Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Ma’am!” I shouted just before her eyes rolled back.
She fell backward, crashing down on the street and laying completely still.
Breathless, I broke out into a run toward her, the fire drifting to the back of my mind. It wouldn’t stay like that, though. There was bound to be more destruction around the corner.
I just didn’t realize how much worse things were about to get.
Chapter 1
Zoe
Bright white light slowly seeped into my vision as my eyes slid open, coaxing me out of the intense darkness that I had endured for… I don’t even know how long. I blinked my eyes, trying to make all of the fuzzy, blurry shapes form actual objects. After a moment, I made out a window, a chair, a television mounted on the wall, and machines.
My heart jolted as I realized that I was staring at a vital sign monitor. Its steady beep filled my ears as my wide, green eyes darted around the hospital room. An IV had been inserted into the top of my hand, and my body was now donned in a stiff hospital gown.
Oh, boy… what trouble had I gotten myself into now?
I narrowed my eyes as my brain worked to get itself up to speed, fighting through the thick haze clouding my memories. Sparks of recognition started to ignite.
The moment I stepped foot out of my car in my hometown. The pull on my gut as memories crashed over me in a breathtaking wave. The fire truck blowing past me with its lights and sirens ringing.
The fire!
I could remember the heat on my skin. The tight sensation in my chest when I heard the mother’s screams. The lack of breath when I watched those firefighters rush in and out of that house without hesitance. Then, there was the lightheaded sensation that I felt before everything went black.
I swallowed hard as I dropped back against the stack of stiff pillows on my hospital bed, immediately feeling a sharp pain in my side. With a grimace, I pressed my hand against my bruised ribs, my forehead and palms clamming up from the pain. What a welcome back home.
I wasn’t here for a typical hometown visit, though, because that fire wasn’t just a run of the mill fire. Not according to the serial arson story I was working on for The Blue Ridge Times back in my new home in North Carolina miles and miles away. As if this little town in Nevada didn’t have enough drama and baggage for me.
“Focus up,” I muttered to myself, steeling my face and muffling my thoughts as they threatened to drift to the past. It was bad enough that I was in the same hospital where it had all happened.
But I wasn’t going to think about the worst moment in my life right now because I had a job to do. A job that I left behind my hometown for years ago. If I failed, I failed her, and I refused to be anything less than she’d hoped for me.
When I first heard about the arson case and realized it was here in Rockview, it felt like some sort of odd sign. I hadn’t been back in years because even the air felt like it weighed down on me, and the memories threatened to finish the job by crushing me.
But I was a journalist. I faced tough situations and problems head-on, and this could be the best story I ever wrote. I had a leg-up because I knew this town, and no other writer was going to take this case more seriously than me.
Besides… I couldn’t hide away forever, right? There was nothing wrong with the town and its close-knit group of people who offered constant comfort and support whenever I was growing up here, and I could stand to visit my dad, who I hadn’t seen since I left.
What a way to hit two birds with one stone.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
I snapped out of my thoughts and turned my head to see a middle-aged, brown-haired nurse approach me.
“I’m pretty sure I passed out,” I told her, my heart starting to pound as I remembered the world spinning all around me before going black. I swore I was dying for a second.
The nurse checked my chart and then my vitals before pitching me a friendly smile.
“You’d be correct. You experienced extreme stress and fainted,” the nurse replied. “The fire chief saw you fall and had you transported here.”
The fire chief. I thought hard, trying to remember if I saw him or not. I remembered watching quite a few firefighters running back and forth and being in awe of their bravery. But a man’s deep, commanding voice broke into my mind, reminding me of the man who was calling the shots. The man who saved me.
“Please tell me I was only out for thirty minutes and not a day,” I said with a grimace, my body tensing as I prepared for the answer.