Chapter Seventeen

Bethany

Iwoke up in Coyote's bed all alone. When I reached out my hand, his side of the bed was stone cold. That meant he must have gotten up long ago. I stretched and sat up, looking around the room. He had a nice place. I'd noticed that the last time I was here.

Memories of last night came flooding back and I don't know how I could have forgotten even for an instant that Reggie's house was burned to the ground. Losing every single possession that was near to his heart was going to be devastating. I knew that all too well because it had happened to me when I became homeless all those years ago.

I turned and slid my legs over the side of the bed. My cell phone alarm started chirping. That meant it was nine in the morning. I had my weekend alarm set for three hours later than my weekday alarm because there was no need to get up for work. My first thought always was to check on Nessa. I wanted to get to her before she woke in case she got scared, being in new surroundings. I pushed out of the bed and grabbed some clothing out of my bag and threw them on. When I left Coyote's bedroom to walk across the hall, I heard cartoons and the soft sound of voices talking. So I wasn't particularly surprised when I found Nessa's room empty.

I finger combed my hair as I walked downstairs, remembering that I had forgotten both mine and Nessa's hairbrushes in the scramble to collect essentials before we left. The aroma of morning coffee and breakfast teased my nostrils. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs I found my daughter, still in her nightgown, watching cartoons with a juice box on her lap. Her new furry friend seemed to be dozing beside her.

When I looked towards the kitchen, I saw Coyote sitting in a chair in the doorway. My heart squeezed to find that he had been dutifully watching over her. I stopped long enough to give her a cuddle and kiss. Then moved on to do the same with Coyote. His smile was something that lit up my whole life. Gazing down into his eyes, I couldn't believe he'd come for me in the middle of the night when I was scared and needed him the most. Then again, I kind of could believe it because Coyote was just that nice.

A familiar feminine voice spoke from the kitchen. "Aw, you two are cute together."

I turned around and saw Callie and Breaker sitting at the table drinking coffee. Coyote got up and went to pour me a cup of coffee as I settled into a chair at the table. I turned to Coyote's sister and her husband, "Wow! Good to see you both, it's been so long!"

"Three and a half years," Callie said pointedly, by way of greeting. "You left not long after our oldest little rascal was born, and now she's almost four. Time flies, how old is Nessa?"

I was flustered for a moment, but quickly regained my composure, I knew I needed to talk to Coyote, but now wasn't the time or the place. "She's two. Two and a bit."

They both shot each other a strange look. Coyote set my cup of coffee down in front of me and proceeded to bring me up to speed on what they'd learned so far about the fire.

"This whole situation is worrisome. I wanted to call and check on Reggie, but after what happened last night, the last thing I want is to be a nuisance." I remembered Thomas telling me that I had to leave because Reggie almost died because of the danger I inadvertently brought into his life. I know he'd apologized, but still.

"What's wrong," Coyote asked, clearly noticing my change in mood.

I cleared my expression and answered truthfully. "Reggie's partner Thomas seemed angry at me last night. I don't blame him, I think I'd have reacted the same if I was in his situation."

Coyote murmured softly, "I'm sure he didn't mean it. People say things they don't mean in the heat of the moment and later regret it.

"It's nice of you to try to make me feel better, but the cold hard truth is now that his house is a smoking pile of rubble, Reggie will need me out of his pool house so he and Thomas can live there while the house is being rebuilt. It leaves me and Nessa in a bit of a jam. I can afford housing, it's just a matter of finding something that meets our needs." I paused long enough to take a sip of my hot coffee. "It feels really shitty to be talking about the logistics of my life, while my friend is probably still suffering from smoke inhalation. But I have more than just myself to worry about."

Coyote responded, "You don't have a thing in the world to worry about because you're both welcome to stay with me for as long as you like."

"I'm not a charity case anymore," I joked. "I can contribute to the expenses."

"What expenses?" He asked. "I own my house free and clear, and my utilities are insignificant. Trust me, Bethany, you don't have to worry about paying anything to live here. I barely pay anything myself."

I glanced from Coyote to his sister, trying to gauge whether she was going to see me as a leach if I took him up on his generous offer. She didn't even seem to be paying attention to our conversation. She was busy pulling something out of the oven. I finally nodded and replied, "Then I accept your generous offer. I really should spend today clearing my stuff out of the pool house so Reggie can move back in when he needs to."

Callie walked over with a plate of fresh biscuits and Breaker followed behind with a platter of bacon and eggs. "I can stay here and keep an eye on Nessa if you like?"

Breaker put the platter down on the table and stretched his arms above his head until his back popped. "Ah that's better. I can help move your stuff if you want. Between me and Coyote, we can probably have you out of there in a few hours."

