"If not for your neighbor calling in the fire and our quick response time, the cabin, with all the wood and being surrounded by dry woods, would no doubt have been a total loss. Right now it seems to be mostly smoke and water damage."
I takes a deep breath before placing Sam back in her crate. "So do we know the cause of the fire?" I asked aloud with both the Chief and Sheriff within ear shot. Kynlee seemed to think it odd that instead of looking at Me, the two leaders looked at each other before answering.
"We know what caused the fire, but not who caused the fire," the Sheriff offered.
"Are we missing something here? What are you trying to say?" Kynlee asked with her arms now crossed across her chest.
The Sheriff lowers his voice and asks, "Dr. Teton, can we talk in your SUV, so we have a little privacy? Some of what I'm going to tell you is classified."
I hopped into the passenger side of the SUV and shut the door. Kynlee sat in the driver's seat, and the Fire Chief and Sheriff both sat on the bench seat in the back. We turned to look at them with just a small interior light on to light the cabin of the vehicle. The Fire Chief took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry to inform you Dr. Teton, but someone threw a Molotov cocktail through your dining room window. Luckily you were gone at the time. We found no one inside the residence, but there was a white compact car in the yard."
I nodded, "that's my extra car. Kynlee had been driving it until we got her pickup from their apartment complex. She had the pickup at Jane and Marvin's house. So this fire was set by someone intentionally? Wow."
"So it's possible someone thought she was inside," the Sheriff questioned as he motioned in Kynlee's direction.
I shrugged. "I suppose it's possible, but why would anyone target Kynlee?" She has made nothing but friends since she has been staying in Rochester."
Kynlee cleared her throat before contradicting me, "umm Wam, that isn't entirely true. What about Dr. Adams? She certainly isn't my friend," Kynlee gave a sardonic laugh.
The Sheriff took out a pen and notepad before meeting first mine then Kynlee's eyes, "who is this Dr. Adams?"
I met Kynlee's gaze briefly before looking at the Sheriff and resigning myself to answer. "Dr. Kelly Adams is Head of Neurology at the clinic and hospital. Well, she was. Kelly was placed on administrative leave today pending the results of an investigation. The Board of Directors was very unhappy when they heard because there is at least three employees involved in the scam that Kelly is being investigated for."
The Fire Chief asked, "so how is Kynlee involved in this if Dr. Adams in your colleague?"
Kynlee gave me a small smile before explaining, "my brother suffered a trauma at work and was brought here for treatment. Our parents died about a year and a half ago and we were not sure Kedron would pull through. Kedron coded the first day he was here and Wam escorted me out of the room and helped calm me down. Wam and I became friends and he allowed me to stay at his cabin so I could be with my brother. Dr. Adams was convinced we were romantically involved, but Wam was nothing but a gentleman."
The Sheriff asked, "okay, now I'm missing something. Why would Dr. Adams care who you date…Dr. Teton?"
I sighed, I couldn't help it. This whole situation wasn't just frustrating, but embarrassing. "Dr. Adams had a reputation for being..involved with coworkers. I didn't want to be a notch on her bedpost so I turned her down…repeatedly. One night I lost a pediatric patient and went to the bar to drown my sorrows. For the record, drinking is something I rarely do. Dr. Adams showed up, kept buying me drinks, and gave me a ride to her place afterwards. I spent the night there and distanced myself afterwards. She seemed to have other ideas though."
"What do you mean, 'other ideas'," the Sheriff inquired.
"Kelly seemed to want more. She is known for being a player, but seemed to want more from me. She continued to try to touch me and flirt with me when I was in town, at work."
The Fire Chief asked, "how did you respond to that?"
"I reminded her we were colleagues, we were at work, and needed to be professional. I also made it clear that what happened the night she took me home was a mistake, and it would never happen again." I finally looked up from the black leather seat between the two public servants and met their eyes again. Talk about uncomfortable.
"So it's entirely possible she sees Kynlee as competition," the Sheriff clarified.
