Chapter 6
Six
“So!” Fifi slapped her hands together sharply, jerking Charlie out of the daze Kieran’s hypnotic gaze had caused. “What’s the plan?”
A pounding on the door interrupted before anyone could answer. Ignoring the knocking, Charlie turned back to Kieran. “How much longer until your shift’s over?”
He glanced at his watch. “I was off an hour ago.”
“Perfect.” Fifi clapped her hands again. “Let’s split up and tackle all the crimes.”
Charlie wrinkled her nose, not liking her sister’s newly acquired mannerism. “Is that going to be a thing?”
“What? Splitting up to investigate mysteries like the Scooby gang?”
“The clapping.”
“Maybe. Why?” Fifi eyed her with a look Charlie didn’t trust. “Don’t you like it?”
“Maybe.” Her tone was cautious. Once her sisters knew her weaknesses, they could annoy her to their little hearts’ content.
“You don’t, do you?” Fifi was positively gleeful, and Charlie’s heart sank.
“The clapping is going to be a thing, isn’t it?”
“Now it is.”
“Okay.” Kieran was obviously having trouble holding his scowl, but Charlie appreciated the effort. “Are you two done?”
A booming voice from outside the office was easy to hear, despite the closed door. “Chase, why the hell are you still knocking? Don’t you think I would’ve answered if I were in there?”
Kieran reached over and unlocked the door right before an older man—Chief Early, Charlie assumed—charged through it. He came to an abrupt stop at the sight of the four of them filling his office.
“I tried to tell you, Chief,” the ginger’s triumphant voice came from behind Early. “Byrne’s been in there with the door closed for almost an hour. Who knows what files he’s dug through—or what he’s taken.”
“Chase…” Chief Early somehow managed to both sigh and bellow at the same time. Charlie was impressed. “Byrne asked to use my office. He’s allowed to be in here. Why don’t you do something useful, like inventory the spare bunker gear?”
“But, Chief—”
“Go.” Early’s firm tone cut Chase off, and the ginger slunk away, presumably to start his inventory.
Charlie couldn’t hold back a smirk. That had been very satisfying to watch.
Turning back to Kieran, the chief muttered, “We need to get caffeine into everyone. Maybe one of the medics can set it up on an IV drip. You get your meeting finished, or do you need my office for a while longer?”
“We’re done.” Even though he was talking to his boss, Kieran still sounded as cranky as ever, although he did add a grudging, “Thanks.”
The chief just grinned. “At least you’re always the same, coffee or no coffee. Enjoy your days off then.” He greeted Fifi and Bennett before turning to Charlie. He gave her a friendly—albeit assessing—look as he held out his hand to shake. “You must be Felicity’s sister—Charlie, is it?”
“It is.” Once again, she was impressed by the efficiency of the small-town gossip pipeline. “And you must be Fire Chief Early, who very kindly let us have this satellite murder club meeting in your office.”
Although he blinked at the murder club reference, he quickly recovered, grinning at her. “The very one. Let me know if I can be of any help.”
“Will do.” In fact, she could check his helpfulness levels right at this very moment. “Any idea who locked us in the coffee shop and turned it into an oversized smoker grill?”
“Nope,” the chief said. “My part is to figure out the origins and causes of fires. The coffee shop was definitely arson—and an obvious one at that—so I left the rest of the investigation up to the sheriff. She’s the one to ask.”
“Yeahhh…” Charlie drew out the word as she headed for the door. “We’ll consider asking the sheriff plan B—or maybe plan F or G. We’re not her favorite people.”
“She likes me just fine,” Kieran said smugly.
Did he just make a joke? Charlie was struck silent for a whole three seconds before she huffed a laugh. “Well, sure she does,” she said once she’d recovered. “She has eyeballs, doesn’t she?”
“What does that mean?”
“Good to meet you, Chief,” she said over her shoulder as they left his office. “If I ever need to know the origin and cause of a fire, you’ll be the first one I’ll come to.”
“Thanks?”
As Fifi and Bennett said goodbye to Early, Charlie returned her attention Kieran, still slightly in shock that Kieran was actually joking around with her.
It was a bit like bantering with a shark—she was well aware that at any moment, he could bite her head clean off—but that knowledge just gave the whole conversation an exhilarating edge.
“It means that your face and body are extremely…likable.”
Especially at this moment, when his scowl had lightened into something close to astonishment and he had a very adorable bit of side-eye happening, but Charlie wasn’t about to say that part out loud. She was already calling him hot.
“Are you calling me hot?”
“See, your surprise at that just adds to your appeal,” she said.
