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She was so happy that she was trembling. “Okay, let me talk to Billie and I’m guessing we’ll be in sometime tomorrow. Is that okay?”
“That’s fine. And Ashlynn?”
“Yes?”
“Congratulations. I’m looking forward to being one of your first clients at the new salon.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Thank you.”
She hung up and immediately clicked back over to Billie. “We’re opening a salon!”
Across town, Reid was doing some basic maintenance on the engine truck. Most of the squad had been scattered all over town and it had only been him and Dane Campbell holding down the fort. So when their captain walked in at four, Reid was anxious to get up to speed on what was going on. He caught up with Bob in the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
“You look beat, Captain. Everything okay?”
Bob let out a weary sigh. “I take it you heard about the fire over at Lavish Locks.”
He nodded. “I did. We saw the trucks leaving on our way out of town. So what's the story? What happened?”
“It's hard to say right now. It seems like an electrical fire but there was an inspection on the building not that long ago. If the electrical was in bad enough shape that it would cause a fire, somebody would have caught that sooner.”
“True, but…sometimes things like this happen. Something gets missed and it’s just human error.” He paused. “Was anybody in the building when the fire started?”
“No. No one was there, thankfully. They had no customers and Becky said they were closed.”
“Well that's a good thing because with a fire like that, someone was bound to get hurt.”
“Yup.” He grew silent for a moment before he looked up with a stern look. “Becky’s crying foul on the whole thing.”
“Why?”
“She claims a former employee had it in for her and that we should get the fire inspector involved.”
“Wait…seriously? But you just said it was an electrical thing.”
“It can be both, Reid.” He paused again. “You’re dating Ashlynn Donovan, aren’t you?”
Uh-oh…he was starting to see where this was going.
“I am.”
“Well, she’s the one Becky’s pointing the finger at.”
“No. Absolutely not. Ashlynn was with me when we saw the trucks heading out, Captain. And she was having lunch with me in the hour before it.” He shook his head adamantly. “I’m telling you, she’s wrong. There’s no way Ashlynn’s involved.”
“I hope not,” Bob said solemnly. “The fire could have been started long before we got there. You and I both know that. Anyone with knowledge on that sort of thing wouldn’t have a hard time rigging a slow burn.”
“Captain, come on. Be serious! I can tell you with great certainty that Ashlynn isn’t capable of this!” His mind was spinning. “You know her! You know her family!”
“And I know that she’s been publicly fighting with Becky since she got fired. It’s a damn strong motive.”
He wanted to stand and flip the table and yell until Bob took it all back. But that certainly wouldn’t help anything and would probably make things worse for Ashlynn. So he took a minute to calm down before saying anything.
“So what happens now?”
“The fire inspector’s coming out tomorrow to look over the building and we’ll take it from there.” Shifting on his feet, he paused. “You should probably talk with him since you’re certified as an inspector, and I’m guessing that’s your end goal, right?”
He nodded.
