Chapter 16 #2
It was startlingly clear that Chuck wasn't going to let her help his dad. Whether it was because he didn't care, or he didn't understand she didn't know.
She had a feeling that things were only going to get worse, she just couldn't try to reason with him any longer.
The next few moments were all she really had to work with.
She had to do something.
What? She didn't really know.
Looking around the room as he ran his hands restlessly over her body, Kay tried to look for a light in the darkness that was surrounding her. She needed a way out.
That's when she saw it.
A few words in white against a bright red background that gave her the tiniest sliver of hope.
She shifted against Chuck and as soon as she had a little room, she lifted her knee and made a solid hit between his legs.
He dropped to the ground, almost bringing her down under him, but she pushed at him and turned, praying that her legs would hold her up as she ran for the wall.
She got there a moment later and reached out her hand, pulling the handle down on the FIRE ALARM.
A moment later, an ear-splitting flare of sound rent the air three times.
"The fire alarm?" Chuck yelled at her. "You bitch!"
She was by the door, and she could leave, but her gaze fell on Charles.
They were just finishing the overhaul on the house fire when Jake Rafferty showed up with another detective, Walker Ashley in tow.
"Braun!"
Gibson turned around and took off his helmet, dragging the back of his hand over his forehead. "Jake. Walker." He saw the way the men walked directly toward him, their expressions tight.
This wasn't a social call.
He took a few steps closer and met them at the sidewalk.
Gibson turned his free hand over, showing them his palm. "Sorry, I can't shake..."
Jacob held up his hands. "I get it. You keep all that dirt and soot to yourself."
Gibson nodded.
Walker lifted his chin in greeting. "Any word on the fire? Cause? Victims?"
Gibson nodded. He heard something in Walker's words. Something that sounded flat in his last word. He didn't like the thought of someone dead in the fire. It was something that they both shared. As a firefighter, and as a human, Gibson hated to find bodies in fires.
When they did find them, he hoped that they passed peacefully before the fire engulfed them.
There was nothing good about dying in a fire.
"We went through the whole place, even into the basement as part of the overhaul. No bodies. It was clear."
Jacob let out a breath and gave him a half smile. "Good. That's really good." He turned his head and looked over the property which had once been the home of a family. "I can't imagine what it would be like to come home to this when you'd left an actual home less than a day before."
"We've also found at least three points of origin for the fire."
"Arson, then." Jacob had been to enough fires to know.
"That's right. I've already sent images to the arson investigator for CCFD.
They'll come out and check our findings and make the official determination in the morning when they can see everything in the light of day.
" He gestured to the police cruiser pulling in. "There's our security for the night."
The officer stepped out of the cruiser and Jacob lifted a hand in greeting.
Walker called out to his sister and her partner. "Who the fuck did you two piss off to get this duty?"
Pilar's partner offered a single finger salute hidden from others by his taller figure.
Walker nodded. "Nice, man. Really classy."
Jacob reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper. "We came by to tell you whose house just burned down."
Gibson leaned back and turned his gaze toward the paper in his hand.
"Charles Franklin." Jacob read out the information. "He owns Smokey's BBQ."
Gibson frowned at his friend. "That's the place Kay orders from."
Walker lifted a knowing eyebrow and looked at Jacob. "I've been wanting to go there and try the ribs. You want to go with me and make the notification?"
Gibson hesitated before he spoke, but the instant they started to walk away from the sidewalk, he called out to them. "Be careful when you get there."
Walker turned around first. "You know something we don't?"
Gibson wanted to say something nicer, but he couldn't help but wonder if his gut feeling was something they needed to know.
"When I first started seeing Kay, I called for a food delivery from Smokey's and it was delivered by the owner’s son, Chuck."
He tried to keep the distaste out of his voice, but given the curious look on the detectives' faces he hadn't done a good job.
"It wasn't anything he really said outright but it was the way he talked to Kay.
I got the feeling he was kind of... I don't know how to describe it.
.. he's distant? And kind of childlike in some ways. "
"Chuck Franklin?"
Jacob's expression changed. "There's something about that name.
.." He opened his phone and brushed a fingertip over his screen a few times before he lifted his phone to his ear.
"Molly?" He almost hid the smile that touched his lips talking to the woman on the other end of the call.
"That address you looked up for me? Yes, the fire.
