Chapter 9
9
O ne didn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that someone had put a nasty bug in Kaelie’s ear.
That someone had to have been Edwin.
Ever since Buddy and Kaelie had left Michael’s, she’d been distant. Cold, actually. On the walk home, she’d kept her arms folded and when he looped his arm around her waist, she tensed. He remained silent until they reached the steps to her front porch.
“Want to tell me what is bothering you?” He didn’t see the point in beating around the bush.
“I need to ask you a couple questions, but since I don’t have all the information, I’m not sure where to start.”
“How about you just ask the question that’s burning on your mind.”
“Edwin found out you have a record. A canceled one. But there’s no information about the crime. We’re waiting to find out more.”
He laughed.
“It’s not funny.”
“Come on.” He took her by the hand. “This conversation is going to require a glass of wine and a couple of chocolate chip cookies.”
“This isn’t a lighthearted conversation. Edwin is pushing you to be more than?—”
He pressed his finger over her pink, plump lips. “Let me tell the story and if you want, I can make a few phone calls to see if I can get you the documentation on the so-called crime.”
“Edwin is under the impression it was supposed to be expunged.”
“It had been.” Buddy hadn’t thought he’d ever have to tell this story again and technically, when he entered the Air Force, he was not obligated to inform the military of his crime. However, his father recommended he come clean with the senator who made the recommendation for him to attend the Air Force Academy. Telling the truth made all the difference in the world then; he hoped it did the same in the eyes of Kaelie. “However, before the paper trail had been completely destroyed, I opted to inform the military. When I opted not to re-enlist, I wondered if it would ever follow me. The Aegis Network knows about it, but Arthur never thought it was important for me to inform the fire department. If it ever did come up, he’d go to bat for me, but it never did.”
“Smart move to loop in the Air Force, since they would have found something anyway.”
He nodded as he uncorked a bottle of wine and poured two generous glasses. Kaelie eased into the sofa, tucking her feet under her butt.
“What was funny was that at first, they couldn’t find the records, so they were concerned I was covering up something worse,” he said, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, letting his leg roll to the side so his skin would touch hers.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened or continue to beat around the bush?”
He chuckled but quickly cleared his throat. “I’ve always had a fascination with fire.” He held her stare, wanting to be able to read her reaction. Some people might not appreciate how he ended up doing what he did.
“Isn’t that true of most firefighters?” Her lips puckered over the thin rim of the wineglass. The liquid flowed into her mouth like a river of sweet raspberry chocolate.
“That and being an adrenaline junkie, but my obsession caused a couple of incidents .” He used the term his mother had every time she told the story, which wasn’t often.
“Couple?” Kaelie asked with an arched brow.
“Like all boys, I played with matches. When I was ten, I was lighting them in the bathroom and dumping them in the wastebasket and left without thinking to put water on them first.”
“That’s really stupid,” she said.
“I know that now, but I was a small child. Anyway, my parents had to redo the bathroom that year, which made my sisters royally pissed off because it took six months. But I got to meet some pretty cool firemen and from then on, I had only one goal in mind.”
“You said your twin is a firefighter. Does she have the same preoccupation with fire?”
“Oh yeah, the second major fire, she and I were in cahoots.”
“I really don’t like the sound of that.” Kaelie took a thick gulp.
“The first fire we set was a total accident, but we damn near blew up the science wing during my freshman year of high school.” He laughed, even though it wasn’t really funny, but reminiscing about some stupid shit back in the day often required a good chortle. “Basically, my twin and I were messing with the gas burners and melting different things, only we hadn’t paid attention to some of the chemicals, and let’s just say we’re more than lucky no one was injured except for my sister and me. We suffered some minor burns.”
“And that didn’t teach you to stop playing with fire?”
He set his feet on the floor, twisting his body to face her head-on. “I’m not proud of what I did next.” He’d been mortified the second the police slapped the handcuffs on his wrists, and the shame and guilt that squeezed his heart when his twin had been shoved into the back of the police car still curdled his stomach. “A few months later, right around my fifteenth birthday, my sister and I decided to light our old treehouse on fire so we could put it out.”
“At fifteen?” Kaelie asked. The two words were laced with discontent.
“We really believed we knew enough about firefighting that we could control it, like an experiment, only it didn’t happen that way, and we burned down half the forever wild area behind our house.”
“Holy shit.” She pounded her chest with her fist as she coughed. “That’s a fucking big deal.”
“Handcuffs big deal,” he admitted, rubbing his wrists, remembering the feel of cold metal digging into his skin. “My sister and I were given probation and five hundred hours of community service. We also had to go through a psych evaluation and mandatory counseling.”
“I’m assuming they decided you’re not a sociopath with a liking for arson.”
He’d laugh at her comment, only her sarcasm came off as though it were masking a truth. As if she believed he was the same boy who did a stupid thing.
“My sister and I learned a lot about ourselves during counseling and honestly, if we need to make lemonade out of this, it gave us both a passion for using our obsession for good. I love putting out fires, not starting them, except for during training.”
