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Awesome.
“Can you shut the door please?” Bob asked quietly and Reid complied before facing the two of them. “Have a seat, Reid.”
So he did, feeling more nervous than he ever had in his life.
And he ran into burning buildings for a living.
“Reid, you were off the day of the fire at Lavish Locks. Is that correct?” Dennis Rowe asked, his voice was pure official business.
“Yes, sir. That is correct.”
“And what were you doing during the time leading up to the fire?”
“Having lunch with my girlfriend, Ashlynn Donovan,” he replied. “We were in my truck heading up to the ski resort when we saw the trucks heading out, but at the time, we didn’t know where the fire was.”
“We’ve had reports that you called dispatch,” the chief said as he read something off his tablet. When he looked up, he was frowning. “It seems like an odd thing to do considering you had only been with the squad for less than two weeks.”
Swallowing hard, he nodded. “I can see why you would think that, but the truth is that I had a moment of FOMO.”
Dennis leaned forward slightly. “FOMO?”
Reid nodded again. “Fear of missing out. Up until that point, we’d just been doing inspections on buildings and I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t on the call.”
“Disappointed enough to start a fire so you could see some action?” the inspector asked, his voice raising on every word.
“What? No! No, that’s not it at all! Honestly, I called dispatch in case the team was going to need extra hands!”
The room got quiet and it felt like forever before anyone spoke.
“You realize this doesn’t make you look good, Reid. You or Ashlynn,” Bob said quietly. “In light of this…new information, we’re going to put you on paid leave.”
“Excuse me?” he asked in total disbelief.
“I’m sorry, but…this is an ongoing investigation and your actions on the day of the fire have raised a few questions. So effective immediately, you’re on leave.”
Rage began to build, but he refused to let it show and put himself at even more risk.
“For how long?” he asked stiffly.
“We can’t say,” Bob told him. “Expect at least a week and hopefully by then we’ll have the case wrapped up.”
“I see.”
“Look, Reid, you have to know that no one wanted it to come to this. You and I talked about this a few weeks ago, but you never mentioned calling dispatch. That’s highly irregular behavior.”
No one knew about that call other than him, Ashlynn, and the dispatcher. What he didn’t know was why this would all come out now?
Both men were looking at him expectantly and he realized they were waiting for him to go.
On his feet, he gave them a curt nod. “Thank you for taking the time to talk to me and I’m confident this is all going to be cleared up soon.”
“I am too, Reid,” Bob said as he stood and shook his hand. “We’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as he stepped out of the office, Reid put his head down and made sure he didn’t make eye contact with anyone.
Especially Keith.
