Falling Fast

“You didn’t show any deceit during the test,” he replies, and I let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll pass over my findings to Detective Preston, and I’m sure he will be in contact with you within the next couple of days.”

“Thank you,” I say, and he nods before going back over to his desk.

Opening the door to the room, I find Colton waiting for me with his back against the wall. As soon as he sees me, he takes my hand and pulls me into his chest, asking at the top of my hair, “You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod and his hold tightens. “He said I didn’t show any deceit, so hopefully if someone really did set fire to the house, they can go about finding them now.”

“If?” he asks, and I tip my head back to look up at him.

“Why would someone break in to set Grandma’s house on fire?” I ask the question I have asked myself a million times. “She doesn’t have any enemies, and neither do I. It doesn’t make sense to me. You know Grandma is not well, and she has tried to cook in the past and it didn’t go well. All I can think is that she started the fire by accident.”

“They said an accelerant was used.”

“I know,” I mutter, still having no explanation for that.

“Hopefully they will figure it out.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “I really want to get into the house to get some stuff for Grandma’s room at the nursing home. I hope that if I can make it more like home, she’ll start to feel more comfortable there and come around.”

“We’ll make that happen. As soon as they give us the okay,” he says, and looking into his eyes, I believe him. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

“Yes,” I let out a relieved breath, and he takes my hand and leads me back out of the building the way we came in. As soon as we exit, we head for his Suburban and get in. “Do you mind stopping off so I can see Grandma before we head home?”

He looks over at me with soft eyes. “I don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” I say quietly, and he reaches over, taking my hand and pulling it across to rest on his lap. Ignoring the way it feels to have him holding my hand, I pull my cell phone out from my coat pocket. “I’m going to call Nat really quick to let her know she doesn’t need to come down here and raise holy hell.”

He laughs, but I’m not joking. She was beyond pissed when I told her the news yesterday about having to take a polygraph, and threatened to come down here if they didn’t clear my name. And since she is an attorney, she could do it.

“How did it go?” she asks as soon as she answers, and I smile. She’s obviously been waiting for me to call.

“It went good. The polygraph examiner said I didn’t show any sign of deceit, so hopefully that’s all done and we can move on.”

“Of course you didn’t show signs of deceit,” she grumbles, sounding annoyed. “So what now?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just have to wait for the detective to call me.”

“I pray they do that soon so you can get on with your life.”

“Me too,” I agree. “Like I told Colton earlier, I want to get into the house and get some stuff for Grandma. She doesn’t even have any of her clothes with her there.”

“If they don’t call you by tomorrow afternoon, call and tell me. I will call them myself and demand an explanation for their actions. You have done nothing wrong and have been cooperating with them, so they have no reason to keep you from the house,” she says, and I can tell by her tone that she is working herself up—something she’s good at doing.

“How about we use you as a plan D?” I suggest, and she laughs.

“Fine. You call them tomorrow, but seriously, if they don’t let you in by Friday, I’m flying down there and we are breaking into the damn house,” she snaps, and I know she would do that for me.

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” I reply, and Colton’s fingers squeeze mine.

“How is everything else going?” she asks, and I bite my lip. “Are you with Colton now?”

“Yes,” I answer simply, and she lets out a loud hoot.

“I love it. Did he take you to the appointment?”

“He did.”

“I knew I liked this guy before, but I seriously like him now,” she singsongs, and I have to agree with her on that too. “Well, I know you obviously can’t talk about him because he’s there with you, but as soon as you have time, I need all the details on that kiss. All of them.”