Risky Baby Business by Debra Salonen

Author:Debra Salonen [Salonen, Debra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-944300-35-7
Publisher: Debra Salonen

Chapter 11

The fire was pretty much out by the time she, Alexa and David arrived on the scene. The smoke in the air was strong enough to bring tears to her eyes. Or maybe the tears were from the loss that she saw everywhere. Most of the roof of the house had fallen in. The blackened timbers that remained were still smoldering.

David had rushed off to check on his landlady, an old woman with frizzy red hair who was clinging to his arm as if he was the last person on earth. Liz was standing alone near the eight-foot-tall hedge waiting for Alexa, who’d returned to the car to call Yetta with an update. She’d lost track of Zeke, who had followed them in his own car.

She wasn’t sure what to do or how to help, and was startled when a voice said, “Liz? Hey, it is you. This is a shock. What are you doing here?”

Liz wiped her eyes and turned to look at the man addressing her. His regulation turnout jacket was open to reveal street clothes. His voice was familiar but it still took a few seconds to place him. “Mark,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t recognize you. When did you become a fireman?”

“Arson investigator. I sort have one foot in both camps.”

Mark Gaylord. Alexa’s ex-fiancé. The man who broke her sister’s heart by marrying another woman. His partner. Who’d been pregnant with his child.

No way. The chances of Mark Gaylord working a fire where she and her sister were both present…in a city the size of Las Vegas…on the same night their sister got married. She let out a low groan. Mother.

“Seriously, Liz. What are you doing here?”

Liz didn’t know where to begin. Instead of trying, she asked, “You suspect this was arson?”

“The neighbor who called it in—actually, I guess she owns this place, too—said she saw a man running away just minutes before the explosion.”

“What explosion?”

“Gas water heater is my guess. My team is going to be sifting through the rubble trying to figure out if there was a faulty switch or something.”

Or something?

She looked to where David was standing—near the burned-out shell of his pickup truck. Outwardly, she couldn’t tell what was going on in his head. He hadn’t seemed panicked when she and Alexa approached him and Zeke. In fact, he’d insisted on going with Zeke alone. “Both of you should stay. This is a special night. I don’t want to ruin the occasion.”

Alexa, in her usual take-charge attitude, had overridden his concerns by producing Liz’s purse and keys, which Yetta must have handed to her, and hustling them all to the street. Cars were everywhere, but Liz’s little SUV was conveniently parked and ready to go.

Alexa had even volunteered to drive, as if sensing that Liz’s usual rock-solid grace-under-pressure was missing. Stoic and calm. Usually, those were her strong points. But not tonight. Not after the revelation her mother had dropped in Liz’s lap.

Finding out that her comfortable belief about her father being

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