Chapter Two
Cullen
H ATCH WAS ON his third beer before I finally realized he wasn’t leaving until I bared my soul. I shouldn’t have been surprised. This was our ‘thing.’
“Con—”
“You want food?” he interrupted. “I can order pizza, or cook?”
“You’re not gonna leave, are you?” I protested.
“I got nowhere to be, do you?” he challenged.
“You’re sergeant of a club, Hatch. You sure you don’t have shitheads to beat into submission?”
His mouth slid into a half-smile. The one he used when he wanted us to know how serious he was, but also wanted us to know that he got our attempt at making a joke. “Nothing’s more important than you right now, Cull.”
“I haven’t stocked up, so pizza’s good,” I grumbled.
Hatch pulled out his phone, his fingers sliding over the screen for a few seconds, then he set his phone on my coffee table and studied me. “Talk to me, brother.”
“Nothin’ to say.”
“Today is the anniversary of Elizabeth’s death, Cullen, so it’s natural that you’re wound up, but what I saw at the jobsite is way more than wound up. What the fuck’s goin’ on with you?”
I dragged my hands down my face and slumped in my chair. “What do you want me to say? That I forgot? That today is the first day in fifteen fuckin’ years I forgot it was the day she died, because I was too busy staring at some smoke show? Huh? Is that what you want me to say?”
Hatch settled his elbows on his knees. “Shit, brother, that’s a lot.”
“I’m a fuckin’ asshole.”
“Why are you a fuckin’ asshole?”
“Because I made Bethy a promise,” I snapped.
“You made her a deathbed promise,” he pointed out. “One she didn’t ask for. In fact, if I remember correctly, she thought you were an idiot for making it and asked me to slap you out of it.”
I dropped my face in my hands. “She was in pain.”
“She was lucid,” he argued.
“She was it for me.”
“She was safe for you.”
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” I growled.
He sighed. “All respect in the world to Elizabeth. You know I loved her like a sister and there’s no doubt in my mind you’d still be together if she were alive today…”
“But?”
“But she’s gone. Your vows were ‘’til death do we part.’ And she died, brother. I’m not telling you to get over that, I’m not even telling you to stop loving her, I’m just saying that the fact you won’t look at another woman is ‘safe.’ It isn’t noble, because there’s no reason to be noble, Cullen. You don’t have kids to protect. You can fuck every woman in the phone book if you so choose and you’d be free to do it, but you don’t because you have this idea in your head that it’d be cheating. Except if you were honest with yourself, you’d realize it’s not because of that at all. It’s because you don’t want your heart broken again. So you hide behind your dead wife. Her death gives you a warped sense of safety.”
Goddamn Connor.
I hated it when he was right.
“Fuck you,” I hissed.
“Not my type,” he retorted. “But that smoke show of a lieutenant just might be yours, so I say go for it.”
“In case you didn’t notice, she’s investigating us for arson .”
“She’ll figure out none of us had anything to do with it and then you’ll both be free agents.”
I scowled. “I’m not goin’ there, Hatch.”
“Of course you are,” he said just as my doorbell pealed. “I’ll get it.” He stood, squeezing my shoulder. “Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.”
“Did someone order pizza?” my sister’s voice echoed through the foyer.
“I’ll take those,” Hatch said as I made my way to the front door.
“Hey, Cricket, what are you doing here?” I asked, pulling her in for a hug.
“Well, it’s the anniversary of Elizabeth’s death, so I thought you might want some company,” she said, squeezing me tight. “I brought beer.”
I groaned, and Hatch let out a small, strangled chuckle.
“Uh-oh, what did I just walk into?” Cricket asked, shrugging off her jacket.
“Come on in,” Hatch said. “We’ll fill you in.”
“No we won’t,” I countered, taking the case of beer from Hatch and heading toward the kitchen.
“Um, yes we will,” Cricket demanded. “This sounds juicy.”
“Jesus,” I hissed.
“Fill me in,” Cricket begged, rushing to catch up with me. “What’s going on?”
“Someone torched our jobsite this morning,” I said.
My sister gasped. “Which one?”
“First street.”
“The homes I thee covet?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“Who?”
I shrugged. “We don’t know.”
She glanced between me and Hatch. “Okay, so why do you both look as nervous as a couple of whores in church.”
Hatch waved toward me.
