dry land.