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“What about my car?”
“Leave it. You won’t be able to get it past the fire trucks.”
Scarlett ran toward her mailbox as the first fire truck careened to a stop. It backed up and then rolled up the access road, stirring up the gravel and breaking branches as it squeezed through.
Jim pushed his bike up the road, and Scarlett followed him. A second fire engine rolled onto the scene, followed by a cop car.
Deputy Stevens jumped from the car almost before he parked it.
“Everyone okay? Ambulance on the way.”
Jim squeezed the back of Scarlett’s neck. “How’s your breathing, Scarlett?”
She coughed. “It’s been better.”
“I’m fine. EMTs should see to her first.”
Scarlett pointed to his arm. “You got burned.”
“It’s nothing. Just a few embers hit me. You?”
She brushed her hand down her bare leg below her knee. “Same. Feels like a few hot spots, but nothing major.”
“We’ll let the EMTs decide that.” Stevens jerked his chin toward the oncoming ambulance.
Jim asked, “Is Sheriff Musgrove coming?”
Stevens shook his head. “The sheriff’s out of town today—on business. Let’s get Scarlett to the ambulance.”
Taking Scarlett’s hand, Jim led her to the ambulance and waved at the EMT exiting the vehicle. “She needs assistance. Possible smoke inhalation and burns.”
The EMT opened the back of the ambulance. “Anyone else injured?”
“No.”
Scarlett tugged on his shirt. “Check him out, too.”
“Have a seat, ma’am.”
Scarlett sat inside the van on the edge, while the other EMT pulled out some equipment.
Jim eyed Scarlett’s flimsy T-shirt, now soaking wet from the towels. “Can you get her a blanket?”
Once Scarlett had a blanket draped around her shoulders, Jim touched her knee. “Are you okay here? I’m going to have a look at the fire.”
“Go. Let me know if it reached the cabin. All my work is in there.”
As Jim loped back to the fire engines, he tilted his head back. A helicopter had swooped into the area and dumped its flame retardant material onto the tree line behind Scarlett’s cabin. They wouldn’t want this fire to spread to the rest of the forest.
He approached the firefighter giving orders. “How’s it going? Is the residence safe?”
The fireman tipped back his helmet. “Cabin is safe. We have the fire mostly contained in the front here and the helicopter should take care of the back. We’ll be here for another few hours, though, and investigators are going to want to come in the morning. Do you live in the cabin?”
“My friend does—the woman.”
“Is she okay?”
“Getting treatment now.”
“She should find another place to bunk tonight—or at least for the rest of the morning. She’s not getting back inside for the time being.”
“She can stay at my place down the road. Do you need us for anything?”
“You can leave.” He pointed to Deputy Stevens standing by his patrol car. “Check with the deputy over there so he can get your name and number. The investigators will want to talk to you tomorrow.”
Jim dipped his head and waited until Stevens got off the phone. “I’m going to take Scarlett to my cabin. She doesn’t have her phone or anything, so you can send the arson investigators to me tomorrow when they want to talk to her.”
“Arson?” Stevens pocketed his phone. “Who said anything about arson?”
“I just did. Did you see that fire? It didn’t hop over from the forest. It didn’t start on one side of the cabin and burn in a line. Somebody set fire along the line of trees ringing Scarlett’s cabin. I don’t know if that person wanted this to look like a natural occurrence, but he failed.”
“If that’s true, the investigators will figure it out.” Stevens jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Is Scarlett okay?”
“I’m gonna go find out right now.”
Scarlett hopped off the back of the ambulance when he approached, tugging the blanket around her body. “Did my cabin burn?”
