Chapter 33
Wyatt
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, boys,” Nate calls from the front passenger seat of the truck. He turns to look in the back where me and Brody are gearing up. “Do not focus on the outside world, do not focus on looking for patterns. Your only job is knocking down the fire.”
Chatter around the firehouse the last week has revolved heavily around the arsonist. Nate has been consistent in his messaging.
We aren’t to get distracted by onlookers.
We’re not the ones to watch and scout for the man who has haunted my dreams since the day at the massage clinic.
We get in, focus on our job, protect lives, save structures.
The small house on the corner that comes into view, engulfed in flames, has my adrenaline kicking into gear.
The structure isn’t huge, but it’s a scorcher, devoured by fire.
This thing went up in a hurry, and there won’t be much we can do to save it.
It’ll be a defensive position, ensuring no nearby structures meet the same fate.
Luke slows down to let Brody out when we’re a couple houses away at a hydrant he can hook up to. He’s out in seconds, grabbing the hose from the back where it drags along the road as Luke continues forward until Nate tells him to stop.
Jumping out of the truck, I’m pulling a line, Luke there to help ensure all the kinks are out before I’m shouting for water.
It takes us half an hour and a second engine to get the fire under enough control that nothing surrounding the building is at risk, and over another hour to knock it back.
Sweat runs down my back, pours off my temples, my heart rate slowing as I finally get a second to catch my breath. The one-level home has been reduced to ash and cinders. There’s nothing left of it. The tough part of the job is seeing the destruction left behind.
There are groups of people gathered at different spots along the streets, a couple here, five there, all looking like neighbors. No one standing out.
I pretend to be looking for the homeowner, someone heartbroken and inconsolable, but I know what I’m truly searching for.
Him.
A week later and the cops haven’t found the guy who claimed to be Eddie. The address he provided led to a grocery store, and when they followed up with the store manager, they’d never heard of or seen the guy.
As a precaution, Bryn’s been staying in the main house with Ruby. Who said exactly as Bryn said she would. A little scare would only help keep her young—plus she has plenty of fire extinguishers in the house and knows how to get more.
A hand holding a water bottle hits my chest, and I glance to my right to find Brody standing there. Taking the bottle, I give him a nod of thanks, unscrewing the cap and slamming half of it in a couple of gulps. Water should have been the first thing I went to get after getting a moment to breathe.
“Don’t think he’s here,” Brody says under his breath, careful not to let anyone else hear.
Not that it matters. We’ve all been outfitted with body cameras so the cops can go through the footage to see if the guy shows up anywhere while we work. It was probably the only thing that kept me sane enough to listen to Nate’s direction.
“Maybe.”
Just because we can’t see him, doesn’t mean he isn’t here.
Then again, this might not even be him. If it was, it’s a distinct escalation from the fires he’s set in the past. He escalated from vegetation to the shed, but going after a house is something different entirely.
The message on my latest social media post, though, makes me wonder. Why else would he comment about sirens?
To get under my skin.
A hand claps down on my shoulder. “Good work, both of you. But you’re going to need to stop scowling at everyone watching us.”
My face levels out immediately. I didn’t realize I was doing it. A quick flick of my eyes to Brody shows he’s also glaring at everyone, but unlike me, he doesn’t stop.
“It was a house fire, Brody,” Nate says, thinking my thoughts out loud. “There’s a very real likelihood it wasn’t him.”
“Or it was and it’s a clear escalation like everything else I’ve told you,” Brody responds, voice low. Not quite a growl, but clearly unhappy. “The house was almost gone by the time we got here. You’re going to tell me that wasn’t an accelerant?”
Nate’s hands find his hips. “I’m trying not to draw any conclusions until investigators go through.”
“Didn’t realize you needed them to think for you, Nate.”
The tension between them is thick, but Nate refuses to rise to the bait. He wants to, though. I can see the restraint in the way his neck muscles tighten, the grinding of his teeth.
These two seem to butt heads more often than not when it comes to the arsonist, and I always seem to be caught in the middle. Except now I know them better, and I’m not totally green and fresh from my probation.
“Any homeowner show up?” I ask, trying to diffuse the situation with a change of topic.
Neither of them break eye contact with the other, but Nate shakes his head. “The house has been vacant for a while.”
That tips the scales to lean towards Brody for me.
Brody laughs, the sound humorless and devoid of emotion. “And you still don’t see it.”
He’d be right that this follows the pattern of an escalation, and given that the house was standing empty, as far as we know, it would be consistent with an arsonist getting bolder and willing to take more risks. To get a bigger thrill from setting a fire.
“It could have been a squatter. Animals in the wiring. We don’t know yet,” Nate reinforces.
And he could be right.
But my gut says he isn’t.
Brody crumples up his water bottle, tossing it into one of the open slots on the truck. “You might not, but I do. You need to cancel the auction.”
Nate’s head is shaking before the words are out of Brody’s mouth. “Savanna and I talked about it, and we aren’t doing that.”
The big man’s hands fist at his sides. “This guy is on a clear escalation path, Nate.”
The lieutenant regards Brody, but I have a sense that it’s to keep himself in check. “We’ll wait for the investigators to do their job.”
Brody tosses his hands up, and Nate and I watch him rejoin the rest of the crew to clean up.
“Do you really believe it wasn’t the arsonist?” I ask.
Nate sighs, swiping a hand across his forehead. “It’s not my job to know. It’s my job to keep you guys as safe as possible while you fight fires, save lives, and protect property. I’d be doing you all a disservice if I sided fully one way or another.”
“You’re a good Lieutenant, and you’ll make a great Captain one day.” I down the last of my water, tossing it into the same compartment as Brody’s. “Just don’t let it come at the cost of a friend.”
His lips form a line, and he nods. “I think I’m supposed to be dishing out the advice, not the other way around, kid.”
“Would you rather I do a handstand in front of all these people, and you have to reprimand me later?”
“Jesus Christ. Don’t you fuckin’ dare.”
I make a motion to do exactly that, and Nate gasps, grabbing my arm. For the first time all day, I laugh, and I don’t stop for the rest of the cleanup.