by Patty Blount
“Nice. We ready to tape now?”
“Yep.” He grabbed the bucket and smeared some compound over the screws and the seams. I stretched tape over the compound, then spread more compound over the tape, covering up all the edges.
“That’s it? We’re done?”
“Yeah, pretty much. You have to let this set and then sand it down, maybe put on another coat. Sand it, prime it, paint it. Then you’re done.”
I wiped my hand on my jeans and stuck it out for him to shake. “Thanks, man. I owe you big time.”
He smiled and jerked his thumb at the drying patch. “You do this or the lieutenant?”
“I did,” I admitted with a wince. “But he factored in.”
“I’ll bet.”
My cell buzzed, and a second later, so did Bear’s. We exchanged anxious glances and then answered our calls.
“That was my dad,” I reported after I’d ended the call.
“I got the chief himself.” Bear’s eyes were round and horrified. “He said to come immediately to the station.”
“Yeah. Same here.”
Bear swallowed hard. “Gonna kick us out, right?”
I shook my head. “No. No, Bear. We did what we were supposed to do. They can’t kick us out for that. They won’t.”
We cleaned up as best we could and climbed back into my mom’s car. It was a short ride, silent and anxious. It should have taken us fifteen minutes if we’d hit every light. We got there in five. Did that mean something? I tried not to think about it while I was pulling around the back. When I killed the engine, Bear didn’t move. He just sat there, staring straight ahead. “Bear.”
He lifted his eyes to mine.
“I’ll take the heat.”
His eyes went round. “No. No way. You—”
I flung up a hand and cut him off. “Come on. I’ve only got a few weeks in. You’ve been on the squad for years. Besides,” I added with half a laugh. “It’s not like anybody expects me to actually succeed.”
“No.”
“Bear—”
“I said no, bro. I ain’t a coward.” He shoved out of the car, slammed the door, and abandoned his trademark shuffle to stalk off. I caught up to him in the main corridor.
“Logan!”
With a foot on the steps, I looked over my shoulder at Gage and Amanda. They’d just come out of our squad room. Bear kept walking, so I shook my head.
“I messed up, Gage. We have to go talk to the chief now.”
Gage blew out a sigh of annoyance and shoved his hands in his pocket. But Amanda took a step closer. “Will you tell us? After?”
“If you want.” I shrugged and smiled. Bear and I continued upstairs and down the long corridor, past the smiling faces of the ghosts that filled every firehouse across the country. The chief’s door was shut. Bear and I exchanged a glance.
This was it.
I knocked on the door and braced for the worst.
Chapter 22
Amanda
He smiled at me.
How could he do that when the chief and his dad were probably ready to roast him over a spit?
I watched him climb the stairs to the offices, his shoulders back, head high. Even Bear stood at attention. They walked up the stairs, ready to be kicked out—it was written on both of their faces—but they walked toward that fear.
Like firefighters.
“Amanda, where are you going?”
I followed them up the stairs, Gage hissing behind me that we weren’t allowed, but I didn’t care. I had to be there. I had to know what the chief was going to do. I had to try to stop it if I could, because like it or not, Reece was part of this house now and deserved our support.
The door clicked shut just as I reached it.
“Man,” Gage said. “You have to stay cool.”
“Stay cool? Seriously?”
“Looks to me like you’ve got a thing for Logan. How’d that work out for you last time?”
“Fuck you, Gage.” I slid down the wall to the floor.
Gage cursed under his breath. “I told you not to get involved with him. Do you have any idea how messed up Logan is?” he whispered.
“And you do?” It wasn’t messed up to want your dad’s respect, and it wasn’t messed up to do whatever it took to keep your family together. It was brave. I clenched my teeth together and shot him a look.
“Yeah, I do,” he said. He waited a beat, but I never asked him for the details he was so obviously dying to provide. He cursed and sat next to me. “Okay, look. You know that paper he keeps in his pocket? The one he’s always scribbling on when he thinks nobody’s looking?”
I sucked on my cheek, patience stretched to the brink of snapping. “Yeah. What about it?”
Gage looked up and down the corridor, inched a little closer. “I got a good look at it at the training facility. It’s a letter to his dad. It’s full of some angry words and bad memories, but that’s not all.” Another glance up and down the hall.
I let my head fall back to the wall behind me and shut my eyes. “What, Gage?”
“He wrote, ‘I’ll be at his altar,’ Mandy. He underlined his.”
I blinked and waited for the big reveal. “So what? Just get to the damn point.”
Hurt flashed over Gage’s face, and then it was gone. He stood up and dusted off his jeans. “Look it up when you’re not so busy.” He left me there alone, and I frowned at his retreating back.
I sat there for ages. I could hear some yelling, some thumping—Chief Duffy liked to bang a fist on his desk—but no discernible words. Finally—finally!—the door opened, and I scrambled to my feet. The chief gave me a stern look, but Bear flashed a grin and a thumbs-up. I sighed in relief.
Chief Duffy shut the door. I looked at Reece, he looked at Bear, and Bear looked at me, and suddenly, everyone was doing a silent happy dance. Bear actually lifted Reece off the floor and spun him in a circle, a huge grin splitting their faces.
