Into the Fire (7 page)

Charly nodded in sympathy. “I’m afraid
so. I just have a few questions tonight, and then I’d like to get
together with you tomorrow for a more formal interview.”

The woman leaned against the squad car
more heavily. “Ask away. I just can’t believe this happened. Was it
faulty wiring?”

Charly stiffened. Ms. Wilkins had no
idea the fire was intentional. While Charly didn’t want to be the
one to break it to the lady, she’d be interested in seeing the
woman’s reaction. “Actually, ma’am, it appears to be
arson.”

Ms. Wilkins flinched as if struck.
“That bastard...” she breathed, her pale face coloring with sudden
rage. “I’ll kill him.”

“
Who, ma’am?” Charly held
her pen poised over the notebook and kept her voice professional,
even as she felt Nate tense behind her.

“
My ex. Damon Givens. Guess
the restraining order didn’t stop him ... again.” Bitterness and
outright fury tinged her words. “He just couldn’t accept it was
over, that I was moving on without him.” Then the full force of the
situation hit her. “Jesus, if I’d been home...”

“
The man who called it in
would have found you,” Charly hastened to comfort her. “He’s an
EMT. You would have been okay.” She turned to Officer Williams.
“Can you call this in, start a whereabouts check on Damon Givens? I
don’t know if we’ve got enough for a warrant, but let’s find out
where this guy’s been.”

“
Done,” the patrolman
answered as he slid into the front seat of his car.

“
Marie, can you think of
anyone else who would want to hurt you, either physically or
through the loss of your store?”

She shook her head. “No, just Damon.
Last I heard, he was working for a car dealership down on the
riverfront. I just can’t believe it,” she muttered and returned her
gaze to the ruined shell of her business.

Charly touched the woman’s arm. “Can
Officer Williams take you to your sister’s? In the morning, I’d
like you to swing by the precinct to make a formal
statement.”

Ms. Wilkins took a fortifying breath
and turned her back to the smoldering shell. “Yes, please. I’ll be
there first thing. Thank you, Detective.”

Charly walked back to her car and
leaned against the trunk as she transposed the interview. When she
finished, Nate was patiently watching her.

“
Is it always like that?” he
gestured toward where Marie Wilkins had stood.

“
Actually, this was easier
than usual. She was much more contained than our victims usually
are.”

“
So, do you think she’s
involved?”

“
First impressions? No. She
was genuinely traumatized ... and then pissed when she found out it
was a torch. We’ll track down the ex and see what his story
is.”

“
Do you question him as
well?” True interest infused his voice, his expression.

She shrugged in response, wondering
where he was going with this. “Depends. In this case, I’ll defer to
one of the male officers. It isn’t PC, but they’ll probably get
better results since Marie has a restraining order out against him.
He probably wouldn’t take too well to a female poking at
him.”

“
Makes sense,” he replied
easily. “So, what’s next?”

“
I drop you off at my place
to pick up your truck and you head home.” When he began to protest,
she raised a hand. “You go on-shift in what, eight hours? I’ve got
at least three hours of paperwork to roll through. So don’t argue,
just get in the damned car.”

Nate stared hard at her for a long
moment, but then nodded, walked around the car and got into the
passenger seat.

Charly blew out a breath she hadn’t
realized she was holding. She needed some downtime from Nate, some
time to think and decide if she really could handle the whole
friends-with-benefits gig.

Chapter Six

CC was on Nate’s ass like white on
rice the second he walked through the ‘house’s front
door.

“
Reigniting an old flame,
Andrews?” The big man gave him a wink and nudged him none too
gently in the ribs.

“
More like talking with an
old friend,” Nate replied as he walked away. “I asked if I could
walk the scene with her, and the boss agreed. And besides, I’m
off-shift.”

“
Right,” CC chuckled, his
tone dirty. “Whatever you say, man.”

Nate didn’t dignify the man’s comment
with a response. What he’d shared with Charly last night, both
sexually and intellectually, had been awesome. At the scene, he’d
realized the depth of the new Charly. She’d been the consummate
professional in the building and with the owner, known exactly what
she was doing. Not that he expected any less, but it had still been
a revelation.

She obviously took great pride in what
she did, and she’d obviously worked hard to get where she was.
Whoever had gossiped about her sexual preferences had done it with
only one intent: to derail her career.

After observing her last night and
obsessing about her in the hours he was awake this morning, he
realized the woman she’d become was a hundred times more attractive
than the girl he remembered. As a girl, she’d been a stunner, with
a voracious hunger, both sexual and intellectual. Now, she’d taken
her intellectual voracity and applied it to a job she
loved.

He wasn’t going to fuck it up, in
their relationship or on the job.

He put CC out of his mind and
concentrated on the job, just like Charly. To that end, he beat
feet to Chief Ryan’s office, ready for an ass chewing. The Chief
didn’t disappoint, but kept his voice low after he’d closed the
door to the obvious disappointment of the firefighters gathered
around the kitchen table drinking coffee.

“
Don’t fuck with her,” his
boss settled into his chair, not offering his subordinate a
seat.

Nate stifled a smile. Didn’t the man
realize he could stand at attention for hours? “I have no intention
of fucking with her.” He kept his tone and expression calm and
respectful.

Ryan leaned back in his chair, the
hinges squeaking in protest. “I mean it, Andrews. I know the rest
of the idiots around here are totally cock-blocked at the thought
of a woman being better at their jobs than they are. That’s why
they took her personal life and made it public. I expect better of
you.”

Interesting. He knew about the rumors.
Nate wondered if he knew who had started them. “And why is that,
sir?”

