Tested by Fire

She peeled off her uniform shirt and bullet-proof vest and immediately felt ten pounds lighter. The shower revived her body but not her spirits. Finn knew she hadn’t gotten a court notice in her box. Was Gil the person who was against her working there? Dispatch handled all the reports, and he had complained several times that hers weren’t accurate when he checked her numbers against the computer.

She had just changed into blue jeans and a T-shirt when she heard a knock. Her hair was still damp from the shower and she fluffed it with her fingers as she went to answer the door.

“Come in.” Finn stepped back as John’s tall frame filled the narrow foyer. “I’ll be right back.”

John felt like he was in a doll’s house. Or a storybook cottage. Everything around him was bright and feminine. Not frilly. Feminine. The love seat and chairs in the living room were covered in a white-and-blue print and a rolltop writing desk stacked with books took up an entire wall. The hardwood floors were scattered with bright rag rugs, and an oval-shaped breakfast nook held a small oak table scattered with more books. Along the top of the cupboards was a variety of ceramic teapots. Even though she had only been home from work for half an hour, a candle was burning on a small table by the window.

He walked over to blow out the candle and saw an open Bible next to it. It obviously wasn’t a decoration. Some of the verses had been highlighted with a fluorescent pen and bookmarks stuck out everywhere.

Finn emerged from a room down the hall and caught him studying it.

“Part of the Kelly family legacy? A badge and a Bible?”

“No.” She held his gaze. “But it will be.”

Chapter Three

“Some people use both of them to hide behind,” John said, watching her expression to gauge her reaction.

“Some people know the difference between finding shelter and hiding. Do you?” Finn tossed something at him and instinctively he reached out and caught it. A key ring. “You can drive.”

They walked in silence to the garage, where two cars were parked side by side. One was a dark-blue import, compact and conservative. The other, a hunter-green Jeep Cherokee. Automatically he walked over to the import—and heard Finn chuckle.

“That’s Chief’s car.”

He raised his eyebrows and regarded her thoughtfully. “My mistake.”

Finn slid into the passenger side of the vehicle and waited. Just as she suspected, John was at home behind the wheel of a car. He turned the key and immediately they were drowned in music as the radio came to life.

Finn nudged the volume button down. “Sorry.”

“A Jeep and loud music,” John muttered. “Are you sure you’re not sixteen?”

She didn’t take offense. “The Jeep was a graduation present from my parents when I got my Criminal Justice degree last year. And the music, well, some things you just never outgrow.”

“Right.” John eased the Jeep out of the driveway. “Where do I go?”

“That way.” Finn pointed left. “The range is about three miles from here.” Finn leaned back and closed her eyes, feeling the tension from the day start to uncurl inside of her.

“Long day?”

She didn’t answer right away. The court notice…

“Well, there was that dog I had to chase for three blocks and the little old lady who wouldn’t let me help her cross the street. Other than that—” Her voice broke off and her eyes snapped open because she heard a strange sound. John Gabriel was laughing. Granted, it sounded a little rusty, but it was laughter.

“The hazards of the job.” He turned a smile on her that transformed his austere features and turned her insides into jelly.

Finn swallowed. “You should do that more often.”

“What?”

“Smile. Laugh. You know—try a variety of facial expressions.”

“Very funny.” John turned his attention back to the road. “Where do we turn?”

“Back there about a quarter of a mile.” She realized that they had passed the road. It was his fault for laughing and causing her to forget her navigational responsibilities.

He turned the Jeep around and headed back. “Do you come here a lot?”

“Two or three times a week,” Finn said absently.

“Is that required by your department?”

“No. We come out as a department about every six months. Dad says I should practice more than that. Most officers never fire their weapons, but you need to be accurate if you ever have to.”

The range was an open field with oak trees bordering the perimeter like silent sentinels. No one was there, and Finn was glad. Now that she had bullied John Gabriel into this, she was having doubts.

“Okay, Annie Oakley.” His voice was so near it startled her. “You first.”

He set up the targets while Finn pushed the clip into her handgun and put on ear protection to muffle the sound.

John watched as Finn stepped up to the line. Everything about her stance and posture was correct. Correct but wooden. For someone who came to the range two or three times a week, she seemed almost uncomfortable with a gun in her hand. The first few shots were close to the center. Then, something happened. Her concentration dissolved. The next few shots were way off. When she finished, her hand fell to her side and her head dipped slightly.

“Hey, where did you go?” he asked sharply, watching as Finn’s head snapped up again and she smiled sheepishly.

“Daydreaming, I guess.”

“Daydreaming?” He repeated the word in disbelief. “If that target decided to shoot back, I’d be picking you up off the grass.”

“Your turn.” Finn stepped back and looked away from him. She couldn’t explain what had just happened, other than the fact that Jerome Lessing’s face had suddenly loomed in her thoughts. He was free and it was her fault. Or was it?

Gunfire brought her back to reality, and she watched as John pounded six bullets directly into the center of the target.

John glanced at her, expecting to see amazement or disbelief or any of the other expressions that people had when a one-armed man actually achieved something. Instead, she was looking at him proudly. Knowingly. The admiration on her face shook him to the core, momentarily shattering the wall he had so painstakingly built over the years. Then he knew. When she had invited him to come to the range—when she had casually tossed her car keys to him—she was telling him she saw a man. Not a one-armed man. Not a man with a scar that disfigured part of his face, and had, as some people assumed, seared his brain in the process. But a man.

No one had given him a gift like that in years. No one except his colleagues at the Madison Agency, who had stopped treating him with kid gloves just a few months after he started working there. It hadn’t taken Finn that long. They had known each other less than twenty-four hours.

He wondered why he found the discovery so unsettling.

“Do you mind living so close to your grandparents?” John asked later as they headed back to the city limits. Now she was behind the wheel, which gave John a chance to study her. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was some emotion still lingering in her eyes that he’d noticed when they’d been at the range.

“No.” Finn shook her head. “When I got hired here, they wanted me to live with them, but I talked Gran into letting me fix up the stone house. I lived with my folks the whole time I went to college and I wanted a little space. They understood, and I don’t mind living in their backyard. Especially now that Chief is having some health problems.”

“I was surprised to see they had such a huge house to take care of.” John remembered his first glimpse of the sprawling two-story brick home as the taxi delivered him the night he arrived.

“When Chief retired, he and Gran handpicked Miranda Station. They were tired of city living and wanted a place that everyone could come home to. It’s still close enough to Chicago for impromptu family get-togethers. That’s why he had the pool put in, too, for all my relatives to enjoy when they come for a visit. I don’t think Chief has ever put his big toe in the water.”

The stately brick home they were discussing came into view and Finn eased the car into the garage. There was a vacant spot where the other car had been parked earlier.