Hot for You (20 page)

A click and the sound of the door opening had
her pushing Sam away. She jerked her attention to the doorway to
see Cody standing there, staring at her and Sam.

The look on Cody’s face was one of betrayal
and anger.

“Cody.” Carilyn stepped out of Sam’s grasp.
“This is not what it seems.”

“Is that him?” Sam asked.

Carilyn rounded on Sam. “This is Cody.” She
turned to Cody. “Meet Sam. I’ve told you about him.”

Cody’s expression was hard. “Your
ex-boyfriend. Or at least I thought he was your ex.”

“He still is.” She stepped away from Sam and
went to Cody. “Sam tracked me down using the Find My iPhone app we
installed back when we were dating. He surprised me.”

Cody’s eyes were narrowed. “Looks like that
was quite the welcome.”

“For Heaven's sake.” Carilyn put her hands on
her hips. “He was giving me a goodbye hug
.
”

Sam walked to where Cody stood and held out
his hand. “I’m Sam Anthony.”

“Cody McBride.” Cody took Sam’s hand and the
two men looked like they were going to start arm wrestling.

Carilyn swiped loose strands of hair from her
face that had escaped her French braid. “Please, let’s talk this
out.”

The men nodded to each other and released
their grips.

Sam smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“I’m sorry I dropped in on you like this, Cari. I now know that
wasn’t a good idea.”

“It’s been good to see you.” Carilyn held out
her hand and Sam took it. “Give me a call later. Maybe we can all
go out for dinner.”

Sam released her hand and his gaze flicked to
Cody and back to Carilyn. “I doubt if that’s a good idea. I have a
hotel room at the Best Western. I’ll head back there and see if I
can get an early flight to Kansas tomorrow.”

Carilyn couldn’t help but feel bad that Sam
had come all the way here to find she was in love with someone
else. “Have a good trip back,” she said softly. “Keep in
touch.”

“I will,” he said, but the look on his face
told her she wasn’t likely to be hearing from him for some time, if
ever again.

“Bye, Sam,” she said as he opened the
door.

He gave one look at her, nodded, and closed
the door behind him.

The room was silent as he turned to face
Cody. He was studying her. “Something is wrong,” he said.

She frowned. “I already explained the
situation with Sam.”

“I’m not talking about that.” He shook his
head. “There’s something bothering you.”

“Oh. You’re right.” She walked to the bed and
picked up her laptop. “I got another email from Firebug.”

They sat on the edge of the mattress as she
opened her laptop, put in her password,

Her heart was pounding as she pulled up her
inbox again. She moved her cursor over the sender’s name and
clicked on
Firebug.
She held her breath as they read it.

Sweet Carilyn,

A special video just for you.

Your admirer,

Firebug

Heat flushed over her at the way he’d called
her sweet and had labeled himself an admirer.
Bastard.
She
glanced at Cody and his eyes were narrowed.

The embedded URL was a YouTube link. “Let me
verify the link does in fact go to YouTube,” she said. After she
confirmed it, she pulled up the video.

Cold replaced the heat that had burned
through her when she saw the title of the video.

You’re next, redhead.

Cody clenched his hands into fists.

The user who’d uploaded it was named
Firebug
, and it was one of two videos he’d uploaded.

Her hand trembled as she moved the cursor
over the play button.

The video was crisp and clear of a Barbie
doll sitting on a pile that looked like burnt matchsticks. A
flaming match was lowered by a hand with stubby fingers and then
dropped onto the little pieces of wood.

Fire whooshed up, encompassing the Barbie.
Carilyn stared in horror as the blaze consumed the doll and bile
rose up in her throat. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t look away
as the flames melted the Barbie, contorting its features,
destroying it, and she fought the urge to throw up.

She didn’t know how long she watched but
finally the fire died out and a message appeared in place of the
ruined mess.

“That sonofabitch.” Cody’s tone was hard, his
words a growl as he watched. “I need to call Reese.”

Then on the screen words appeared.

You too will burn, sweet Carilyn Thompson.
You will burn.

Her stomach clenched and again she almost
retched.

Cody’s expression was one of fury. He hit the
play button, studying the video a second time. Carilyn looked
away.

