America's Bravest (22 page)

Since she was focused on the computer, he
took note of how her light brown hair had several streaks of blond
in it. He’d never noticed before, and wondered if they were natural
or done in a salon. Some flowery scent wafted up to him—very
feminine and sexy. “Hey.”

She glanced up. Her light brown eyes were
muddy with fatigue. “Hey, Ryan. Brody okay?”

“Yeah. He wanted time alone with Emma.”

“Sit.” When he did, she smiled. “You’re
staying all night, you said.”

“Look, I know it’s silly. But…” he shrugged
“…I just am.”

“Doesn’t sound silly to me.”

That wasn’t like her. “Why are you still
here?”

“I thought I’d get something to eat and then
head out.”

He noticed an empty plate on the table as he
took a bite of his sandwich. The bacon was juicy and the tomatoes
sweet. “What are you doing on the computer?”

“Our blog. It’s going great guns.”

In reaction to a series of attacks by Parker
Allen, an online reporter who had a grudge against the fire
department, the HCFD female firefighters had started their own blog
about what it was really like to be a firefighter, and had garnered
tons of followers. The blog had worked to counteract some of the
reporter’s headway into making people believe the fire and police
departments were overpaid, had too much down time and unwarranted
benefit. It galled Ryan that she was spewing that view and people
were buying it.

“I know about the blog. It’s good.” He
smiled. “Brody’s entries were great.”

“Yeah, and very popular.”

“What’s the flack from Allen today?”

“She’s majorly pissed.” A smirk flirted with
her lips which were full and sensuous. “She’s digging in her heels
more. Suggesting brown outs.”

“Damn.” A brown out was the shutdown of one
station—either police or fire—for a week. Nearby houses to the one
gone dark would take up the slack. “I hate hearing that.”

“We’re fighting the measure, but a lot of
cities are doing them.”

“They’re a very a bad idea.”

“I wonder if--”

“I thought I’d find you here.” Ryan looked up
at the battalion chief of House 7. “BC Erikson.”

“Hello, Chief.”

“Felicia. Ryan. How’s Brody?”

“Doing good,” Felicia answered. “It’s a
precaution keeping him here overnight.”

“Glad he’s okay.”

Felicia asked, “Did you come to visit
him?”

“Yeah, I’m going up soon. But one of the guys
told me you were in the cafeteria so I headed here first.”

Ryan watched her as light brown, nicely
sculpted brows, lifted. “Really, why?”

The chief shifted from one foot to the other.
“There’s been a development in the case.”

Ryan tensed. “What do you mean
case
?”

“Eve Callahan declared the fire at the
library incendiary.”

“Arson?” Felicia breathed out.

“Son of a bitch!” This from Ryan. “Somebody
hurt my brother on
purpose
?”

“Yeah. There’s more and Licia, this concerns
you. You know Captain Callahan’s partner had a heart attack last
week.”

“I heard in a briefing he’s out for a
while.”

“Eve’s on top of this, of course. She’s the
best arson investigator we’ve ever had, given her backgrounds at
the state investigative bureau. She has two assistants working with
her but they’re handling the leg work.”

Felicia frowned. “I hope you’re not going
where I think you are, Cal.”

“I am. She wants you to help out.”

Ryan watched as her friendly façade
disappeared. “I made it clear that I’m not interested in working in
the arson division.”

“You’re a certified arson investigator. Hell,
you helped write the official guide that came out of the University
of Florida in the 90’s.”

“I was a student then.”

“Still, we know you had input, not to mention
you’re trained and did your arson internship in the HCFD. Eve
specifically asked for you.”

Ryan knew Eve Woodward Callahan from when she
came to Hidden Cove to investigate the fire chief and not only
proved his innocence but fell in love with him. They got hitched
and even had a kid.

Erickson nodded to the computer. “With Allen
taking on our budget, we can’t afford to hire someone else.”

Fascinated, Ryan wondered what she’d do. She
had a rep of being pretty by-the-book, something he was not, so he
bet she’d go along.

“All right. But please, Chief, just this one
case.”

“I promise. This one time. Head on over to
the library now. Eve’s still there.”

Cal made pleasantries then left.

“You really don’t want to do this?” Ryan
asked as she closed down her computer.

