Burning Truth (Lost and Found Columbus #3)

Chapter 3

3

A ddie stared at the Columbus police detective incredulously. “Are you freaking serious? This guy is the arsonist!”

The woman smiled at her kindly. “I know a few things look incriminating, but we do not believe he is the arsonist. I’m confident enough that I’m backing this plan. He’s a trained investigator and he’s also done personal security. He’s worked with the police department before. You’ll be safer with him. Technically, we don’t have enough to give you a personal protection detail yet.”

Addie shook her head, dumbfounded. When she’d gone back through her old footage, realizing that the arsonist had been watching her for a while, it hadn’t taken her long to find the guy in the film. His name was Severn Moran, and she’d only figured that out because one of the corporate big wigs that advertised with them had been strolling through the conference room with Ron and seen his picture on the overhead screens. He’d frowned for a minute, trying to remember where he’d seen the guy. Then his expression had cleared.

“They were a security firm I hired for the unveiling. Lost and Found. All veteran crew. I love supporting our military,” he grinned, puffing his chest out, and Addie thought he wanted recognition for doing something that shouldn’t even be an issue.

Plugging the name into Google, she’d found the company. It was very highly rated, though they hadn’t been open long. And she’d found Moran’s name in the directory. There was no picture, but research was her jam. She’d researched a little more and found a picture of him in a military uniform. It had obviously been from years ago, before he’d been burned. It was definitely him, though, crowded between a bunch of guys and laughing. It made her heart hurt at the carefree look in his eyes. That hadn’t been the way she’d seen him at the warehouse fire.

Then, his face had been full of pain, and her soft heart had tugged at her.

She would have to ignore her heart, though, and she would have to make her own determination if he were the arsonist or not. She knew for a fact she’d never met him before in her life, but she also knew that now that she was on television, people sometimes responded to her like they were old friends. It was very disconcerting. She would hear her name called on the street and turn around and not recognize anyone. Several times she’d been swept up into conversations like she was an old friend, and it was so discombobulating when she realized she’d never met the people.

Moran she would have remembered, because even though he had scars, he had also been incredibly handsome. The strong bone structure was still there, and in the picture with his buddies he had piercing dark eyes. Or maybe it was just the lighting. She couldn’t tell for sure because the picture wasn’t clear. Obviously, he’d been a good bit younger, but Addie didn’t feel like he’d changed a lot since then. Well, other than the scars.

She’d tried to zoom in on the marks, but even with their technology at the station, it was hard to do. She looked for why he’d been injured, but she hadn’t found anything. Perhaps it had happened overseas.

If Detective Johnson was sure he wasn’t the arsonist, she would have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“When is he arriving?” she asked eventually. “If Jake and I get a call, we have to go.”

The detective nodded in understanding. “He didn’t specify a time. I’ll send him a text that you’re up to date on the situation and what your schedule is like.”

The guy would just have to play catch-up if he didn’t show up pretty soon.

The detective left and Addie went back to work, going over some notes from the previous day. Jake was picking up the van from the maintenance garage and as soon as he got back to the station, they were heading out. It was easier to drive around and respond to a call, and there were bound to be crashes tonight. There was a game going on at the Arena downtown, as well as a concert at one venue to the west. It was going to be a madhouse downtown, and she needed to be ready to respond.

Their first call came less than fifteen minutes later. Jake was literally pulling into the station parking lot, and she was heading down the sidewalk to meet him when she got the text. Addie paused long enough to respond to the text, and that was when the hair on her neck prickled. She scanned the area without lifting her head and caught movement from her peripheral.

She let out a little yelp as Severn Moran stepped out of the shadow of the building. She slapped a hand to her racing heart. “Oh, my gosh, you freaking scared me!”

The tall man just looked at her, part of his face, the scarred half, in shadow. “My apologies, Ms. Kingston. I just parked and saw your van pulling up. I’m Severn Moran.”

He didn’t offer to shake her hand, which she thought was odd. “Nice to meet you. And you might as well call me Addie, considering we’re dating now.”

Sorry, was that sarcasm in her voice? Yeah, it was.

