Give Him the Slip (36 page)

Maddie listened to him go on, silent and supportive, waiting until
his temper faded, his voice went silent. Then she said, "You may have your
chance sooner than you know. He's an old man, Luke. An old man who isn't well.
Maybe he isn't perfect. Few people are. Few fathers are. Look at my dad. He
blamed me for my mother's death and it went platinum!"

"That had to be hard."

"It was, but you know what? I forgave him. Why? Because
everyone makes mistakes. I've certainly made my share. Nobody's perfect. Not
me, not my dad, not your dad, and not you. Where would we be without
forgiveness?"

"You're wasting your breath, Madeline."

"Right now, I probably am. But maybe someday you'll give a
little and you'll remember what I had to say. Forgiveness isn't easy, I know,
and I'm not suggesting you should forget what happened. But Luke, he
is
your
father. The only one you'll ever have. In his own, admittedly misguided way, he
loves you. All of you. And he's already paid dearly for the mistakes he's made
with you and your brothers. Don't make him continue to pay to the grave. I
truly believe you'll grow to regret it. Maybe not right away, but
someday."

Her words made sense; Luke knew that. He even felt a measure of
guilt for the hard-ass stance he was taking toward his father. But forgiveness?
No. He couldn't do that. He just didn't have it in him. He tried to explain
why.

"When my mother died, all the good times in our family died
with her. When we lost Johnny..." His voice broke, and he gave up trying
to talk.

Maddie reached for him, hugged him hard. "You need your
father, Luke. So do Mark and Matt. Hopefully, you'll realize that in
time."

He shrugged and looked away. She went up on her tiptoes and
pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Until then, let's just go home."

Luke's gaze rested on Callahan House once again and he snorted.
"Home? Where the hell is that?"

"Wherever you want it to be, Callahan. You'll know it when
you get there."

Luke didn't speak during the ride back to Maddie's, but when they
retired for the night, he made love to her with a quiet desperation she'd never
seen from him before, one that left her sad and unsettled, even in the
afterglow of really good sex. Maddie lay awake long after he'd fallen asleep,
considering what she'd learned about the man who lay beside her.

Luke might be a tough, smart, ex-supercop with a hide as tough as
Kevlar, but inside beat a soft, vulnerable heart. A heart damaged by the losses
of his past. A heart far from healed.

Poor Luke. Poor Branch. They'd come at the problem from opposite
directions and she could understand both ways of thinking. Of course Luke
wanted to rescue his brother. Of course Branch wanted to keep his other sons
safe. From her viewpoint, they'd both been right. She feared that unless Luke
could let go of some of his anger and his guilt, he'd never be able to accept
his father's actions. Branch would never achieve the goal he longed to see
before he died—a reconciliation with his sons.

Would Matt or Mark be more understanding? Or would their heads be
made of granite, too? Was there anything Maddie could do to help this family?

Not unless they wanted to help themselves. Wanted to heal. So far,
she'd seen no sign of that.

Maddie sighed into the darkness. She wished she could help the
Callahans. A caregiver by profession, it was in her nature to do so. But she
couldn't force them to forgive, and without that main ingredient, the cause was
most certainly lost.

No, the best she could do was to be there for Luke, to be there
for Branch, and offer whatever support they'd accept from her. Because this
wasn't a mere misunderstanding that kept this family apart. Not simple hurt
feelings and family history. This family had death and betrayal and years of
loneliness to overcome.

"Forgiveness, Callahan," she whispered. "Work on
it." With that, she cuddled up to Luke and eventually fell asleep.

The br-r-ring of the telephone pierced her sleep. Her eyes flew
open to the red numerals of the clock: 2:58. Oh, no. Nighttime phone calls were
never good. One of her clients? Not Branch. Please. Not after the
confrontation. Luke would never forgive himself.

She grabbed the receiver. "Hello."

An electronic voice said, "Get out of your house now. You
have one minute before it explodes."