“I’m amazed the DA was willing to help you have your record sealed.”
“It wouldn’t have happened if my sister and I hadn’t thrived during our probation and community service. They had us working in the fire department and with EMTs. Mostly we cleaned up after them, but we developed a love and respect for the profession. If I’m being totally honest, knowing what I know today, I think I’d still set that fire. I’m the man sitting here on your sofa because I got to see what life could be like if I continued to make stupid mistakes.”
She set her glass on the table, glancing toward the ceiling, as if it had the answers he had yet to provide.
Although, he had no idea what those questions might be.
“What are you thinking?” He took a risk and laced his fingers through hers, setting their hands on his thigh.
“I need to know if we’re going to find anything else besides what you just told me.”
“As far as my record goes, that’s it.”
She snapped her gaze to his. “There’s more?”
“If you call being suspended from school for fighting, then that’s the more. I wasn’t a perfect adolescent. I had my fair share of black eyes and trips to the principal’s office.” He let out an exasperated breath. He could understand her judging him for setting a fire. Hell, he judged himself. But he’d paid his debt, and he served his country with pride and a clean record since then.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but this could potentially move you from the person of interest right to the top of the suspect list.”
“Do you honestly believe I could use a fire to kill someone in cold blood?” He yanked his hand away and abruptly stood, snagging his wineglass before it toppled to the floor.
“Did I say that? Or even imply that’s what I thought?” She glared at him. Her opaque orbs, partially covered with her eyelids, radiated the kind of hurt that fueled anger.
“No. I guess you didn’t.” He turned and stared out the window. His truck was parked across the street, right behind Duncan’s sport SUV. The kitchen light glimmered, and Duncan sat at the table with what looked like Chastity, but Buddy couldn’t be sure from this distance.
Kaelie’s tender fingers curled around his biceps. Her sweet lips brushed the back of his neck. “I can’t treat you any differently than I would if I wasn’t sleeping with you.”
He took her hands and wrapped them around his middle. “I hope you don’t hug other people on any kind of list like this.”
She laughed. Finally, the tension had been cut. Not broken, but it was better than ten minutes ago. “You mentioned you might be able to get all the pertinent information for me about your arrest?”
“I can,” he said, twisting his body so his chest was against hers and his lips so close, he could taste her vanilla lip gloss.
“Any chance you could make that call now? I want to get a jump on it before Edwin goes and says shit he shouldn’t.”
“Sure.” Before he made that phone call, he wanted to make sure she still felt the same and the only way to do that was to kiss her.
A soft moan vibrated from her mouth to his as his tongue parted her sweet lips. Her fingers dug into his back, giving his muscles a taste of what was to come.
He took her by the shoulders, stepped back, and pulled his cell from his back pocket. “Hey, Siri, call General Van Trotten, mobile.”
He tried not to smile at the wide eyes staring back, but it proved impossible. Not everyone had a general’s personal cell phone, much less the director of the department of fire protection.
He tapped the speaker so she could hear everything. He didn’t want there to be any doubt in her mind what kind of man she was sharing a bed with.
“Well, if it isn’t Buddy West. How the hell are you, son?”
“I’m doing okay, sir,” he said, swallowing the thick lump.
“I’d say you’re up a creek with a broken paddle,” the general said. “I’m sitting here staring at paperwork requested from some assistant to the new investigative officer at your fire station.”
“I know,” he admitted.
“Can you tell me why an assistant is demanding I give him your sealed information and requesting it go directly to him and not his supervisor?”
“What the hell?” Kaelie muttered, then quickly covered her mouth.
“General, meet the supervisor, Kaelie Star.”
“It’s a pleasure. I take it you don’t know of the request?” the general’s voice bellowed over the speaker.
“I was just informed, sir. My assistant said the information was on my desk, but I didn’t know he went directly to you.”
“Well, now you know,” the general said. “What would you like me to do?”
Buddy trusted his brothers, his fellow firemen like he trusted no others. But the general had his back from day one and helped make it possible for him to attend the Air Force Academy in the first place.
“Can I have a digital copy sent directly to my email?” she asked.
“Sure can. It will come with top-clearance protocol, password and encryption protection. A letter will be attached outlining under what circumstances you are allowed to divulge this information. You will have it in a couple of hours. We can’t have the reputation of one of our best men destroyed, even if he’s not with the Air Force anymore. That said, I’ve seen the evidence in the case thus far, and I understand, as I’m sure Buddy does, that you have a job to do, and you’ll do it to the best of your ability. And I’m confident that you will find the real culprit.”
“Thank you, sir,” Kaelie said.
“Anything else?”
“No, sir,” Buddy said. “I appreciate the time.”
“Anything for you, son. You saved my life. I owe you.”
The phone went dead.
“Holy shit. You’re the snot-nosed kid that pulled him from a burning ski lodge when he and his family were on vacation.”
Everyone knew the story, but no one knew who the seventeen-year-old boy had been who risked his own life to save that of a decorated general. Buddy never wanted to take credit or get a medal; all he wanted to do was continue to save lives.
The general helped him do that.