The Root of All Trouble (22 page)

We were both out of breath as we scanned the lot. Unfortunately, we'd made it out just in time to see Cain Monahan's taillights heading up the ramp toward the exit.

Ana swore.
"I gave myself a blister for nothing."

Unexpected tears filled my eyes.

Ana swiped them away. "Try, try again, right?"

I nodded.

"Come on," she said, wrapping her arm around me. She swiped her badge to get back inside the building. "There's an ice cream stand just outside the lobby. How about a caramel sundae? It'll cheer you up."

"
It's not even eleven in the morning."

"
So?"

"
I see your point. Okay."

As we walked, I received a text message from Tam. All it said was
Beware!

"
What's that about?" Ana asked.

"
I'm not sure."

Almost immediately my phone rang. Maria. Ah. I understood Tam
's message now. My sister was so transparent sometimes.

I answered with a light,
"Hello?"

"
Neeeeee-naaaah
! How could you?"

"
What?" I asked. Ana went on ahead to the ice cream cart, and I leaned against a light pole.

"
You know what!"

"
Look at it this way, Maria. You have something to occupy yourself until the baby's born."

She let out a small cry and hung up the phone.

Ana held out my sundae. "By the smile on your face you don't need this anymore."

I snatched it before she kept it for herself.
"A little more cheer can't hurt."

I
'd taken only one bite, however, when Ana said, "Uh oh."

I looked up to see Kevin running out of the building. He stopped short when he spotted us. I didn
't like the look on his face. Not at all.

He bent at the waist and drew in a breath.
"I've never been so happy to see you in all my life."

Ana shot me a worried glance.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"
What are you doing here?" he said. "Never mind! You need to come with me."

"
Where?" I asked.

"
Mario and Perry's house. There's been an accident. A horrible accident. I was at Delphine's hearing when the call came in."

Ana dropped her ice cream.
"Who's hurt?"

His eyes softened.
"I'm not sure. You can ride with us, too."

And just like that, I had the sick feeling that I knew where Cain Monahan had been heading...

Chapter Twenty

T
he ride to the Mill was nerve-wracking to say the least. With no details, my brain ran wild with various scenarios of what could have happened.

All of them bad.

There were any number of things that could go wrong on a job site. Having the heavy equipment around made the risk that much more.

Kevin had set lights on
the dashboard and blared the siren. He drove as fast as the traffic allowed, his mouth set in a grim line. I glanced over my shoulder, into the backseat. An ashen pall had settled on Ana's skin as she stared out the window. Her hands were clenched in her lap.

My stomach roiled with anxiety.

If Cain Monahan had been called to the scene that meant someone was dead.

I closed my eyes and tried to scare up all the old prayers I
'd learned at St. Valentine's. I silently pleaded that it not be true—that no one had been fatally injured. That Cain had been called somewhere else—anywhere else.

But as Kevin turned onto my street, I knew my pleas had been futile. The road was crowded with cars, including an ambulance that was screaming away from the scene. Three police cars and two fire trucks blocked the road. Parked directly in front of my house was a county coroner
's car.

Ana rolled down the window and stuck her head out, her gaze zipping from face to face.
"Do you see him?"

Kit.

"No," I said softly, still searching. "Not yet."

Kevin maneuvered the SUV onto the lawn of the house for sale as another ambulance pulled away, its lights flashing, its siren e
mitting a loud, "
Whoop
,
whoop
!"

He threw the car into park, shoved open the door, and started wading into the chaos.

Ana quickly hopped out, bobbing in between onlookers.

I sat, paralyzed.

What in the hell had happened?

Two ambulances? A death?

Next thing I knew, Kevin was at my side, tugging me out. "Come with me."

Numbly, I nodded and tried to mentally prepare for what I was about to see.

Kevin grabbed Ana's hand, too, as she weaved around the crowd, trying to find an opening.

"
Police!" Kevin shouted loudly. "Move aside!"

It was a tone no o
ne dared defy. The crowd parted just enough for us to squeeze through. Kevin held up the yellow tape that had been roped around the yard to keep people at bay and Ana and I ducked under. He followed.

"
Kit!" Ana cried. "Kit!"

The desperation in her voice cut straight to my soul. I swallowed hard, praying again. It was a jumbled prayer, a mix of what I remembered and silent begging.

Ana stood on tiptoes. "I don't see him. Kit!"

It was so loud here with the crowd and the emergency crews that I could barely hear her and she was standing next to me. If Kit was back there, mixed in with all the uniforms, then there was no way on earth he
'd hear her either.

"
Do you see him?" I asked Kevin.

His head moved left, then right, as he quickly scanned the yard, the faces.
"Not yet."

Ana le
t out a cry and covered her mouth.

A commotion on the walkway caught my attention as another ambulance crew arrived. When I looked up at Kevin, he wore a stony expression, one I couldn
't read.

Maybe I didn
't want to read it.

"
I'll be right back," he said and walked over to a uniformed officer who stood guard by the house's front door.

A movement near the tree where I
'd tied Gracie earlier caught my eye. I squinted. Joy filled my heart as I grabbed Ana's arm. "There!"

