A week later and the cops haven’t found the guy who claimed to be Eddie. The address he provided led to a grocery store, and when they followed up with the store manager, they’d never heard of or seen the guy.
As a precaution, Bryn’s been staying in the main house with Ruby. Who said exactly as Bryn said she would. A little scare would only help keep her young—plus she has plenty of fire extinguishers in the house and knows how to get more.
A hand holding a water bottle hits my chest, and I glance to my right to find Brody standing there. Taking the bottle, I give him a nod of thanks, unscrewing the cap and slamming half of it in a couple of gulps. Water should have been the first thing I went to get after getting a moment to breathe.
“Don’t think he’s here,” Brody says under his breath, careful not to let anyone else hear.
Not that it matters. We’ve all been outfitted with body cameras so the cops can go through the footage to see if the guy showsup anywhere while we work. It was probably the only thing that kept me sane enough to listen to Nate’s direction.
“Maybe.”
Just because we can’t see him, doesn’t mean he isn’t here.
Then again, this might not even be him. If it was, it’s a distinct escalation from the fires he’s set in the past. He escalated from vegetation to the shed, but going after a house is something different entirely.
The message on my latest social media post, though, makes me wonder. Why else would he comment about sirens?
To get under my skin.
A hand claps down on my shoulder. “Good work, both of you. But you’re going to need to stop scowling at everyone watching us.”
My face levels out immediately. I didn’t realize I was doing it. A quick flick of my eyes to Brody shows he’s also glaring at everyone, but unlike me, he doesn’t stop.
“It was a house fire, Brody,” Nate says, thinking my thoughts out loud. “There’s a very real likelihood it wasn’t him.”
“Or it was and it’s a clear escalation like everything else I’ve told you,” Brody responds, voice low. Not quite a growl, but clearly unhappy. “The house was almost gone by the time we got here. You’re going to tell me that wasn’t an accelerant?”
Nate’s hands find his hips. “I’m trying not to draw any conclusions until investigators go through.”
“Didn’t realize you needed them to think for you, Nate.”
The tension between them is thick, but Nate refuses to rise to the bait. He wants to, though. I can see the restraint in the way his neck muscles tighten, the grinding of his teeth.
These two seem to butt heads more often than not when it comes to the arsonist, and I always seem to be caught in the middle.Except now I know them better, and I’m not totally green and fresh from my probation.
“Any homeowner show up?” I ask, trying to diffuse the situation with a change of topic.
Neither of them break eye contact with the other, but Nate shakes his head. “The house has been vacant for a while.”
That tips the scales to lean towards Brody for me.
Brody laughs, the sound humorless and devoid of emotion. “And you still don’t see it.”
He’d be right that this follows the pattern of an escalation, and given that the house was standing empty, as far as we know, it would be consistent with an arsonist getting bolder and willing to take more risks. To get a bigger thrill from setting a fire.
“It could have been a squatter. Animals in the wiring. We don’t know yet,” Nate reinforces.
And he could be right.
But my gut says he isn’t.
Brody crumples up his water bottle, tossing it into one of the open slots on the truck. “You might not, but I do. You need to cancel the auction.”
Nate’s head is shaking before the words are out of Brody’s mouth. “Savanna and I talked about it, and we aren’t doing that.”
The big man’s hands fist at his sides. “This guy is on a clear escalation path, Nate.”
The lieutenant regards Brody, but I have a sense that it’s to keep himself in check. “We’ll wait for the investigators to do their job.”