When I didn't immediately reply because I was getting choked up with emotion, he quickly added. "I mean that if you're living in a pool house, you can't have all that much stuff, right?"

"It was originally designed to be a mother-in-law suite, so it's a bit larger than your typical pool house."

Breaker sat down and started eyeing the platter of biscuits. "Either way, we can make short work of clearing it out."

"I don't know how to thank you all for everything," I said humbly.

Coyote walked off and I saw him scoop Nessa up off the floor, "Time for breakfast, princess, your cereal will be getting soggy," He started swishing her through the air like she was flying, "Your mermaids will love that, soggy fishes!"

She just giggled, and it warmed my heart to watch him interact with her.

I wondered if it was obvious to everyone at the table that she could be his daughter. They looked so much alike that it almost put my fear of Cyclops being her father to rest once and for all. Then again, I couldn't allow myself to indulge in that fantasy until I knew for sure.

***

After breakfast we took Coyote's van, stopping by his auto repair shop to pick up some boxes. He had a lot of them from all the deliveries while setting up his business.

When we were just about at my house, we passed the prospect who had thrown Rufus out of the supermarket, and he gave Breaker a thumbs up sign. I wondered what he'd been doing here, though I guessed the Dark Slayers wanted to find out who set the fire just as much as I did.

When we pulled into the driveway, I was surprised to find smoke still coming off Reggie's house and several police officers milling about. My door was standing open and that alarmed me, because I thought I'd locked it behind me. Breaker parked up and headed down the driveway to the street, there were some cops parked out there, so he probably wanted to see if they were more forthcoming.

I jumped out of the van and ran towards my door, only to be met by a plain clothed detective with a badge clearly visible on a lanyard hanging around his neck. "What's going on? Why are you in my house? The fire was next door."

"This entire property belongs to Mr. Archibald, so we don't need a court order to look around."

"Fair enough," I responded. "But what is it you're hoping to find?"

"Anything that might give an indication of who set your neighbor's house on fire," he said bluntly.

Coyote stepped up. "Let me guess, you didn't find a single clue, right?"

The man sighed. "You're right. There was no indication of any discord between the vic and Ms. Marks. Nor were there accelerants of any kind of the premises."

"Just so you know," Coyote informed him, "Bethany and Reginald Archibald are very close friends. She'd never do anything as reprehensible as burn his house down with him in it."

I jumped into the conversation, "Coyote's right. Reggie has been like a father to me. He took us in when we had no one. I'd never want to see anything bad happen to him."

"Yes ma'am, I'm getting that. Your house is cleared. Take what you like."

"I'm moving out in case Reggie needs a place to live while his house is rebuilt."

"That's your prerogative, Ms. Marks. It's considerate even. Can I get your contact information in case we have any further questions?"

"Of course," I reply automatically.

Coyote gave his address and I confirmed they had my phone number.

I didn't know where Breaker had gone, but he showed up around the time the officer walked off. He jerked his chin at the officer when he walked by. "Looks like they're going to be clearing the scene for a long time," he opined.

Coyote agreed, "They've got a lot of ground to cover now it's daylight. Let's get this house packed up."

We worked together, and to be honest no odious task has gone smoother in my entire life. I'd gotten my hairbrush and hair dryer along with my cosmetics—which obviously weren't top priority last night—but for some reason I couldn't find Nessa's brush. I must have packed it in a rush yesterday and misplaced it.

Much like Breaker had said over breakfast, we had everything boxed up by noon and we were on our way. The process was made easier by the fact that most of the furniture belonged to Reggie. When we were back in the van, Coyote and I talked about Rufus.

"I'm going to go have a talk with him after we unload your things."

"I feel like we should have alerted the police that he's been harassing me. Why risk yourself getting into trouble, when we could simply let the police do the job they were trained to do?"

"First of all, it's not much of a risk. And secondly, the police are fucking incompetent in these small towns. It's best if I take care of it myself."

To be honest, I wasn't on board with that, but I didn't feel like Coyote was going to listen to me about this, so I just let it go. We unloaded all my boxes into his garage and then he and Breaker took off. I wandered through the garage and into the house, careful to set the alarm after myself. Coyote was particular about security, and I needed to respect that if I was going to be staying in his home. Given what happened at Reggie's last night, extra security was fine by me.

My mood brightened when I reached the kitchen and found Callie and Nessa making homemade playdough together. I joined them for a while before Callie said she had to get home to her own kids. I reset the security system when she left and laid down on the sofa as my daughter watched cartoons. I was exhausted and worried about Coyote.