Eyewitness

She shuddered and sank to the grass. Kieran crouched beside her, bringing Michael with him. Michael clung to Kieran’s neck, his eyes squeezed shut.

“What happened in there, Devon?”

Running fingers through her sooty hair, she said, “I don’t know. We were in the stall and I heard the window break. Two seconds later, an explosion rocked the bathroom. The flames took off immediately. I-I think the stalls protected us from the fire and the explosion.”

“Probably.” He gazed at the firefighters’ activity with his dark eye narrowed to a deadly slit. “Did you see what came through the window?”

“What came through the window?” She shook her head, trying to clear the smoke from her brain. “I didn’t see anything come through the window.”

She pressed her hands against her bouncing knees, and Kieran ran a soothing hand down her thigh. “I think someone threw some sort of homemade bomb or explosive device through the window.”

A cold terror seized every muscle in her body. Somebody had tried to kill her…and didn’t care that she had her little boy with her?

Kieran massaged her shoulder. “The ambulance is here. You and Michael are getting checked out.”

“I’m okay.” Except for the shockwaves reverberating through my body. She clapped a hand over her mouth. “What about you? Did you get burned?”

“A little on my hands.” He held his strong, capable and amazingly steady hands in front of him. “Let’s get you two checked out, and maybe one of the firemen can tell us what they found.”

She rose to her feet, holding Michael’s hand, and immediately grabbed for Kieran’s arm as her knees wobbled. Kieran put one arm around her and scooped up Michael with the other.

The building’s tenants and occupants stood staggered on the sidewalk watching the action. Elena ran up to them.

“Oh, my God. Are you all okay? When we saw the smoke coming from below, Kieran took off like a shot. I hadn’t even connected the noise and fire with the bathroom.”

“We’re fine, Elena. It looks like the fire didn’t progress out of the bathroom, so the building’s okay.”

“Who cares about the building? As long as you and Michael-” she turned to Kieran “-and Kieran are okay.”

“I think they’re fine.” Kieran pointed to the EMTs. “But they’re going to get checked out.”

Still carrying Michael, Kieran grabbed Devon’s hand and led her to the ambulance. “These two were in the bathroom when the fire started. I pulled them out.”

The EMTs went into action, checking her and Michael’s vital signs. She told them about her scratchy throat and one of the EMTs sprayed a numbing agent against the back of her throat. Michael got some drops in his eyes, but they didn’t seem to be any worse for wear after their close call.

What did it all mean?

Chief Evans rolled to a stop in his unmarked car and sauntered toward the first fire engine. “You boys have this under control?”

The fire captain said something to the chief and then gestured toward Devon. Great. Showtime.

Chief Evans ambled toward her, seemingly in no hurry to get to the bottom of the fire. Or the attempt on her life. “Devon Reese?”

“Yes.” The EMT held up the eye drops and she shook her head.

“I’m Chief Evans.”

“I know.” She tipped her chin at Kieran. “And this is Kieran Roarke.”

The men shook hands and Evans said, “I’ve heard of the Roarkes, and I just met your brother, the FBI agent.”

“You weren’t chief when I lived here.”

Kieran’s voice hovered halfway between a statement and a question, but Chief Evans had no reason to question Kieran’s memory. “I was one chief after Ms. Reese’s father, but his reputation lives on.”

This trip down memory lane was all well and good, but the chief had a crime to solve. “You can call me Devon, or call me lucky since I was in that bathroom with my son when it blew up.”

“Michael?” Kieran rubbed a black smudge on his very white face. “Do you want to stay here in the ambulance while your mother and I talk to Chief Evans and the firefighters?”

The EMT gestured to a cot in the back of the ambulance. “We want to run a few more tests on him. He looks fine, but he could’ve inhaled some smoke.”

“I’ll stay with him.” Elena hopped on the back of the ambulance next to Michael, and he scooted closer to her.

Kieran purposely strode away from Michael, out of earshot.

Before Devon even got started, Chief Evans snapped his fingers. “You were robbed yesterday, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I was and I’m wondering if that has something to do with the fire in the bathroom.”

He cocked his head, his brows creating a V over his nose. “Really? You’ll be happy to hear we found your purse-no money, but the thief left your driver’s license.”

Maybe it had been a simple theft. “Do you have it with you?”

“No, it’s back at the station. So what happened here today?”

“My son and I were using the restroom, just finishing up in a stall, when I heard the window smash. Almost immediately there was an explosion and a fire.”

“Sounds like a Molotov cocktail to me.” This time Kieran’s voice held no note of uncertainty. He may have forgotten the details of his life, but his military knowledge and skills hadn’t suffered.

Chief Evans twisted his head around to study Kieran. “Are you an FBI agent, too?”

“No.” Kieran’s hands curled into fists. “But I know a lot about explosives.”

“I suppose the arson investigators can tell us more.” The chief jerked his thumb at the scorched-out bathroom where the firefighters had already doused the flames in the small enclosure and were tromping through the ruins. “How’d you get out?”

“Kieran dragged us out.”

“You are lucky.”

Actually, luck had nothing to do with the rescue and Kieran had everything to do with it. “I don’t feel very lucky with someone trying to kill me.”

Chief Evans sucked in a breath. “Is that what you think?”

She raised her eyes to the sky. “Let’s see. I’m the only one in the bathroom with my son and some lunatic throws some kind of bomb through the window. Yeah, I’d say someone’s trying to kill me.”

Kieran snorted, and the chief shot him a look from beneath his heavy eyebrows. “Maybe the perpetrator didn’t realize you were in the bathroom, Devon. Maybe someone in the building was the target or the building itself.”

“The building was a target?”

“We’ll look into the owner, insurance, debts and so on. Also, the office next to the bathroom belongs to an attorney, a family-law attorney. He could’ve been the target of an irate spouse or parent.”

She stole a look at Kieran and his unreadable expression. Even without the eye patch, she didn’t think his emotions would play across his face. Made it hard for her to read him, and she’d never had that problem before.

“I definitely think I’m the prime target here, Chief. This happens a day after someone breaks into my car and slashes my tires?”

“Someone stole your purse and vandalized your car. It’s a big leap to murder.” Chief Evans’s jaw tightened. He seemed more interested in refuting her suspicions than investigating the crimes against her. Could she help it if her father had left a pair of big shoes to fill?

Maybe the thief had murder on his mind yesterday, too, but Kieran’s presence at the beach had stopped him. She crossed her arms and dug her fingers into her flesh. And the teenagers’ presence had stopped him last night.

The chief coughed and flicked a handkerchief out of his pocket. “Any reason why someone would target you for murder?”

Devon licked her lips, fingers digging deeper. “A woman was murdered in my apartment building in the city. Th-that’s why I brought my son down to Coral Cove.”