One side of his mouth tilted up. “Agreed, and you can call me Severn.”

Was her tummy fluttering from that tiny smile? What the hell...

Addie had watched the video of him several times, but they hadn’t been able to convey how incredibly imposing he was. The dude was at least 6’3”, maybe even 6’4”, more than a head taller than her. He was built lean, but looked whipcord strong. Dark-haired, with the front hanging a little long down over his forehead. Was he trying to hide the scars running down that side of his face? It didn’t really work. He shifted toward the turnaround, and a parking lamp lit that side. It was more devastating than the video had shown. Layers of skin had been burned away, from the top of his forehead, down through his dark eyebrow, cutting it in half, then down his cheek and neck. The skin around his eye sagged a little, almost like it had melted in the heat. She wondered if it obscured his vision at all.

Forcing her gaze away, she glanced down the length of him. Work boots, black BDU pants with all the pockets, a t-shirt that seemed to be a size smaller than it needed to be to outline his ridiculous muscles, and an overshirt. Was that a gun holster on his hip? She looked back up at his face. He had the prettiest, most thickly lashed eyes she’d ever seen on a man. The irises were brownish green. She supposed they fell into the hazel range, though that seemed too tame. He wore no facial hair, and his mouth was tight with aggravation.

Damn... she glanced away, toward the van, trying to catch her breath. How long had she been staring at him? “Uh, Jake is waiting. We have a run.”

“Let’s go,” he said, motioning for her to precede him.

Jake was giving Severn the side-eye and looking to Addie for an explanation. She clambered into the van and took the bench seat along the wall behind Jake’s seat. That left a second singular seat for Severn in the back. The rest of the space was for their equipment. He slipped into the seat and slid the van door closed behind himself.

“Jake Wallace,” she said, “this is Severn Moran, a private investigator. The police have vouched for him that he is not my stalker, and we apparently have a plan. It’s a harebrained plan, but we have a plan.”

Jake gave her a probing look in the rearview mirror as he took off. She shrugged lightly and shook her head, letting him know it hadn’t been her idea.

“Nice to meet you, Severn.”

“Where are we going, Jake?” she asked, excitement thrumming through her.

“Multi-vehicle crash on 675.”

She strapped in and held on. Jake would get them there as quick as humanly possible, and she’d learned over the past few months that it was best if she didn’t watch the drive. “So,” she said, looking at Severn. Not that she could look anywhere else with the way the seats were positioned. “A private investigator, huh? Is that why you were at the warehouse fire?”

Severn glanced at her, his face impassible. “No. I live a few blocks from there and heard the explosion. I recognized the sound and had to check it out.”

“You recognized the sound?” she asked incredulously.

“I was in EOD in the Navy. We dismantled IEDs all day, every day.”

Oh, wow... that answered a lot of her pressing questions. Without even thinking, her gaze drifted down over his arms and hands.

“Yes, that’s where I got my scars.”

Addie cringed. “I’m sorry. You must get that question a lot.”

“I do. I’m used to it.”

He shifted in the chair, though, and she wondered if he actually was used to it. It had to be hell going out in public, and she knew for a fact how rude people could be.

Like she’d just been.

In all honesty, though, he made an impression on her before she realized he had scars. Not that she was going to tell him that.

“So, how is this going to work?” she asked, crossing her legs at the knees. “I didn’t get a lot of details from Detective Johnson.”

“We didn’t really hammer out a lot of details,” he said, somewhat reluctantly. His voice was low and sonorous, and she liked listening to him. “For now, I’ll tag along with you and watch for anything suspicious. I, personally, have a feeling the firebug is going to do something again soon. Tell me about the bone.”

Addie wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t even notice it at first. I park toward the side of the station, and I headed out after work the other night. I had my head down and didn’t notice until I almost stepped on the bone. It was right beside my driver’s side door. I almost kicked it aside before I looked at it. I called my manager immediately. He was still in the station, and he called the police. It is a human tibia. They confirmed that, and the charring hints that it may have come from one of his fires.”

“What was on your social media that night? Did the stalker contact you?”