A strangled sob came out of
her mouth as she stumbled forward, first in an awkward walk, then in a full-out run. "Kit!"

Tears pooled in my eyes when he caught sight of her, and opened his arms wide to catch her as she launched herself at him. Her body pulsated as she sobbed into his chest. He clutched her tightly, rubbing her back and saying things into her ear. His gaze shifted to mine.

A teardrop spilled down my face as I nodded at him.

He nodded back.

I wanted to go over, get the details of what had happened, but didn't want to interrupt them. I did notice that Coby and Shay stood near Kit. But I didn't see Marty or Jeff.

The focus of what had happened seemed to be within the house, so I let out a small breath of relief that it hadn
't involved my crew. That everyone was okay. But then I remembered that Mario and Mr. Cabrera had been in the house and some of Delphine's crew, too, and the anxiety started all over again.

I wrung my hands and watched Kevin as he finished his chat with the officer and came back to me.

"What happened?" I asked just as firefighters came out wearing fancy SCUBA-like ventilation gear.

"
Carbon monoxide leak. Extremely high levels."

I sucked in a breath. I was about to ask if everyone was okay. But I knew by the coroner
's vehicle that wasn't the case. "Who?" I said softly. "Who's hurt?"

"
Mario, Mr. Cabrera, Ethan, and the plumber have been taken to the hospital. Bear is dead."

My bottom lip trembled. Tears filled my eyes again.

Kevin said, "Mario and the plumber are critical—they were with Bear in the basement where the leak originated. Mr. Cabrera and Ethan are stable—they were upstairs, working on tiling the bathroom. I can take you to the hospital."

My hand shook as I pulled out my cell phone.
"I need to call Perry."

He nodded.

As I tried to dial, my fingers kept slipping off the numbers. Kit and Ana walked up to us, and she clung to him like a barnacle to a rock. I gave Kit a quick hug and said, "I have to call Perry and Brickhouse."

"
Already did," Kit said. "Neither answered."

I swore under my breath.

"I'll send a car to the salon and to Brickhouse's townhouse," Kevin said. "You ready to go?"

"
We're going to the hospital," I said. "Did you two want to come?"

Kit shook his head.
"I'll stay here and wrap up the job for the day. Everyone's pretty shaken up knowing that we were all just outside while that was going on inside."

"
Who found them?" I asked, rubbing my temples. I couldn't believe the turn this day had taken.

"
Mr. Cabrera came outside for some fresh air after feeling woozy and passed out. I called for help and went inside to see if everyone else was okay... They weren't."

Ana sniffled and clung a little tighter.

"We should go," Kevin said, putting his arm around me.

I leaned into him, grateful for the support, and said,
"Ana, can you check on Gracie in a little while? She's in my kitchen."

She nodded.

"Kit, tell the crew... Tell them I'll email later."

"
Will do."

As Kevin and I threaded through the crowd, I checked to see if the coroner
's car was still there, but it was gone.

Kevin used his lights and sirens to get me to the hospital in no time flat. We hadn
't said a word to each other the whole ride. As he pulled up in front of the emergency room drop-off he finally said, "You'll be okay on your own?"

"
You're leaving?"

His eyes looked troubled.
"I need to get back to the scene."

"
Why?" He was a homicide detective. "This was just a horrible accident. Wasn't it?"

"
The fire department doesn't think so, Nina. It looks like someone tampered with the water heater. This case is a homicide investigation."

***

I
had a hell of a time getting any information at the hospital. I finally had to lie and say I was Mr. Cabrera's daughter and Mario's cousin so the nurse would tell me anything about their conditions.

Mr. Cabrera and Ethan had been lucky—they
'd been working in the bathroom with the window open. They were being treated—as were all the others—in hyperbaric oxygen chambers to increase the oxygen flow that the carbon monoxide had robbed from them.

There was a good chance for a full recovery for the two of them. Mario
's and the plumber's conditions were still critical, as they were both still unconscious. The doctors feared the likelihood of brain damage for both of them due to lack of oxygen.

I paced the hospital
's ICU hallway, passing the plumber's family, who sat stunned in the waiting area. I'd just completed another loop when the elevator doors opened and Perry flew out with an officer I recognized following behind him.

I
'd never seen Perry look so...undone. His hair stuck up, his eyes held a wild beastly look, and I could tell by the puffiness around his eyes that he'd been crying.

He ran over to me.
"Where is he? How is he?"

I explained about the treatment.
"You need to talk to his doctor." I didn't want to be the one to tell him about the possible side effects.

"
Who?" he asked.

"
Dr. Kopec. Check with the desk." He started off and I grabbed his arm. "If anyone asks, I'm Mario's cousin and Mr. Cabrera's daughter."

Dazed, he nodded, and headed for the nurses
' station.

The officer, Doug Keegan, looked at me.
"He'll be okay here with you, Nina?"

I nodded.
"Did you drive him over?"

Doug was a nice guy, married to Lindsey, a girl I went to high school with—and also
a client of Perry's. "Yeah. We had to stop at his house first for medical paperwork. He was scared the doctor wouldn't let him see Mario without it. Then the FD wouldn't let him in the house... It was an ordeal until Kevin stepped in."