“How do you know anything about my mile time?”
“Um,” he stuttered, and an instant blush rushed across Travis’s cheeks, which was saying something because his skin was a deep olive. “Some of the guys were out for a drink, and Mitch mentioned that you’d almost passed your exam that day, and he said something about you having the fastest mile time of any man in the firehouse. I don’t know, it kinda stuck with me. Remembering details is part of my job, and sometimes I don’t get to pick which ones I remember.”
Ellie wanted to give him a hard time about the situation but didn’t for two reasons. First, because she was starting to wonder if this really was the right time to go home and get some supplies, check on the girls and her father, and then plan on spending the next few days at the hospital. But, second, because it was really incredibly nice to know that someone in a civil service career could overlook her flunking the overall score and instead focus on her great success in at least one area of her life. In fact, it was something she had a hard time remembering about herself most of the time—that one fail doesn’t make the person a failure.
Ellie had a knot in her throat that was growing bigger by the second. She had to look away from Travis before figuring out how to respond in the most macho way she could manage.
“I’m also the firehouse arm-wrestling champion. I bet they didn’t tell you that, now did they?”
“That they did not,” he said. She thought she could hear laughter in his voice but didn’t want to look up. Instead, she slowly released Steve’s limp hand and gently laid it across his midsection.
“Well, I think I’m going to go check on Amelia and maybe go home for a bit if I can get Collin to wake up.” She hitched a thumb over her shoulder at her still-sleeping fiancé, shaking her head slightly. “I’m sure he’d want to get into something more comfortable and see if Caleb called.”
She wasn’t sure if she imagined it, but Travis seemed to stiffen a little when Ellie talked about Collin. No, not at the mention of Collin. Caleb. She hadn’t addressed her concerns about Caleb directly to Travis just yet. She’d been waiting for them to bring up his name to Steve but was surprised when no one had broached the subject. Maybe those were the questions Travis and Jackson had been discussing before she forced her way in. But now she could tell Travis had something to say, and Ellie wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it.
His hands were clenched in fists on the top of his knees. “So, Brown, just one favor I need to ask you. If Caleb Thornton calls or texts or shows up or anything . . . please call me. Or better yet, call 911.”
Ellie’s eyes opened wide. “What? 911. Why?”
“We have some very important questions to ask him, and he’s been unavailable just yet,” he answered very formally, stressing the word “unavailable” as though it were code.
“Yeah, we are actually really worried about him. He’s very close to Amelia . . .” Ellie paused and added, “And Steve too. I know he’d want to be kept up on what is going on.” She didn’t hint at any of her concerns about how closely Caleb had been watching her sister or how nervous Amelia seemed around him lately. She hadn’t even told Collin that.
Travis shifted from side to side, glanced at Collin, and then smoothed over his uniform carefully till his badge lay flat again.
“Yes, we heard that Caleb and Amelia had a previous relationship. Just know that there is some indication that Caleb Thornton could be armed and dangerous. We are asking that all civilians keep their distance as a precaution.”
“Wait, what?” Ellie moved to the edge of her seat. The words made sense, but she didn’t actually understand them. “You think that Caleb did all this? You think he shot Steve and that dead man and Amelia?” She shook her head, not willing to consider it as a real possibility out loud no matter what the little voice in the back of her head had been screaming all day.
“I’m not saying he shot anyone, but . . . ,” he said, hesitating again, “we just want to keep people safe.”
“Are you seriously telling people to be on guard against Caleb? No one will believe you. He’s adored in town.”
“Well, I highly doubt he’s still in Broadlands. That’s why we went to Channel Nine in Shelby. Thought they could get the news out to more people than the local cable show.”
“Caleb is going to be on the news?”
“Yes.” Travis checked his watch. “It will be on at five and again at ten. I’m sure his picture will be on the morning news too.”
She checked on Collin again and then looked back at Travis. “I don’t know what you think you are doing going after someone like Caleb. He’s not the type to . . .”
“To leave the scene of a crime covered in blood and disappear without a trace? How about to stalk and threaten your sister and her friend Mr. Mraz in the weeks prior to the crime? Does that sound like your best buddy Caleb?”
“What do you mean ‘leave the scene of the crime’?” She was on her feet now, not sure how she got there but also too full of questions and anger to sit back down and take it. “Was that what you found on the cameras, or did Steve tell you that?” Even as she asked the questions, she knew she wasn’t going to get any straight answers from Travis, but there was something about saying them out loud that made the scene run through her mind. Caleb, running out the side door, covered in her sister’s blood.
“I’ve said too much already. Just know that he’s not safe.” Travis narrowed his eyes, head tipped up to look her in the eye from his sitting position. “But I think you knew that already, didn’t you?”
Ellie thought back to that moment in the waiting room when the name “Caleb” had tickled the edge of her mind and rested heavy on her tongue. It was a different fear from losing her sister or Steve or her father. This fear was that her soon-to-be brother-in-law could possibly have been the one to pull the trigger and put those bullets there.
It filled her with a pain so heavy that it was like liquid lead being poured into every joint in her body. It made her want to double over on top of herself and squeeze the pain out.