Addie pulled her phone out and swiped through her screens, stopping on the file of weird occurrences she’d noted. Her hand tightened on the phone, and she worried about handing it over. Then, taking a huge chance, she passed the phone to Severn.

He swiped through the file for a good while, reading everything she’d put in there.

She shifted uncomfortably, aware that she’d just handed him a file of everything that had bothered her, personally. Maybe it was connected or maybe it was just her being overly sensitive in a new job she never had aspirations for. “I don’t know that everything in there can be attributed to him, but they were just a little odd.”

Severn lifted his head and looked her in the eye, his gaze piercing and hard. It was dim in the van, only lit by the glow of the setting sun, but she could feel his intensity. “I will tell you what I always tell our clients. Listen to your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.”

Hm. Well, it was kind of him to say, anyway. “He always calls me Addison. On air I’m Addie, and I sign everything Addie.”

“Have you ever announced your name?”

She nodded. “When I introduced myself to the viewership. Just the one time. But he’s been calling me that ever since.”

“These notes go back to the beginning?”

She shook her head. “Not all the way back. Just to the first one that felt off. He may have commented before, and I just didn’t notice it because he didn’t tweak my radar.”

Needing something to do while he dug into her personal business, she brought out a compact. She’d done her makeup before she got to the station, but it was best to check for flaws before she got to the scene. She knew from experience that it would be a chaotic crush at the crash. She rubbed a finger under her eyes and erased a line on her lid.

Closing the compact, she took a breath, hoping that no one was seriously injured. She always hoped that no one was injured, though it rarely happened that way. Just last night they’d responded to a fatal motorcycle accident, and they’d arrived before the police, even. It hadn’t been good. In those instances, she relied on Jake’s experience. He’d been in the Army years ago, and had been a cameraman for more than twenty years. Before he’d even dragged the camera out, he’d run to check on the rider. Jake rode a bike in his off time, and Addie knew the scene had hit him hard, too. He’d shaken his gray head at her and spoken softly to the cop that arrived on scene seconds later.

The segment had been somber, and they’d only documented the damage to the bike. Ron had yelled at them for not getting some part of the body or blood on the road.

Addie wondered how long she’d be able to do this job before it ate away at her humanity.

“Addie,” Severn said firmly, and she jerked.

“Sorry. Woolgathering.”

He was holding the phone out to her. “I copied the file to my phone. Later tonight, I’ll start going through your social media from when you first started. I also added my number to your contacts.”

“Okay, thank you. There was one guy we blocked.” She gave him the name. “But this guy showed up the next day. We assume it’s the same guy.”

Severn nodded, looking thoughtful as he glanced out through the windows. “I know this is awkward, but try to act normal. You won’t see me unless I feel there’s a need, so just do what you normally do, okay?”

She nodded, her tummy going tight with anxiety. There was so much crap going on, she was going to need a vacation when this was all said and done.

Severn surveyed the scene of the crash, and he knew they were going to be there a while. It was late afternoon, just past rush hour, and a slew of cars were involved. At the front of the crash, it looked like there’d been a three-car fender bender on the exit-ramp. A semi had plowed into the trio, shoving them off the exit ramp and into the cars in front. One car was hanging precariously off a concrete guardrail, and he could hear a woman screaming inside.

Despite himself, his heart picked up speed at the thought of being part of the rescue. It was what he had done for years before he joined EOD. There were already cops and firetrucks on scene, though, and he had to curb the impulse to jump in.

Addie Kingston had to be his focus. She was his focus. Maybe a little too much. His gaze was drawn to her constantly.

She had positioned herself at the side of the highway, away from traffic, with the crash scene and rescue going on in the background of her shot. It was perfect. There was a lot of action as firefighters ran around the vehicle. Even as he watched, one of the helmeted men pulled a baby out of the back seat and ran with it to an ambulance. Footage gold.

