“Fine,” she muttered harshly, taking her foot off the accelerator and heading toward the exit. “Happy? Now start talking.”
“I was attacked earlier this evening at the site of a warehouse fire,” Mitch said. “Just before I was hit from behind, I saw a pair of jean-clad legs sticking out from a pile of rubble.”
She stopped at a stoplight, then turned to face him. “What makes you think the body was a result of murder?”
“The light’s turned green,” he said.
She scowled and hit the gas. “You’re not making any sense.”
He rubbed his temple and acknowledged she was right. He needed to start at the very beginning. “My boss, Fire Chief Rick Nelson, left me a message telling me to meet him at the warehouse at nine,” he explained. “I didn’t get the message right away, so I was almost thirty minutes late. When I arrived at the warehouse, which also happened to be the site of a recent fire that I deemed to be caused by arson, I thought the place was empty. But then I went inside and saw a pair of jean-clad legs in the beam of my flashlight. Before I could go over to investigate, someone hit me from behind. I turned, so the strike connected along the side of my neck and shoulder, but there was enough force that I fell to the ground. My head bounced on the concrete.” He gingerly felt along the back of his head, fingering a lump the size of a golf ball.
“Should I keep going straight? Or head west?” Dana asked when she came to the next intersection.
“West.” He didn’t have a destination in mind, other than to avoid going to his place or hers. There was the slim possibility that the guy chasing them might have gotten her license plate number.
“I still don’t understand.” Dana turned the steering wheel to head west. “The police are notified for each ambulance call. They would have met up with you here in the ER and would have placed you under arrest if you were suspected of murder.”
“I’m aware of how it works,” he said in a dry tone. “A few of my brothers are cops. Thankfully, I only blacked out for a few minutes. When I came to, I went over to check on the person lying half buried in the debris. The body was that of a young woman with long blond hair, and she was dead from a gunshot wound to her chest.” He wasn’t quite ready to admit that he not only knew the dead woman but had dated her a year earlier. “I heard the sirens and knew that whoever had hit me must have called the police. I managed to get away before they arrived.”
“You drove yourself to the hospital,” she concluded.
“Yes. My goal was to get stitched up and quickly discharged. I didn’t anticipate that I’d be found and attacked again.” He was ticked off at how ruthlessly the guy had come after him, not even caring about injuring an innocent woman in the process. Then again, maybe he was the same guy who’d murdered Janice Valencia in the first place? If that was the case, the guy was capable of anything. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess.”
“It’s hardly your fault,” she said, but her tone lacked conviction. “Do you want me to take you home?”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I can’t go home. This guy obviously knows who I am. Which means he’ll easily be able to figure out where I live. I have no idea why someone has decided to frame me, but it must involve the dead girl somehow.”
“Okay, so where to, then?” Thinly veiled frustration convinced him that Dana was clearly anxious to get rid of him, not that he could blame her.
“Maybe a motel,” he said, thinking out loud.
“A motel?” She raised an eyebrow. “Why not get in touch with your family?”
“I’m not putting them in danger.” He considered giving Miles a call, but it was already approaching midnight. Better to wait until morning. Miles was a Milwaukee homicide detective, but he also happened to have his hands full with a new baby son.
His other brother, Matt, was a K-9 officer but he was currently on his honeymoon with his new bride, Lacy. His mother and grandmother were taking care of Rory, Lacy’s newly adopted son, and Duchess, Matt’s canine partner.
Dana let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, fine. There’s no need to stay in a motel. You can bunk at my place. But only until the morning, understand?”
As much as he was touched by her offer, there was no way she was going home, either. “Listen, Dana, I need you to understand that you could be in danger now, too. Unfortunately, I can’t let you go home. Not yet. It’s not safe.”
The car swerved as she turned to gape at him. “What are you talking about? I’m not the target here, you are. This is your problem, Mitch Callahan, not mine!”
He winced, wishing there was something he could say to smooth things over. Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d failed to save her rookie firefighter husband’s life three years ago? To think she’d actually come over to thank him, only to be placed in harm’s way!
“I’m sorry, Dana. But I think we have to assume the guy may have gotten your license plate number.”
“So what if he did? Are you saying he has the connections to find my home address? To track me down?”
She had a point, but he couldn’t get over the fact that his boss had been the one to set up the meeting at the warehouse. Especially after handing him all of Jeff Walker’s cases where he’d found several irregularities. What did it mean? Why would Rick try to set him up? Or had the phone call been someone pretending to be his boss? No, that didn’t make sense, either; the call had come from Rick’s office number. Not many people had access to the office of the fire chief.
The throbbing in his head hurt the more he considered the various scenarios, none of which sat well.
And how did Janice fit in? He felt sick that she’d been killed. They had broken up a year ago, after he’d found her in bed with another guy, Simon Wylan, also a firefighter. But that seemed to be a weak motive to set him up for murder.
“Well?” Dana demanded, looking madder than a queen bee.
“Yes, I’m afraid it is possible he could track you down. And that’s a risk I’m not willing to take.” He reached out to lightly touch her arm. She was still wearing a pair of bright green scrubs, the color matching her eyes, topped with a thin scrub jacket that was white and decorated with shamrocks. “Please, Dana. I need you to go along with me on this. We’ll get adjoining rooms. I just need a little time.”
“Time for what?” she asked, her voice brittle. She didn’t look toward him at all, but kept her gaze focused on the road.
He hesitated, considered how to best encourage her to go along with his plan. “Time to make sure that you’re safe.”
There was a long pause as a full minute went by. Then another.
Finally she let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. I’ll agree to this crazy madness for now. But not one second longer than necessary, understand?”
“I do. Thank you.” He dropped his hand from her arm, relieved that he didn’t have to fight with her anymore. “Do you know where The American Lodge is? I know the owner—he’s a retired firefighter and a friend of mine.”
“Yes.” She didn’t say anything more and he didn’t push her. Right now, he was satisfied to have a destination in mind.
Mitch put his hand to his neck in an attempt to assess the damage he’d done to the wound. It throbbed painfully, as did the lump on his head.
“Don’t touch it,” Dana said, her sharp tone making him quickly drop his hand. “Check inside the glove compartment, I have tissues and hand sanitizer in there. We’ll take them inside with us so I can clean up that incision.”
He found the items and set them in the empty cup holder in the console between them.
Ten