Chapter 14
Devyn
The next morning, I absentmindedly picked up the phone on my desk as it rang. “Fire Inspector Bell, Cholla Grove Fire Department.”
“Devyn, it’s Walt.”
My attention zeroed in as soon as I heard Walt’s voice.
He was the fire chief at one of the stations over on the other end of town.
We worked together often and his current fire investigator was on leave while he took care of his ailing mother.
I’d been helping to pick up the slack while Gerald was out of town.
All thoughts of Bolo and his club—which had been plaguing me all night long—took a back seat to Walt’s tone. “Hey, Walt.” Normally, I’d address him in a more formal way, a way befitting his rank, but he really hated that. So did Lou, my chief. “What can I help you with?”
“You working on anything at the moment?”
He knew I wasn’t. He would’ve already checked in with Lou before making this call.
I could tell just from the pitch of his voice that he had an assignment for me.
But this was Walt’s way of being courteous of me.
I was Lou’s inspector. Either of them could tell me where to go at any time, yet neither would.
They always requested it. And not because I was a woman.
Despite both men being in their fifties, they didn’t care whether their people were men or women, only that they could do their jobs.
They were both incredible men to work for.
That couldn’t always be said about every chief at every fire station.
I’d been lucky to start out at Cholla Grove and have never had the desire to leave.
“Nope. Something I can help you with?”
“Yeah. We have a burned out factory down off Avondale Boulevard. Fire started yesterday. Took a while for my guys to get it under control and completely out thanks to all the old chemicals and things that were being stored in it.”
“They find any evidence of foul play?” I suspected the answer was yes since he was planning to send me in there.
He let out a humorless chuckle. “Oh yeah. Bodies.”
“What?” I asked, my eyebrows flying up in shock.
“That’s why I’m just calling you in now. Homicide’s been over there. They’re requesting our assistance.”
I’d been about to ask why he waited so long to call me.
But that made sense. Once dead bodies were found the whole thing became a homicide investigation, until someone determined whether it was or wasn’t a homicide.
That was what they wanted my help with. Were these bodies the remains of some poor souls who were just caretakers for the property while the company figured out what to do with the building and everything inside it?
Homeless people that lost control of a fire that was keeping them warm? Or had something more happened?
“I’ll head over now,” I told him.
“Thanks Devyn. Hale’s over there handling point on our side of things for now. You can check in with him, and the lead homicide detective’s name is…Bowers.”
“Thank you, Walt. I’ll keep Hale updated on what I find.”
“Appreciate it.”
My cell buzzed on my desk as I hung up. Picking the phone up, I read Sophie’s text and frowned.
Soph: It’s been more than four waking hours since we’ve spoken. Something’s wrong. Call me.
Shaking my head, I quickly texted her back to let her know about the case and grabbed my keys as I stood.
She always had a sixth sense when something was going on with one of us.
I’d promised Bolo I wouldn’t give away his secret, but I sort of also needed someone to talk to about all this.
I’d gone over and over our conversation in my mind last night.
So much so that I’d barely slept. I was glad this call had come in.
It would help keep me awake. Not to mention distracted from my own predicament.
I grabbed my bag on the way out of my office and waved at Lou—who was sitting behind his own desk across the hall—as I left. He insisted on having a glass door. Made him more approachable without having to keep the door open. Or so he claimed.
The SUV I was assigned by the department purred to life and I immediately adjusted the air so that the AC would kick on, a necessity in Phoenix.
Summer was kicking off in full swing and the days were starting to get hot.
It was now the middle of June and it was only going to get hotter.
Despite that, the weather was something I loved.
It was warm almost year round. What wasn’t to love?
Snow and ice weren’t something I wanted to deal with, even on a seasonal basis.
The drive out to the factory was uneventful, but as soon as I pulled up there was organized chaos everywhere. It would’ve been even worse yesterday. I waved as a tall, blond, man started my way.
The guys had all given Hale Sullivan the nickname ‘Golden God’.
The man was six-two, ripped for days, and had a smile that could blind you if you stared directly at it.
He was like the poster boy for a romance novel.
I never had any interest, and really believed that kind of man wasn’t my type.
At least, I’d believed that until Bolo had crashed his way into my life.
Now I had my very own romance hero…anti-hero?
Who would’ve guessed that would happen? Certainly not me.
“Hale,” I said, stepping out of my car and shaking his hand.
He was a nice guy. Got himself a steady girlfriend, a couple years back, which calmed down the amount of flirting he did.
I appreciated that the most. He was head over heels for the girl.
“You propose yet?” I asked with a sly smile because he used to claim he’d never get married.
He narrowed his eyes. “How the hell do you do that?”
I gave him an innocent look, watching as he pulled a small box out of his pocket and handed it over. I flicked open the lid and nodded. “That’s gorgeous, Hale. Selene is going to love it.” I gave him a mischievous grin. “And hearts all over Phoenix will be breaking.”
He barked out a laugh. “Yeah, sure. Whatever, Bell.” He took the box back and shoved it into his pocket.
“Good to get a woman’s seal of approval though.
” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s a mess in there,” he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.
“The detective isn’t a complete dick though. ”
I laughed. “Well, that’s a good thing.”
He shrugged his shoulders, stretching the material of his t-shirt to the breaking point.
He always insisted on wearing a size too small.
Size schmedium. As if we couldn’t see all the muscle anyway.
He took all the good natured ribbing from the guys as it was meant and had fully lived up to his nickname by working out every minute they weren’t on calls.
We had a couple exactly like him over in our station house. Nice guys, but I kept my sisters away. Men like that often played the field a lot. Which was why I’d rejected Bolo at first. I recognized his type. Fine, so he hadn’t been a fire fighter, but bikers had the same kind of reputation.
