Backburn

by Brandy L Rivers

  Marissa was still working on finding things to connect the two, trying to find someone who saw something that could point them in the right direction. She hated when it took forever to solve a case.

  “Stop thinking about it,” Dave murmured in her ear. She watched Ashton playing soccer with Blaze, Cherish, and Jenny.

  “Thinking about what?” she asked, trying for innocence.

  “The case. It took months to catch Guy.”

  True as that was, she couldn’t help wondering if they really had caught him. He died in the fire. There was no confession. They closed the case because all the evidence pointed to him. But what if they’d missed something?

  “Told you, stop thinking about the case.”

  “Trying.” She turned, and he moved closer.

  “Come sit with everyone.”

  “All right.” Though she wasn’t totally comfortable around Cadence. They got along, but she was a good portion of the reason Marissa had shut Metcalf out forever ago.

  He brought her over, and she took a seat next to Gavin. Dave sat beside her. Gavin patted her on the back. “You should come more often, Marissa.”

  “Thanks.”

  “He’s right. You’re part of the group.” Cadence smiled. “I truly hope you know I mean that.”

  “I do.” Though she didn’t want to discuss the past.

  Dave gave her a strange look.

  She shook her head slightly, hoping he’d leave it alone.

  Gavin grinned. “I need to make an announcement. Cadence and I are having a baby.” At least the focus was on someone else.

  Cadence beamed at her husband.

  Metcalf lifted his glass. “Congratulations, you two.”

  Mila hopped out of her seat to hug Cadence. “Oh, I’m so excited.”

  Kyle nodded. “About time.”

  The one thing Marissa wanted, and it was far too soon to think about. Metcalf put his arm around her and pulled her closer. Was that something he’d want?

  The kids came over. Blaze and Cherish sat together. Jenny and Ashton paired off. They were chatting at a million miles an hour. It was cute to see them with their crushes.

  Metcalf checked his watch. “Hey, Ashton. We should head home. Grandma and Grandpa want to take you in the morning.”

  “Can we do this again soon?”

  Kyle smiled up at him. “Next week, my place. What do you say?”

  Ashton looked at his dad. “Please?”

  “Yeah, we’ll be here,” he answered, squeezing Marissa’s hand.

  * * * *

  Marissa sat curled on the bed, reading her book while Metcalf and Ashton had their nightly ritual. She’d stay until after they made love, then sneak off to go home. Maybe soon she’d start staying for the whole night.

  Before long, Metcalf joined her with a smile. “Did you have half as much fun as Ashton tonight?”

  “Yeah. Wasn’t as strange as I expected.”

  “What did Cadence say to you eleven years ago?”

  She sighed. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Yeah, it does. What did she say?”

  “Cadence and Jeanette have always been close. She did what any good friend would do and stood in Jeanette’s corner.”

  “She isn’t now.”

  “Which is why it doesn’t matter. I don’t blame her. You shouldn’t either. She had one side of the story, not the whole thing. We’re fine.”

  “Yeah, but it took you half the night to relax. Thought you were doing girls night with them every other week.”

  Marissa laid her head back. “Yeah, and that’s fine. But I wasn’t sure she’d be so accepting of the two of us.”

  “She regrets whatever she said, but she won’t tell me either.”

  “Fine.” Marissa rolled to him and sighed. “She said I should walk away because you were going to choose your baby over me.”

  He shook his head. “Now you know better. I could have had both.”

  “Don’t worry about that. It’s water under the bridge. Things are different now.”

  He pulled her closer, and wrapped her leg over his hip, letting him take her mouth in a kiss. “Okay, but if she ever makes you feel like you aren’t what I want, tell me.”

  She pushed him back. “Don’t worry about that. I know better now.”

  “I have no problem reminding you every single day how much I need you.”

  “Remind me all you want.”

  Chapter 20

  On Tuesday, Marissa sat at her desk, staring at her screen. The lab confirmed the substances used for both fires were from the hardware store. There were no usable prints and no other evidence to nail down a single suspect.

  All five people with a limp had been interviewed. They all had alibis, though three were flimsy. Two were in bed, one sleeping with the spouse, the other with a lover. Neither woke up the night of the robbery. One had been on vacation out of town. Someone had been camping. Then there was Chelsea, who said she couldn’t sleep and that was why she’d left Carson’s. And when asked about her limp, her only answer was she’d been attacked a few years before.

  Enrique’s nightmare left her unsettled. She was still trying to find a photo of Cameron Monty, but wasn’t successful.

  Different accelerants were used, but both had damaged pipe work. One wasn’t a gas line, the other was, and even though it had been dented, it hadn’t gone off. In the previous cases, the fire was set near gas lines, but no damage had been done to them.

  Maybe the arsonist had changed tactics. Or maybe it was a separate person. She needed to find whoever it was before they struck again.

  Marissa sat forward and took a drink of her coffee.

  “Sorry,” Bridges stated.

  “For?” Marissa asked, still staring at every article she could find about Cameron Monty’s death.

  “You were right. I saw the lab reports. How do I help?”

