Page 20 of Bait and Switch (Subtle Deceptions #2)
Gabe wasn’t sure of anything, so he shrugged. “Believe me, it’s hard to consider letting them off the hook. But this seems a bit dramatic for them. They aren’t the arson type. And if it was them, why would they go for the Shangri-La first?”
“What happened? Did you see or hear anything?” Casey asked, his attention still on the emergency vehicles.
“Can’t say for sure. I was asleep. The cat woke me up and less than sixty seconds later, I was running your direction.”
Casey’s cell phone rang. “That’ll be Elton,” he said before he picked it up off the sill and pressed Accept.
“Yeah. We’re both fine. Pretty sure we’ll be awhile, no doubt there will be questions.
The Barbara is fine, but the Shangri-La is totaled for sure.
We don’t know yet about the Ticket , but I suspect it’s also a goner.
We’re out in the bay, Gabe’s with me and Bowie.
As soon as we end this call, we’ll row in. Yeah, I love you too, old man.”
An hour or so later, it was clear that the Shangri-La and The Golden Ticket were both lost causes.
The Shangri-La was reduced to merely a few boards floating in the dark water.
The Ticket had taken less of a hit, but even if he could get it back to a livable state, Gabe knew he’d never feel safe aboard it again.
Maybe it hadn’t burned to the waterline like the Shangri-La, but it wasn’t from lack of effort on the Ticket’s part.
It was obviously a sign from somewhere that The Golden Ticket wasn’t the place he was meant to be.
And why throw good money after bad?
Once the fires had been put out, Casey moored The Barbara at a buoy meant for visiting boats and rowed them to shore, away from the emergency vehicles.
Bowie came with them, but the cat had declined, glaring its disapproval from underneath one of the bunk beds in the second cabin.
“It’ll be fine,” Casey said, locking the cabin door behind him.
Elton was waiting for them in his truck, because of course he was. No one was going to tell Elton he couldn’t park off to the side of the emergency vehicles. And he wasn’t accepting Casey’s word that they were all okay.
“Can Bowie hang with you while Gabe and I answer questions?” Casey asked.
“That’s a stupid question.” Elton patted the seat next to him and Bowie leaped into the cab, settling next to Elton, one paw across his skinny thigh. “We’ll be right here.”
“We still need to look into a dog for you.”
At that, Elton just rolled his eyes. “We can share Bowie.”
The fire chief was a solid-looking man in his late thirties, five o’clock shadow or whatever it’s called after midnight, and bright blue eyes.
His name badge declared him to be Simeon Greery.
Compared to Deputy Spurring standing next to him, who looked like he’d sucked a lemon and then eaten it rind and all, Greery was a saint.
Even better, his presence seemed to discourage Spurring from his normal role of asshole cop, although only by a little.
“I’m getting a bit tired of seeing you, Karne.”
“That makes two of us, Deputy.”
Greery shot them both warning looks, and Gabe bit his lips together to stop himself from pointing out that Spurring had started it. Was he twelve at heart?
Was that ever in question?
The two of them interviewed Gabe first.
Gabe felt oddly guilty that he didn’t have anything worthwhile to tell them about the shadowy figure or figures he’d seen throwing something and then running away. He’d been dreaming too deeply and hadn’t heard the motorboat arrive or anyone walking on the pier.
Greery was nodding and taking notes while Spurring scowled at him and, Gabe realized, noshed on a fat wad of tobacco.
“That stuff causes cancer, you know,” Gabe said, earning himself an extra toxic glare from the deputy. “Just saying.”
Under the red, white, and blue flashing lights, Spurring’s face looked odd, like something out of a cartoon, puffy and strangely shadowed. On the other hand, he sort of always looked that way, so maybe it wasn’t the lights.
In response, Spurring leaned over and spit onto the ground, leaving a gross brown mark on the already melting snow. Gabe wrinkled his nose. He wasn’t sure if he could like a person less without actively hating them. But he was tired, and the deputy wasn’t worth the effort hate took.
“You can go. Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?”
Gabe glanced at Elton’s truck, lurking on the edge of the scene. At that moment, Bowie popped up to look out of the windshield and Gabe figured Elton had said something to the dog.
“Yeah, I have a place.”
After they were done with Casey, Greery called Gabe back over and spoke to them together.
“Lucky for you that your cat was around,” he told Gabe, a serious expression on his face.
“The explosive the perp threw onto your boat was most likely some kind of modified Molotov cocktail. It appears to have hit the far edge of the deck and engaged, but it rolled off into the water before it could really get a fire going. Likely, you surprised whoever it was.”
“He surprised me, too, I have to admit.”
“If we have any more questions?” Greery looked at Gabe. Because, yeah, Casey was not hard to track down.
“You can reach me through Casey or Elton.”
A month ago, he’d never heard of either of them, and now his life depended on their kindness. What the hell was up with that?
I wouldn’t get used to it, but you do you, Chance.
Gabe hadn’t accumulated many belongings in the two and a half weeks he’d been on Heartstone, but what hadn’t been burned to a crispy was drenched and would not be worth the effort of saving.
Currently, he wore a parka Casey had loaned him, a pair of sweats that had seen better days, and the long-sleeved t-shirt he’d donned only a few hours ago.
No undies or socks. And he smelled like smoke, ash, and fear.
The coat was doing its job keeping him warm, but he also now knew just how broad Casey’s shoulders really were.
Fucking broad. Support-the-world broad.
Finally, around O-dark thirty, which was around four in the morning in winter months Pacific time, they were allowed to go home.
The last of the emergency vehicles pulled away, heading back the way they’d come. Gabe narrowed his gaze at his mom’s car.
“Goddamn fucking car keys are vaporized. And my fancy new notebook, dammit all to hell.” For a moment, Gabe felt a stab of true despair. A weird grief he hadn’t allowed himself, not even when Heidi died.
A surprisingly warm hand landed on his shoulder, startling him as well as anchoring him. How was it possible that he felt the heat of it through the fabric of the parka?
“It’ll be fine, Charming.”
Gabe wanted to believe Ranger Man, and it was a bit easier to when he called him Charming.
“Let’s go. Elton is waiting up for us.”