AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Burke glanced around one more time. “Both of them died of heart attacks.”
His eyes were round like he’d just dropped the mic. I couldn’t believe there was enough left of either of them to be able to tell what had caused their deaths . . . other than the obvious smoke inhalation.
“I was there, Burke. No heart issues.” I pointed to my chest.
He hit me with the back of his hand. “Maybe Cassano saw something when you were in there. Something that could’ve implicated the killer.”
“We were together the whole time. Besides, we couldn’t see a damn thing in that place.” I respected Burke and his instincts, but he was grasping at connections that simply weren’t there.
“That ain’t all,” he said, sounding offended.
I held up both hands in surrender. “I’m not blowing off your idea. Just trying to keep a level head about it.”
“One of them bodies in the barrel. Give you one guess what they died of.” He held up his finger in a number one gesture.
“Heart attack.”
He nodded smugly. “No such thing as coincidences.”
I looked down at my feet as I absorbed everything he’d just told me. “It’s weird. I’ll give you that.”
“Damn straight it’s weird. It’s connected. Has to be.”
“Whoa. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” The fires were arson. No doubt about that. Were we dealing with a serial arsonist? Or just an odd set of similar circumstances?
“Any proof that the two fires were started in the same manner?” I asked. Most of the time, arsonists who set multiple fires had a ritual. There was a method to the apparent madness.
Burke’s face crumpled. “I don’t know.” He was more aware of the pattern of behavior of people who set fires because he enjoyed studying them.
“And if Cassano is connected, his death was an abnormality. There was no fire after his heart attack. It was before.” It was a piece that didn’t fit . . .ifthese pieces went together at all.
“There’s got to be a reason,” he said with determination. “I’m gonna check all the fires with deaths in the past few months. See if there’s something we missed before.”
“If Captain catches you snooping around this . . .” Our job was to fight fires. And gossip—the who, what, when, where, and why—was the investigation unit’s territory. At least it had been since Captain had taken over.
“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him,” he huffed. “Besides, I never understood what the big deal was about finding out what happens at the fires we fight. Sometimes they stick with you.”
They did. Even when I compartmentalized. And these latest ones were so horrific, they were impossible to forget.
“There weren’t too many deaths in the past few months,” I said, and he brightened. “It shouldn’t be too hard to track if there were any other heart attacks.”
“You’re right.” His tone said he’d be calling his friend as soon as we finished talking.
“You know how easy it is for things to look like they go together when they don’t. Remember those fires a few years back? They convicted an innocent man of setting sixteen fires.”
His shoulders slumped. “I remember. But this is connected. I feel it.”
I tossed my keys and caught them. It was like a nervous tic. I didn’t like thinking about the fires being connected. If they were, that likely meant something sinister was at play.
“You really think Cassano’s ‘heart attack’”—I put air quotes around heart attack—“wasn’t an accident?”
I struggled to get the words out. It was one thing when I blamed myself for his death, but another to think someone else could’ve been responsible.
“I don’t know. But as soon as that tox screen is available, I’m going over every letter.” He pounded on the side of my truck.
“And what if it really was a heart attack?” With all of these questions, it was like Cassano had been buried, but we couldn’t begin to heal. Maybe we wouldn’t anyway.
“Then it’s just more proof we’re not invincible. We’re both older than he was.”
