GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (24 page)

“Yes,” she finally gritted
and stomped out of the office.
 

Sam
waited for her to lock the door and didn’t say a word when he helped her in
to
the truck
.
Beth remained obstinately quiet
.
Let him believe she was going home with him
.
The only way he could make her leave the beach house once she was there, was to drag her out
kicking and screaming.

It wasn’t until the third fire truck passed them on the highway
,
followed closely by two police
cruisers
,
that
Beth sat up and strained to see where they were headed
.
A cold fear swept through her
.
They were still a few miles from her house but she could
already
see the faint glow of the fire.

“Sam,” she
croaked

“I know,” he
replied grimly,
pressing down on the accelerator.

The hope she’d been clinging to that it was the outdoor theater engulfed in flames and not her beautiful beach house, died a few minutes later
.
Smoke billowed from the shattered windows
as the firefighters worked to douse the raging fire, but
it
was already too late to salvage any part of it.
Beth was too shocked at the moment to even cry but when Sam pulled down the driveway and stopped behind the fire trucks, a painful sob ripped from her throat
.
She was out the door before Sam could hold her back
.

She heard
Sam
call
out
her name but
ignored him
;
she had to see
it
for herself
.
Beth rounded the fire trucks
, the sight of her home slowly being annihilated hitting her square in the chest.
With an anguished cry, s
he fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands
as the roof collapsed
, a
sizeable chunk
of
her
heart going up in smoke
with it
.

Despite the intense heat from the fire, Beth felt cold and empty inside. The only thing s
tanding between
her
and
a complete meltdown was
Sam. Dropping down beside her, Sam gathered her in his strong arms, embracing her with a fierceness that seemed to drive some of the pain away.

Sam watched the firemen
battle
the flames but any attempt to save the house was futile
.
All they could do now was put out the fire and try to keep it from catching on the surrounding trees and spreading
.
He saw a policeman striding towards them and rose to his feet, lifting Anne with him
.
She sagged against him, her
slender
arms
keeping a
death grip around his waist
.

Her face was buried in his chest and he knew by the violent shaking of her shoulders that she was crying,
al
though he couldn’t actually hear her over the roar of the fire and activity going on around them
.
When t
he policeman motioned for
them
to follow him
, Sam
urged Anne
forward. Even with his
support
she stumbled a few times and would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding her so firmly to his side.

“Is this your house
?”
the
police officer asked Sam.

Sam nodded, knowing Anne w
asn’t
capable of
answering any questions
in her ragged condition.
 

“Do you have any idea how the fire started?”

Sam nodded again
.
“I believe you’ll find it was arson,” he said grimly.

The police officer
arched a questioning brow
and
then pulled out a pad and pen
.
“Maybe we should start at the beginning
.
Y
our name
, please.
”

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        *
**

Beth stood on the beach
, sightlessly staring
at the ocean
.
Behind her, the fire trucks were starting to roll out
.
Sam had
done his best
to get her to leave but she insisted on taking a walk to the shoreline first
.
She knew he was hurt when she adamantly refused his company, but he’d let her go
anyway
.
S
am’s declaration that the fire was caused by arson had taken her by surprise until he’d explained to the police officer. As he repeated t
he words from the
anonymous
letter
,
Beth
knew in her heart he was right.
 

I lost my home because of you
.
And now she
had
lost her home
,
too
.
An eye for an eye
?
In a sick, twisted way it made sense.
 

Beth lifted her face to the cool ocean breeze
.
Would Stockton have
set
the fire if she
had
been at home
?
Was he trying to kill her or simply making it right in his demented mind by taking from her what she
had
taken from him
?
Her thoughts were interrupted by
the sound of the trucks
revving up as they pulled away from the charred remains of her house
.
Sam would be coming to get her in a few minutes to take her home
.

No, not home, she thought
.
Her home was gone
.
The pain inside her
chest
had dulled but it still ached
for all that she had lost
.
Stockton had taken something very precious from her
; not just her house, but everything in it, leaving her with fond memories and nothing else
.
He’d lost his home and made sure she
’d been robbed of hers
,
too
.

