21. Level Of Coziness
LEVEL OF COZINESS
At two the next afternoon, Skye pushed back from her desk, finished with her work for the day. Thankfully, she was given an extra day to finish what she thought would be done yesterday.
She swung her purse over her shoulder and walked out of her apartment to head to the store for food and some kind of idea of what to cook tonight when Ash came to dinner.
They had to talk. She had to explain a little of what was going through her mind and what happened with Brenna.
How to bring up the fact that knowing he was battling the fire scared her more than anything now.
Until she saw him.
How steady he was at his job. How focused. How ready to take control.
Again, not the Ash she remembered from school, reminding her that maybe she didn’t know the guy so well.
And as much as she liked to form her own opinions of things, she didn’t like surprises either.
Just like Steve, one of her father’s friends called her name in the crowd. She’d been surprised to hear it, didn’t recognize him either until he introduced himself.
He’d asked how she was doing, then noticed she was the one writing the articles, knew that she’d gone with the Lancasters back then.
None of her parents’ friends had kept in contact with her. She didn’t think anyone even cared, so Steve calling her name had come as a shock.
She was polite, he wanted her number, said that his wife, Jill, would love to see her again. She didn’t remember Jill either, but then wondered if maybe they’d be someone else she could ask about the fire back then.
She’d handed over her card with her email, which was all she was willing to do, and then got back to the reason she was there.
Her phone buzzed when she was walking through the meat section and looking at steaks.
She pulled it out to see the text from Sean.
He was Sean Murphy to her now. Not really her brother.
Not how she thought of the four Lancaster boys.
It was sad, but it was as she’d told Brenna, these fires weren’t triggering anything.
Nor was seeing the man who she should be close to.
Her biological brother who’d wiped his hands of her years ago. But maybe there was hope yet for them. Even a glimmer.
They’d only texted one other time and that was her reaching out. This time he took the first step to see how she was doing.
She smiled over that simple question.
Good. How about you?
She put the phone back. One thing she learned, watching it and waiting for his reply never seemed to make it happen. And if he did reply back now, she might not return it right away.
But he did and she pulled it out to just check, stunned to see that his girlfriend wanted to meet her, asked if she’d be willing to have dinner out one night.
Not his place and that was fine.
She wasn’t so sure she was ready for that level of coziness.
She didn’t reply though. Saying yes right away might seem as if she was desperate.
But him replying right away could come off the same way.
Shouldn’t she just say yes?
“Excuse me.”
She turned and realized she was blocking the section while she stared at her phone.
“Sorry,” she mumbled and just quickly replied she’d love it and let her know a good time.
When her phone was back in her purse and she didn’t feel it vibrating again, she assumed it’d be days before Sean got back in touch.
She found the steak that looked the best, snatched it quickly and finished shopping, then cashed out and went home.
Two hours later she was peeling potatoes to soak in water and get the starch out of them before she put them in the air fryer when her computer dinged four times.
Lots of emails coming in now it seemed.
Four more times it went off before she even got there.
What the heck was going on?
She wiped her hands on the towel and walked the few steps to see what was happening.
She knew her article from last night hadn’t been bought.
They didn’t think it was that big of a deal and most likely just a homeless person starting it.
They could get that from the police blotter and she didn’t bother to follow up with her brother once she left.
She didn’t have the time and she did have to prioritize things.
See, she was listening to everyone.
She scanned the unread emails, saw three of them in a row from her boss, nothing new there and not a big deal. Then two useless updates. That was only five.
She toggled over to her personal email and saw the other three there.
The one she paid for for her articles fed into her personal account now so she didn’t have to open up too many tabs. The one from Fire Man caught her eye.
She didn’t hesitate to open it even when she’d been told not to do that.
Guess she forgot.
What did you think of that last night? A little different from before, but just as exciting. Too bad it didn’t go the way I planned. Next time, it will.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
She was hopping in place and clenching her fists. She knew she shouldn’t have opened her email first.
Tate was going to kill her.
But the first thing she did was call him.
“What’s going on, Skye?”
“I got another email.”
“I’ll let them know and sit tight.”
“I opened it.”
“Skye!” Tate snapped. “What did they tell you?”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” Or maybe she was and curiosity got the better of her. “But they were able to track it last time after I did it.”
“What did it say?”
She looked at her screen and read it exactly. “I wonder if they even thought he did that last night.”
“I heard it was accidental. Someone in the crowd last night admitted they saw how it started.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” she said.
“It wasn’t for me to tell you. They gave their statement. It was after you left.”
And she didn’t follow up with him.
“If they even had a clear head,” she scoffed.
“Good point. Bring your laptop back down right now.”
She groaned. “I have plans tonight.”
“With Ash?” Tate asked. He could have snapped, but he didn’t.
That was something at least.
“Why does it matter?”
