Burning Truth (Lost and Found Columbus #3)

Chapter 10

10

T he night kind of fizzled after he told her about losing his team, and the reporter in her jumped up with a list of questions a mile long. Severn seemed to close down, though. His face had slipped into that cold mask and he suddenly felt miles away rather than inches. Addie knew, instinctively, that she was going to have to let him tell her everything in his own time. Questions would only piss him off and make him withdraw further.

Daring to reach out, she’d given him a kiss on his hard mouth, grabbed her phone and headed upstairs to bed.

There was no more cuddle time for them that night.

Incredibly, the instant message hadn’t been from the arsonist. Just a rambling note from another fan. Showering quickly to wash off the grease and smoke smell from the festival, she dried off, pulled on a long t-shirt and headed to bed.

Very deliberately, she turned off her phone before plugging it in. She would make him stew, like Severn said.

The next morning came far too soon. Addie woke to bright light streaming through her window. She’d spent half the night planning upcoming social media posts, and when she’d fallen asleep, she’d dreamed of Severn, and his touch that set her on fire. Then that had morphed into real fire, and she’d woken several times with her heart racing, thinking her house or her bed were on fire.

Pushing off the heavy blankets, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and took a deep, cleansing breath, steeling herself as she stared into the reflection in the mirror. She’d decided last night that no matter what, she was going to find this guy. Even if it meant risking her own life.

Addie moved through her morning routine in a purposeful rhythm, mentally affirming to herself that she could face whatever awaited her. Among the chaos, she couldn’t help but feel a flutter of excitement about her growing closeness with Severn—it provided a peculiar mix of optimism despite the looming threat.

She hadn’t seen him yet this morning, though, so it was hard to tell what kind of reception she would receive. When she’d left, he’d been staring out the dark windows to the back yard, seeing memories she didn’t have a right to.

Dressed in her favorite fitted jean shorts and a bold, sleeveless red blouse, she headed into the kitchen to whip up a quick breakfast. Severn was already up, pouring himself a cup of steaming coffee and looking as ruggedly handsome as ever, which didn’t help the fluttering in her stomach. He made her kitchen feel small.

“Morning,” he greeted, a warm smile breaking across his face. “You look ready to take on the world.”

Addie grinned back, though the nerves edged under her excitement. “I’m ready to take out a stalker, that’s for sure.”

So, apparently they were on the ignore-and-go train. He wasn’t going to even acknowledge last night.

That was fine. For now.

In the depths of the early morning, she’d made another decision about her life. She decided to pursue Severn. The man challenged her mind, made her heart race and her body slick with need. That was a combination no other man had ever done for her and she had a feeling, if they let themselves, they could be magical together.

Severn handed her a travel cup of coffee. “I already added cream.”

She grinned as she accepted it, touched that he’d remembered. “Thank you.”

Addie moved to the cupboard and grabbed the bag of cinnamon crunch donuts she’d bought the other night. Severn winced as she unrolled the top and fished one out. She moaned as she bit into the soft dough.

“Do you know how many chemicals are in that?” he asked, arms crossed over his muscular chest.

Addie grinned. “Nope. Want one?”

He stared at her for a long moment, before holding out his hand. “One.”

By the time they pulled up in front of the Lost and Found offices, the entire bag of donuts were gone, and Addie had a feeling they were going to regret eating them all.

Morgan smiled as they walked in, and Addie cocked her head. “Do you work every day?”

Laughing, the receptionist shook her head. “No, but if something important is going on, I make myself available. I’m doing my schoolwork, too.”

She motioned to the stack of books at her side, and Addie nodded. “Gotcha!”

“Gabbie is in her office, sir. Actually, I don’t think she went home last night, so you might encourage her to take a break.”

“Noted,” Severn said, heading for the stairs. He reached out a hand, and helped Addie up the stairs with him, and she tried not to read too much into it.

Gabbie was indeed in the same place they’d left her yesterday morning, and in the same clothes. Her eyes were bloodshot, but she grinned when they walked into the room. “Hey, guys. I have something to show you.”

She rattled a bunch of keys and the screen to the left popped up. On it, there were several lone figures. “There were a bunch of singles, yesterday, apparently. I have two pages of single men going in or out.”

She paged through another group. Addie moved toward the screen and held out a finger. “That one,” she said, no hesitation in her voice.

“Are you sure,” Gabbie asked her.

Addie nodded, then doubted herself. She looked to Severn, but he was nodding as well.

“Well, that was kind of a test,” Gabbie said, “because I had already narrowed it down to him.”

Another screen flashed up. And it was the same guy, Addie thought, just in different places all around the festival. He wore a dark hoodie the entire time, with a ball cap shading his face.

“The guy followed you all around the festival, keeping just out of sight. When the group crowded around you for pictures, he got closer.”