And Addie looked perfect in the waning evening light in her pinkish-purple dress. Yes, Jake had positioned a light on her, but the setting rays of the sun highlighted her thick black curls blowing in the breeze, and made her green eyes shine like dark emeralds, the pupils tiny. She’d done a thick line of black on her top lid, with a little wing at the edges. It seemed a little edgy for the nightly news, but it seemed to work for her. The readership seemed to appreciate her humanity and realness. Even as he watched, a smile crossed her dark plum lips as she caught sight of the child being rescued.

Even from through the screen, it was very clear that she cared about people. It was there in the shine of her eyes and the softening of her face, and he understood why she had people invested in what she did and reported on. He also understood why she had a dangerous stalker.

Severn didn’t like the way she affected him, though. Yes, she had a fantastic voice that calmed him, but there was also something about her demeanor that made him want to lean in to hear more. The way she moved, and the hint of insecurity in her expression fascinated him as she looked at the scene.

Severn panned around, looking at the crowd that had gathered. People had their cell phones out and were filming, but just as many of them were recording Addie Kingston as the multi-vehicle wreck.

More and more official vehicles arrived to document the scene and take away the injured, and it was getting crowded as hell. Addie had wrapped up her segment and was now talking to an eyewitness. She was nodding as the man spoke, and she asked intelligent questions that led him into telling her the story of what happened.

It was as one of the ambulances were merging into traffic that everything went to hell.

Somebody must have been jamming to the radio or texting on their phone as they approached the accident scene. They weren’t paying attention. One minute everything was going well, and the next there was a cacophony of squealing tires and smashing metal. Without conscious thought, Severn lunged toward Addie. She was too close to the edge of the interstate, which she had her back to. Jake had wanted to get a shot of the backed-up traffic. Instead, he was going to get the secondary crash that happened as they were cleaning up the first. Assuming he didn’t get hit as well.

Severn didn’t even think as he wrapped Addie in his arms, lifted her and took a running leap toward the shoulder of the road, away from the cacophony of sound moving closer. He took the brunt of the landing on his shoulder, his arms a cage around Addie, as they rolled down the slight bank. She cried out, but he was fairly certain he took the bulk of her weight on the landing. Jake obviously understood he’d been in mortal danger as well, because he landed beside Severn and Addie, cradling his camera, before he rolled slowly down the bank.

A black BMW spun past them wildly and crashed into the concrete guardrail directly behind the primary accident, sending first responders scrambling. There was a shower of glass and debris as the car disintegrated. For a timeless moment, there was silence as everyone caught their breath, then the cops and firefighters lunged in to help with the new scene.

Addie was cradled to his chest. He looked up into her wide, terrified eyes. Her mussed hair hung like a curtain around them. “Are you okay?”

She blinked and pushed herself up, using his chest to balance. “I think so,” she whispered.

Despite the situation, and the pain filtering through his body, Severn was very aware of the way she was laying against him. It had been a long time since he’d had any fun, and Addie was curvy in all the right places. And she smelled amazing. She seemed to realize their position at the same time, and her pale skin flushed. Again, she tried to scramble off him, but she ended up putting their lower bodies in more intimate contact. By the time she scrambled off him, a swirl of arousal had wound through him.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, reaching for his hand to pull him up.

Severn didn’t need the help, but he held her hand anyway as he pushed to his feet and looked her over. One of her pink heels was missing, as well as one long dangly earring. Her hair was mussed, and her pale skin flushed, but he didn’t think she’d been injured. “Don’t be sorry. I’m the one that grabbed you and yanked you off your feet. Do you have pain anywhere?”

She shook her head, glancing down at herself, then at the expanded crash scene. “Holy shit. You saved me. That car went right through where we were standing.”

Yeah, it had. And if it had hit them, it probably would have been a fatal crash.

Jake was moaning a few feet away. Addie rushed to him and leaned over.

The older man looked up at her. “Ron is going to kill me.”

The camera lay in his arms, and Severn could see that it was in several pieces. “Fuck the camera,” he growled. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jake said, turning his arm to look at some road rash. “A little beat up, but not as beat up as when Ron gets a hold of me.”

“Oh, please,” Addie said, trying to brush dirt from her skirt. “We were about to die. There was nothing else we could do.” She turned to look at Severn. “Thank you,” she said simply.