“Oh my God, dude, I thought we were out. I really thought we were done. I can’t believe it.”
I offered Bear a fist to bump. “Come on, you guys. Let’s go downstairs before the chief hears us.”
We headed downstairs and out the bay door from the apparatus floor. In a corner of the parking lot, I looked around, then demanded, “Tell me everything.”
Bear leaned against the wall of the firehouse. “Okay. Me and Logan were driving back from the do-it-yourself store and hit some traffic, so we took a shortcut. We saw all these people running, so we looked and saw smoke from this boarded-up place. Logan pulled over, told me to call it in, and went over to get in some old dude’s face.”
I turned to look at Reece. He shifted and looked away. “He was going in. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“How the hell could you stop him?”
He shifted again and shot me a wry grin. “Um, well, I just figured he wanted a shot at playing hero, so I pointed out the blocked hydrants. He, uh, took care of them.”
“Smart.” I meant that as a compliment, but Reece squirmed and turned red. I spread my hands and waited a beat. “Is that it?”
“Um, not really, no. We waited for the crew to arrive. Chief Duffy told us to stay put. He told Bear to control traffic and told me to control the crowd.”
“Yeah, and Reece got excellent video on his phone. The chief thinks it will help find the guy.”
I snapped up straight, eyes wide. “It’s officially arson?”
“He’s not saying.” Reece angled his head. “Why, did you hear something?”
“I heard Ken tell Chuck he saw trailers.”
Reece covered his face with both hands and rubbed hard. “No. No, that doesn’t fit. He was just a kid. How would he know about trailers?”
I shot him a smirk. “How do you know about them, Logan?�
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Reece laughed once. “Touché.” He scratched his head, frowning. “Okay, so suppose he did what I did and read about trailers in some book. Shouldn’t be too hard to prove, right?”
“Arson is really hard to prove, Reece.”
His frown deepened. “Amanda, we have witnesses who can put him at the scene.” He waved his hand between Bear and himself.
I thought about that for a minute. “Come on.” I stood up, led the guys back up the stairs, and knocked on the door to the first office on the left.
“Yeah?”
I opened the door. “Hey, Steve, can you spare us a few minutes?”
Steve Conner, the LVFD fire marshal, stood up but stayed behind his desk. “Mandy, five minutes. I’m on my way out.”
I nodded. “You know Bear Acosta. But you probably haven’t met—”
“Reece Logan. Heard a lot about you.”
Reece shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the floor. Steve took off his glasses, tossed them to his desk, and held out his hand. “Pretty damn gutsy.”
“What?” Reece’s head snapped up at that.
“Joining squad, facing your dad.”
Reece opened his mouth, shut it, and opened it again. He took Steve’s hand and shook it. “Thank you, sir.”
Steve waved him off and sat back down. “What can I do for you three?”
“Today’s fire, Steve. Bear and Logan were on-scene and want to know how you build a case for arson.”
Steve crossed his arms, considered that for a minute, and nodded. “Okay. Reece, do you know about the fire triangle?”
Reece’s eyes shot to mine, and I nodded my encouragement.
“Um, yeah.” He squinted and frowned the way he always did when he tried to recall something he’d read from all the other somethings stored forever in his brain. “Heat, fuel, oxygen sources.”
Steve angled his head. “What about them?”
“Um.” He squirmed and frowned some more. “Well, I know the fuel source can be any flammable substance. And I read that the heat source has to be whatever the fuel source’s ignition temperature is.”
Steve shot up a hand. “Okay, good enough. In arson investigation, we immediately look at those three factors, see if any of them are out of whack. Arsonists like to add fuel to fires, so we look for excessive flammable materials or accelerants. Your smarter firebugs know that adding oxygen to the fire can help it spread, so we look for punched holes. Make sense?”
Reece and Bear exchanged a glance and nodded.
“It smelled funny,” Bear admitted. “It wasn’t just wood burning. There was a really bad smell—something chemical.”
“Yeah. And the upstairs flames were kind of green,” Reece added.
“Green?” Steve leaned forward. “Copper does that. So does boric acid.”
“Okay, copper is used in residential pipes, but what’s boric acid used for?” Reece asked.
Steve scratched his chin and swiveled in his chair. “Boric acid’s all over the place—antiseptics, some insecticides, LCD TV screens, even fireworks.”
“Any of which could have been in that attic,” Reece said with a sigh. “Okay. I get why this is so hard.”
Steve grinned, revealing a gap between his front teeth. “We’re just getting warmed up. In fact,” he added as he glanced at his watch, “I have to go interview the guys who were on-scene, get their reports.” He was a tall, thin guy and walked around his desk in two strides. “If you want to learn more, take a look through the NFPA guidelines.”
“Yeah, thanks. Thanks a lot.”
“You bet.”
Two more strides, and Steve was down the hall.
“Damn.” Bear winced. “Forgot to show him your video.”
“Yeah, let me see it,” I said and wiggled my fingers.
