Chapter Nine

Helena

P ULLING UP TO my parents’ house the next day, I noticed Skip’s beloved 1963 Mercury Comet in the driveway. He loved that car more than his ex-wife and maybe even more than his daughter. So much so, his wife got the house in the divorce because she threatened to take the car. Since there was no space in the driveway, I parked on the street and took a few minutes to give myself a pep talk.

It wasn’t working, so I did the next best thing.

I called Cullen.

“Hey, baby,” he said, answering on the first ring.

“Hi.”

“You okay?”

I sighed. “Um, nope.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m a big fat baby. Oh, and a coward. A big, fat baby coward.”

His low, sexy chuckle came through the phone. “Well, I know for a fact that’s not true. What’s goin’ on? I thought you were going to your mom’s for dinner.”

“Oh, I am.” I bit my lip. “I’m here. I’m sitting in my car on the street.”

“Why are you sitting in your car on the street, honey?”

I groaned. “Because Skip’s car is in the driveway and all I can think about is what you said.”

“I said a lot of shit, Helena, you’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“The part about the pitchforks.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“And that’s tweaking you?” he asked.

“No. It’s building a rage in me that means I might not be able to keep myself in check.”

“Okay, so what’s the worst that could happen?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I could lose my job.”

“And that would be a bad thing, why?”

“Outside of the fact I wouldn’t have a paycheck?”

“Yes.”

“He would take over the case, railroad you and your brothers, and we wouldn’t get to the truth.”

He sighed. “Well, I would rather that not happen, but not at the expense of your mental health, Helena. If you need to lay him to waste, lay him to waste.”

“I think you might be too good to be true.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m perfect. You just keep thinking that.”

“I just want to smack him upside his smug, misogynistic head sometimes.”

“No one’s sayin’ you can’t, Helena,” he said.

“Well, I’m fairly confident there’s a law here in the state of Washington that says I can’t.”

“If no one reports you, then did it really happen?”

“Is that akin to, if a tree falls in the forest kind of thing?” I asked.

“Sure, why not?”

I let out a quiet snort. “I’ll just avoid him as much as possible.”

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I saw my sister skipping toward me. “Ugh, I need to go. My sister is coming to collect me as we speak.”

“Okay. Text me if you need moral support.”

“I will. I’ll call you later.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and slid out of my car.

“Are you hiding?” Prudence accused.

“Absolutely,” I admitted.

“Get inside, silly. Skip’s being less Skippy than normal.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Do we know why?”

She stopped walking and faced me. “Vent confessions?”

I sighed. “Pru, seriously?”

She crossed her arms with a huff. “Do you want to know or not?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, but quickly.”

“The girl he railroaded, Alison something?”

“Harada?”

“Yep, that sounds right,” Prudence confirmed. “Word on the street is she’s bringing a lawsuit, and the DA wants Skip to personally apologize to her.”

“That doesn’t bode well for the lawsuit.”

“Nope,” Prudence agreed. “But I think the DA’s hoping if Skip apologizes, maybe she’ll back off.”

“Well, I hope she doesn’t. I hope she sues.” I raised an eyebrow. “What did Chief Mom say?

“Oh, the DA went around Chief Mom to make him do it, so Skip’s eating humble pie right now.”

“That’s not like Skip.”

“I know,” she breathed out. “He raged for several minutes until Barry told him to shut the fuck up, and stop yelling at Mom, and if he didn’t, he was going to have to leave.”

“Go, Barry.”

“Right?” Prudence linked her arm with mine. “So, he’s calmed down and is now just sulky Skip.”

“Okay,” I said in relief. “Sulky Skip I can handle.”

“With wine,” she amended. “We can handle Sulky Skip with wine.”

I laughed. “True.”

I followed her inside and hung up my coat before greeting our parents.

* * *

Cullen

Wednesday morning, I walked into the office to find Cade and Cameron grabbing their jackets like they were heading out. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve been summoned,” Cameron said.

“Summoned where?” I asked.