Is there a Chuck Franklin listed there as a resident? "
Gibson felt something twist in his gut.
A moment later, a call came over his radio.
"Gibson? This is Irish at the 911 Call Center. Is your truck done with overhaul on that house fire?"
Gibson lifted the radio mic toward his mouth. "Yeah, Irish. We're done."
"We just got an alarm from Smokey's BBQ. You guys are the closest."
Gibson looked up and caught Jacob looking back at him.
The look in his friend's eye was enough for Gibson to start running as he answered Irish. "We're going!"
As the ladder truck pulled into the parking lot, Gibson felt his heart stop. "That's-"
Jacob's voice blared over the radio. "That's Kay's car, Braun."
Fire flared in the window and Gibson could see smoke coming out of the roof.
"Truck Forty-two, this is officially a fire call! Let's go through the front door and given that it’s a restaurant fire, this could involve gas or grease so use dry chemical suppression to knock this fire down!"
The whole crew filed out of the ladder truck and headed for the front door.
Pits ran up beside Braun with his Halligan in his hands. "Lieutenant? You want me to take her down?"
Gibson nodded. "Do it!"
Pits stopped just short of the front door and tried the knob.
Nope.
Locked tight.
Taking the Halligan in both hands, Pits turned his shoulder to the door and with a powerful twist of his body he hit the door and it burst open, swinging in on its hinges until it hit the inside wall.
"Down!"
Gibson knocked Pits sideways as a ball of fire exploded out of the doorway.
As soon he knew they were clear, he reached down and spoke into his radio. "Knock it down, men.
Pits looked up at Gibson, his face a grim mask. "Thanks, Lieutenant."
"I should have seen that coming." Gibson got up on his knees and held out a hand.
Pits took it and they both got up, keeping an eye on the windows over their heads.
"You can't anticipate everything, Braun. But I'd go with your gut over anything else."
"Come on, man. Let's get out of the way."
Pits followed him off to the side and the others reported back. Russell called in first. "Webb here, Lieutenant. The door in the back is locked. I shook it and it jingled. I think it's chained shut."
Chained shut.
"Got it."
Gibson couldn't help but clench his fists.
If someone had gone to the trouble of locking the back door, they didn't want anyone to get out or in.
Mats came next. "I know you know this, Braun, but that car is definitely Doctor Hata's. It has the parking sticker from Cole Medical Center on the front and back windows."
"Yeah." He wasn't sure if his voice was working, his heart barely was. "Got it."
The radio crackled. "Irish here, Lieutenant."
Gibson lifted his radio microphone again. "Yes?"
"I sent a cruiser to the Doctor's house. She's not home. I was hoping she caught a ride, sir. Left her car there because it wasn't working."
"Thanks, Irish. I-"
A truck pulled up along the side wall.
"That's the Engine from House Ten, sir. They'll help you put the fire out sooner."
“Tell them it’s likely there’s gas or grease involved.” Gibson blinked back tears.
“Ah,” Irish piped back in. “So dry chemical?”
Of course she’d know. Being married to a firefighter she probably knew better than most.
And he'd never felt so fucking useless before. "Thanks."
"You want me to send another? Vitalia's truck is finishing a medical call nearby."
"Send them our way if you can. I... I-"
"Got it, sir. Irish out."
The crunch of tires on the loose gravel of the driveway turned his head and he saw Ambo Nineteen pulled in with Sixty-five coming in beside it.
Two ambulances.
Irish was thinking on the positive side.
He knew there was a reason why he liked her so much.
Harmony was the first one out of Ambo Nineteen with her partner, Vega, right behind her.
Pits clapped him on the shoulder. "You want me to fill them in?"
Gibson nodded and Pits headed for the EMTs.
Mats called out from the front window. "Fire in the front is out!"
"I'm going in!"
Gibson made it through the front door with Mats just a step behind him.
"I'll start in the kitchen!"
"Do it!" Gibson knew that he could be heard over the hose through their radios, but he knew that he was the edge.
Gibson stepped into the kitchen area, the floor switching from a large black and white checkerboard floor to a dull grey cement.
What he saw made him cringe, but he didn't have time to worry about it.
He called out what he saw.
"Body!"
"Fuck!"
He didn't know who'd said the word, but he understood it.
Moving toward the still form outside of a heavy metal door, Gibson crouched down to look for signs of life.
There was none.
The man who'd been caught in the fire had died.