Flora stepped inside the family room and her stomach clenched in time with her indrawn breath. It wasn’t just the lingering smell of smoke that made her feel that way. She’d only started getting the house straight. Some of the furnishings were from her apartment in Denver, others had come with the place when she’d bought it. It hadn’t been perfect, but she’d done her best to make it a cozy home for the twins.
Now, everything was covered in a layer of soot. It looked like a scene from a movie in which an artsy director had decided the best effect would be a single gloomy color. A slither of light sneaking through the closed drapes somehow made everything look worse.
“The whole house?” she asked Joe, struggling to keep the quiver out of her voice.
“It’s not as bad upstairs.” His expression was sympathetic. “You may be able to salvage some stuff from the closets.”
With feet that suddenly felt like lead weights had been attached to them, she mounted the stairs. Leon followed close behind. Joe was right. The smoke damage wasn’t as bad in the bedrooms.
“By the time we’ve washed these clothes and got rid of the smell, they’ll be fine.” Leon pulled open drawers in the twins’ bedroom and ran his hand through the garments. His brisk approach saved Flora from sinking to the floor and never getting back up.
“There are suitcases under the bed in my room.”
With Leon’s help, it took only minutes to pack the most important items, including some toys that could be scrubbed clean. Since Flora had no desire to linger, they hurried back downstairs. She grabbed her bag from the closet. Although it was grimy, at least she had her cell phone, her wallet, and her notebooks back. As they reached the front door, fire chief Andy Mellor was on his way in. He nodded to them, his expression grim.
“This is bad business.”
Privately, Flora thought the damage to her home and the concealment of a body on her property should be described using stronger language, but she kept that opinion to herself.
“Who found the body?” Leon asked.
“I did.” Although Andy’s voice remained calm, Flora caught the flash of anger in his eyes. “I was checking the shed to see if the items used to start the fire might have been stored out there. Looked to me like she’d been wrapped in a tarp to move her. Then whoever placed her there had pulled the covering back, so the body was on display to the first person who entered the shed.”
“Was that meant to be me?” Flora asked as she and Leon returned to the car. “Or is the killer trying to make it look like I murdered Jennifer?”
He looked back at the house. “We could waste a lot of time trying to get inside this maniac’s head. Even if we succeeded, I don’t think we’d like what we found. Let’s focus on the good things and go pick up the boys.”
She smiled. “You’re right.”
The grin he flashed her way was filled with a new-found confidence. While Leon was defending her and the boys from the bad guy lurking in the shadows, he was also fighting his own demons. And it was doing him a whole lot of good.
“I usually am.”
She bit back a laugh. “Have you been taking flirting lessons from Tiny again?”
He sighed as he got into the car. “Is that your way of telling me I’m charm-impaired?”
“On the contrary. I have a feeling you could be a master flirter in disguise.” Flora started the engine and backed out of the drive.
“Really?” He shifted in his seat, turning fully to face her. “Care to elaborate?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It just occurred to me that maybe the very best flirts might pretend to be bad at it in order to lull their victims into a false sense of security.” If only this was all they had to occupy their minds. This light-hearted banter with the hidden will-they-won’t-they subtext the only unknown.
“Victim?” Leon sounded like he didn’t know whether to be amused or outraged. “That makes me sound even more like Tiny.”
“Well, yes.” She shot him a side-long glance. “Although I’m hoping that you’ll draw the line at jumping out of the bushes and knocking me over next time you want to kiss me.”
There. She’d said it. Next time. She’d let him know she wanted him to kiss her again. Over to you, Leon.
He didn’t respond, but another swift glance in his direction showed her he was facing forward. The corner of his mouth tilted upward very slightly, and her heart soared. They drove the rest of the way to the daycare center in silence.
Once they were through the security checks and inside, Flora took one look at the twins and was reassured. They clearly hadn’t spent the day pining for her. On the contrary, they were daycare poster boys. Their borrowed clothes sported an interesting array of stains including paint, mud, yogurt, and glitter. As they ran across the room, she noticed Frankie had painted one of his sneakers green.
“Dr. Leon! Dr. Leon!” Flora watched in amusement as Stevie and Frankie hurled themselves on Leon, twining around him like monkeys climbing a tree. She liked the way he handled their exuberance. Catching hold of them, he wrapped a strong arm around each as he lifted them off their feet. Laughing, he tried to make sense of their excited chatter.
“I’m not sure when I became the invisible mom,” Flora commented to Daisy.
“He’ll make a good dad.” Daisy’s gaze was on the exchange between Leon and the boys.
Flora frowned. That was way too many steps into the future. It wasn’t something she’d even considered herself—not seriously—and it certainly wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with Daisy. Luckily, she was spared the necessity of replying when Leon hauled his squirming burden toward them.
“Let’s go home. I’m fairly sure my instructions just included something about pasta.”
Flora’s eyes met his. Home. Did he know what he’d