  Lifting her gaze, Marissa shook her head. “Know anything about Cameron Monty?”

  She frowned. “Can’t say that I do.”

  “She was Guy Reardon’s girlfriend four years ago, days before the last fire. She left two days before his house burned down with him in it.”

  “Oh. That’s right. I can ask Sloan. Apparently, he’d been called in the weekend before for a domestic dispute. That was before he was my partner.”

  “Please do.”

  The radio came on and Brian snapped up his keys.

  “Gas leak reported at Lakeridge Tavern. Everyone has been evacuated. They are attempting to shut off the gas…” Marissa was out of her seat, on the way out the door. Brian caught up.

  “You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Brian stated.

  “Gas leak? At the bar? I know for a fact Dahl keeps up with all the maintenance. Bastard is paranoid. Both the fires so far have been started near gas lines, and we’re lucky the idiot starting them hadn’t done enough damage to cause an explosion. What if they finally figured it out?”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “This bastard wants destruction. But why?” Shit…Dave was working, which meant he was probably at the bar. And her brother. Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach.

  Standard procedure for a gas leak was both trucks and calling for help from the next station. They would call the gas company on the way to the scene. Then they had to determine where the leak was and ventilate if possible.

  “Hey, you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but a gas leak? Brian, the whole damned building could blow.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “If this asshole figured out how to ignite it, that building’s gone, with everyone in it.”

  Brian slid into the driver’s seat, and Marissa buckled her belt before he took off for the bar.

  * * * *

  Metcalf combed through the building, taking readings. He pushed through the door and the numbers were off the chart. There was a tiny ray of sunlight streaming from the wall.

  A shattered lightbulb hung from
an electrical cord threaded through the hole above the stove.

  He turned and calmly motioned everyone behind him out. “Out, now, everyone.”

  “Find it?” Gavin asked.

  “Yeah, and we don’t have time to ventilate. Ramirez, have the power company shut the power off to this grid. Everyone out and clear the area.”

  Ramirez came on the radio. “What did you find, Metcalf?”

  “Ignition point. It’s set up to blow as soon as someone plugs in a lightbulb.”

  “Power to the building was already cut.”

  “No, power will likely come from an outside source. The grid needs to come down.”

  He made it out and started for Ramirez as two more fire trucks arrived from the next town.

  There was a boom, the same time he was thrown into Ramirez’s truck. Pain slammed into his shoulder, but he sat back and shook his head. When he finally turned, he watched as pieces of the building rained down around them. Most of the men had cleared the area. Two were pinned by large chunks of debris. A fire erupted where the building had stood a moment ago.

  Metcalf burst into motion, pushing himself up to make his way to the injured.

  Isandro, Kyle, and Trent were beside him in an instant. They heaved half the bar off the man closest. Gavin had been knocked out and probably for the best. His legs were fucked. He couldn’t tell if there was something worse going on.

  “Over here,” Bruno shouted. “Need help.” The desperation in his tone couldn’t be good.

  Over the radio Metcalf said, “We need a stretcher. Possible back injury, broken legs. He’ll need to be secured.”

  Bruno shouted over the line, “Help me!” He tried to heave beams off someone’s back, neck, and head.

  Metcalf hurried over, but blood had already started to pool in the shattered mask that busted someone’s face. “Who wa—is it?” Was. He was damned near positive whoever was under that mess was a goner, but Bruno was already shaken. No need to make it worse.

  “He’s not dead. Can’t be dead.” They hadn’t had a death in the firehouse for more than thirty years. Since long before any of them had started.

  Metcalf nodded. “We’ll get him free, then we need to put the fire out before it spreads.”

  “Gas is off,” Ramirez said over the radio.

  “Little late,” Metcalf replied.

  He went over everything he’d done. They found the source of the leak within minutes. They cleared out immediately. The street was a mess. There was nothing else they could have done.

  “No, shit…no,” Bruno babbled once they pulled off a beam covering the name on the fallen fireman’s jacket.

  His face shield had shattered into his face. His neck was broken. Mitch was dead.

  Metcalf patted Bruno’s back and went back to help with the hose. “Get someone to clear Gavin out. Then Mitch. Gavin first. He’s closer to the street. Broken legs at best.” He didn’t want to alarm the rest of Mitch’s crew, and they were busy dealing with something else at the moment.

  “Will do,” Ramirez answered.

  “We got this,” Kyle said. “Go see if you can figure this out.”

  He had an idea. Someone had drilled a hole through the wall. The other side was the alley between the grocery store and the bar. He made his way down the alley and found a black smoldering cord trailed around the side and into the back of the grocery store.

  The door to the main part of the store closed as he entered. He yanked the cord from the wall and ran through the back.

  No one was there. They had already evacuated the building, but he was busy searching the bar for the leak. Someone missed whoever had been in the store.

  He hurried out the front of the building. With the fire and everything else, he didn’t dare ask anyone to run inside to search. He needed to get back to his team.

  Over the radio, he said, “I missed them. We’re going to need to find someone who’s been in the grocery store.”

  “What set it off?” Ramirez asked.

  “Extension cord was plugged into an outlet next to the back door of the grocery store.”