Reece smiled and queued up the footage. It was shaky but pretty good. Guess it paid to have a good cell phone like his. I watched the exchange between Reece and some guy who liked his nacho chips, if the stains on his T-shirt were any indicator. Reece did a good job keeping the swelling crowd back, across the street and out of the way. The recording showed a nice slow pan of the crowd, then zoomed in on a slight figure, hunching over a cell phone. He wore clothes too big for him, and his phone was clearly new, judging by the trouble he was having with his text mes—
Oh my God.
“Amanda, what’s wrong? Do you know this kid?” Reece gripped my arm, and I nearly launched into orbit. I kept my eyes down, forced my face to remain neutral, but Reece—Jesus, I had to get out of here.
“What? No. I thought he looked familiar, but jeez, he could be any kid, you know?” Shut up, Amanda, shut up, shut up.
Reece’s eyes narrowed. “He does look familiar. I definitely know him from somewhere, and you do too, don’t you?”
I shoved the phone away. “Back off, Logan. I said I don’t know him.”
He laughed once. “You’re lying. Who is this kid, Amanda? Why are you protecting him?” His dark eyes flashed, and a muscle twitched in his jaw. While I stared, willing every muscle fiber in my limbs to obey my brain and not my heart, he changed. He shut his eyes, and when he lifted them again, his fury was gone.
“Why can’t you trust me?” he whispered.
Oh crap, oh shit. Reece, I could never explain it so you’d understand. A knuckle rapped on the open door to Steve’s office.
John Logan stood there, hands in his pockets. He sucked in a deep breath, raked a hand over his graying hair, and shifted his weight. “Reece, I need to talk to you.”
I stepped back. Hurt filled Reece’s eyes for a moment, but he nodded at his father. I used that opportunity to take off but hovered out in the hall.
“What, Dad?” Reece asked.
John cleared his throat. “Ah, you did good today.”
I froze outside Steve’s office.
Reece didn’t say anything. I couldn’t see him but figured he must be staring openmouthed at his father.
“You kept your head. You prevented a civilian from losing his. You saved a few animals, and you did follow orders, up until the part where you chased that kid. Proud of you.”
I inched my way back, because I had to know what was happening. Big, tough John Logan looked like a middle-school boy trying to ask a girl to his first dance. Reece stared at his father, eyes round, and then a slow smile spread across his face. I pressed both hands to my face to cover the sob that all but exploded out of me. I ran down the stairs and started the long walk home.
He did it. He managed to get the most stubborn guy I knew to come around. Reece would get his family back, and I—God. I was going to lose what little I had.
Chapter 23
Reece
It’s funny. I joined squad to force you to deal with me. I didn’t expect it to matter this much. I didn’t expect to be good at it. And I am good at it. I know that I am.
I wriggled under my dad’s penetrating gaze and felt a hot flush crawl over my body. I’d waited my entire life to hear words like the ones he’d just spoken. So why wasn’t I flipping cartwheels down the corridor? Instead of happiness, sixteen stored-up years of disappointment ignited like papers hoarded in a hot and dry attic. It took everything I had to tamp that down.
And then, I looked at him.
Jesus, he looked like he was in labor or something. Getting out those words had needed a push from every abdominal muscle he had. The fire in my gut went out, and I managed a laugh. “Thanks, Dad.” I held out my hand, and he shook it.
“Chief Duffy said you snagged some video of the scene?”
“Yeah, we came to show Captain Conner, but he had to interview the crew.” I held out my phone, cued up the video, and tapped play. “I don’t know him personally, but he’s familiar. I know him from somewhere, so we should be able to find him as soon as I remember w
here I’ve seen him.”
“You don’t remember?” Dad looked at me sideways. “You actually can’t remember? I don’t get it.”
My eyes snapped to his, looking for the smirk, the taunting expression in his eyes, but there wasn’t any.
Okay.
I guessed a serious question deserved a serious answer, so I attempted one.
“I will. I just have to go through events.”
He shook his head. “You can do that? Just go through all the events in your life like a drawer full of files?”
My entire body heated up again. “Yes, I can. I know it’s not normal to you, but it is to me.”
He flung up both hands. “I’m not making fun of you. I’m just trying to understand how it works.”
I studied him carefully and finally nodded. “I don’t know how to explain it. I just replay all the times I met people, try to match the faces. I never met this kid directly. If I had, I would already have remembered his name. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen him.”
“School?” Dad offered after a moment, rubbing the scruff on his chin.
“Most likely. Could be a grade or two behind me or something.”
Dad scowled. “Okay. Do whatever works, Reece. We’ve had enough of these incidents. If he’s the guy, I want him caught before there’s another one.”
“Copy,” I said.
Dad smiled—a tiny, tight-lipped quirk—and strode down the corridor. The hall was empty. Amanda was gone. I should have expected that. The only reason she was here today was because Bear and I made it to a fire scene.
But she knew something—I was sure of it.
“Hey, Dad?” I called out to him before he reached the stairs.
He turned and waited. “Yeah?”
I caught up to him and held up the phone. “I think Amanda knows who this kid is. Knows but won’t say.”
Dad’s eyes popped and then narrowed. “Come on.” He led me back inside Steve’s office and shut the door. “You think she’s protecting this kid? What for?”
“I have no idea. I don’t know what to do. Amanda’s been great and—”