Page 6 of Devil's Hour
“The first thing I noticed is the quality of the paper and meticulous care put in to drafting the threat. Someone went to great pains to cut out letters in similar sizes so the individual words lined up straight, then made sure the sentences in the paragraph were evenly spaced. This is the kind of person who takes pride in whatever they do, and probably has a touch of OCD. The use of “us” and the signature at the bottom is plural, so we could be dealing with more than one person. The tone of the letter is sophisticated, even if the format is supposed to look crude. I find the dichotomy interesting, and I think it’s a deliberate attempt to mislead us.”
“I agree,” Chief said, nodding. “What else stands out to you?”
“‘Liar, liar, now the city’s on fire.’ Present tense. Doesn’t it imply the city is on fire now?” Royce ran his thumb over his lip while rereading the line. “They’re not threatening future fires; they’re laying claim to current fires. Past fires?”
“That’s the literal interpretation of the sentence, but what if they don’t mean physical fires? It could be referring to spikes in violence and crimes. It could also refer to anger and rage. Maybe they plan to scorch her,” Rigby said.
“I don’t know, Chief. The letter feels direct and to the point. She failed to do what she promised, and these people have started setting the city on fire, and she’s next.” Royce shook his head. “But if The Purists love the city as much as they claim, why take their anger out on the innocent? How does that make anything better?” Then it hit him like a bolt of lightning between the eyes. “Purification by fire.” Sawyer had recently watched a show on History or Discovery about various sects who believe fire is healing and purifying. At first, Royce had been worried it was an hour of his life he’d never get back, but now he was grateful he stayed awake through most of it. He told her about the documentary and said, “Some farmers even burn their fields after a harvest. It destroys old crops and improves the soil for new ones.”
Rigby blew out a long breath. “Do you think The Purists are going to take matters into their own hands? Raze the criminal elements to make way for the good and pure? Some vigilante religious sect?”
“It sounds to me like whoever they are, or whatever their methods, they’ve already started. With your permission, I’d like to bring Blue on board since he’s our arson guy and works with the fire investigation division of SFD. They can compile a list of suspicious fires, and maybe we can find a pattern. Stein would also make a great addition. Her vice connections might help us if there’s any chatter on the streets about this group.”
“Sounds like a good plan. I want you, Key, Stein, and Blue to be the only four investigating this for now. Blue will pique the fire investigator’s curiosity when he starts asking questions, so he needs to choose one he can trust to keep this quiet.”
“I’ll pass along your wishes, Chief.”
“I want an update at the end of the day or sooner if you uncover something I need to know.”
“Will do.”
Rigby pulled an evidence bag out of her desk drawer and placed the letter inside it. Both of them dated and initialed the seal. “I’ll take this over to our lab, but I won’t hold my breath hoping they find anything.” They removed their gloves and tossed them in the trash before exiting the office together.
He gestured for Blue and Sawyer to join him in the conference room. He quickly brought them up to speed. “I’ll text Stein to call me when she’s free.” Holly’s role as a vice cop with frequent undercover assignments often kept her at odd hours with the rest of the department. “Chief wants us to keep this between the four of us for now. Blue, do you know a fire investigator we can trust to keep their mouth shut?”
“Yeah, I know a guy,” Blue said. “He’ll keep our conversation private.”
“Great,” Royce said, slapping Blue’s shoulder. “Let me know right away if you find something.”
“Roger that, Sarge,” Blue said, saluting him before he left.
“And what canIdo for you, Sergeant Locke?” Sawyer’s question was loaded with innuendo, and Royce felt his temperature rising.
“You can drive while I make phone calls.” Needing to escape the room before he did something stupid, he pivoted and headed to the door. “But first I need to change.”
Sawyer placed his hand on the door before he could open it. “That’s a task I’d love to assist you with, sir,” Sawyer whispered huskily, dropping a quick kiss on Royce’s nape, then stepping back. “Helping you dress this morning will have to be enough until we’re alone again.”
No, Royce. You cannot drag him into the locker room for a quickie.
Behaving had never felt so wrong.
“Mr. Goodwin, this is Sergeant Locke with the Savannah Police Department. I’d like to speak to you about the threatening letter you found this morning. It’s important you return my call at your earliest convenience.” Royce rattled off his cell phone number and disconnected. Noticing they were still stopped at a stop sign, he glanced over at Sawyer, who was looking at him with a mixture of carnal lust and pride. He had to fight the urge to fidget in his seat. “What?”
“I expected you to say Detective Locke out of habit, but Sergeant Locke rolled naturally off your tongue after only an hour of earning the new rank. That’s pretty impressive.” Sawyer smirked before returning his attention to the intersection so he could make a right turn. “If I didn’t know better, and we both know I do, I would suspect you practiced saying your new title in the mirror before going to work.”
“Asshole,” Royce mumbled, shaking his head.
“I guess you might’ve practiced when we drove separately to the precinct. Even though I was right behind you for most of the trip, your illegally tinted windows wouldn’t allow me to see if you were psyching yourself up with a pep talk.”
Royce reached over and ran his fingers along Sawyer’s thigh. “I was psyching myself up all right, but it had nothing to do with my new title and everything to do with keeping my hands to myself.” He continued inching his hand higher up, stopping just short of Sawyer’s groin. “We can see how well that’s going.” Sawyer shivered and released a soft whimper that almost made Royce forget his promise to behave and leave their personal relationship at home.Almost.He withdrew his hand before he took things too far.
“Dickhead,” Sawyer hissed.
It was a surreal situation to find himself in. Royce was usually the one pushing envelopes and testing boundaries while Sawyer crossed every T and dotted every I. Regardless of the fact that Royce now outranked him, Sawyer would’ve been the wiser choice to lead The Purists investigation.
“Where’d you go just now? I insulted you, and you didn’t respond. Are you feeling okay? Did you eat too many bear claws and make yourself sick?”
“I just thought you would’ve made a better choice.” Royce looked at his handsome profile once more. Damn, the man was gorgeous with his chiseled cheekbones and jaw and full, kissable lips.