I scowled at him, but he just shook his head. “Not my story to tell.”
“Yeah, well, if you hadn’t said anything to begin with, we wouldn’t be here,” I scowled.
“I didn’t say anything,” he pointed out.
“You snorted!” I snapped.
“ One of you better start talking or I’m calling Cade and Cameron and we’re going to make this a family night,” Cricket threatened.
I sighed, crossing my arms. “As you are probably aware, when arson is suspected, there’s an investigation.”
“Uh, duh,” Cricket retorted.
“So, they sent an investigator.”
“Oh my god, Cullen, get to the point.”
“She was a smoke show,” Hatch provided. “Cullen’s words.”
“Fuck you, narc,” I ground out.
Cricket’s eyes widened. “Wait, did you both think she was a smoke show, or just Cullen?”
“I will acknowledge that she was attractive, but she doesn’t hold a candle to Maisie,” Hatch said.
Cricket let out a strangled cry. “What?”
I raised my hands in surrender, prepared for my sister to verbally eviscerate me. “Cricket, wait. I can explai—”
“You actually looked twice at a pretty girl? You never do that.”
“Cricket—”
“This is awesome !”
“Wait, what?” I frowned. “What do you mean, ‘awesome’?”
“Cullen, Elizabeth has been dead for fifteen years, and it’s super sad, but I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t want you to be alone for the rest of your life. I mean, even though Hatch chased Jase out of mine against my will, I’m trying to date, even though he was the love of my life, and I will never love anyone other than him. Maybe. Probably.”
“Cricket,” Hatch warned.
“What? You did. You ruined my life.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Christina,” I said.
“And don’t you dare discount my feelings, big brother. You played a part in running him out of town too, and don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”
“I didn’t do shit,” I said.
“Okay, between Connor, Cade, Cameron and you, it was mostly Connor and Cade, but don’t tell me you didn’t have anything to do with it, because I know you didn’t stand up for me or him. Neither you nor Cameron had our backs.” She jabbed a finger toward me. “And don’t try to tell me you did.”
“How quickly this turned into the Cricket hour,” Hatch murmured.
“Screw you, Hatch,” she hissed, her eyes filling with tears. “You know what? Cullen’s right. Fuck you, narc.”
“You see what you’ve done here?” I nodded toward my brother, pulling my sister in for a hug. “Are you proud of yourself?”
“Not sure how this became fuck with Hatch day, but if you need to do that to make yourselves feel better, go for it,” he said, twisting the cap off a beer and opening one of the pizza boxes.
“Just admit you ruined my life, and we can move on from this,” Cricket said.
I gave her a squeeze. “Maybe that might be a little harsh, hm?”
“Jase was my life ,” she breathed out.
“And there’s shit you don’t know,” Hatch said.
“Like what?”
“Club shit, baby sister, but trust me, Jase is not the guy for you.” He took a swig of beer keeping eye contact with her in challenge.
“You sure this is the hill you wanna die on, Cricket?” I asked.
She pulled away from me and scowled.
“Well?” I pressed.
“I’m thinking! ”
Hatch grinned, squeezing her chin. “I love you to Jupiter and back. I would never do anything to hurt you. Trust me on that.”
She wrinkled her nose and then let out a long, dramatic, very Cricket sigh. “Fine. But you’re taking me out to dinner next week. Both of you. Somewhere expensive where I have to dress up.”
I smiled. “Pink Priest?”
“Oh my god, yes! ” she exclaimed, snagging a piece of pizza out of the box Hatch had just opened. “Now, tell me about this smoke show.”
“No,” I said, opening a beer.
She turned to Hatch. “Tell me about the smoke show.”
“Jesus,” I hissed.
“Just to be clear, I did not say those words,” he said, sitting on one of the bar stools.
“Got it,” she said, leaning across the peninsula. “She must be pretty if Cullen said smoke show.”
“I think it was Cameron who said smoke show first,” Hatch said.
I did my best to keep my anger in check, fisting and unfisting my hand at my side.
“Cameron finds anything with tits hot,” Cricket said.
“True.” Hatch nodded. “Cullen cold-cocked him.”
“What?” Cricket gasped. “You hit Cam?”
“Broke a tooth,” Hatch continued.
“I did not,” I argued.
“You broke his tooth?” Cricket squeaked.
“I pulled my punch.”
“Why did you hit him?” my sister demanded.
