Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

everyone.”
    Jonas frowned. “Everyone got out, Rikki,” he assured her.
    “Not the dog. Not their dog.” She grew more agitated, flapping her hands now, a sure sign she was headed for a breakdown.
    Lev crouched down in front of her, uncaring what the others thought. Look at me lubov moya, see only me. You’re safe with me. If you want to end this, we will. I’ll make them all go.
    Her dark eyes found his, and this time, it was Rikki that might have been drowning. She looked frightened, and when he touched her mind, he realized she feared retreating in front of their company more than anything else. This was her home, her haven, and she’d set things up so she could live as comfortably as possible. He took both her hands very gently in his.
    It occurred to him that both Hannah and Jonas spoke in low, gentle voices. They had known coming into the house that Rikki was autistic and needed her environment to be as soothing as possible. Jonas had not told his 262

    wife about Rikki’s past. Lev was certain Hannah knew Rikki was autistic from her cousin.
    “Do you need to take a break, Rikki?” Jonas asked. Lev could have kissed the man. He showed respect for her. Addressed her, not Blythe or him. She blinked several times, took a deep breath and, still looking into Lev’s eyes, shook her head.
    “I’m all right.” She mumbled the words, but they were audible in the silence of the room.
    Lev moved back behind her, his hand gripping hers, his thumb moving along her wrist.
    Jonas resumed talking. “You were safe in the group facility because they kept moving you and he could never know for certain where you were.
    I can’t imagine that he didn’t try looking and he was probably frustrated.
    Based on that theory, we looked up the years when you were between sixteen and eighteen, when you were released. There was a cluster of fires, arsons, and this time the homes were occupied.”
    At her gasp he shook his head. “The families were away at the time he started the fires, but their houses and everything in them were destroyed. He needed something to feed his addiction. It was growing.”
    “And he blamed Rikki,” Lev said. “Why?”
    “That’s the burning question, isn’t it?” Jonas said. He looked at Rikki.
    “Any ideas?”
    She frowned. “I’ve tried to figure that out.” She looked at Lev. “We both have. We’ve gone over and over this. I was thirteen when he attacked the first time, and honestly, even at school, I had an aide. I couldn’t manage the lights and noise very well. I mainstreamed, but it was very difficult. I could get extremely violent when someone crossed me.”
    “Did you ever start a fire?”
    Jonas dropped the question so gently, a skilled surgeon with a scalpel, slicing through to the very marrow of the matter.
    Lev felt Rikki stiffen in outrage. He touched her mind and found blind fury. She jerked her hand and he had the feeling she might fly at the man, taking his question as an accusation. He tightened his fingers around her wrist, shackling her to him, although the others couldn’t see.
    He is trying to get a rise out of you. Take a breath. He’s testing you, using a classic interrogation method. Don’t react. Think before you speak and then tell him the truth.
    Aloud, without taking his gaze from Rikki’s, he addressed Jonas. He kept his tone low, velvet soft, but it was a warning—the only one he intended to give.
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    “You can’t use tactics like that on Rikki. Her world has been a nightmare and she doesn’t react as others usually do.”
    “Jonas,” Blythe began.
    Rikki turned her head and for the first time looked Jonas in the eye. “I could never start a fire.” She shuddered. “I can’t have a gas stove, because I can’t be around an open flame. As a child, I would become violent and hit my head on the floor. It would be impossible for me.”
    “And yet, you thought you were responsible.” Jonas leaned forward.
    “In your statement, after your fiance died, you said maybe you were somehow starting the fires subconsciously. Why would you think that?”
    Her teeth began to chatter and Lev couldn’t take any more. “We’re done here,” he said, making it clear that he was ending the interview and that he was in charge. If Jonas persisted, he would be dealing with someone other than Rikki. “Rikki didn’t start the fires and she may have been traumatized enough in the past to entertain the idea, but she knows better now. He was here. I saw