“Here. Look at this.” Cody pointed to the
screen. “See the ring he’s wearing?”

She squinted at the screen. “A blue stone and
two snakes.” She glanced at Cody. “It looks very unusual.”

“I’m going to go after that bastard and make
him wish the police had locked him up.”

“You need to leave that to the police.”
Carilyn suddenly felt fear inside her that Cody might confront
Firebug. “It’s too dangerous to go after him yourself.”

Cody didn’t respond, but his scowl had
deepened as he pulled his cell phone out of its holster. He
hesitated as he looked at the screen again. “There’s another video
uploaded under the same user name.”

Her heart set to pounding again as Cody took
the laptop from her and pulled up another video. He pressed play
and then they saw an image of a woman gagged and bound to a support
beam. A Barbie doll with blonde hair was positioned beside her.

“My God,” Cody said in a rough voice. “That’s
Janice Barnhart.”

Skin prickling, Carilyn wanted to ask who
Janice was, but instead a scream almost tore from Carilyn’s throat
when she saw the woman suddenly engulfed in flame and crying out
behind her gag for help. Carilyn clapped a hand over her mouth to
keep from screaming.

“Don’t watch.” Cody closed the lid of the
laptop.

But it was too late. Carilyn continued to see
the image of the woman burning, could hear her muffled screams. The
scene was burned into her brain and tears rolled down her
cheeks.

“Was that real?” she asked in a hoarse
whisper.

“I’m afraid it was.” He put an arm around her
and held her close. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

She clenched her eyes shut but opened them
again when the scene played even more vividly behind her eyelids.
She felt panic rise inside her like a flock of birds. What if
Firebug did come after her? What if he set her on fire, too?

Cody pressed a speed dial number on his phone
and put it to his ear. “Reese,” he said a moment later. “Are you
near a computer? It’s urgent.”

For a few seconds Cody listened, then said,
“Go to YouTube and type in this phrase.” He paused, clearly waiting
for Reese. “Okay. The phrase is ‘You’re next, redhead.’”

A moment later, Reese’s voice was so loud
with anger that she heard him say, “Sonofabitch.” He sounded like
he wanted to punch something. “How did you get this link?”

“Carilyn got another email.” Cody’s voice was
hard. “But that’s not all.” Cody looked at Carilyn as he said,
“There’s another video uploaded by the same user who calls himself
Firebug.” Cody waited a moment. “Got it? Good.”

A minute’s pause and then Carilyn heard Reese
curse even louder.

Cody listened. “I’ll meet you there.” He
disconnected the call then punched in an address on his cell
phone’s map application. He faced Carilyn. “I’m going to meet
Reese. He has an idea where the second video was shot.”

She put her hand on Cody’s arm, trying not to
show the panic that had her on edge. “Be careful.”

“I will.” He looked at her. “Stay in the
hotel room, okay?”

“I’m not going anywhere.” She had an arsonist
to track.

They both stood from where they’d been
sitting on the bed and she left her laptop on the mattress.

He gave her a big hug. “Everything’s going to
be okay,” he murmured before giving her a gentle. He walked out of
the hotel room, closing the door behind him.

***

Cody had to force himself to slow down as he
drove to the address outside of town that Reese had given him. His
rage had been multiplying with every additional thing that happened
with the arsonist.

The warehouse was fifteen minutes from the
hotel he and Carilyn were staying in. When he reached the
warehouse, he recognized Reese’s unmarked vehicle along with a
police cruiser. Cody parked off to the side and walked into the
open warehouse door. Reese met Cody at the entrance as he walked
in.

“I’ve got backup on the way.” Reese nodded to
a corner of the warehouse where his partner, Detective Kelley
Petrova, was examining the scene with two uniformed officers.
“There’s evidence that something was burned in here recently.” He
looked like he had to control his expression. “If the video is as
real as we think it is, that bastard is a real sicko.”

Two more police cruisers and another car
pulled up as they were talking. Reese said, “Wait here.”

While Reese spoke with the officers, Cody
stepped further into the dim warehouse. He caught a charred sickly
sweet odor that could only be the remnants of the stench of burnt
flesh.