“But that’s just illogical.”
He’d managed to lose her, and Charlie didn’t like that. She prided herself on her ability to banter with the best of them. “Your hotness is illogical?”
“No, that the sheriff likes me because of my…alleged hotness.” He sounded like he choked a bit on the last two words. “If that were true, she’d really like you, and from what I’ve seen, she can’t stand you.”
“Awe, Kiki.” She stopped in the middle of the parking lot. Somehow, she hadn’t noticed their walk through the hostile firefighters and out of the station. Kieran was apparently a master distractor. “Are you calling me hot?”
He winced at the nickname but didn’t protest out loud, which was a bit disappointing. Charlie prided herself on choosing nicknames that people loathed. Instead, he snorted and gave her a look of disdain. “You know you’re gorgeous.”
“I do?” She had a twin, so she knew she was cute from staring at Cara’s face her whole life, but she’d never considered that she fell into gorgeous territory. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. Adorable, maybe, when my dimples are showing, but—”
“Stunning,” he interrupted. When she stared at him, once again shocked into silence, his cheekbones reddened.
“You’re stunning when your…” He coughed, dropping her gaze as his scowl reemerged, and the rest of his words sounded like they came out through gritted teeth. “When your…dimples are showing.”
She was straight flummoxed by that, so much that she couldn’t think of anything to say.
She’d always thought of herself as strong and smart and maybe a little too brave, but she’d never even considered the idea that anyone would find her stunning or gorgeous.
After opening and closing her mouth soundlessly a couple of times, she was a little relieved when Fifi and Bennett caught up with them.
“What’s going on?” Fifi asked, looking between Kieran and Charlie with her eyes alight with avid curiosity.
“Hmm?” Charlie non-answered before tearing her gaze away from Kieran’s grumpy face, which looked impossibly more attractive when he blushed. “Oh, nothing much. Just discussing where to go from here.”
From Fifi’s narrowed eyes, she knew that for the lie it was, but Charlie held her innocent look until her sister gave an annoyed huff.
“Fine. I’ll get it out of you later. Right now, Bennett and I are going to meet Lou and the coroner at the Simpson Bar, see if she can tell us anything about Cobra’s remains. ”
“Be careful,” Charlie said.
“Of what?” Fifi raised an eyebrow. “Alcohol poisoning?”
“Well, last time you went to a bar, you ended up getting married, so that is a little concerning, but I was thinking more along the lines of someone lighting the place on fire while you’re in there.”
“Oh.” Fifi frowned. “Maybe we’ll sit on the patio.”
“It’ll get cold soon,” Kieran warned, but Fifi just shrugged.
“Better cold than on fire.”
“This town isn’t a relaxing place to be,” Bennett muttered.
Charlie grinned. “Isn’t it great? Never a boring moment.” Bennett didn’t look like he agreed, but she charged on ahead. “What’s the plan for me and Kiki here?”
“Kiki?” Fifi asked in a strangled voice.
“No,” Kieran said flatly.
“Don’t fight it,” Bennett warned. “The more she knows you hate it, the more entrenched it’ll become.”
Charlie smiled at her brother-in-law approvingly. “You’re such a quick learner, B.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly.
“You two are going to meet Rory at her store.” Fifi quickly tapped at her phone screen as she spoke. “Just sent you the address. She’s agreed to arrange an interview with one of the more…reasonable militia members, see what they know about Cobra’s murder.”
“Maybe we can sneak in a few questions about the coffee shop fire too.” Charlie glanced at her phone and saw the text pop up on her screen. Turning to Kieran, she asked, “Okay if we take your car?”
He gave a short nod, and she gave him a beaming smile.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why are you so happy about that?”
“I just appreciate how you didn’t argue or try to take over.
” Giving a wave to Fifi and Bennett, she started toward the line of cars that stretched across the back of the lot.
All of the vehicles had been backed into the spaces, so they were parked facing out.
“Most people take longer to give in to the inevitable after they first meet me. Is backing into a parking spot a firefighter thing?” She waved toward the orderly line of cars.
He opened his mouth, closed it, and then must’ve decided not to ask any questions about what was “inevitable” because he simply said, “Yeah. Well, first-responder thing.”
“Interesting. I’m going to have to start doing that.
I can see how it’d save time when the skip you’re chasing down Maple Street jumps into his girlfriend’s green Impala and takes off.
” She scanned the motley mix of vehicles before spotting the truck he’d brought to the coffee shop before it’d been burned.
Making a beeline for the pickup, she decided to see how far she could press her luck.
“I’ll drive.”