“He commented on Helena’s tits,” Hatch provided.
“Her name’s Helena?” Cricket asked. “Pretty.”
“Yeah, and Cameron noticed her just as much as Cullen did.”
“So, Cullen punched Cameron?” Cricket turned to me and cocked her head. “I need to see a picture of this woman.”
“Enough,” I ground out.
Hatch slid his phone to her. “Here’s her official VFD headshot.”
“Hol-eee shit, big brother, she’s gorgeous,” Cricket breathed out, holding the phone up so I could see it.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. “Get out of my house.”
“Okay, okay,” Cricket said, backing off. “We’re done.”
“Are we?” Hatch taunted.
I scowled at him as Cricket handed him back his phone.
“Yes, we are,” Cricket pressed. “We’ll drop it. For now, anyway. We just want you to be happy, so if getting to know this Helena woman makes you happy, then I think you should go for it.”
“This Helena woman thinks we torched our jobsite, sissy,” I pointed out.
“She’ll figure out pretty quickly you didn’t do it, then you’ll be free to worship her bountiful tits.”
“Holy fuck, I do not want to talk about anyone’s tits with my baby sister!” I snapped.
Cricket grinned, as did Hatch, and suddenly all was right with my world.
I found myself finally relaxing, and Cricket gave me a quick hug before grabbing another piece of pizza and opening a beer.
In the end, my siblings stayed for another three hours before heading out, only leaving once they knew I was okay.
At least as okay as I could be with a torched job site and impending investigation.
* * *
Helena
By the end of the day, my head was about to explode with conflicting information so, instead of heading home, I detoured onto I-5, calling a buddy on the way.
“Hey there, stranger.”
“Hey. You got time to meet me for a beer?” I asked.
“Yeah, where?”
“The Beagle?” I asked hopefully.
Armando’s Kitchen was a local restaurant that a few of us referred to as ‘the Regal Beagle’ because the décor was retro and reminded us of our favorite seventies sitcom.
“Sure, give me twenty,” Roman said.
“Thanks.” I hung up and took the next exit, lucky to find a parking spot near the entrance, something unheard of during happy hour at Armando’s.
Grabbing my files, I headed inside and asked to be seated at a booth. What I had to say to Roman needed to be as private as possible, so I took a seat on the bench to wait for an open table.
Roman Ellerson was one of my closest friends and had had my back when I’d needed to hire Navy to get me out of a jam. In fact, he’d been damn near the only one who had. And that had almost gotten him fired.
Almost.
He walked in just as the hostess called my name and I stood, making my way to him, pulling him in for a hug. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” He gave me a gentle squeeze before releasing me. “If you’re reaching out, this must be serious.”
I sighed. “Yep.”
The hostess led us to our table, and we sat facing each other so I opened my file upside down and slid it over to him.
“What’s this?”
“Something I shouldn’t be showing you,” I admitted.
He raised an eyebrow and closed the file. “Before I look at this, I need to know what level of confidentiality I’m breaking here.”
“Level four-hundred-thirty-two.”
“Nelly,” he breathed out in admonishment.
“I can’t do this on my own and I sure as hell can’t trust anyone back at the office. I need another set of eyes.”
He leaned in and whispered, “If I look at this, we don’t talk about it with anyone else.”
“Fight Club rules. Got it.”
“Now, what am I looking at?” he asked, opening the folder. “Jesus, Nelly. No.”
“Rom—”
“No.”
“You know them.”
“Yeah, I’m aware. I know them. Well, especially Cade and Hatch. And I shouldn’t be looking at this.”
“So then you need to explain to me how every piece of evidence I’ve collected so far points to an inside job,” I said.
“Nelly, you’re the best arson investigator in the department and it’s not just me that says that. But there’s no way the Wallace brothers torched their own properties.”
“How can you know for sure?”
“The Wallace brothers, not to mention, Hatch’s club, work with Portland Fire and Rescue every year for the holiday food and toy drive. And let’s not forget the work their construction business does with Habitat for Humanity. These guys are about building, whether it’s property or community. They run a successful business, are family oriented, and do everything they can to help out their community. Besides, what could their motive possibly be?”
I grimaced.
“You don’t have one, do you?”
I sighed. “No. Which is exactly what’s screwing me up.”