That was going to be one thing we’d have to have a talk about, I realized.
If he was the kind who thought it was fine to cheat with other women while they were on the road, or during parties, or any of the other wild things I’d heard over the years—a couple of our guys were in law enforcement motorcycle clubs, and those were a lot more tame than the one percenters—then we were going to have a big problem.
“Appreciate the head’s up. I’m going to go find him now,” I told Hale. “You sticking around?”
He nodded, the early morning sunlight shining over his hair like a beacon. “If you’re here, I’m here.”
I waved a hand at him as I grabbed my bag out of the back and headed off to find the homicide detective. The lot was dry now. It would have been damp or even filled with puddles yesterday as Hale’s crew worked to put out the flames. A lot of the smoke had cleared too, which I was grateful for.
Approaching a uniformed officer, I smiled. “Hi, I’m Fire Inspector Bell. I’m looking for Detective Bowers.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the young man—he must’ve only been twenty-two or three—smiled at me. “We’ve been waiting for you. Follow me.”
“Thanks,” I told him, hesitating just inside the doorway.
I waited a beat to see if my stomach was going to clench or pitch at the smell of the smoke inside the building.
I’d only eaten a very small breakfast this morning, enough to keep the sickness at bay, not enough that it was trying to crawl back up my throat now.
I’d started to get the hang of what was going to make me feel awful throughout the day, thankfully.
Picking my way through the burned out rubble, I followed the cop through the building.
“Right through there. Watch your head with those beams,” the officer warned, pointing at some thick wooden beams that had collapsed down from the roof.
One was in a precarious position, but there was another beam under it, wedged between it and the floor.
That would’ve been done by Hale and his crew, to make it safer for all the people who needed to come in and out of here.
One of the fire fighters walked past and grinned. “Good to see you, Devyn.”
“You too, Buck.”
The fireman and cop just gave each other curt nods and I had to stifle a laugh.
The competition between firemen and police officers was well known.
It made my thoughts stray back to Bolo and everything he’d told me last night.
The difference was even though fire fighters and cops had a rivalry going, they still considered themselves on the same team when it came down to it.
None of them would consider a one percenter motorcycle club to be on their team.
I left the young officer behind and walked up to where a man in a suit was speaking with the coroner. People were standing over a pile of bones. They were broken and smashed to bits, leaving no doubt that this had been done intentionally.
So much for the homeless people theory.
“Look Bowers, I don’t know what you expect of me,” the pissed off coroner barked. “This is a mess. It’s going to take time to straighten any of it out.” He swept a hand over the pile.
“I need to know who they were,” Bowers told him, his voice calm and neutral.
“Yeah, I get that. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more time than ‘by tomorrow’, is all I’m saying. These remains are smashed to hell. Despite what TV tells you, DNA testing isn’t an overnight deal. You’ll have to wait.”
I studied the scene. “So whoever started the fire, knew they were here and came back afterward to smash the evidence?”
They all looked over at me. “Who are you?” the coroner asked.
“They would’ve had to do that before the fire department got here,” I said, meeting Bowers’ gaze as I worked through it, ignoring the coroner’s question.
“It’s pretty remote out here,” Bowers said with a nod, watching me with a perceptive gaze. “Since it was daylight, the damn thing was burning quite a while before they got here to put it out.”
“Still,” I said in a considering tone, “that’s a pretty dangerous stunt to pull.
” I squatted down next to the pile of bones.
Pile didn’t exactly describe it accurately, though I didn’t have another word for it, because there was a skull over in the corner, almost like someone had kicked it over there.
Or maybe it had flown over when the skeleton had been hit.
“They must have started the bodies on fire first.”
“Who’s she?” the coroner said in a low voice.
“Guessing she’s the fire inspector.”
“Sorry,” I said, giving them a sheepish smile. “I’m Inspector Bell.”
“What makes you think they started with the bodies?” Bowers asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t look surprised, so I was guessing he’d already come to the same conclusion. He just wanted my thoughts on it.
“They piled them up here-”
“They?” the coroner interrupted, though he clapped his mouth shut when Bowers scowled at him.
“Just guessing for now,” I said. “This is a big job for one man though.”
The coroner opened his mouth again, then just shut it without asking when Bowers held up his hand.
“Not if he’s a really big man,” Bowers said. To the coroner he said, “Why don’t you go get started on whatever paperwork you have? We’ll let you have the remains once Inspector Bell is done with what she needs to do.”
“Devyn,” I told him, straightening up and shaking his hand.
“Nice to meet you.” He nodded toward the bones. “Why do you think they smashed them to bits?”
I shrugged. “To make them harder to identify.” I grimaced. “I sort of feel bad for the coroner if he has to put that jigsaw puzzle back together.”
Bowers chuckled. “Don’t feel sorry for him. He’s a miserable piece of…” He ended on a cough. “He’ll get the DNA from these bone fragments. It’ll just take some time. Hopefully we’ll be able to find these guys in the database. Makes IDing them quicker.”
“That’s assuming they’re criminals,” I pointed out.
He nodded. “Group of people treated like this?” He motioned to the bones. “I’m guessing they weren’t the upstanding sort. But you never know.” He focused back on me. “I can have some of my men hang out in here while you work, or I can clear everyone out and let you do your thing. Up to you.”
I grinned at him. “Clear them out please. There’s been enough boots trampling all over everything already.”
He chuckled. “You got it, Inspector. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll have a man posted at the entrance just in case. Be careful in here.”
Nodding, I looked away from him, pulling some of my equipment out of my bag. My mind was already focused on the task at hand.