Beth inhaled sharply
.
What was it the second letter had said?
 

I lost the people I love because of you
.

Beth turned and raced back towards the house
.
Sam
.
What if Stockton was hiding in the trees somewhere just waiting for the trucks to leave so he could hurt Sam
?
Her heart pounded in her chest and she couldn’t breathe, but still she forced herself to move across the sand as fast as her legs would carry her
.
When she saw the dark silhouette of Sam’s large frame moving towards her, Beth screamed out his name
.

She saw him pick up his pace, knew she looked like a madwoman racing across the sand calling his name, but she didn’t care
.
He was safe and all she wanted
at that moment
was to feel his arms around her
.
Beth flew the last few feet and threw herself in his arms, sobbing and desperately trying to draw in air at the same time.

“Anne, honey, what’s wrong?”
 

She was
sobbing and
trembling so violently,
Sam was deeply concerned
th
at
she
was in the midst of
a nervous breakdown
.
He held her to him, calm
ing
her with reassuring words until the heart-breaking sobs began to slow and finally stopped.
 

Beth tipped her head back, and touched his face
.
He was safe, he was here,
no
one had hurt him
.
“Sam
…
” she whispered.

“You had me pretty worried, honey
.
Are you okay?”

Beth nodded
.
“I just
…
I needed to know you were safe.”

“What made you think I wasn’t?”

“The letter,” she
croaked,
her voice so raw from crying she could barely speak.

“I know, honey
.
I told the officer about it
.
He gave me the name of the detective in charge of arson and asked us to contact him tomorrow.”

Beth shook her head
.
“Not the first letter, Sam
-
the second.”

“What
?”
T
he terrified look on her face
nearly gutted him.
“You think he
burned down
the beach house to pay you back for losing his home,” Sam said with sudden clarity. “And now you’re afraid because the
second
letter
said something about losing the ones he loved
?
”

“I thought he
was out there
hiding, in the trees maybe
.
I was so scared, Sam
.
I thought he might go after you
next
.”

“Oh, baby,” he said softly and gathered her in his arms
.
“No one’s going to hurt me
.
I have to stick around to watch over you, remember?”

“Don’t tease, Sam
.
I couldn’t take it
;
I know I couldn’t
.
If anything happened to you
…
”

Sam silenced her with a soft kiss
.
“I’m fine, Anne
.
He couldn’t possibly know where I live
.
Actually,
there’s no way
he
c
ould
even
know we’re together
.
O
nly a handful of people
know
, so you’re worrying for no reason
.”

“He could have been watching the beach house,” she pointed out.

“Yes, but he still wouldn’t know my name
.
The only way he’d know is if he asked Vic
,
and I’m sure your over-protective friend would have been immediately suspicious about that.”

“You’re right
.
Vic wouldn’t have
…
” her voice trailed off as a horrible thought flutter
ed
through her mind
.
“Sam
?
You don’t think
…
oh, no
!
I always list Vic as a contact in case
of an emergency.
If Stockton found out my name, he
could easily have discovered
Vic’s name
,
too.”

Sam didn’t want to believe Stockton would go that far, but
the man had
just torched a million dollar house so who could say
whether
he
was capable of
physically harm
ing
Vic or not
?
He took Anne’s hand and walked briskly to his truck
.
S
coop
ing
her purse
off the floor board where it had fallen, he
pulled her cell phone out and
handed it to her.

Beth dialed Vic’s number
with shaky fingers, her heart pounding with fear until
he finally answered after the sixth or seventh ring
.
“Vic, thank God you’re all right!”

“Well, of course I am, doll face
.
What’s wrong
?
Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him
.
“Vic, someone set my house on fire tonight
.
It’s gone
.
They couldn’t save anything.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry
.
I know how much you loved that house
.
Are you okay
?
You weren’t in it when it happened
,
were you?”

“No, I wasn’t in it
.
I think it was Stockton
,
though
.
The firemen told Sam they thought it was started somewhere between five o’clock and five
thirty.”