by Nora Snowdon
Captain Reynolds interrupted Bill’s self aggrandizements. “Excuse me gentlemen, and Dawson. For those of you that don’t know, this is Police Inspector Byron Morgan. We’re going to have the honor of working with Inspector Morgan on several suspected arson cases.”
Hearing the underlying hostility in Reynolds’ voice, she remembered meeting Inspector Morgan after they returned from her first call at the station. She wondered what the story was.
“Thanks, Josh. I’ll try to make my presence as non-disruptive as possible.” Morgan’s voice had the tone of late-night scotch and cigarettes. His long-legged stride into the room was unhurried. “Ace. Gordo. Red.” He nodded at each man as he said their names.
Lu’s throat tightened inexplicably when he focused on her. He had a way of looking like he knew what was going through your mind. God help her if he did. He obviously didn’t need to know she was attracted to him. Or worse if he guessed her fire starting secret. She smiled back self-consciously.
“And Lu.” His handshake was firm and warm. “I understand you’re the one who got sacrificed to the Washington Police Department. Let me guess, low seniority?” He had a reassuring chuckle.
“No, I’m sure it’s because of my superior intellect and amazing people skills,” Lu answered dryly. She heard Ace guffaw and shot him a wink.
“Excellent. I’m sure we’ll put those skills to good use. I won’t require a lot of your time, but I’ll need your first impressions on several calls we’ve deemed suspicious. I’m afraid a lot of our work will be going over old cases for clues that might’ve been overlooked.” He again gave her that soul-searching look that scared the hell out of her.
She turned to Reynolds for help.
“You don’t get her for long. I’ve got a fire department to run.” Reynolds smiled, but she could tell by the rigidity in his posture he wasn’t happy.
“I appreciate your assistance, Josh.” Morgan turned to Lu. “I’ll pick you up here tomorrow at 9 a.m.” With that Byron Morgan turned on his heel and left.
“Now a.m. … Is that morning or night?” Lu asked in the silence that followed.
The guys headed off in different directions; Ace probably to check if the fridge had miraculously sprouted any new, interesting foods, Bill to the computer, and Reynolds back to his office. Lu determinedly went to the workout room.
She was on her second round on the elliptical machine when Reynolds entered the gym. Great. Nothing like being a sweaty mess to put you at a disadvantage …
“Got a minute?” He stood about seven feet away. Was he embarrassed about the kiss or offended by her sweatiness? Despite his great physique, Lu couldn’t picture Reynolds perspiring in any circumstance other than a fire. Or sex. Shit, don’t think about that!
“Yeah, sure.” She wiped her face with her towel, shoved back her damp bangs and clambered down from the equipment. The physical distance between them felt strained, but there was no way she’d step any closer.
“I’m not sure what the cops are doing poaching fire fighters to help out with their investigations, but if you end up filing, making coffee, or anything like that, I want to know, okay?”
“Sure.”
“They got their budget slashed recently, so I don’t want them trying for free help.” He started to say something more, then hesitated.
“And …?” Lu prompted.
“Be careful with Byron. I’m not saying he’s dishonest, but he sometimes has …” His eyes drifted up and to the left. “A unique perspective.” Reynolds looked like he wanted to say more. Instead he tapped the rower absentmindedly and walked out. Was he going to bring up their kiss? Probably better he hadn’t. Although she’d like a man to love her more than his career, she sure wasn’t ready to put any man above hers.
She ran fifteen more minutes on the tread and she was done. Now the part she hated. Lu knew the second she jumped in the shower the next call would come in. It was like lighting a cigarette to get the bus to hurry up, or taking a big bite of food to make the waiter ask how you were doing. The alarm-gods were friendly though, and she showered uninterrupted.
*
Lu found Ace relaxing behind the front desk as usual. “So what’s the scoop between Captain and Byron Morgan?”
“You noticed that, huh?” Ace’s eyes lit up as he leaned over the desk. “Morgan used to be one of us. He and Reynolds worked together before Morgan went over to the dark side.”
“Really?” The nice thing about Ace was you didn’t need to pump him for gossip, much.
“Yup. You didn’t hear it from me, but they fought big time over a woman. It was nasty, with disciplinary actions, suspensions, the whole kit and caboodle. They worked together again, but it was a relief when Morgan left the department.” He chuckled. “Only time I ever saw Reynolds lose out with a woman. Even before that the two men had run-ins. Morgan’s not inclined to follow rules, so you can imagine how much that pissed Reynolds off.”
“No kidding.” She turned to leave. “Oh, I tried that game you recommended.”
“Call of Duty WW11?”
“Yeah. It was good, but I couldn’t get very far.”
“Takes practice. Let me know your score after four days.”
“Maybe.”
*
Lu checked her watch against the large clock in the kitchen. It was still working. After wiping down the already clean coffee station, she decided to tackle floor duty. Much as it made her feel like Snow White cleaning up after the dwarves, Lu sort of enjoyed sweeping out the rooms. And it was better than fridge and stove duty, which were on the schedule board for tomorrow. She briefly whistled the dwarves’ working song, but gave up when she got a disgruntled look from Bill. You’d think he’d have appreciated the warning that she was coming into the computer room.
By the time 10 PM rolled around, Lu was flat out stir-crazy from wondering what she was going to be doing the next day. Would she and the inspector be going through old files? You’d think computers would be more efficient than doing it manually. At least with there being no love lost between Reynolds and Morgan, she didn’t have to worry about Reynolds telling tales. Although she hadn’t thought he would. Reynolds was obsessive about his image, both physically and in his career.
Somehow working with an Arson Inspector felt dangerous given her penchant for fire starting. And one who appeared as observant as Morgan seemed especially reckless. Would he have looked up her performance records in Springfield? Not that anyone there had known about her, but if he read between the lines. Surely if she had this psychic ability, there must be others and someone like Morgan might know of it.
The incoming crew was laughing with Red as Lu grabbed her backpack and loaded up her shit to go home. She smiled. She finally had a real place to call home. She’d bitten the bullet last week and rented a cute one-bedroom a fifteen-minute drive from the station. It’d been vacant so she’d moved right in. After a whirlwind shopping spree at Loews, she was now the proud owner of a bed, table, four chairs and a TV. Her next purchase would be a sofa and love seat. Then she’d be done. She wondered if getting the apartment was her way of reassuring herself she would keep her job. She’d even signed a year-long lease. Damn it, she couldn’t fuck up this job in Seattle. She needed to feel like she belonged somewhere and she was running out of options.
CHAPTER 5
Lu got up at four-thirty—long before she needed to. What the hell was wrong with her? Working with Inspector Morgan was just a different assignment. She got to work half an hour early, then drove down the street to a coffee shop so she wouldn’t seem too eager. Then, of course, by quarter of eight she was sleepy. She rolled into the common room at eight and tried to pay attention to the exiting night crew’s report. Hell, she didn’t even know where she and Morgan would be working.
“Ready to be a cop, Lu?” Ace whispered from behind her.
“Yup. I’ve been practicing my Charlie’s Angels’ moves all night.”
“Just make sure Morgan doesn’t lure
you over to the other team full time,” Ace warned her. “He can be pretty persuasive.”
“Nah. I’m better with a hose than a gun.”
Reynolds shot them a warning look as Gord droned on. You didn’t have to listen, but you were supposed to at least pretend to—or that was how Lu believed the morning report worked. Gord had finally wrapped up his monologue when Morgan walked in the door and made a beeline for her. Ace gave Lu a knowing look before sidling off to the front desk.
“You ready to go catch some bad guys?” Morgan asked.
“Sure. As long as we don’t put the fire department out of business.” Lu smiled up at Morgan. “We’d hate to have to set the fires ourselves.”
“Don’t worry. It’s like crime, you never run out.” Morgan started toward the exit. “I just need to pick up some reports and we’ll be on our way.”
“Do I need all my shi-stuff, or are we coming back here?”
“Bring whatever sh-tuff you’ll need for the day.” He grinned. “But I’ll bring you back here after.” Morgan took the file folder Ace handed him.
“Thanks, Ace.” He scanned the contents, then looked at her. “Need to get anything?”
“Nope, I’m good.” Lu’s smile froze as she noticed Reynolds glaring at her. She repressed an eye roll. Shit, it wasn’t like she had any say in this assignment. Or was he mad she was being nice to his enemy?
They walked out into the bright spring day and Lu squinted against the glaring sunlight. Forsythia burst forth in a yellow explosion beside the fire hall. Will gardening soon be added to the scheduled chores? Not that there was much of a garden, but even the teeny plot of flowers would have to be maintained. Byron stopped by a minuscule square car and Lu looked at him in disbelief.
“This is your car?” It didn’t look like the two of them would fit into the thing.
“Yup.” He reached around her and opened the door for her.
Lu slid into the toy car and was surprised how roomy it actually was. “Somehow I’d pictured you with a more substantial car, like an SUV.”
“I might go for that next … This Smart had the best gas mileage, but with the newer hybrids and electric cars …” He shrugged. The car started up with a tinny rumble.
“Where are we going?” Lu asked.
“I’d like to go back to that last fire your team attended. The marijuana grow-op on Baker Road. It’s still a sealed crime scene.”
“Oh.”
“That a problem?” He turned to look at her after he braked at a red light.
“No. Of course not. I’ve just never revisited a fire scene.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “I guess that’s why I switched over to the police department and became a fire inspector. I always wanted to know what happened next.”
“Inspector Morgan—”
“Byron, please.”
“Okay. Byron.” She smiled self-consciously. “What’ll we be looking for?”
“The initial investigation indicated that the fire started at the front of the building with faulty wiring. But I’d like to see if there was a secondary source.”
Lu’s stomach tightened inexplicably as they turned down the industrial boulevard. No, maybe not so inexplicably. She still heard that woman’s screams late at night and wondered if they’d only been quicker, if they could’ve saved her. But there was no point dwelling on that. The only thing she could do for the woman now would be to help find the person responsible for the fire and the woman’s death.
“How can you tell where the fire started?”
“I’ll show you.” He pulled into a small spot near the new metal fencing that had been erected around the burnt-out house.
Lu got out of the car and stared at the building. It looked so different in daylight, the blackened stripes reaching up from the broken windows, and the gaping holes in the roof. That night it had been a burning, angry opponent; now it seemed sad and defeated. Hopefully she wouldn’t get emotional when they went inside.
Byron looked at her oddly and she wondered if her worry had shown on her face. Shit.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
“Wait, you’ll need this.” Byron handed her a hard hat. “I should’ve told you to wear steel-toed boots, but the safety-Nazis have shored up the building pretty good. We should be fine.”
Lu glanced at Byron in surprise. She’d gotten so used to Reynolds stripping away all hints of politically incorrect language that the Nazi reference felt weird. And it figured Morgan didn’t look as nearly as dorky as he should’ve in the plastic bucket. She put hers on and followed him through the break in the fencing. He stopped in front of the building.
“Here’s where the fire started. You can see that this window took the brunt of the damage, being the first to explode from the heat. The hole in the roof indicates this as well. The worst fire damage is centered there.” He pointed to the nearest hole in the cedar shake roofing and then to another gaping wound. “That hole there was hit by water before the flames reached the outside of the roof. So even though it looks larger, much of the damage to that part would’ve been caused by your hoses first.”
“I see.”
“Now we’ll go inside and look for the instigator. With grow-ops, everyone usually assumes it’s the faulty wiring because of the massive amount of electricity required, and because the people setting them up aren’t too concerned about safety codes.” He pulled out a key, unlocked the door and pushed it open. After a quick look from the doorway, he walked inside.
Lu followed with a morbid curiosity about what she might see and feel. The bright rays of sunshine streaking between the roof beams and through the broken windows made it difficult for her to focus on the unlit corners of the room. Plus the black and gray soot made the shapes even less distinct. She could see where someone—cops?—had added rebar to reinforce what remained of the roof. They’d also cleaned and a lot of the rubble had been pushed into piles. Despite the fact that the fire had been a week ago, there were still puddles of water and the odor of ashes hung in the damp air.
“What we’ll be looking for is some kind of additional accelerant, either something that was thrown into the building, like a Molotov cocktail, or set up with a fuse from inside the building.”
“Do you mean someone broke in and set the fire? Or was it an inside job?”
“Hard to know. Might’ve been a fight between the grow-op partners. Or maybe they felt the cops were onto them and decided to pull up stakes. It looks like they’d already cleared out a lot of the supplies and product.”
“But what about the woman in the back?”
“And that’s the other question.” He nodded in approval. “They’re trying to identify her remains, but at this point we don’t know if she was one of the growers, a hostage, or maybe even an innocent bystander.”
“How could she be a bystander in a grow-op?”
“A visiting girlfriend? A renter? Avon lady who saw too much? Just keep your mind open to all possibilities. Right now we’re looking to see if something in the back rooms could’ve started the fire, and then inadvertently sparked another fire in the wiring.”
“This sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Yup. That’s why I need your help. I asked Josh for someone who’d actually attended the fire.”
“We were so concerned with trying to get to the vic, I’m not sure I’ll be that much help on details.”
“You’ll be surprised at how much you noticed.”
“I don’t know. I’ve only been at this hall for about five months; I’m probably not as observant as the others.” Why was she was trying to talk him out of working with her? It actually sounded like an interesting assignment. Was she worried about disappointing him? How stupid was that?
“And that’s why I asked for you. As a newbie on the team, your memory won’t be clouded with memories of too many other fires in this district.”
“I thought I was assigned because I have low seniority?”
“Sneaky.” Lu tried to reconcile the image of Reynolds and Morgan discussing her assignment with Ace’s revelation about their long-standing feud.
“Self-preservation.” He looked at his clipboard and then at the wall. “The original outlets start here.” He walked over to the corner of the room and pointed at the floorboard. “And the rest of them should be every sixteen feet around the perimeter, according to the builder’s plans.”
Lu followed Byron as he paced out to the next outlet. “Shouldn’t we be more concerned about the ones they added?”
“Definitely. The newer boxes are on the northeast side of the room.” He pointed in the direction they’d come in when they entered the room. “That would be shortest distance to the exterior power lines.”
“What are we looking for with these?”
“Any signs of the fire having been more intense around the outlets. If fire is burning hotter, it goes further inside the wall before moving up and the charring will be deeper and darker.” He knelt and pointed. “See? Like here. And notice the dark pattern starts slightly below the plate. That indicates there was some force pushing the fire downward.”
“Hmm, does that mean it was a regular outlet that started this fire?”
“No. It could’ve been triggered by the illegal outlet or any number of things.” He chuckled at Lu’s huff of exasperation. “You can’t expect instant answers. We gather all the clues and then piece them together as best we can.”
They continued inspecting the rest of the perimeter outlets with Byron explaining more of the sleuthing aspect before Lu finally asked, “Am I supposed to confirm what you detect, or do you want me to start checking on my own?”
“Patience. We’re doing the preliminary check together so that when we write up our notes, we don’t have any discrepancies. Also this’ll help you understand when we’re going over files from previous fires what we’re trying to read between the lines.”
“Sorry. I don’t mean to be pushy.”