He tipped his head to her. “All in a day’s work.”

Addie climbed the bank to the asphalt, a little lopsided. Aggravated, she ripped the other shoe off and stood barefoot, looking at the carnage. Jake had rallied and jogged past them to the news van, juggling the pieces of the camera. He returned seconds later, carrying a smaller version of the one that had just been broken.

Severn watched as Addie rallied, lifting her head and calming her expression. Jake knew they were the news now, and it needed to be covered. He pointed the camera toward Addie and gave her the go sign.

“This is Addie Kingston. Just moments ago, I experienced a near-miss secondary accident at this location. It’s a stark reminder of the importance of staying vigilant on the road. We’ll continue with our report, but please remember to drive safely out there and watch for emergency personnel.”

Severn watched her pull herself together and get the details out. Her eyes flicked to him at one point, and she frowned, then pulled herself together again.

As soon as Jake stopped filming, she crossed to him. “Are you okay?” Reaching out, she tugged at the shoulder of his overshirt. It had ripped several inches down his back.

Shivers ran down his body at her touch, and it took him by surprise. It had been a long time since anyone had touched him.

Severn looked at the wound, at what he could see. It was burning like hell, but he didn’t think it was bad. “It’s just a scrape.”

That was an area that was free of burns, so he hadn’t really noticed that he’d had an injury. If it had been on one of his oversensitive scars, he would have been reaching for a pain pill. Not really. He hadn’t taken them for a long time. But it would have hurt like the blazes.

He appreciated that she seemed to be concerned about him. It had been a long time since anyone had even asked if he was okay.

Addie seemed to take him at his word, and they gathered up their stuff and headed back to the van. She was still barefoot, tiptoeing over the gravel and detritus on the roadway. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to slice her foot open.

“Addie,” he said. When she turned to him, he reached down and swung her up into his arms.

Addie gasped and clamped her arms around his neck, laughing lightly. “I didn’t expect you to do that,” she said breathlessly, her eyes on his face.

Severn had miscalculated. He should have swung her in the opposite direction, because now she was looking directly at his scars. It was mostly dark, but there was a lot of illumination from the emergency services’ floodlights, and he knew she was getting an eye full.

As soon as he could, he set her down at the side of the van. Addie smiled up at him as if they actually were in a relationship, her hands lingering on his chest.

“Addie? Are you okay?”

Severn had been aware of the short, muscular man approaching from the left, but he didn’t want to put Addie down until they were at the van.

She looked at the man and smiled. “Hey, Nelson. No, I’m fine. Just lost one of my shoes at the scene.”

Nelson stopped beside them and eyed her up and down. “Looks like you got a little close to the action,” he said, dark brows lowering over pale gray eyes.

“No,” she corrected. “The action got close to us. We were off the side when the secondary accident happened.”

“Hm,” Nelson said, looking out over the remnants of the scene, then back to her. Severn didn’t like the guy, and he wasn’t sure Addie did either.

He turned to Severn and held out a hand. “Nelson Flynn. I’m an investigator for the Ohio Department of Emergency Medical Services. I do field evaluations of EMTs and Paramedics.”

“Severn Moran,” he said, taking the man’s hand. He didn’t show any reaction when Flynn tried to break his knuckles with his grip. It wasn’t going to happen, and he wanted to grin at the little man’s efforts, but forced his face to remain calm.

Was this some kind of show for Addie?

Nelson let go of his hand and parked his hands on his hips. “So, Addie, you look good,” he said, looking her up and down. “On TV, I mean, maybe not right now,” he stuttered, color creeping into his cheeks.

Addie laughed and turned to climb into the van. “Yeah, I know. Later, Nelson.”

“Later, Addie.”

Severn followed her inside and took particular joy in slamming the sliding door in Nelson’s face. As soon as they were parked in their seats, Jake pulled out into traffic.

“He seems to be a peach,” Severn muttered.

Addie snorted, shaking her head. “He’s not, believe me. He just wants to be my fre-yend...” She said friend in a laughing, creepy voice, and Severn smirked.

He hadn’t planned on liking Addie Kingston, but he kind of did.