“Fire Marshal’s office,” Cade provided. “The lieutenant has asked us to come down and answer some questions.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“You’ve already met with her,” Cade said.

“I can come for moral support,” I said.

Plus it gives me a chance to see her again.

I didn’t say that bit out loud. She’d had dinner with her family Sunday, so other than talking briefly before she’d left to spend time with them, and then again before she’d gone to bed, we’d barely spoken over the past few days, and I missed her.

“Okay, let’s roll,” Cade said, and we filed out to his truck.

We arrived at the Fire Marshal’s office and were immediately shown to a conference room. Helena walked in a few minutes later and as she greeted my brothers, I drank her in. She wore her fire department issued uniform, but she’d left her hair down and all I wanted to do was run my fingers through it.

“Cade, right?” she asked, shaking his hand.

“Yes,” he said, stepping back for Cameron to greet her.

“And you’re Cullen?”

I bit back a snort.

“No, I’m Cameron.”

“Oh, sorry ,” she breathed out, shaking his hand. “Cameron. Right. I won’t make that mistake again.”

It was my turn, and as she slid her hand into mine, I gave it a gentle squeeze. “ I’m Cullen.”

She smiled, squeezing back, saying everything we couldn’t say out loud with that simple touch. “Hi, Cullen. Sorry, again.”

“No problem.”

With my back to my brothers and the windows of the room, I mouthed, ‘You look beautiful.’

“Have a seat,” she said, then took one across from the three of us at the conference table.

“First, I heard my sister made an unsanctioned visit,” Cade began, “And I wanted to apologize.”

“Cricket came here?” Cameron asked.

“She did,” Cade said.

“Why?” Cameron bit out. “Did she call you?”

“Connor called and filled me in.” He focused back on Helena. “Anyway, I hope it didn’t hinder your investigation. She won’t bother you again.”

“Don’t worry, it was more of a personal chat,” Helena said. “And I understand that. I obviously couldn’t share anything with her, but it won’t hinder the investigation, I can promise you that.”

“Why would she call you and not me?” Cameron continued.

“She didn’t call me. She didn’t call anyone. Buzz followed her here and reported it to Hatch.”

“Well, she shouldn’t have done that. It’s a huge conflict of interest.”

“Cam, can we talk about this later?” Cade growled.

“Whatever.”

I gave Helena a quick glance, trying to hide a flabbergasted expression as she dropped her head to the file. I didn’t miss her smile as she did so.

“Right,” she said. “I would like some answers on a few things.”

Helena laid out the evidence she’d already shown me, although, I played a little dumb and pretended as though some of it was new to me.

“Can you explain any of this?” she challenged.

Cade and Cameron shuffled through the pictures, and I pretended to do the same, and we looked at each other in confusion.

“I have no idea who is driving that truck, Lieutenant,” Cade said.

“And I don’t even know what the hell these chemicals,” Cameron added, then frowned. “Look, I thought you told us to come in for an informal chat.”

“That’s correct.”

“Well, this is starting to feel a little official, like we should have our attorney present or something.”

She folded her hands and sat back. “We can make this an official interrogation, Cameron. I can turn on cameras, and the digital recorder, pull in my other lieutenant to act as a witness, or we can talk freely, and I can choose what to put in my report. Believe it or not, I want to get to the truth, just as badly as you do.”

“Easy for you to say, your family isn’t on the line,” Cameron bit out.

“I can appreciate how you feel, but I ask that you allow me to do my job.”

Cade settled a hand on my shoulder, somehow sensing I was about to slam my fist into Cameron’s jaw again.

“Cameron,” I warned.

“Fine,” he said. “Carry on.”

“Do you know anyone who has access to your keys, paperwork, or credit cards?” she asked.

“No,” Cade said at the same time I said, “Katya Lebedev.”

Cade’s head whipped to me. “You think Katya coulda done this?”

“I don’t want to think so, but she’s the only one who had access to our offices, homes, and all of our build sites.” I didn’t add that I’d already canceled my credit card and ordered a new one.

“And who is this person?” Helena asked.

