“Thanks.” The idea of visitors cheered her immensely. Maybe Pam had come. Or Dev. Or Todd. She’d left a message at Todd’s hotel as well.
Hopefully Todd was smart enough not to bring the odious Paul Jameson with him.
To her dismay, the first two people in her door were the fire investigators.
“Good morning, Ms. Hagen, how are you feeling?” Sorrels began as soon as he made eye contact.
“Okay, all things considered. Have you been by my house? How does it look?”
The investigators glanced at one another.
“That bad?”
“No, but it doesn’t look good. It’s better than it might be, with the fire department being so close. Structurally, we’ll have to wait for the city inspector to let us know. Evidently, you’ve got some kind of fire retardant in your insulation? That seems to have given some protection to the structure.”
“Oh, I had the house reinsulated several years ago.” Torie was delighted and surprised that the stuff had been of some use. It hadn’t been as insulating as she’d been promised, but if it saved her house, she’d never regret the expense again.
“That might be it. Anyway, your insurance adjuster has been by, and your neighbors have asked after you. Evidently, the whole neighborhood knows you.”
“I used to run the neighborhood association,” Torie explained.
“Ah. That makes sense.”
She wondered what they thought she was up to, by the looks of relief. Drug smuggling? Gang activity? Prostitution? The last thought nearly made her giggle. All the possibilities skittered through her mind as the men continued to comment on the neighborhood and the house.
“There is one thing we need to tell you, Ms. Hagen. It may be a bit concerning to you.”
“Concerning?”
“Yes, your cousin—” Sorrels began.
“Have you talked to him?” Torie interrupted. “I can’t get a hold of him.”
“There’s a reason for that.” The grave look on Marsden’s face had Torie leaping to a terrible conclusion.
“Oh, Lord, something happened to Dev? What? What happened?”
“He was stabbed several times. The attack occurred in a park near the hotel where he was evidently staying.”
“Stabbed?” she screeched. “Is he alive? Is he okay? Where is he?”
Both inspectors made calming motions as they stumbled over their words, reassuring her.
“I’m sorry to break it this way,” began Marsden.
“He’ll be fine. He’s two floors down on the third floor,” Sorrels soothed.
“Who would do that sort of thing? Oh, God, poor Dev.”
“What’s important,” Marsden recovered his composure to continue. “He’s not the one who bombed your house.”
“Of course he isn’t,” Torie replied, highly indignant. “I don’t know why you’d even suspect him.”
“Motive and opportunity,” snapped Sorrels. “I checked your name in our database, Ms. Hagen. You seem to have an unfortunate number of accidents happening around you.”
Torie felt all the blood drain from her face. No one had ever put it quite so boldly before. In fact, she didn’t think anyone but Pam had realized how many of her boyfriends, dates, and lovers had had serious or life-threatening accidents or injuries over the last few years. All within weeks or months of dating her, or breaking up with her.
She was cursed. She knew it.
That’s why she’d turned Dev away, why she’d stopped dating. Why she eluded her friend Pam’s attempts at matchmaking, and basically went to work and came home to her dog.
“It’s true,” she stuttered the word. “I don’t know why, but a lot of the people…men…I’ve dated, have had accidents or…or…”
“Another man died.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know why this is happening?”
“No. I tried to talk to someone about it, at the police department, but all they did was ask about me. Did I have a stalker or someone who had threatened me, that’s all they asked about. I didn’t. I don’t. I haven’t ever been threatened.”
“Is it possible that your cousin is another victim of this pattern?”
Unable to speak, Torie could only nod.
“We still haven’t located Mister Peterson. His lawyer has reported him missing. Do you know anything about where he might have gone?”
Pulled away from her thoughts about Dev, she frowned, which pulled at the stitches. It hurt.
“No, I don’t. He’d never stand Paul up for a meeting. They were roommates and fraternity brothers. They’re
