Paws off the Boss - Casey Griffin (best books under 200 pages .TXT) 📗

“Cameras caught his car roaming the neighborhood the night of the fire. And our surveillance guys spotted him in the area over the next couple of days. When we went to have a chat with him, we saw the car and put the pieces together.”

Piper shivered. “You’re kidding.”

“We’re still investigating whether he was involved with the other incidents.”

Bracing herself against the windowsill, she stared sightlessly out to the street. She thought back to Friday night, to her tussle during the fire. The arsonist was male. That much was clear. She tried to picture Barney as her attacker, the height, the build. It was possible, but she couldn’t be sure. Not a hundred percent.

Could he be the one who set the center on fire? But he’d practically left her for dead. Sure, he was a pervert, but was he capable of murder? And if so, had he been the one who tried to cream her with a car in the alley?

“And here I always thought he was harmless.” Sure, she and Sam’s receptionist had their text message precaution when Piper went to Barney’s house, but she’d never thought he was truly capable of anything violent. How many times had she gone to that man’s house all alone?

“You can never be too careful,” the inspector said. “Do you have someplace safe to stay for the next while?”

She bit her lip, wondering if she would have to ask someone for a place to crash. Addison or Zoe maybe. Was it too soon to ask Aiden? She didn’t want to be the one to push their relationship beyond its limits, push it too far too soon.

“Yeah, I do,” she lied. Then she frowned. “Why do you ask? Should I be worried? Isn’t Barney in custody?”

“Unfortunately, no. But don’t worry. We’re working on tracking him down. Once he’s here, there’ll be enough evidence to hold him.”

“That’s good.” Piper suddenly remembered her surprise visitor. She told Inspector Samuels about Laura showing up and what she’d said—not that it helped much, since she hadn’t really revealed a lot of information.

He grew quiet, and Piper got the impression there wasn’t much more to say at the moment. It gave her a lot to think about, but despite this new information, she didn’t feel as relieved as she’d thought she would. There was no way to know if Barney was behind everything or if there was someone else still out there to worry about.

Inspector Samuels broke the silence. “Well, unless there’s anything else you’d like to know, Miss Summers, that’s about all I had to tell you. I’ll keep you informed if anything new comes up. Just be careful for now.”

“I will.”

She came back to reality and looked around her. Really looked around. That’s when she noticed something strange, something oddly familiar, like she’d seen it a thousand times but never took note. And she’d been staring right at it for the last five minutes.

“Miss Summers? Are you still there?”

“What kind of car?” she asked.

“I’m sorry?”

“What kind of car does Barney drive?”

“A Buick.”

“Is it a Buick LeSabre? Roughly nineties? A light, metallicky blue?”

“Yes,” he replied hesitantly.

“With damage to the front end and driver’s side, like someone crashed into it in a back alley?” Her date with Aiden flashed through her mind. The mystery car chasing them, the Buick, her leaping onto it. Had Barney followed her and Aiden to spy on them? Was he still in the car as she was nearly run over?

Inspector Samuels grew quiet for a moment. “How did you know all that?”

Raising her phone to the window, she took a snapshot of the view outside and sent it to Inspector Samuels. She heard a chime on the other end, indicating he’d received it.

“Because I’m looking at it right now,” she said.

“Where are you?”

Piper rattled off the address. She heard mumbles as he gave orders to someone on the other end.

After a moment, he came back. “Stay where you are, Miss Summers. We’ve got someone on the way. I’ll stay on the line with you until they get there. Avoid confrontation with him.”

“No argument here.”

She ran to the double front doors to dead-bolt them. Heart pounding, she reached out with shaking fingers. Before she could snap the lock home, a dark shadow passed outside, behind the frosted glass. The handle squeaked, and the door cracked open.

Piper cried out in fright and shoved her body against the door, battling the weight on the other side of it. The same desperate fear she’d felt the night of the fire rushed through her veins—the knowledge that he was stronger, but also that her life depended on fighting him off.

Another wave of cheers and laughter filtered into the reception area from the staff room. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but then she heard a voice on the other side of the door.

“What’s going on? Piper, is that you?”

It was Aiden.

With a sob of relief, she wrenched the door open and dragged him in. When he was safely inside, she flicked the dead bolt closed. She’d barely had time to turn toward him before his arms were around her, crushing her to him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Inspector Samuels’s voice blasted through her phone. “Hello? Piper? … Answer me. Are you there? … What’s happened? The police are on their way.”

Piper shoved the phone back to her ear. “I’m still here. I’m okay.”

She tilted her head to look at Aiden. As a fearsome concern creased his handsome features and his strong arms locked around her like a protective cage, she knew it was true.

“I’m safe.”

But when she peered out the front window again, the Buick was gone.