A red circle appeared in one picture, and Addie gasped. “He was within feet of me.”

“And me,” Severn growled, clearly pissed.

“We didn’t even notice him. No wonder he feels invincible.”

Severn huffed out a breath. “Are there any shots of his face?”

“Not really. He was very careful. He had to be sweating like a bitch under that hoody, but he kept it on the entire time. I tracked him away from the festival as far as I could go.”

She set up a line of shots where the arsonist was running away from them. In one shot there was a tiny hint of chin, but certainly not enough to identify him.

Addie sank down into the chair. “Well, seems like we’re back to square one.”

“Not quite,” Severn said. “He said he would see you Monday. It may not necessarily mean an attack. It may just mean he’ll see you on your next scheduled night.”

“Maybe you should take the night off and see what he does,” Gabbie said thoughtfully.

The three of them looked at each other, considering. “It may not be a bad idea,” Severn said eventually. “If he’s emotionally invested in seeing you, maybe he’ll lash out when he doesn’t.”

Addie nodded, thinking it through. “We’ll have to get Ron’s approval. I can’t just call in and take a day off.”

“Can you call him now?”

Addie dug for her phone in her purse and sent off a text. She got a response almost immediately and frowned. She had to recap everything that had happened over the weekend the why of it, but he eventually conceded.

“Grudgingly, he says okay.”

So, that was the plan they came up with. She would stay home from work and they would wait to see what he would do. Again, they were waiting for him to react, and it was beginning to piss her off.

“In the meantime,” Severn said, giving Gabbie a hard look. “You need to go home and get some rest. We have some wiggle room, and you need fresh eyes when the shit hits the fan.”

“I do need rest,” she conceded tiredly. “Message me when you need me.”

“Will do,” he said, standing.

“Thank you very much, Gabbie,” Addie said, standing with him. “I know you probably have other work you should be concentrating on.”

Gabbie waved a hand. “Meh. I can do more that one impossible thing before breakfast.”

Then she gave Addie a bodacious wink. Addie laughed, both at the humor and the slaughtering of the famous quote from Alice in Wonderland.

“I’m sure you can,” she laughed, and followed Severn out of the office.

Well, she thought he’d gone this way. Where the heck was he? She found him off to the left, at the opposite end of the hallway from the stairs. He was sitting behind a broad wooden desk, tapping on a keyboard.

“Do you mind if I check on a few things,” he asked, barely looking up. “The detective has been after me for a report, and I want to send her some of those stills.”

“Not at all,” she murmured, wandering around the office. It was fairly plain, although there were a few things of interest. His State of Ohio PI license was mounted on the wall. “Where did your parents come up with the name Severn? It’s interesting.”

His tapping on the keyboard slowed. “My mother is English. She comes from a little town near the River Severn. She always loved the name.”

“And are you a local boy?”

He snorted. “Hardly. My parents live in California, though they’re in England right now, seeing family. I was born in California.”

Hm. That was interesting. She’d never been out there herself. Moving on, she studied the bookshelf near the door. There were a bunch of police procedural books, as well as some crime novels. She glanced at Severn. “Learn a lot from Sherlock, have you?”

He gave her a smirk. “My mother is a fan. She gets a kick out of the idea that I’m a detective now, so she inundates me with these books.”

Addie snorted. “Sounds like she’s proud of you.”

“I suppose.”

He continued working on the keyboard. She found a framed picture and picked it up to look at more closely. It was similar to the one she’d found when she’d been researching him, but this one had about half the amount of men in it. They were wearing weird, oversized silvery protective suits, she assumed to protect them from explosions. The men’s faces were all grimy and dirt streaked, but there was a camaraderie to them that was palpable.

The noise from the keyboard behind her had stopped, and when she glanced up, Severn stood beside her, his face devoid of everything as he stared down at the picture.

“Your pain,” she murmured, and his eyes flickered.

“Yes,” he said, voice barely more than a breath.

“I’m sorry.” She moved to put the picture back, but he took it from her.

“It’s all right. The hit just catches me off-guard sometimes.”

He stared at the picture for a long minute before he set the frame back exactly where it had been. She realized he could look up and see it at eye level from here, when he was sitting at his desk.

“It looks like they were amazing friends,” she said, trying to find something not so painful to talk about.

“They were,” he admitted, but he still seemed lost, his eyes dark with memory.

Reaching out, she rested a hand on his arm. The muscles beneath the skin were strung tight with tension, like he was holding himself back. Or holding something in.

“Hey,” she said, swinging in front of him. She cupped his neck in her hands and smiled up at him. His eyes weren’t really seeing her, though. “Maybe we can stop for some ice cream on the way home.”

When he still didn’t move, she went up on tiptoe to press her mouth to his. It took several long seconds, but finally, he seemed to come back to the now, and his lips moved beneath her own. When he drew back, she could see the awareness of his surroundings in his eyes. “Sorry about that,” he murmured. “I rarely get swept under like that.”