I shrugged and looked toward Kynlee. "Honestly, a week ago I'd no idea she was capable of working the system, was jealous of my friendship with Kynlee, or that she could be so vindictive." I sighed upon thinking this was like something off an episode of "CSI". I'd think "Criminal Minds," but I don't think we have reached that kind of crazy yet…at least I hope not.
The Fire Chief asked, "Vindictive how exactly?"
"Today I met with Dr. Adams before the Board of Directors meeting. She admitted to being involved with these other facilities and making millions through their scheming. She had fake evidence against me that supposedly would incriminate and make me lose my medical license. Kelly said the only way she would not show this evidence to the Board of Directors and to the Board of Physicians, was if I agreed to marry her."
Kynlee gasped and the Fire Chief asked, "she blackmailed you?"
I nodded, "She was smart and had a signal jammer in her office. My cell phone didn't pick up the conversation, but my old school recorder did. I gave it to the Board President, Dr. Eman, to review and clear myself of any wrongdoing."
Kynlee piped up, "something else you should know,
Dr. Adams was Kedron's doctor before she convinced him it was in his best interest to skip the surgery and move to Renowned Rochester Rehabilitation. Wam and I saw her picture and the Physical Therapist on the wall as benefactors."
"The third I know of is Dr. Armani. Those are the three employees we know are working against policy, legislation, and possibly their patients' best interests to increase their profits," I explained.
The Fire Chief and Sheriff shared another wide eyed look before the Sheriff remembered, "I saw a camera on the porch. Is it functional?" Wam nodded. The Sheriff leaned forward, "please tell me it's hooked up to a computer."
I smiled and offered, "it should all be on my computer upstairs in my home office. Feel free to take it as evidence for now."
"I'm really hoping this will be the break we need, but we won't stop our canvassing the area and searching the crime scene until we have exhausted all leads. Dr. Adams certainly sounds like someone we want to talk to. Please keep this between us for now, because we don't know who we can trust," the Sheriff explained.
As we walked away from the SUV, I heard the Sheriff on the phone, "I want to issue a BOLO for Dr. Kelly Adams as a person of interest in this arson investigation….yeah. She may or may not be the perpetrator, but I've got a feeling she is involved in some way with all this. Okay, great. Thank you."
We got Sammy's crate and placed it in the back of the SUV, exchanged numbers with the Sheriff and Fire Chief, and were free to leave. No longer being in shock, I drove back to Jane and Marvin's house.
I set up the litter box I stopped at the store for, as soon as we arrived. Sammy seemed unsure at first and hid until Jane and Marvin had gone to bed. We had talked briefly, but they both looked tired.
After a quick shower, I donned a tee shirt and shorts I'd also purchased. When I came back out to the living room, I was happy to see Sammy sitting in Lee's lap with her eyes closed and her ears up. As I got closer, I heard her purring loudly, and sat down next to them. As Lee stroked her soft coat and scratched under Sam's chin, she said to me, "she'll be okay. She was just scared from everything that happened today and then being in a new place."
Lee smiled at me, then looked to Sammy, "you're a good girl aren't you Sammy? Yes, such a good girl." Lee added before she sighed, "I suppose we should all try to sleep. I have to take Marve to his first treatment tomorrow. You have more meetings right?"
I nodded and put my arm around Kynlee on the back of the couch. "Yes beautiful, they are continuing the Board of Directors meeting tomorrow at 9AM. I'll leave my phone on vibrate in case you need me okay?"
"Oh Wam, we will be fine. You worry too much," she laughs.
"Lee, someone tried to burn down the cabin, and you may be the target. That scares the crap outta me. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you," I breathed with a slight quiver in my voice. I leaned over and kissed her head before resting the side of my head against hers.
I held Kynlee all night in her small bed, I was the big spoon. Neither of us slept much. Every time I managed to fall asleep, I was awakened by nightmares that something happened to Kynlee. In one nightmare, instead of Winona jumping off the rocks, it was Lee. I held her tight afterwards. That was the last straw, and as soon as the sun came up, I snuck downstairs to make coffee for everyone.