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Grim’s Last Chance

Page 45

by Sam Crescent

Grim felt a lump in his throat. He looked at Martha, who was staring into the fire, and she hadn’t said a word.

“You all right, Martha?”

The older woman turned to look at him, and she nodded her head with a jerk. “Do they know how it started?”

He shook his head. “I spoke to Dean, the guy running everything, and he will come back and do an investigation tomorrow. It’s too late now, and he needs daylight.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” Nancy said. “There has to be faulty wiring.”

“Everything was checked several months ago,” Martha said. “After everything with Andy, I got an electrician to give me the all-clear before Betty could start. There are no faults. No cause. Unless you didn’t turn it off.”

“I turned it off,” he said.

They continued to look at Martha, and something in his gut was telling him he needed to get more information.

“That poor girl,” Nancy said. “If there is anything she needs, you tell her to just ask.”

He looked toward Nancy, and he was surprised she was still in town. Ever since Doc and Nancy’s divorce a millennia ago, she’d been trying to get out of Rivermont Ridge. He knew Charlotte, her daughter, had said when she was ready, she could just leave. Yet, Nancy still hadn’t left. She was still here, with no signs of leaving. Sometimes, she would claim to leave, and it was like she got to the town border and changed her mind. Not that it bothered him.

“She’s in shock right now,” Grim said. “I’m going to make her hot chocolate, and then I’m going to sit with her. She thinks she has nothing.”

“She doesn’t,” Doc said. “The whole club fell in love with her tonight. Her cooking is fucking the best, and trust me, every single guy would die for that woman.”

Maeve chuckled. “Should I get jealous?”

“Not at all, but you can’t deny you’d die for her if it came between your food?”

Maeve nodded her head. “He’s right. I’m a sucker for good food, and that stuff is the best.” She pressed her fingers together and pushed them out. “Delicious.”

“Come on, I’ll leave you for tonight,” Doc said.

Grim saw them out, leaving Martha in the sitting room.

“Something’s not right,” Doc said.

“I know.”

“Find out, we’ve all got your back.”

Grim noticed Betty’s mother was nowhere to be seen. It was rather convenient. He closed the door, locked it, and then made his way back toward the sitting room, only to find Martha in the doorway.

“Are you waiting for me?”

“I was going to head up to bed.”

“How about you and I cut this shit where we play cat and mouse, or guessing games, and you tell me what the fucking deal is?”

Martha had gone pale. “I don’t know what—”

“I’ve proven myself to the club, to you, that my priority is Betty. I helped and I didn’t have to. I could have sent another guy to find her. Shit, I could have left her in that hellhole, without looking back. I didn’t. Now, tell me what the fuck the problem is.”

Martha let out a sigh, and it looked like she was panting a little, but he watched her clench her hands into fists. “I think Bettina set the fire.”

“So, we’re on the same page.”

Her eyes went wide. “You know?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. I want to know why.”