“
Because you left, you
served, just like I did. In my day, women might not have held the
positions of power they do now, but they were invaluable to getting
the job done. They bring a rationale to the table we can’t even
comprehend. Detective Davis is good, damned good, and I don’t want
to see her reputation sullied even further because you want to fuck
her.”

Nate eased into parade rest and
regarded his chief. The man was deadly serious, and his speech was
probably the most words Nate had ever heard his boss string
together at once. Ryan was usually a man of few--very few--words.
And, he obviously had a paternal interest in Charly. He wondered if
Charly knew about Ryan’s protective streak. Because of the man’s
directness, Nate spoke the truth, rather than blowing the older man
off.

“
We were a couple before I
joined the service,” he replied quietly. “I want her
back.”

Ryan leaned forward and thunked his
elbows on the ancient desk. “Then do it right, Andrews. Don’t give
these guys anything more to talk about.”

“
Yes sir. Is that all, sir?”
He didn’t need or want advice from the man, but he’d be polite even
if it damn near killed him. Every moment spent here was a minute he
could be winning Charly.

From the expression on Ryan’s face, he
knew exactly what Nate was thinking. His voice took on a paternal
tone again. “Not by a damned sight, but it’ll do for now. See you
here in three days, Andrews.”

* * * *

Nate escaped the ‘house without
encountering CC again, but the other firefighters were throwing him
the same leering grins the veteran had. He didn’t say a word,
because he knew the louder he protested, the more they’d be sure he
was screwing Charly. So instead, he nodded at them and practically
ran for his truck.

He’d break through her wall of
silence, through her ridiculous “friends with benefits” idea, if it
was the last thing he did. What he’d told Chief Ryan had simply
cemented his resolve.

Nate was neither chronically stupid
nor a stalker. No, he’d seen the flash of heat in Charly’s eyes
when he’d mentioned their last night together, all those years ago.
He knew she wanted the same things he did. Okay, maybe not the
forever after part, but she definitely wanted to resume the games
they’d played. He’d work on convincing her of how much she really
meant to him through those games.

Instead of driving straight to the
precinct, though, he spent a few hours at the library downtown.
Something nagged at the back of his mind, and by the time he
finished researching the local paper and asking questions of the
oldsters gathered at the local-yokel service station, he thought he
knew what it was. The arsonist was targeting Charly.

He was positive she wouldn’t be
overjoyed to see him; last night she’d dumped him unceremoniously
at his SUV and then left to log her report and turn in the evidence
without a word. Still, he had to talk to her, to tell her his
theory.

The desk sergeant buzzed him into the
bullpen with a smile and a nod. Apparently, he had carte blanche
since he’d been cleared. Good, that would make things all the
easier, unless Charly decided she’d had enough and booted his ass
out the door, again, but this time professionally. Given how badly
she wanted to catch this torch, he doubted that would
happen.

She was sitting at her desk with her
hair pulled up a ponytail, which made his fingers itch to free it.
He longed to bend her over the industrial desk and tease her until
she begged ... after he’d bound her with her own
handcuffs.

Instead, he ordered his cock to stand
down and plopped into the chair opposite her.

She didn’t acknowledge him for a long
moment; instead she steadied a magnifying glass over the photos
she’d spread across her desk, the very same photos he’d swept away
with his hands just last night.

When she raised her head, her
expression was wary, her eyes tired. “Nate.”

He launched into his hypothesis. “Did
you ever think this might be personal, Charly? About you and not
the businesses?”

“
Why in the world would you
think that?” she asked, obviously startled, both by his sudden
appearance and by the question.

“
I don’t know; just a
feeling, I guess. I’ve been thinking this over all night. All of
these blazes have been set in your precinct, on my company’s turf.
It can’t be coincidence.”

She huffed out an irritated breath.
“Yeah, but it’s more likely the torch lives in the area. That’s the
way it usually works.”

“
I don’t
think there’s anything ‘usual’ about this guy,” Nate said slowly,
not wanting to negate her greater experience and distance her even
more. But his gut told him he was right.
This 
was
 personal, and too damned coincidental. If this guy was
willing to destroy the livelihood of the buildings’ owners, would
he stop there? Even though she shunned publicity, as Ludington’s
only female arson investigator, Charly was a favorite for the press
whenever she closed a case. She’d quite possibly made herself a
target simply by being herself.

She sighed in response to his words.
“Maybe you’re right, but I have to run this by the book. There’s no
real motive. When we catch him, we’ll need concrete evidence to go
to court, and I can’t afford going off on a tangent based upon your
‘feeling.’” She paused and looked him in the eye. “I’m not
discounting what you said, though. It’s possible, but I can’t
imagine anyone I know being twisted enough to go to these
lengths.”

“
Admirer, maybe? You are the
only female arson investigator on the force; you’re gorgeous, and
you’ve got a stellar closure record. Plus, the press loves
you.”

She smiled in response to his words
and took a sip of coffee from the cup stationed at her elbow, as if
she needed to do something with her hands. “Maybe, and I guess it’s
a possibility, but it’s something we need to look at separately, at
least until something more tangible shows up.”

Nate nodded. He was fine with what
she’d said, and understood her reasons, but it didn’t mean he
wouldn’t investigate a bit on his own. He was off for three more
days, and given the escalation of this guy’s behavior, the next
fire could be right around the corner. This whole scenario smacked
of someone who knew fires, both how they were set and how they were
extinguished, intimately. The blazes were too well set, too
“clean,” for anyone else.

“
Did you alibi the vic’s ex
from last night?” he asked. Maybe last night’s fire was unrelated
to the others.

“
Yeah, he’s clean, at least
when it comes to the torch. As for the restraining order, let’s
just say he got the shit scared out of him last night when two
uniforms showed up. He was at work, on camera the whole time.
Definitely not our perp.”