“She’s our cleaning woman,” Cade said. “She’s got a brother in a hospital facility in Gresham who will be there for the rest of his life due to a car accident, and she’s working her ass off to pay the bills that come with that. She’s a Russian immigrant with no family, no prospects, and she’s young. Early twenties, so there’s no way in hell she’d do anything to jeopardize her brother.”

“I’m not saying she would,” I said. “I’m just saying maybe we have the lieutenant ask her on the off-chance she knows anything. You never know, she might have seen or heard something.”

Cade dragged his hands down his face. “I’ll get you her contact information.”

“I’d appreciate that, thank you,” Helena said.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I saw ‘HATCH CALLING’ pop up on my screen. I glanced at Helena and said, “Will you excuse me for a second, please?”

“Sure.”

I stepped out of the room and answered the call. “Hey, brother. We’re meeting with the lieutenant, can I call you back?”

“This is about your cleaning lady, so you tell me.”

“You found something?”

“Booker did, yeah.”

I took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly. “Give it to me.”

He filled me in, and my heart dropped. This was bad.

“You got anything you can text or email me?” I asked.

“I do.”

“Right, send that along and I’ll fill the lieutenant in now.”

“Okay, brother. I hope it helps,” Hatch said.

“Me too,” I admitted, hanging up and heading back into the conference room.

“Everything alright?” Helena asked.

“Not really, no,” I said as I took my seat again. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Cade asked.

“The kind of problem that involves Russians.”

“Russians? What Russians?” Cameron hissed.

“According to what Hatch found, the kind of Russians who send large amounts of money to immigrant housekeepers,” I said, focusing on Helena. “Give me your card and I’ll send you everything I have,” I said, acting as if I didn’t already have.

Helena took a few moments to look over what I’d just sent her and then sighed. “I don’t know how your brother obtained this information, and I don’t want to know, but I can tell you that none of it is admissible in court.”

“Why the hell not?” Cameron snapped at her.

“Watch your tone, brother,” I growled.

“One second she’s accusing us of starting the fires, and then when we get information on a potential subject, she tells us she can’t use it.”

Helena raised a hand in my direction but spoke directly to Cameron. “Look, I shouldn’t be saying this, and if you repeat it in a court of law, I will perjure myself and deny it, but I don’t think that any of you set these fires. However, I can’t submit evidence that was obtained illegally. I promise I will take this information and do my own investigation, but I can’t use it without doing my own due diligence.”

“That’s all we ask, ba—” I cut myself off with a cough. “Sorry, wrong pipe. That’s all we ask, Lieutenant.”

“If there’s nothing else, we have a busy day,” Cade said, rising to his feet.

“Give me a minute,” I said, and waited for my brothers to leave the room.

They closed the door behind them, and I studied Helena.

“Don’t make me smile,” she ordered.

“You look sexy as hell,” I said quietly.

“Stop it.” She linked her fingers together in front of her.

“Okay, going back to business,” I conceded. “Do you really not think you can use what Hatch found?”

“I couldn’t say this in front of your brothers, but just this morning, I found the same large deposits in Katya’s account that your brother did. I knew the payments had come from an off-shore account, but he found far more than I did. So, I’m going to use it, because it’s proof none of you did it,” she said. “I just have to figure out how to pair what I found and what he found and keep it all above board.”

“Let me know if you need anything from me.”

“I will.”

I grinned. “Dinner this weekend?”

“Yes. I’d love that. Your place again?”

“You cooking?”

“Absolutely,” she breathed out.

“Send me a list and I’ll pick everything up.” I raised an eyebrow. “Including your favorite brand of toothpaste.”

Her cheeks pinkened and her nostrils flared. “Cullen, stop.”

“Don’t think I will,” I teased. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

“I will make you gruel if you keep going.”

I chuckled. “Okay, okay. I’ll quit.”

“Thank you.”

“Call me later?”

“Yes,” she promised, standing.

I did the same and smiled. “Fuck me, I wish I could kiss you right now.”

“Same.” Instead, she reached out her hand.

I shook it, giving her another squeeze before releasing her, and walking out the door.