“Look, I don’t know why your evidence is pointing to the Wallace brothers, but my advice would be to double and triple check your evidence. Remember what they told us at the Academy, if you can’t trust the data, don’t trust the source.”
“Are you trying to say they’re being framed?” I asked.
“You certainly can’t rule it out this early in the game,” he replied.
“This isn’t some movie, Romeo. I can’t just wrap this up as a simple frame job because you say the Wallace brothers are good guys.”
“Am I telling you to?” he challenged.
I sighed, leaning back in my seat. “No, but I wish you would.”
He smiled gently. “You need to follow the evidence, but you need to be smart about it, because Cade in particular would never do this.”
“He’s your friend, of course you would say that.”
Hatch was too. Roman rode with him on occasion during charity events and things, considering he owned a Harley and looked for any excuse to ride with other people. He wasn’t about to join a motorcycle club, but he did like most of the guys in the Dogs of Fire, and he never had a bad word to say about any of them.
“Cade’s my friend because he’s a stand-up guy, Nelly. And I’d vouch for him, but I would not lie or cover up anything for him, so go where the evidence takes you. If you believe he did this, I’ll have your back one-hundred percent.” He met my eyes. “What does your gut tell you?”
I wrinkled my nose. “That they didn’t do it.”
His eyes widened. “Ah, I get why you called me now.”
“I cannot go with my gut, Roman. I’m suspended because I went with my gut, remember?”
“It’s a bullshit suspension,” he hissed. “And might I point out that if your asshole of an uncle had actually put in your suspension writ, you wouldn’t be on this case?”
“Regardless, I’m suspended in his eyes.”
“Except, you were right, which is probably why he hasn’t filed the paperwork.”
I let out a quiet grunt just as the waiter came by and took our order which gave me a few minutes to ponder the past few months.
Six months ago, I’d been dispatched to a fire in Hazel Dell. A newly opened sushi restaurant had caught fire in the early morning hours, and my captain had found it suspicious.
Suspicious was an understatement.
The problem was, there were four suspects and two of them were pointing the finger at one in particular.
The youngest sibling.
I didn’t buy it, and I was the only one who didn’t. Well, me and the youngest sibling, of course.
Alison Harada was fourteen, sweet as all get out and her older brother and father were trying to use her as a scapegoat for arson. Her father was obviously abusive, the brother following in his father’s footsteps, and her mother was caught in the middle, not knowing who to believe.
In the end, Alison had confessed, but I didn’t believe her and continued to push.
Hence the suspension.
The case was closed in the eyes of Vancouver PD and the Fire Department, but I went over both my captain and chief’s heads, and had my contact at PD dig deeper.
He hit paydirt in the form of Alison’s big brother, Derek, in deep with the Gresham Spiders and trying to make his bones with the local Motorcycle gang by planning on getting a portion of the insurance money from the restaurant fire to buy in.
What he didn’t understand was that the Spiders didn’t work that way. I mean, they’d be happy to take his money, but they would expect a hell of a lot more than that from this idiot kid, including the fact that he’d need to bleed in.
Then, they’d expect him to hand over his sister and she’d need to bleed in. In a different way than him, of course, but either way, she’d bleed.
Horrifically.
In the end, the truth had come out and Alison had been released, but her release had only just happened a week ago, and my captain, who was also my uncle, was pissed that I’d gone over his head.
No, he’d been pissed that I’d gone over his head and had been right.
“Uncle Skip’s petty, Roman. He’d be the type to file just to fuck with me,” I breathed out.
“Your family’s weird,” Roman said. “Well, except Pru.”
He was right. My sister, Prudence, was my ride or die, and my best friend.
“Aren’t all families weird?” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but you’re Addams family weird.”
“At least the Addams family loved each other, Roman. We are in a constant state of getting one up on each other.”
“Say? You think Lurch ever invites Thing up to his room on those long and lonely nights? You know, for a little snap, snap, oohhh?” Roman asked.
I bit back a snort. “Dude, you seriously need to seek psychological help.”
“Morticia could speak French to me any day.”
“Hell yeah. I mean, Morticia could speak French to me any day,” I admitted.
Roman chuckled as he took a sip of his beer. “You good?”
“I’m good. Thanks, bud.”
“Anytime.”
The waiter brought our food, and we got down to eating, our conversation turning to subjects other than work. In the end, it was a perfect end to a shitty day.