“I found arson work intellectually
challenging. But I missed the buzz of fighting fires.
Investigation’s not for me.”

“I know. I feel that way about rising in the
ranks of the police department. I didn’t want to go off the
streets. Besides, the special assignments are great.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

“Why’d you agree to do help Eve?”

“I believe in pitching in.” She stretched her
arms over her head. Her shirt pulled up revealing a patch of skin
and Ryan did a double take. He recalled seeing her with Derek
Dennison the night of the gala. She looked hot all dressed up,
wearing something gold and shimmery. And clingy. After that, he’d
had a couple of dreams about her that he forgot about until right
now.

“But mostly, it’s because of Brody,” Felicia
continued. “I’m pissed as hell that he was hurt by an
arsonist.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” Ryan’s phone
rang, the tone indicating it was his Captain. “I gotta take this.
It’s my boss. He’s probably calling about the time off I requested.
Hey, Cap. What’s up?”

“Hi, Ryan. I have another special assignment
for you.”

“I, um, told you I need a week off.”

“Yeah, but you’re gonna want to do this.
You’ve been requested by Eve Callahan to be the police liaison for
the arson where your brother got hurt.”

“Ah. I’m with Felicia White and she’s been
summoned too.”

She looked up quickly from the computer case
she’d been zipping up.

“I see. This okay with you?”

“Yeah, sure. I need tomorrow with Brody,
though.”

“I guess it would be okay if you go over to
the library now. Eve wants to see you both tonight.”

“All right.” Emma could stay with Brody so he
guessed it was okay to leave his twin for a few hours. Besides he
really wanted to catch whoever put Brody in the hospital.

When he clicked off, Felicia frowned. “You
too?”

“Yeah. I’ve had experience, like you, with
arson investigations.”

“I’m surprised he asked you.”

“Don’t think I can handle the job,
Lieutenant?”

“It’s not that. But you’re personally
involved.”

“So are you.”

“Maybe. Anyway, it’s a
fait
accompli
.”

“Yeah, looks like we’re going to be working
together.”

Her face gave away nothing. He sensed she
didn’t like him and from a few things Brody let slip, he had reason
to believe it was true. And she always razzed him about women and
his
playboy
status. But that was okay. He didn’t much like
her either. He preferred his women blond, built and beautiful. The
lieutenant was brown haired, slender, ordinary looking and cold.
Not his type.

Well, except in those few dreams he’d had of
her after the gala.

oOo

Felicia entered the charred building with
Ryan O’Malley at her side. He was bigger than she realized, and he
had a…male presence that made her jittery. She stepped a bit
away.

“Ick. It smells like shit in here.”

“Lay people have no idea how much a fire
stinks.”

The space was still dark, but in the back
where the explosion went off, huge lights had been set up for
Captain Callahan’s study of the site. Stepping over wet books,
fallen shelves and displaced furniture, they made their way across
the room.

Eve pivoted when they reached her. Dressed in
a jacket which read, Anderson County Fire Investigation on the
back, she looked healthy and rested even at this time of night.
“Hi, Felicia. Thanks for coming on board.”

“You’re welcome. I want to help.”

“You must be Ryan O’Malley. You look like
your brother.”

“Twins.”

“I know. I got a twin, too.” Her smile was
golden, despite the gravity of the situation. “So,” she said
checking her notes. “Let’s get started. I have people following up
on who called in the fire, insurance information, cars in the
lot—which weren’t many as the library closed at five today--and my
people have interviewed witnesses.” She smiled at Felicia. “Your
group, except for you, Felicia. We’ll do that before you
leave.”

“You’ve gotten a lot accomplished. So what do
we do?”

“Because you’re both experienced, I want you
to collect the evidence from the scene. The burn pattern suggests
the fire started forty feet away from where Rescue 7 was working in
one of the stacks.”

Felicia frowned. “What about the
explosion?”

Eve shook her head. “Several stacks of books
were doused with gasoline and once the fire started spreading they
caught on fire. One of them exploded.”

“Fuck!” Felicia said.

“I know. Very intentional. They wanted
firefighters to get hurt. Come on,” she said leading the way. “The
point of origin of the blaze is over here. Photograph everything
then take some of the containers from my vehicle and put the
evidence in them.”