"What?" She jerked up. "Who is this?" The
connection clicked dead in her ear. "Oh, God."

"What is it?" Luke asked.

Her voice trembled as she scrambled from the bed repeating what
the caller had said. "God, Luke. Hurry! We have to get out of here."

He reached for his boxers, firing questions at her as she grabbed
her robe and slipped it on. "I don't know who it was! Oh, God.
Hurry!"

Luke lifted his head like an animal on the scent. "Smoke.
Something's burning." He stepped toward the window and yanked it open.
"Go out this way, Red."

Her pulse pounding, her heart lodged in her throat, Maddie didn't
hesitate. She scrambled over the windowsill and fought her way through the
wax-leaf ligustrum into the yard, expecting Luke to follow on her heels.

He didn't. Luke was still inside!

"Luke!" she screamed as facts bombarded her
consciousness. Seconds ticked away too fast. Red and yellow flames licked
through the roof in at least three places. Gray smoke billowed into the starlit
sky. "Luke Callahan!"

She'd taken a step back toward the house when Knuckle-head
appeared at the window and she saw Luke's arms lifting him through.
"Hurry!"

Smoke burned her nostrils and heat stung her eyes. She couldn't
believe her eyes when Luke disappeared from the window once again.
Where is
he going!
"Oh my God oh my God oh my God."

Knucklehead barked. Fire crackled and wood creaked and crashed.
Then Luke was there again, diving through the open window; just then a loud
whoosh erupted from the house as fire burned through the roof above the
kitchen. He flew over the shrubs and landed on his belly, his arms
outstretched.

He held Oscar's bowl in his hands.

Sirens roared as fire trucks approached. Luke scrambled to his
feet and ran toward her, grabbing her hand as he passed and pulling her along
behind him. Rocks and sticks poked Maddie's bare feet, but she hardly noticed.
She heard another roar of fire behind her, but the promised explosion never
occurred.

Her house. Her home. Gone. Why? Who? Liam? Was Luke's terrorist
theory on the mark, after all? Who else would do such a thing? Why warn her?
She didn't understand!

By now, neighbors had joined them outside and the fire lit the
night like a sun. Luke didn't stop until they were two doors down from hers.
When he released her arm, he set Oscar on the ground and bent over double, his
hands propped on his knees as he coughed hard and long. Maddie watched him,
breathing hard, trying to catch her own breath. Thank God Luke and the dog were
safe. Oscar was safe.

Oscar?

She looked at the fishbowl, then at Luke on his hands and knees
coughing up a lung. Her relief turned to fury and Maddie lost it, just flat out
lost control and started screaming like a fishwife. "You went back for a
goldfish? You risked your life for a stupid goldfish? I can't believe you did
that! Do you not have a scintilla of sense, Luke Callahan? You could have died!
Our minute was up!"

"Calm down," he told her when he could breathe again.
"Once our minute was up, I figured there wasn't a bomb."

"You figured? You figured!" She doubled up her fist and
hit his bare chest. "You fool!"

She cried. She screamed. She pitched a redheaded fit. "How
dare you do something so... so... idiotic. I swear if you'd died I would have
killed you!"

He caught her forearm, pulled her to him, and wrapped her in his
arms as Maddie sobbed against his chest. "Hey, now, it's all right,
Red." He stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. "If he'd wanted
to kill us, he wouldn't have called. Our minute was up, Red. When the house
didn't blow, I made an educated guess that it never would. I couldn't leave
Knucklehead behind."

"But a goldfish?"

"Hey, Oscar's a living thing."

"Yeah, well, so is the mold on your leftovers in my
refrigerator. Did you stop for those, too? How stupid could you be, Callahan?
It's not even Gus's Oscar, either. I know you've replaced the silly thing at
least twice."

He frowned. "You noticed?"

"Of course I noticed! I can't keep the blasted things
alive."

"Oh."

A loud crashing sound came from her house and Maddie turned to
look. Red and yellow flames engulfed the entire structure. The fire hoses
blasting water on the conflagration appeared to make little headway. "My
home," she moaned.

