Read Into the Fire for Free Online Page B

phone?”
    â€œI don’t like people intruding on my privacy.”
    â€œThen I’ll be doing my best to get the hell out of here. Just find me Nate’s stuff and I’ll give AAA a call.”
    â€œWhat’s the hurry, princess? Nate’s been dead for three months—he’s not going anywhere.”
    â€œDon’t you even care?” she demanded. “He was your best friend! A brother to you, and he died when he was under your roof. Don’t you feel anything? Grief, regret, responsibility?”
    â€œI’m not responsible for Nate’s death,” he said in a detached voice.
    â€œI didn’t say you were. But you’re the one who should have protected him. If he’d gotten in with a bad crowd you should have done something, anything, to help him….” Her voice trailed off in the face of his ironic expression.
    â€œMaybe you better make those phone calls,” he said, rising and pouring himself a mug of steaming sludge. “You want any of this?”
    â€œI’d rather die.”
    â€œSooner or later, angel face, you’re going to have to learn to lower your patrician standards.”
    â€œYou aren’t going to be around to see it.”
    â€œOh, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m looking forward to it.”
    The smell of the coffee was tantalizing. She knew it would be awful—too strong, too bitter. It would wreak havoc on her stomach and her nerves, and even milk and sugar wouldn’t make it palatable. And she wanted it, anyway.
    She rose, shoving a hand through her wet hair. He was watching her, and she didn’t like it. The sooner she was out of there the better. “So my car’s still in the ditch on…what road did you say it was?”
    â€œRoute 31.”
    â€œFine. I’ll call AAA, I’ll call my mother, and I’ll make arrangements to give you back your privacy as soon as possible. That’s what you’d like, right? Have me get the hell out of here?”
    â€œDo you have any doubts about that?” He stubbed out his cigarette, looking up at her above the thread of smoke.
    In fact, she did. It didn’t make sense, but he didn’t seem in any hurry to have her leave. “I’ll just go get my purse. Maybe my cell phone will work here.”
    â€œMaybe,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee and not even grimacing. “But I wouldn’t count on it. I wouldn’t count on anything if I were you.”
    She didn’t bother arguing with him. She didn’t bother wasting another word on him—she simply headed up the dark, narrow stairs, stepping over the stained spot where the rat’s corpse had rested, going straight to her room.
    In the gray light of a November morning it looked even less welcoming than it had before. The room was Spartan—just the mattress on the floor, the sleeping bag and her suitcase.
    And no sign of her purse anywhere.
    Â 
    It was cold up here. Nate never thought he would be so cold, looking down on them. It was an odd sort of feeling—floating, dreamy, and then everything coming into focus. He should have known she was coming—he just couldn’t understand what had taken her so long to get here. His death would have shattered her, and there was no way she could move on with her life without getting answers. She’d come here to face his old buddy Dillon. The man who had let him die .
    He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about it yet, even though he’d had a long time to think about it. Time had stopped making any sense, one day blending into another. He was trapped in this old building, unable to leave, but he’d heard her moving around, and known it was her .
    The dead rat had been a nice touch. He left one every few days, not on a regular schedule. He didn’t want to be too predictable. He hadn’t expected Jamie to be the one to find it, but he didn’t mind. It meant Dillon