“No worries,” she said, smiling at him. “Now, you promised me ice cream.”

Severn blinked. “I did? When?”

“Just now. You blinked, which I took to mean yes when I suggested it.”

Severn chuckled, and Addie grinned. That was the first time she’d ever heard him chuckle, and she really liked the sound.

“Okay, ice cream it is. Let me finish this email.”

Addie let him finish his work and followed him down the stairs. Gabbie had gone home, the lights off in her office. Morgan was still downstairs, but she was packing up her bag. They left the building together, Severn locking the building and setting the alarm.

“This is the same alarm you have,” Severn told her as they climbed into his truck.

“Oh, really?”

He nodded. “I’m surprised you didn’t have one already.”

“Yeah, it was probably time,” she said. “A couple of the news anchors lived in gated communities with guards, because they’d had issues with people following them home. Do you have an alarm?”

“No,” he said, voice short. “But I live in a building that has monitoring.”

“Hm.”

“Where are we getting ice cream?” he asked her, giving her an odd look.

“Johnson’s in Italian village,” she said immediately, and he put the truck into drive.

Severn seemed okay after his little break, so she wasn’t going to say anything to point it out. She talked about downtown, and how much she loved the area. Severn talked about the culture shock between Ohio and California. And as they pulled into the shopping area, they kept talking about inconsequential things. It was good conversation, though. At that moment, they didn’t have any worries about the arsonist, and they both needed to keep it lighthearted.

Addie ordered a double scoop in a bowl, with chocolate fudge and sea salt caramel, and Severn went for a classic vanilla bean with hot fudge. They found a small table outside the ice cream shop, tucked away under a red-and-white striped umbrella. The late afternoon sun was starting to dip, casting long shadows over the street. Addie dug into her ice cream, savoring the rich taste and the contrast between the sweetness and the salt.

Severn watched her for a moment, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You really enjoy your ice cream,” he said, spoon poised halfway to his own mouth.

Addie grinned, not the least bit embarrassed. “Life’s too short not to enjoy the small things, right? Plus, this place makes the best fudge sauce. How’s yours?”

Severn took a deliberate bite, letting the ice cream melt on his tongue before he answered. “It’s good. Better than I remember.” His tone was casual, but his eyes were thoughtful, as if his mind were still half in the past.

Addie reached across the table and gently tapped the back of his hand with her spoon. “Earth to Severn. You’re supposed to be enjoying this, not using it as another distraction.”

He snapped back to the present and gave her a sheepish look. “Right. Sorry. I guess I’m not used to downtime.” He took another bite of his ice cream, and this time, he seemed to really enjoy it.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, just people-watching and eating. The late afternoon crowd was a mix of families, couples, and a few joggers taking advantage of the cooling temperature. A street performer set up nearby, strumming a guitar and singing a soulful rendition of an old rock song. Addie found herself tapping her foot to the rhythm.

“You ever think about taking a break?” Severn asked suddenly, breaking the silence. His eyes were focused on her, serious and searching.

Addie paused, her spoon halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean?”

“From the news. From everything. Just... taking a step back. Maybe not dealing with arsonists and stalkers for a while.”

She swallowed, feeling the question settle in her mind. It was something she’d thought about, especially in the last few weeks, with everything that had been happening. The idea of leaving the chaos behind, even temporarily, was tempting. But then she thought about the stories, the people she helped by telling them, the impact she made. She sighed. “I don’t know if I could do that, even if I wanted to. This job, it’s... it’s really grown on me. I’d feel like I was abandoning something important. Plus, I kind of like to eat on a regular basis.”

Severn nodded, like he’d expected that answer. “I get it. I just don’t want you to get hurt. This guy, he’s not just some random weirdo. He’s careful, deliberate. And he’s made you his focus.”

Addie looked down at her ice cream, now more soup than solid, and pushed it around with her spoon. “I know. But running away won’t solve anything either. We need to catch him. Stop him.”

Severn leaned back in his chair, considering her words. “And we will. But taking care of yourself isn’t running away. It’s making sure you’re around to fight another day.”

Addie nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.” She appreciated his concern, more than she could say, but the idea of stepping back still felt foreign, like it didn’t fit her.

They finished their ice cream, the street performer’s music a soft background hum. As they walked back to Severn’s truck, Addie felt a small sense of relief, even if the danger was still out there. It was moments like these, normal and easy, that made everything else bearable.

The sun was setting as they pulled out of the lot, casting a golden glow over the city. Addie looked out the window, thinking about the plan they’d set in motion. She hoped it would work, that staying home and drawing the arsonist out would give them the upper hand. For now, she decided, she’d focus on the evening ahead, and the possibilities.