I need a lawyer?” Her question was part sarcasm and part sincere. One of her hopes in coming home was to get some advice from her dad’s best friend, Al Brandt. Al was a decent guy and a respected attorney.
“Lawyer?” Logan frowned. “Why would you need that?”
Mallory rubbed her forehead and groaned. “I don’t know. And, honestly, I don’t know if I can do this, Logan. I mean, I haven’t slept in a few days. My brain feels like oatmeal.”
Logan looked sympathetic. “Okay, we won’t try to do all of this right now. Just answer a couple of questions and I’ll let you get some sleep. Okay?”
“Okay... I’ll do my best.”
“So, tell me the truth, Mallory, do you seriously think Brock had anything to do with that fire?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Nothing about that man would surprise me.”
“Do you think Brock would intentionally hurt you?”
Mallory stared at him. She was in too deep to stop. Besides he’d said this was an official investigation. Did she have any choice? “I think he would,” she answered honestly.
“Okay...” He locked eyes with her. “Has Brock ever threatened to hurt you before?”
She took in a deep breath and made her decision. “He has sworn to kill me.”
Logan had a feeling he was in over his head. Not just with his personal feelings toward Mallory, but with this whole business regarding Brock Dennison, too. It wasn’t as if he was a fan of the popular newscaster. Although some of his female firefighters seemed to be. Something about that meticulously groomed guy with the blond hair and flashy smile had always felt a little phony to him. And he found it hard to believe that Mallory had actually been involved with someone like that.
He also found it unbelievable that Brock Dennison had the nerve to threaten someone’s life, much less commit arson, but he could tell by Mallory’s face that it was true. Or, at the very least, she believed it was true. But facts were facts. There had been a fire, and Mallory had received a threatening text related to fire. Those two things were real enough. But getting the whole story, well, he didn’t think it was going to be easy.
“So, Brock Dennison swore to kill you?” he repeated her words back to her, writing them down as he spoke. “Can you please elaborate?”
“The truth is he said it more than once. The first time he said it, he was really mad at me,” she began slowly. “And although it caught me by surprise, I didn’t take it too seriously. Or literally. You know how people say stupid things in the heat of the moment. I honestly didn’t think he was going to kill me. I mean, Brock has a short fuse about some things. He can come across as a really nice guy, and then he’ll turn on you.”
“Right...so let’s be clear. Do you think Brock is capable of violence?” Logan studied her closely. She looked so frail and tired, as if she were close to breaking. And yet she looked beautiful, too. He could tell that beneath all this, there was a quality of strength in her. “Mallory?” He reached out to gently squeeze her hand. “Is Brock capable of violence?”
“Yes,” she quietly confessed. “He is. I know he is.”
“Has he hurt you before?”
She simply nodded, staring down at her hands as if embarrassed. And maybe it was humiliating—telling someone she barely knew about the intimate details of a past relationship. A part of him felt slightly voyeuristic for pressing her like this. But for the most part, he just wanted to help her. How could he help her if she didn’t tell him the truth? He wished she could just trust him.
“I know this isn’t easy,” he said gently. “But remember this is an investigation. And, really, you can trust me. But I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Okay.” She sighed. “Maybe I should start at the beginning.”
“That would help a lot.”
“I guess it started last winter...actually it was even sooner than that. Not our dating, but the relationship. For some reason, I caught Brock’s eye early on in my internship. I can’t even imagine why. I mean, other girls were constantly flirting with him. I never did. I was all about work. I took my internship seriously. I took newswriting seriously. I honestly don’t understand why Brock went after me, but he did.”
“I think I understand why.” Logan sighed. “For starters, you’re a beautiful girl, Mallory. You’re also very intelligent. And you have a sweet spirit. That’s a rather attractive package, don’t you think?”
She blinked in surprise, but said nothing.
“Seriously.” He rubbed his chin. “Combine those qualities with the fact that you were focused on work—not flirting—well, that probably made you seem even more attractive. Kinda like playing hard to get.”
“I wasn’t playing—”
“I know. But you get what I’m saying. Some guys like the challenge.”
She frowned. “I guess so. Anyway, Brock was intent on dating me. For nearly a year, I brushed him off. I didn’t want anything to mess up my internship or my chances of getting hired. But he was relentless. Finally, after I was hired, I told him that I thought there were rules against dating in the workplace.” She shrugged. “But Brock assured me that dating was acceptable. He pointed out others who were happily involved.” She pushed a strand of dark hair away from her face. “Come to think of it, he even insinuated that dating him could help my position. But, honestly, that wasn’t my motivation. And Brock is very persuasive and the truth is that, back then, I found him charming and attractive. And, even though I’d been pushing him away, I have to admit I was flattered by the attention. I finally gave in at Christmastime last year. I agreed to go on one date with him. You’d think I’d given him the moon.”
Logan nodded. A real date with Mallory would feel like a gift to him, too. If it turned out that she was being honest with him. Somehow he felt she was. “So you started dating him about six or seven months ago?” he prodded.
“Well, we weren’t really dating. It was one date. We went to a fund-raiser thing right after Christmas. Our next date—because he talked me into it—was on New Year’s Eve.” She paused to think. “We went out a few times after that, but we didn’t really become a couple—well, not in my eyes, anyway—until Valentine’s Day.”
“Uh-huh?”
Mallory frowned. “Am I boring you? I mean, do you really need all this for your investigation?”
He shrugged. “Maybe...if it turns out that Brock really has something to do with the fire, it could be helpful.”
She stared blankly across the room, as if trying to remember what she’d been saying. “Okay...so, anyway, I was totally honest with Brock right from the start. I told him that I was an old-fashioned girl and that I wanted to take things slowly. I figured that would turn him off because I knew he had a reputation for being a ladies’ man. I thought it