“Because Corbin was acting funny earlier when I talked to him. Like he knows something might be going on and isn’t saying. I’m taking a guess and I expect you not to lie to me.”
If she did it’d only be worse.
What was the use when she’d admitted to Ash that she went to keep an eye on him.
She knew damn well it was going to be a conversation they’d have tonight also.
But now she’d have to cancel on him because she opened this damn email.
Or more like the person had to get her involved somehow.
“Yes. I’m having dinner with Ash. Or I want to, but now I can’t.”
“I’ll come get your computer if you want.”
“Then I’d have to give you my password and I’m not doing that. Ash should be here in twenty minutes, can he go with me?”
“Sure,” Tate said. “I don’t see any reason he can’t and the fire chief has to be brought in. Skye, I better not see your ass at any other fires. Do you hear me?”
“Do you really think it’s going to stop this guy if I don’t show up now?”
Tate sighed. “I don’t know. It’s not my call, but now the detective on the case is going to get involved too so I’ve got a few calls to make. Thanks for that.”
He hung up on her.
It wasn’t as if it was her fault.
She stared at her phone and back to the message on her computer.
Ugh, she wanted to reply back but couldn’t.
She’d follow orders this time.
But she did snap a picture of it and sent it to Ash saying she needed to go to the police department if he wanted to go with her.
The phone rang in her hand. “I’m on my way now. I was just sitting around waiting.”
“I’ll be outside when you get here.”
She looked around her kitchen, made sure there wasn’t anything that could go bad on the counter and ruin her dinner, then shut the lid on her laptop, put sneakers on her feet and grabbed her jacket.
When she was opening the door to leave the building, Ash was pulling in, so she went right to his truck and climbed in before he could park.
“Why did you open it?”
“Because I’m an idiot.”
“Don’t be cute,” he said.
“Sorry. I was distracted with preparing dinner and just opened it before I could stop myself.”
“What did Tate say?”
“He’s not happy, but they traced it last time. They know it’s a burner, so I doubt they are going to get much again unless it’s still on.”
“We’ll find out.”
“Last I heard they are trying to find out who bought the phone, but that takes more time.”
“And is difficult if the person paid cash and it was in a place with no cameras.”
“Around here, I bet that is more likely.”
“Yep,” he said.
She hated the silence on the short drive. “You’re pissed at me.”
“I’m not happy. I wasn’t last night when I saw you, then it helped some, or eased some, when you said why you were there. I didn’t see your story so I can’t blame it on that. But I did see you talking to someone who didn’t look homeless. Who was it?”
“Believe it or not, one of my father’s old friends. He lived around the corner, saw the fire and came out to see what was going on. I didn’t recognize him, but he did me, then said he realized it was me writing the articles.”
“You don’t think that is odd?” he asked, a frown on his face.
“Not really. I mean, I remember him, but didn’t recognize him. He’s still married to Jill, who, thinking back, she’d been friends with my mother. Anyway, they wanted to talk sometime. I think maybe it’d be nice to see if they remember anything, so I gave him my card.”
“Do you normally do that, give your information out to strangers?”
She held her tongue from lashing out. “He’s not a stranger. And all I did was give him my card with my work email on it. Nothing more. I might never hear anything and don’t really care one way or another.”
“Fine,” he said. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get you worked up.”
“I’m not. I’m being careful, but I still have to live my life.
And the article I wrote didn’t get bought.
I didn’t think it would. Not that big a deal and wasn’t why I went.
I dropped the ball and didn’t follow up with Tate.
I didn’t even know someone said they saw who let the fire get out of control.
” Because she was too focused on Steve approaching her.
“That wasn’t in the article.”
“Tate told me that someone gave a statement last night. My guess is they are looking into it.”
“I wouldn’t know that,” he said. “I got up a few hours ago and it’s not something shared with most of the guys.”
“Yeah, well, I had nothing juicy enough and didn’t think I would have. I told you that isn’t why I went.”
He pulled into the police department and parked, they got out without him saying another word.
She’d have to hope he calmed some before they got back to her place.
The last thing she wanted to do was spend time around a grumpy bear.
He opened the door for her to walk in. They were waiting for her at the window and buzzed her in, Tate standing there with his hand out for her laptop.
Skye, Ash, and Tate walked back to the office she was in before, her laptop was lifted and she reached over to type in the password.
The minute she did, her email was dinging again. Three times, but only one was in her personal account.
Fire Man again.
There, they’d see she didn’t open it.
And it came in right now, and they were scrambling to trace it.
“Shit,” the officer said. “He must be using another phone because the other one is offline.”
“Or he shut it off after he sent it.”
“We’ll see,” the officer said, then clicked the email for them all to read: Your story wasn’t printed. I guess I’ve got to work harder, or maybe you do. But we’ll make a great team.
She closed her eyes.
“There goes you staying out of it,” Tate said and swore the same time Ash did.