Page 116 of Fire Fight

“Why?”

“I want to make sure the local ones are aware this is something that could happen. I don’t want to see anyone else lose their home or their life on my watch. As for the families that have moved, I want to see if anything funky has happened to them, or if it’s only happening here in town. It’ll give us an idea of if the perp is mobile or not.”

Thumping my fist into my brother’s shoulder in an understanding gesture, I said, “Keep me posted, yeah?”

“In the interest of full disclosure, there’s something else I should tell you.”

“Yeah?”

“We let Chris go late yesterday afternoon.”

“What do you mean,let him go?”

“He finally made bail thanks to his flunkies, so we cut him loose.” Lane shrugged. “Do with that what you will.”

Was he…?

Nah, not possible.

There was no way Lane was giving me permission to go off book here, right? He was thesheriff, the paragon of justice and doing the right thing and following the letter of the law.

But still, as I caught his gaze, something glimmered there, and I picked up what he wordlessly conveyed to me.

With a sharp nod, letting him know I understood, Lane saluted me and Chief, then walked back to his cruiser, where his deputies had gathered.

“What was that about?” Chief asked.

“I’m not sure,” I lied.

Chief’s attention was a brand on the side of my face, but I didn’t dare look at him. Instead, I focused on the scene, making a mental plan before approaching my guys to execute it.

“Stay out of trouble,” he warned as I moved away.

I spared him a glance over my shoulder. “Always do.”

His disbelieving snort followed me all the way across the yard.

thirty-one

. . .

CREW

In what feltlike the blink of an eye—but was really more like four hours—the crew and I trudged back into the firehouse. Once the engine guys had knocked down the blaze, we all spent some time on overhaul, meaning we walked through the structure to ensure the fire was entirely extinguished and made sure the house itself was stable enough to stand until the Lees decided what they were going to do with it. An insurance adjuster would need to come out, photograph it, and process a claim. Plus, I was sure that, if anything insidewassalvageable, the Lee family would want to go through and take what they could.

My limbs were heavy with exhaustion, but my veins hummed with electricity as I made my way toward the locker room for a shower. The second my shift was up, I had somewhere to be.

Unfortunately, crawling into bed with Aspen, which was where I desperately wanted to be, would have to wait a few hours.

ME

Gonna be late getting home this morning. Wanted to give you a heads up. Miss you.

Aspen’s response was almost immediate despite it being six a.m.

LITTLE PHOENIX

Miss you too. Everything okay?