In moments, Reese returned to where Cody
waited and the newly arrived police officers started working over
the scene. They walked to where two forensics guys were examining
the floor. The petite and pretty Detective Petrova stood close
by.

Reese started to speak when something metal
banged hard on the concrete floor, the harsh sound echoing through
the warehouse. Both Cody and Reese looked to see one officer with a
crowbar beside a fifty-gallon drum and another with a flashlight
pointed down as he looked into a barrel. He drew back, coughing,
looking like he was ready to puke, but managed to hold back. Cody
recognized the officer as his cousin and Reese’s brother, John.

“Reese.” John motioned Reese and Petrova to
come to him. “I think there’s a body here, wrapped in a tarp. It
sure as hell smells like it.”

John nodded to two officers who pulled the
tarp-covered object out of the drum and placed it on the concrete
floor. When the officers had untied the rope, they let the tarp
fall open.

“Looks like we found the victim,” John said.
“Or what’s left of her.”

Detective Petrova, Reese, and Cody looked at
the body. The stench was so powerful that Cody’s stomach convulsed
and he came close to vomiting. Seeing the body—burnt beyond
recognition—didn’t help. If he hadn’t seen the video earlier, he
might have lost his lunch.

“Call the M.E.,” Reese said.

John had his radio out. “Already on it.”

A hard cold rage swelled up inside Cody.
“That’s probably her.”

“We won’t know until DNA tests come back.”
Reese and Cody walked away from the barrel as Reese spoke. “But I
have a feeling you’re right.”

Cody was glad to get away from the body. The
last time he had seen Janice Barnhart he’d thought she was a
pretty, vivacious blonde. Despite having lost her business to the
arsonist, she’d had a surprisingly positive attitude. Seeing her
being burned alive on the video not only made him furious, but it
made him feel ill. What kind of sick fuck did this to women?

Even though Carilyn was tucked away safely in
the hotel room, Cody couldn’t help but feel like he should be at
the hotel with her. An urgency rose up inside him that he couldn’t
explain. He needed to get back, and he needed to go now.

* * * * *

When Cody left, Carilyn took a towel out of
the bathroom, mopped up the water on the desk, then set her laptop
onto its surface.

All that had happened kept churning through
her, making her nauseated. The explosion, Sam showing up, Firebug’s
email, the two videos, and Cody off at some location that could be
a trap for all she knew.

She couldn’t stop images from pounding in her
mind so much so that her head ached with it all.

It didn’t do any good worrying about things.
What would be productive would be to track down Firebug. She signed
onto her laptop and copied Firebug’s email address without
re-reading the email then minimized the windows for her email and
Internet so that she didn’t have to see Firebug’s name and the
video. She would have exited out of the email client and the web
browser, but she wanted them to be handy for Cody if he needed
them. His own iPad and computer had been lost in the explosion, so
he’d had to purchase them new again. He hadn’t had time to set-up
either of his electronic devices.

She brought up the tracking program she had
downloaded earlier and entered Firebug’s email address. She took a
deep breath and clicked on “start.”

For a long moment she stared at the screen,
watching its progress but knowing it would take some time to track
him down. He was good, really good.

She frowned as she considered that. Was
Firebug a computer expert? A hacker even? He had to have some kind
of day job, didn’t he? She drummed her fingers on the desktop as
she contemplated her thoughts.

Feeling suddenly jittery and unable to sit
still, she got up from her seat and started pacing the room. She
wanted to get out, to go for a walk, to do
something
rather
than just sitting here and waiting.

Cody had told her to wait in the hotel room,
but what would it hurt to go down to the lobby? She could stretch
her legs and go into their coffee shop. She could use a bite to
eat, and something with caffeine would be nice, too.

She checked the progress of the tracking
program, which was still working, chipping away at every roadblock
it came to.

After she stuffed her iPhone in her pocket
and cash from her purse in her opposite pocket, along with the
keycard, she headed out of the hotel room and to the elevator. It
felt good to be moving, good to be away from the computer and
thinking about Firebug and the horrible videos. It was as if
putting distance between her and her laptop was putting distance
between her and Firebug.