I tossed the letters back in the box. They weren’t the reason I had opened up the floorboard. A few harmless notes from an ex weren’t incriminating. All they meant was that I was a creepy broken-hearted loner in the woods. No, the letters weren’t the incriminating thing hidden beneath my floorboards. It was the handgun that I was worried about.
Chapter 2
Tucker
Cops and firefighters were already swarming the scene, ruining any chance we had at gathering untainted evidence. Not that I was expecting any evidence. It was probably a gas leak. Tragic, but just an accident. Case closed.
I pulled up to a house on the opposite side of the street and put my unmarked Dodge Charger in park. There wasn’t anything to be done except wait until the fire was under control. I was drawing close to the end of a twelve-hour shift, and this mess would be better handed off to someone who wasn’t dead on his feet. Or the cops could just handle it. There was no point in sitting here counting down the minutes.
“Think the captain will care if we leave it to the night shift?” I asked and turned to my partner.
“She was the one that requested we get our asses over here,” Damien said. “So I’m guessing yes.”
Fair enough. I drummed my thumbs on the wheel. It took me a minute to realize that the song stuck in my head had played the first night I had met Julie. I remembered dipping her in my arms and her smile making it impossible to stare at anyone but her. I used to be able to look forward to going home to a warm bed after a long shift. Until I realized that I wasn’t the only one she’d been sharing our bed with. My hands tightened on the wheel.
“You have to stop thinking about Julie,” Damien said.
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.” He put his feet up on the dash. “She sure as hell isn’t thinking about you, though, so why are you wasting your time?”
I ignored him.
“When was the last time you got laid?”
“Recently enough.” It was a lie. It had been four months since I broke it off with Julie. And I hadn’t found anyone else I was interested in. I didn’t have time to date anyway.
“You’ve been hard to work with ever since the two of you split.”
“You’ve been hard to work with ever since we got paired up.”
Damien put his hands over his heart. “That hurts, man.” But then he immediately smiled. “Not that I believe it for a second. I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”
I shook my head. “It’s questionable that you think another man in your life is the best thing that ever happened to you.”
“You’re switching my words around. I said that I was the best thing that ever happened to you.”
“Yeah right.”
“Let’s hit the bar after this. Get you out of your slump.”
“I’m not in a slump.”
“So you have gotten laid since your split?”
It wasn’t worth the time lying to him. We could both sense a liar a mile away. It was part of the training.
“Tucker.” He drew out my name in a weird seductive way. And I was worried that he was right. If I thought him saying my name was seductive, I was most definitely in a slump.
“Four months isn’t that long,” I said instead of giving in. I was too tired to have this conversation with him right now.
“Um…yes. Yes, it is. As soon as we get the all clear from the goddess, we’re going out.”
I wasn’t sure whether to focus on the fact that he had just called our captain the goddess or the fact that I was 100 percent not going to a bar with him tonight. If I was in denial about my lack of a sex life, he was certainly in denial of his chances with the boss. But before I could respond, his phone bleeped in this hand.
“Speak of the sexy devil. I’ll put on my charm and plead our case to get out early. Don’t see any reason for us to be here when the officers clearly have it covered. You know she can’t resist me. Torres speaking,” he said as he opened the door and stepped out into the cool night. He slammed the door, leaving me alone in the car.
I let go of the wheel and sighed. Damien was right. I needed to move on. But this town didn’t exactly have a high population of bachelorettes. It was filled with suburban housewives like the women who resided in this neighborhood. I stared out the window at the fire. Two covered gurneys were being ushered away from the flames. Shit.
I was hoping for an easy case. That was impossible now. It would be elevated to a homicide investigation. I was about to open up the door to get filled in by the local cops when the printer beside me whirred to life.
I lifted up the first page. It was a file about Benjamin Harlow. I scanned the page. Not a civilian. He was a detective like me. There were only three reasons his file would be coming out of the printer. Either he was a suspect, he was dead, or he was injured. Detectives didn't tend to do much arson, and based on those gurneys and half of the house literally being blown to bits, I was worried that he wasn't just injured.
Suddenly I wasn't tired anymore. Not only had this arsonist blown up a house, but they'd possibly killed a detective. That meant this case was a top priority. Which meant solving it would help get the captain off my back about my recent uh...less than stellar job performance.
I grabbed the paper and stepped out into the cool night.
Damien was still talking on the phone. I ducked under the caution tape and flashed my badge at the nearest cop. “Any idea what happened here?”
“Arsonist. Took out two of our own.” He shook his head.
Two? Damn. I'd go from narrowly avoiding suspension to being the hero of the department if I solved this one. “You sure it was arson?” I thought he might have a few guesses, but he seemed pretty sure.
“Don’t you smell that, detective?”
I took a deep breath. Despite the smell of smoke, there was one more pungent scent in the air. “Kerosene?”
“The house was doused in it. A trip-wire was attached to the front door. We didn’t stand a chance.”
I wasn’t expecting him to say that. I thought they had arrived on the scene after the explosion. “Cops were here before the explosion?”
“Yeah, we were called in as backup to an ongoing investigation.”
“What ongoing investigation?”
The cop laughed. "It's above my pay grade. Guess it's above yours too.” He turned his head. “Ma’am, you have to stay on the other side of the tape.”
There was an older woman in a housecoat wrestling with the yellow caution tape. She ignored his request. He put his hand on his gun and started to walk towards her, but I put my arm out to stop him.
"I got this," I said.
He laughed again. "You don't have the case file and now you're helping with crowd control? No wonder more cases don't get solved around here."
I ignored him. Damien would fill me in on all the details when he was done flirting with the captain, but for now, I figured I might get some valuable intel from the neighborhood gossip. Or I'd end up driving an Alzheimer's patient back to their house. It could go either way.
"Ma'am, you really can't come any closer. This is an active crime scene. And that house could blow again any second."