Page 153 of Fire Fight

“I’ll call you when I know something.”

Aria entered the room as Birdie ended the call and said, “Was that Lane? Is he coming out for dinner? And speaking of, where the heck is Crew with the pizza?”

“Finn? West?” Birdie called, ignoring Aria’s questions.

The twins appeared in the den a moment later, and the training they received during years of active duty with the Rangers must’ve alerted them to the fact that something was wrong.

Finn opened his mouth, but Birdie shot him a pleading look, eyes bouncing from him to Aria, who missed the entire exchange thanks to something on her phone holding her attention.

“C’mon, Ari,” West said, placing his hands on his sister’s shoulders. “Let’s see if we can scrounge up a snack.”

“But…the pizza.”

“Crew is taking ages, and I’m starving. Aren’t you starving?”

Her reply was lost to distance as he steered her toward the kitchen on the other side of the house.

“What’s going on?” Finn asked the second Aria was out of earshot.

“We don’t know yet,” Birdie answered honestly. “But Aspen and I both have a bad feeling something happened to Crew.”

“Did you call Lane?”

Birdie nodded. “He and Trey were still at the station, but they’re going to check it out.”

“Why would Trey be at the station?” Finn asked, looking at me.

“Your guess is as good as mine, but if I had to make one, I’d say something popped on the Prom Night Arsonist case. Trey’s been helping out on some surveillance matters, so maybe they decided to loop him in.”

“Okay, back up,” Finn said, taking my hands and leading me to the sectional, where he sat and pulled me down next to him. “I think it’s time to loopmein.”

“Me too,” West said, reappearing with a carton of yogurt in his hand.

“Where’s Aria?”

West shrugged. “Got a call, so she went upstairs.”

“Good,” Finn said, turning back to me. “Now spill.”

I told them everything I knew, everything I could remember, from the moment I arrived in town to the conversation with Crew after he’d left the station not an hour ago.

As soon as I finished my spiel, my phone rang with Lane’s name on the readout.

“Did you find him?”

“Is my mom with you?”

“Finn and West too.”

“Good then I only have to say this once.” His voice shook, and I braced for the impact of his news. I’d only known thesheriff a few short months, but he was unflappable. If he was worked up, the news was distressing.

“Crew is gone.”

Birdie sucked in a breath, and my heart dropped right to my feet. I was trembling so badly that I dropped my phone, and one of the twins scooped it up. I didn’t pay attention to which, not as my vision blurred with tears. Pain pricked the flesh of my arm, and looked down to find Birdie holding onto me for dear life.

“What do you mean,gone?” Finn asked.

“I mean, his truck is parked behind Mozzy’s, still running, and there are three pizzas laying on the ground like they’d been dropped there. We spoke to the counter staff, and he was here probably twenty minutes ago. The place is crazy busy right now, so he must’ve had to wait in line for a while.”