The evidence consisted of dirty rags doused
in gasoline, a gasoline can left behind but no ignition
devices.

“He wasn’t very subtle, was he?” Ryan
asked.

“Nope. It’s like the torch wanted us to know
what he did. And though most arsonists are men, we can’t rule out a
woman.”

“Why the library?” Ryan asked. “Somebody got
her card yanked and is pissed off?”

Eve smiled but Felicia didn’t think Ryan
O’Malley was funny. For some reason, being around him now was
irritating her.

“As you know, there are several reasons for
arson and we can’t dismiss any of them yet. The mechanism used is
simple so it might indicate a juvenile.” The group which set the
most incendiary fires. Other motives were vandalism, insurance
fraud, revenge, and to cover up a crime.

“My money’s on a female. They tend to buy
books more.”

Felicia turned to him. “Do you know that for
a fact, Sergeant?”

His gaze narrowed on her. “I do. I’ve read a
lot of the stats on books published and readership because I dated
a female author once.”

“Of course you did.”

“Maybe a woman has revenge issues toward the
library because of a man who works there.” Felicia’s tone was
challenging.

Eve coughed. “In any case, let’s get the
evidence. Will it insult you if I tell you to make sure everything
is labeled clearly so the lab can identify it and to be careful
that every piece of it is uncontaminated? I’ll take care of the
chain of custody.” So she could testify the results hadn’t been
tampered with.

Both Ryan and Felicia smiled at Eve’s cunning
in transmitting elementary procedure.

They worked pretty much in silence; when they
finished, they had several pieces of physical evidence: a variety
rags, the gas container and smaller cans that probably held more
accelerant. Then they took photos of where the perpetrator
entered—wood splinters were found on a window which had been left
ajar. They also took pictures of the footprints outside. They
determined the depths of charred items, tracked and documented the
flow and damage patterns.

It was three a.m. when they finished.

Eve sighed. “Good job, guys. I’d like to
interview you now, Felicia, so Ryan, you can go home.” She checked
her watch. “Get some sleep and we’ll meet at noon to determine
what’s next.”

“I have a request.” Ryan had turned serious.
“I know it’s not protocol, but can we meet at my house? I share a
duplex with Brody, and even though Emma will be there taking care
of him after he comes home from the hospital, I’d feel better if I
was next door.”

“Fine by me,” Eve said easily. “I’d do the
same for Ian.”

“I guess.” Felicia didn’t particularly like
the idea of visiting Ryan O’Malley’s house. It was probably some
bachelor pad, all chrome and glass and fur rugs in front of a
fireplace.

“Great, thanks.” Ryan nodded to Eve. “See you
later, Captain.” He touched Felicia’s arm and she stiffened.
“Lieutenant.”

Felicia tried to mask her feelings of
dislike.

When he left, Eve faced her. “What’s going on
with you and O’Malley? Are you…hooked up?”

“God, no, why would you think that?”

“There’s an odd kind of tension between you.
Pardon the pun, but you set off sparks on each other.”

Felicia shrugged, weariness settling in her
shoulders. “Not that kind. All right, I don’t like the guy. He’s
cocky, he’s a player and he’s stubborn.”

“Which bothers you the most?”

“Mostly his treatment of women as notches on
his belt.” She frowned. “Jesus, I can’t believe we’re talking about
this.”

Eve shrugged. “I’m only concerned if it’s
going to hinder the investigation.”

“No, it’ll probably keep us sharper.”

“All right, that’s what I need to hear.” She
grinned. “But off the record, I think he’s super hot. And don’t
tell Noah I said that.”

Felicia laughed and they started out. They
met up with Engine 4 firefighters entering the front of the
library. Ed Snyder, a lieutenant on the group, spoke to them.
“Captain, we’re here for the shitty job of salvage and overhaul.”
That meant they’d clean up the scene. Ordinarily, the trucks called
in initially would check in the walls to make sure the fire was out
and remove the debris, but Quint 7 had gone back the house. Salvage
and overhaul was also usually done right after any fire was doused,
too, but in the case of arson suspicion, they’d waited and called
in the night shift from House 4.