Fallen SEAL Legacy (SEAL Brotherhood #2) by Sharon Hamilton

Author:Sharon Hamilton [Hamilton, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-12-06T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Libby’s dad closed the front door behind their insurance adjuster. That left them alone with Detective Riverton. All the other police and fire crews were gone. A pungent burnt smell permeated the house. Even with the opened windows and fans, provided by the adjuster’s emergency crew, the house smelled unbearably toxic.

The family waited while Austin Brownlee slowly walked across the living room to sit beside his wife on the couch. Riverton sat on a cranberry overstuffed chair, identical to the one Libby sat on, with a coffee table between them. She was holding her breath, until she realized it. No matter how much she scolded herself, she couldn’t escape the fact that she was afraid, and she was very much alone.

It was a scene right out of a horror movie, Libby thought. Black streaks of smoke covering one wall in the foyer giving off a thick acrid smell. Water and large quilted moving blankets to sop it up were strewn all over the entryway. And her parents sat on the couch, hand in hand, behind a fresh bouquet of ridiculously bright and cheery flowers from her mother’s garden. Nothing was as it had been just a week ago. Libby’s life had literally gone to hell.

She remembered the words Coop had given her, to trust the police. So, with great effort, she tried to follow those instructions and forced out of her head and heart everything else.

“Okay, folks. This is what we got,” Riverton began.

“Whatever is going on, it has escalated to the point that I think we need to have a serious discussion about moving all of you out of this house.” He scanned the faces of his audience, and continued. “I’d be lying if I told you I could protect you here. This creep isn’t going to go away, and, although I’d love to tell you we have good leads, I’m just going to give it to you straight. We don’t.”

“But you haven’t finished your investigation, right?” her mother asked.

“Carla, we haven’t even started. Things are moving so damned fast. Tomorrow the fire investigator will be back over. His job is to make a determination as to the cause, after all the dust has settled. Your insurance is going to need that, too.”

“Of course,” Dr. Brownlee said. His face was pale, even with the suntan. His lips were dark pink, meeting in a flat line without a hint of a smile or frown. Libby thought he looked like he was in shock.

“Hopefully, he’ll be finding some clues, but right now, there just isn’t anything that points anywhere. We know the fire was started with some liquid, probably gasoline, and we think it was poured in the room from the window. We’ve taken the gas can down to the lab, but there are so many prints on it, I doubt anything unusual will come up.”

Carla looked at her husband, and then back at Riverton. “Who is under suspicion at this point?”

“Well, we’ve got the gardener, of course.”

“Oh, he’s not a threat to anyone,” Dr.

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