The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag 00 - Swept Under the Rug

Fire Marshal determines the cause.” He coughed on the last word and I sat back, worried that my added weight hindered his ability to breathe. He scowled then pulled me closer and I resettled with ease.
    “What do you suspect happened?” I asked, recalling that the front door had been left cracked open.
    Neil grunted and we watched another police car roll in to join the melee on the lawn. Neil inhaled and I listened contentedly to the steady thumping of his heart. “I’m sure whoever did this made it look like an accident, a grease fire or faulty wiring, but Valentino was already unconscious when I found him.” He coughed again and cleared his gravelly throat. “My own damn fault it took so long. I headed upstairs first, since that’s where the lights were on. I would have been out several minutes sooner if I’d started in the kitchen.”
    “Don’t do that to me ever again.” I whispered, fighting the tears that threatened to spill over.
    His index finger tilted my chin so I met his gaze. At point blank range, Neil’s hazel eyes possessed the power to hypnotize and he unleashed it now. “I’m sorry I scared you.” He had too much class to point out that it was my fault he was anywhere near the blaze to begin with.
    All those times he’d been deployed on missions, where people shot at him, tried to blow him up or take him captive, I’d worried, not knowing where he was, if he was safe. I thought I knew real terror. But those wild conjectures of my imagination were nothing next to actually seeing him in danger, knowing it was my fault….
    I gave up the fight and allowed myself to cry. Neil didn’t say anything; he just let me sob and held me close. His understanding made it worse because I was such a hypocrite. I’d worried him, by involving myself in dangerous plots, and the fact that I hadn’t sought out trouble didn’t matter. I silently vowed to exercise more caution, and remember this fear before courting trouble again.
    Minutes passed by the time I’d regained my composure, the scene out the window had changed. The lights from the fire truck and other emergency vehicles had been extinguished and there was considerably less activity from the few remaining civil servants.
    “You got yourself together?” Neil asked. I sniffled and nodded. “Good, because I think we’re about to have company.” A knock on the window made me jump and I used the sleeve of my sweater to scrub my face. Between the nacho cheese stain and the smears of soot, it was probably a lost cause anyhow.
    Neil rolled down the window and as my vision adjusted I started at the compact silhouette. “Cripes, what are you doing here?” Neil smirked and shook his head while Detective Capri scowled at me.
    “You took the words right out of my mouth, Mrs. Phillips. I received a call from dispatch, informing me that, quote; “my go-to girl had stepped in it again.” End quote.” She made little twitchy bunny ears with both hands to underscore her point.
    I opened my mouth, but shut it for lack of a good retort. Coming off of a useless adrenaline rush, and basically mired in guilt, I wasn’t up to my usual verbal sparring at the moment. But I wasn’t about to apologize for my piss-poor luck, either, so she could go stuff herself.
    Neil, as always, sized up the edgy atmosphere and said the right thing. “Maggie, explain to detective Capri about the envelope you were trying to return.” He squeezed my arm, applying gentle pressure, attempting to send me a nonverbal message. Too tired to read between the lines, I did as he suggested, leaving nothing out, except for my fib about the store and our heated exchange before we’d noticed the fire.
    Capri could have been a master poker player, since her expression rarely changed from stone-cold sober. She did wince when I admitted I’d climbed in the car with Valentino, but didn’t interrupt the telling. My voice petered out, but I’d gone over the essentials.
    “So Valentino gave you money to keep you out of his business,” She mused, then glanced toward the house. “I wonder where the feds are, I’m pretty sure that’s a detail they’d be interested in.”
    I grimaced, imaging the two stalwart FBI special agents in my homey little kitchen, but didn’t protest. I needed to help Candie in any way I could, especially now that Valentino would be in no position to do the job.
    “Do you know how the fire started?” Neil asked in a mild tone. My gaze cut to him, but I