  “They’re getting smarter,” Ramirez said.

  “Don’t know about that. Totally different setup. It’s possible someone else orchestrated this.”

  “We can worry about that later. We need this fire out.”

  “Where’s Marissa?”

  “Controlling the crowd. The police are a few blocks away. The streets are closed off. I sent Isandro to update them on the explosion to prevent panic.”

  “Thanks.” He went back to work, but he wished he could have gone to deliver the message.

  * * * *

  The boom stopped Marissa’s heart. She tried to ignore the fear running rampant. Dave entered her head, followed closely by her brother. Yup, whatever she felt for Dave had become undeniable. She wanted him in her life.

  At the scene, Ramirez directed them to set up a barricade on Main Street, several blocks from the bar. A crowd had already gathered.

  Dave’s mother walked up with Ashton. Shawna gave a tight smile. “What happened?”

  “Gas leak at Lakeridge Tavern. There was an explosion, but that’s all I know.”

  “Is my boy okay?”

  Ashton looked up at his grandmother with wide eyes then looked at her. “Did Dad get hurt?”

  Marissa shook her head. “No. He’s okay.” It was a lie. She had no damned clue, but she refused to entertain the possibility.

  Shawna looked over Marissa’s shoulder. “It’s still raining debris.”

  “He’ll be okay. I’m sure he got everyone out.” God, she wanted to check on him, but she didn’t have her radio on her. She’d been too busy making sure everyone was far from the problem.

  Her heart pounded in her chest. Brian met her gaze from across the street and gave her a thumbs-up. He had the radio and was likely listening to make sure Isandro and Dave were okay.

  The crowd surged, trying to get a better look at what had happened, but she and the other police held their ground, ensuring no one pushed past the line.

  Someone yelled, “What happened? What’s going on?”

  “Gas leak caused the blast,” Marissa answered. “We don’t have answers yet, but I assure you everything that can be done is being done.”

  A shudder traveled down her spine. Metcalf was likely the one who went in first, searching for the leak. Would he have seen the signs and told them to get out in time?

  There were no sirens. That had to be a plus, right? Or was it to keep the panic down?

  Arianna hurried over from her shop. “What was that? Where’s Isandro?”

  “Calm down.” The words were empty. The more she stood there, the more fear filled Marissa. “They have it under control. Let the guys handle it.”

  Arianna looked over Marissa’s shoulder and back. “Can’t you check?”

  She wanted nothing more than to do that.

  A hand closed over her shoulder and she turned her head to see Isandro behind her. He locked gazes with Arianna but leaned down to whisper in Marissa’s ear. “Metcalf is fine. Gavin’s hurt bad. Mitch—bastard didn’t make it.”

  She nodded, unsure what to say. Gavin was a good guy. Mitch was an asshole, but he was a good fireman. He moved past Marissa to pull Arianna into his arms, squeezing her tight.

  Marissa ruffled Ashton’s hair. “Your dad is all right. Maybe soon you can see him. First, they need to deal with the fire.”

  He reached over the barrier, and she moved closer to hug him.

  “It’s okay, buddy.”

  “If you see him first, tell him I love him,” Ashton pleaded.

  “You got it.”

  * * * *

  Time crept by as they put the fire out and cleared away the damage they could. The building had been blown to bits. One dead, one seriously injured. Metcalf pushed everything out of his head and focused on his job.

  The clues kept running through his head. This wasn’t the same as the previous
string of arsons. Either the suspect got smart, or it was someone else. He had a feeling it wasn’t the same person, but he couldn’t figure out why.

  He knew they were connected somehow. Question was, how?

  First, he needed to figure out how the arsonist started the gas leak. He didn’t have time to look, didn’t have time to search. But if it was the same person, they’d changed tactics. It wasn’t a hammer. Maybe they disconnected the gas from the stove? Probably, but there wasn’t enough left to determine where the leak originated.

  Isandro nudged his shoulder. “Marissa told your mother and Ashton you were all right. They know you’re safe.”

  “Thank you. As soon as we’re back I plan to call Marissa, but I need to write down everything I saw. Maybe I’ll think of something else.” He climbed into the truck and waited for everyone else to load in. The cabin seemed empty without Gavin.

  He rubbed at his chest and closed his eyes. They needed to catch this fucker before someone else got hurt, or another person lost their life.

  Kyle was the last one on the truck. He hopped into the seat and dropped his head into his hands. Gavin and Kyle had always been close. They’d all been a tight crew. They were missing one of their own.

  “Gavin’s going to be okay,” Metcalf said, hoping to God he was right.

  Sitting up, Kyle shook his head. “Don’t know about that. His legs. God, if he can’t come back to this, what’s he going to do?”

  Before Metcalf could fall down the pit of despair, he fought back the wave of guilt. He knew better. This wasn’t his fault. It was a raw deal, but he did his part. So did Gavin.

  Later, he’d stop by the hospital to check on one of his oldest friends. If there was anything he could do to make Gavin’s recovery easier, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

  Chapter 21

  “You’re still trembling,” Brian pointed out as they drove through town.