Page 36 of Head Room

“Yes and yes.Well, sort of on it being a skull.The body was burned badly down to below the knees.Not like a skeleton like in science class, clean and white.It was...charred.”

Her hesitation was a timely reminder of how new she was to this business and that she hadn’t seen things like that before.

Cover a few wars — or conflict areas as they are euphemistically called — even only now and then, as I had, and you saw a lot.

Certainly too much to take in completely at the moment of seeing it.Maybe haunting dreams and unexpected memories were a way for the brain to process smaller pieces over time.

After this inquiry, after the wedding, after the honeymoon, I’d sit down with her and talk about the processing and not to expect it to be fast.

She pushed past her hesitation.“It wasn’t until there was a break in the smoke and you really looked that you could spot the hole.At the same time, the boots were mostly still there.Not pristine, but certainly recognizable.”

“Interesting.”That roughly matched my initial impression of the pattern of what — to my admittedly inexpert eye — appeared to be accelerant.Specifically, being stronger in the center of the main room and around the edges, but not near the fireplace.

That pattern was not apparent in this footage.That provided one answer — I hadn’t missed it from careless viewing when it aired.

Bless Diana and her filter.

“Did you see a gun that could have been used for suicide?”

“No.But I heard guys talking about seeing one, then they clustered around something three or four feet farther into the rubble.Never could get a clear shot of it.There was lots of opportunity for them or their equipment to have moved it around accidentally.”

“What’s the fire department telling you?”

She pushed out a disgusted breath, then started in a singsong tone, “It’s under investigation.Still subject to AAR — after action review.Nothing to share with the public at this point.”

She jerked up.I hadn’t stopped watching the screen, but in the cramped editing bay, I felt her movement.

“What do you know, Elizabeth?Why are you interested?”

She didn’t waste time asking if I knew anything, but went right for thewhat.I really liked this young woman, even when she made me feel ancient and out of date with her tech skills.

“About the scene?Nothing more than you do.Although...did you know there was someone at the scene who seems interested in you.”

Deflect, deflect, deflect.

She gave me a side-eye.“Oh?What did he look like?”

“Dark hair.Clean-shaven.Mid-thirties.”

“Oh.”Disappointment packed into a syllable.

Good.His winkyness and the jealous woman in his orbit made him a less than promising candidate.

Plus, if she was interested in Miles Stevens, I would have been kicking myself for protecting her unnecessarily and forgoing that advantage when I talked to him.

“Doesn’t mean another firefighter wasn’t interested in you, too.Which one—?”

She humphed a snort that said with entirely unnecessary emphasis that she wasn’t telling.

“I wouldn’t try to fix you up or anything—”

Another snort.

I knew a snort ordering me to step-back-behind-the-line when I heard one.

Especially one that suited my purposes.While she protected her privacy, I left...without explaining my interest.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN