Arsonists Anonymous

by Nora Snowdon

  At Byron’s nod she continued, “And then Huang moved up his delivery date in advance of when you said you were going in, so that means someone tipped him off?”

  “Yup. We know from the cell phone when the plants were supposed to be harvested. They moved up their date three days earlier based on someone’s tipoff. Then I set the sting for two days before that. We interrupted the caretakers arranging the mules and new drop-off points when you stumbled in. Trouble is, I still don’t know who tipped them off.”

  “So you need to lower the odds. How many fire departments are in on this case?”

  “Three,” Byron replied with a grimace. “But only one person per hall, captain or chief.”

  “Okay. And the number of electric company personnel that are in on the game?”

  “It should be only two. Unfortunately you never know if they’ve asked a junior admin assistant to pull numbers and that person may have twigged onto the reason.”

  “Let’s assume two.” Lu took another bite while she thought. “How many people from government do we need to count in?”

  “Five.” He groaned. “The mayor is banking on a major drug bust to win his seat in the next election. He’s got his own drug crime committee.”

  “No wonder you guys can’t keep a secret. Too many people know.”

  “Exactly. People complain about different levels of police not communicating, but with the sharing of sensitive info, you’ve got to be prepared to trust strangers.”

  “And I recall you mentioning an issue with trust.”

  “Did I?” he sounded surprised.

  “Yeah, when I asked you after Googling Susan’s slimy boyfriend.”

  “God, you don’t forget anything, do you?”

  “Nope. And yes, I will bring up past conversations verbatim when we get into an argument.”

  “Oh, I hate that.”

  “It comes part and parcel with the open season of sex.” Lu smiled after wiping her mouth with her paper napkin. “So if you’d like to get in on the action before the arguments start …?”

  “That is the weirdest come-on line I’ve ever heard, but oddly arousing,” Byron said, popping the last bite of his pita into his mouth. “Let’s go. We’ve got some playtime to catch up on.”

  *

  Sunlight streamed in through the crack in Byron’s chocolate-brown curtains leaving a bright stripe across the cream-and-tan duvet. “It’s odd making love in the middle of the afternoon,” Lu whispered resting her head on Byron’s chest and listening to his heartbeat. “I kinda feel guilty and I’m not even the one playing hooky from work.”

  “You can feel guilty for both of us. I can’t think of a more appropriate way for us to spend our time.”

  “Not even catching tadpoles?”

  “Not even.” He punctuated his sentence with a kiss to the top of her head. “But you’re sure you’re okay?”

  “Yup. Believe me, that wasn’t a scream of pain.” Lu’s face flushed. Somehow screaming during orgasm was even more embarrassing in daylight. She kissed his collarbone.

  “You ready for more?” His hand trailed feathery circles on her back.

  “Not yet. You?”

  “No, but I’m an old man. We take longer to recharge.” He rested his hand possessively on her breast. “I know we’re playing hooky …”

  “But …?” Lu chuckled as she shifted back to look at his face.

  “If I brought in Huang for questioning, do you think you’d be more likely to identify him in person?”

  “I think so. Can you do that?”

  “We can pick him up as a person of interest. He’ll clam up and demand his lawyer, but at least you’ll get a look at him.”

  “And what else?”

  Byron laughed. “Damn, you’re good. He’ll know he’s being I.D.’d and it should make him nervous.”

  “He won’t see me, right?”

  Byron shook his head. “One-way glass again. I don’t think we need to worry about our leak since everyone at the precinct are now used to seeing you around as my girlfriend. They won’t think anything of you watching me interrogate a guy.”

  “Oh boy. I’ll get to see you in action. Do you have a hanging light bulb to shine in his face? Will ya pound on the table menacingly and call him punk?”

  “Okay, but just for you.” He sighed. “I guess I’ll have to arrange it this week before you’re back at work. That’ll cut into our twenty-four-seven.”

  “You’d better start making that up to me then,” she said, sliding her leg over his thigh.

  “Yes, ma’am. At your service.”

  *

  Sitting in the dull gray interrogation room, Huang seemed smaller than when she’d spotted him at the fire. But it was definitely him. He still had that aura of being in control of the situation. You’d think with Byron’s much larger physical presence and cold demeanor, the man would be less self-assured. Instead he calmly handed over his lawyer’s card then silently turned to the mirror. His tight expression was unnerving as he appeared to stare right at her. Lu’s mouth went dry and she suppressed the urge to cough.

  Byron was equally cool as he nonchalantly fired questions at the man. At one point Byron slammed his hand on the table and Huang jumped in his chair, but other than that it was like an unbroken cop monologue from Law & Order. Lu’s mind wandered to imagining Byron facing off against Jeff Goldbloom and she had to shake her head to get herself back into the real world.

  The interrogation room door swung open and an impeccably suited man with a pudgy red face strode in. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties and probably already a candidate for heart disease. He glanced at the still silent Huang and then rounded on Byron.

  “My client has nothing to say and you have no cause to hold him further,” he asserted.

  “Certainly, he may go,” Byron said, standing up and heading for the door.

  “But—”

  Lu watched amused as Byron, then Huang, exited the room, leaving the junior lawyer standing with his mouth gaping. He followed them quickly, citing laws that might’ve been breached at the departing backsides. Lu stayed quietly in the listening room to make sure they’d left the building for good before she emerged. There were just the usual cops about as she made her way back to Byron’s office.

  “That was fun,” she said, sitting down on the corner of his desk.

  “Did you like the hand smack on the table?” he asked. “I did that just for you.”

  “Thanks. It was swell.” She smiled. “But man, that guy is one cool customer. About the only thing he let show was his disdain for his mealy-mouthed lawyer. I thought you said he had top-notch legal help?”

  “They wouldn’t send in the real suits for this little stuff. They knew I couldn’t keep their client.”

  “It seems like a game of chess where each of you is anticipating your opponent’s next five moves.”

  “Yup,” Byron said. “Except in this game people die if we get it wrong. Hell, even if we get it right there’re negative consequences. If we take out a major source of drugs, the remaining ones become more valuable. And with less available, there’s more incentive to cut the drugs with other questionable materials.”

  “So what’s the point?”

  “Hell if I know. Containing the bloodshed and keeping the drug kingpins from getting too powerful?” Byron rubbed his eyes. “I find it’s best if I don’t think about it too much.”

  “Okay. Now I know I prefer being a fire fighter.”

  “Speaking of which, did you get your work schedule?”

  “Yup. I start the four-day shift on Wednesday. By the way, Ace says Reynolds filed a complaint against you.”

  “It’s already been dismissed. He’s cried foul too many times for them to even bother registering it. If he tries to give you any grief about your working for me that day, tell him I insisted.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. Reynolds visited me once at the hospital and was cool. He even brought me a plant.”

/>   *

  The sun was already shining brightly at quarter of eight when Lu strolled into the fire hall. It was only mid-June, but threatening to be another scorcher. Usually these hot days didn’t start until the middle of July. She glanced at the cement flower holders. The inhabitants were a little droopy, but someone had been watering them regularly. Wonder when that was added to the chore sheet.

  Red was ensconced in Ace’s usual chair at the desk. He stared up grumpily from a pile of papers.

  “Hey, Dawson. Welcome back. You wouldn’t happen to know if you can deduct college fees from your taxes?”

  “No idea. You mean like management classes or extra medical training for work?”

  “Uh-uh. The wife wants to ‘improve’ herself.” Red rolled his eyes at the prospect. “My accountant said I’m gonna need more deductions this year or cut back on overtime. I was thinking I could kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Can’t you ask your accountant?”

  “Frigging jerk charges me for every phone call like it was a sit-down consultancy.”

  “Get Margot to take a bookkeeping course. Then it’ll pay for itself when you fire your accountant.” Lu smiled and walked into the common room.

  “Not a bad idea,” Red called after her.

  The outgoing report was the usual litany of minor complaints. Reynolds welcomed her back and there were a few smiles and nods, but it looked like no one was going to make a big deal about it. Yeah. She’d barely settled in at the computer when the tones went off signaling it was a call requiring the ladder. Dispatch confirmed it was an alarm at a high-rise. Talk about jumping back in with both feet.

  When they pulled up to the shabby, low-rent apartment building with full lights and siren, Lu let out a groan of relief and frustration. They’d been there before. No smoke, very few residents standing outside, and a grumpy-looking caretaker greeted them. All the obvious signs of a false alarm. Reynolds headed off to do a quick 360 of the outside while Lu and Marcus followed the grizzled caretaker inside to scan the alarm board. Fourth floor, single alarm. Lu relayed the info to Reynolds and then Marcus led the way as they trooped up the stairs to check it out. The alarms reverberated in the dank gray stairwell and Lu found herself unconsciously matching her footsteps to the rhythm of the overbearing cacophony.

  As suspected, there was no hint of smoke. They radioed down and continued their inspection. The alarm had been manually tripped. A shrunken senior opened her door a crack, to inform them that she’d heard “those kids” running in the halls again.

  “Even so, ma’am,” Lu told her. “If there is an alarm, you should vacate the building in case it is a fire. This building is old and could go up in flames very quickly.”

  The door slammed in response.

  Lu shook her head and they trooped back down the stairs to join Reynolds and the others in the foyer. Ace filled out the log while Red reset the alarm system. There was blissful silence as the clanging was finally shut down. The caretaker signed off on the log and they clomped out while the residents raged about unsupervised kids and irresponsible parents.

  The trip back to the hall was more leisurely as Ace and Marcus debated if there was enough coffee for them to wait a day or if they should pick some up on their way. The caffeine addiction won and the stop at the Piggly Wiggly was brief.

  The second call of the day came in less than an hour later, a kitchen fire in a detached residence reported by the owner. The smoke was heavy, but the fire was confined to back of the house. No trapped residents or pets; it was a fairly standard response. After they did the overhaul to ensure the fire was fully extinguished, Lu couldn’t tell whether the fire had caused more damage or the hoses and crew battling it. As she headed outside, she glimpsed the stricken face of the woman who’d called in the fire, standing on her porch. She was large, wearing a shapeless gray dress and still clutching a pair of cooking tongs.

  “It looks worse than it is right now,” Lu reassured her, placing a hand on her heavily padded shoulder. “A quick mop for all the water and the insurance should cover—” Lu followed the woman’s gaze to where a small “For Sale by Owner” sign was planted in the grass.

  “I couldn’t afford the insurance.” The voice was low and tremulous. “And I’ve never had a fire before …”

  “I’m so sorry.” Lu patted her shoulder ineffectively as she checked to see if the rest of the team were ready to vacate. “Good luck,” she added, before heading to the truck. Man, what a kicker. She could understand people needing to cut back on expenses, but insurance was certainly not something she’d ever consider expendable. Well, maybe in her pre-firefighting days she would’ve, but certainly not now. The lady stood there with her arms wrapped tightly around her body as they drove away.

  “You’d think by now people would know not to throw water on grease fires,” Red grumbled from the jump seat.

  “She panicked,” Lu said. “It’s a common enough reaction.”

  “But so stupid,” Red continued to gripe. “Why didn’t she just throw some matches in there while she was at it? Probably an insurance scam.”

  “She said she didn’t have insurance.”

  “Man, that’s even more stupid.”

  “C’mon, Red. Lay off. We all do stupid things under stress.” Lu wondered why she was so determined to defend the woman. She knew blame was Red’s way of blowing off steam.

  “Yeah. But still …”

  An uneasy silence fell over the truck as they drove back. Great, now she looked like she was hyper-sensitive. Ace shot her a quick smile and she shrugged to say, Whatever. This hadn’t even been a tense fire.

  A wave of relief washed over her as Marcus prepared to reverse into the fire hall. It would be nice to relax at the hall and get used to being at work again. The good news was it was already three-thirty so most of the shift was over. As soon as the fire truck was parked, Lu headed to the cubby to stash her gear. Both Ace and Reynolds called her name.

  Reynolds spoke again. “It’s nothing important, but if you could drop by my office later, Dawson?”

  “Sure thing.” Lu waited for him to walk away then whispered to Ace, “Did I do something wrong?”

  “Nah. He probably just wants to personally welcome you back to duty,” Ace replied. “Hey, did you try out that new game college-boy downloaded? I think it’s called Hell’s Warrior Three. The kid’s right, it’s wicked.”

  “Haven’t tried it yet. I was watching dachshund racing on YouTube.”

  “Huh?”

  “You know, those wiener dogs. Byron mentioned there’s a track up north that raced them and it was pretty funny. I’ll bookmark it for you to watch later.”

  “What do they use for jockeys? Sea monkeys?”

  Lu laughed. “I’d better go see what Reynolds wants. If I’m not out in an hour, send the Marines.”

  Lu’s stomach churned as she walked toward Reynolds’ office. Hopefully he wouldn’t question why she was working for Byron that night or what she was doing. So far she’d evaded most questioning, but since it had caused her to miss over a month of work, Reynolds did have cause to complain. She rapped on his door, noting that someone had finally cleaned the smudge by his nameplate.

  “Come.”

  Lu pushed open the door. “You wanted to see me?”

  “Dawson, yes. Come in.” Reynolds got up from behind his desk and stood before her. “I wanted to know how you’re doing.”

  “Fine, sir. I got a clean bill of health at the hospital last week and I’ve been exercising ever since.” Since he didn’t say anything and kept looking at her, Lu rambled on some more, “I mean … I’m not running as far as I did before, but I will be soon.”

  “I was worried about you. You’ve come to mean a lot to me, Lu.” He pushed a curl off her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I hadn’t realized just how much until I almost lost you.”

  “Um, thanks.” Lu tried to edge away without being obvious. “I appreciate it, sir.” This wasn’t really
happening, was it? “I’ll, um, have my medical leave papers into HR as soon as my doctor gets the surgeon’s notes.”

  “Good. As long as it’s in before the end of the month for payroll.” He put his hand on her shoulder and Lu barely kept from flinching in surprise. “If there’s anything I can do to help, Lu. Just ask.” A slight squeeze of her shoulder and then he returned to his chair.

  She let out a shaky breath. “Sure thing. But everything’s fine.”

  Only a concentrated effort kept her from running from his office. What the hell was that about? Maybe he’d meant it all at face value and she was being over sensitive. But fire fighters didn’t touch each other’s hair or shoulders for no reason. At least they shouldn’t. Groaning, she recalled their kiss after the Baker Street fire. And this was the first time—well, other than when he was drunk—that he’d used her first name. Twice. Fuck. No, it was okay. She’d just make sure she wasn’t alone with him and it would all pass over. Maybe he’d just needed to express his concern and now they’d go back to business as usual.

  Lu took out her ponytail and clawed her hair into the covered rubber band. Her grown out bangs were constantly escaping. Maybe she should invest in some hair clips.

  “I was just about to call in the Marines,” Ace said as she turned the corner.

  Lu jumped at the sound of his voice. “Huh?”

  “The Marines?” he reminded her. “What, you didn’t get in trouble, did ya?”

  “No. Like you said, he just wanted to say welcome back.”

  “Good. I thought so.” Ace wandered off to reclaim his desk, calling over his shoulder, “Let me know what you think of the new game.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Lu placed the avocado slices around the edge of the salad bowl and carried it to Byron’s dining room table.

  “Anything else I can do?” she asked.

  “If you want to drain the carrots, we’re ready to eat,” Byron answered as he pulled the tray of ribs from the oven.

  “Mmm, smells fabulous.” She followed him with the carrots and sat down. They’d settled into eating at his place a few nights a week and whoever was off work first was in charge of cooking. She was always glad when it was Byron’s turn as he was a much more innovative chef.