"Shush, honey. It's okay. You're safe. Everyone is safe.
That's all that really matters."

He was right. She knew that. They were safe for the moment, at
least. But what about after that? Who was doing this? Why? Liam? That didn't
make sense. It didn't fit.

As an ambulance and a news truck arrived on the scene, Maddie's
neighbors approached. They fired questions about Maddie's and Luke's physical
well-being and how the fire started and how the couple escaped. Someone handed
Luke a robe. Knucklehead nudged his way through the small crowd and rubbed up
against Maddie's legs. She took the hint, dropped to her knees, and hugged and
petted the dog, not minding the dog slobber as he licked her face.

She lost track of how much time passed, but when a firefighter
told Luke the blaze was under control, she could tell it was too late to
matter. Her home was beyond salvage.

Another fireman walked up to them as a car came speeding up to the
curb. Branch jumped out, and Maddie watched the relief wash across his
expression as his gaze locked on Luke. Then he looked at her, gave her a quick
once-over, and smiled. "You all right, honey?"

"I'm all right. It was awful, though, Branch. I was so
scared. The phone rang and a man said there was a bomb in the house."

"What man?"

"I don't know. I swear I didn't think Liam had changed that
much. Blackmail makes sense. Setting fire to my house doesn't."

"What were the caller's exact words?" the firefighter
asked.

"What?" Maddie glanced up blankly. "Who are
you?"

"Sorry. I'm Robert Thompson, arson investigator with the
BBFD. Can you elaborate a bit on what Luke Callahan told me? He said you
received a warning call?"

"Yes. He said..." She braced herself, shuddered a
little, then repeated, "He said to get out of the house now, that we had
one minute before it exploded."

"Did you recognize the voice?"

Maddie thought back, tried to recall. "No. The voice sounded
weird."

"Electronic?" Luke asked.

"Yes, that's it."

"He must have used a voice changer," Luke told the
investigator. "And probably a pay phone, is my guess. He didn't want
Maddie to die and he didn't want to be recognized. She knows whoever did
this."

Liam? she wondered once again. Would he do such a thing?
Why
would
he do such a thing? She couldn't conceive of a motive. Unless Luke was right
and he had joined his brother's madness. But that still didn't answer why
they'd target her. What had she done? Why would terrorists target her? Did it
have something to do with her father, maybe? Had he gone and gotten involved in
something stupid?

The investigator fired question after question her way until Luke
put a stop to it. "That's enough. We're not going to solve this thing
tonight, and Maddie needs a bath and some sleep. Why don't you give us a shout
tomorrow. Maybe by then you'll have found some answers in the rubble."

The investigator hemmed and hawed for a minute, but gave in when
Maddie pleaded exhaustion. "Where will you be staying?"

Maddie and Luke shared a grimace. Their wallets, IDs,
keys—everything but Luke's cell phone, which he'd left in his truck, had been
inside the house.

Branch stepped forward. "Come home, son. For Maddie's sake.
She needs more comfort than a hotel room can provide, and you both left some
clothes at my place."

Luke's reluctance was evident, so Maddie rose and took his hand.
"Please?"

She held her breath, knowing that on the heels of his fight with
Branch, this meant more than a bed and clothes. After a long moment's
hesitation, he said, "Why not. I couldn't sleep any more after this
anyway."

A policeman handed Oscar's bowl to Maddie as Branch gave his phone
numbers and address to the BBFD official. Meanwhile, Luke used a hidden door
key to retrieve his phone before escorting a weary Maddie to his father's Lexus
sedan, where she set the fishbowl carefully on the backseat floorboard. Luke
whistled for Knucklehead and let him into the front seat, then grinned at his
father's wince at the muddy paw prints on white leather. "Hope he doesn't
throw up," Luke observed, climbing into the backseat with Maddie.
"Smoke inhalation on top of chili for supper could be a problem."