Jane reached for her detective’s discarded respirator. “I’m going in.”
The fire chief stopped her. “It’s not safe, Chief. Overhead beams are still coming down. One barely missed me. The inside is still smoldering in places. I can’t allow anyone else to go inside until the fire is totally out. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to investigate.”
“A top arson investigator will be arriving in the morning from Mobile,” Augusta said.
Jane had been so used to doing everything on her own that she was still getting used to having quality help. “You’re good, Augusta.”
“Thank you, Chief. I didn’t want to take the chance of missing something important.”
“Signs of arson?”
“Burn patterns and an incendiary fluid of some kind. Smelled like kerosene to me, but the investigator will know for sure.”
Jane nodded. “Anything else?”
“Tire tracks in the dirt road to the house. Luckily, we’d had some rain before the fire, so we should be able to get good casts. Could be Gail’s vehicle, but could also be the arsonist’s.”
“Do we have next-of-kin information?”
Augusta shook her head. “Jackson’s working on it.”
Jackson Brown was Jane’s other new hire, an eager young black man just out of the academy. “I’ll head to the office and see what he’s found out.”
Augusta put her hand on Jane’s forearm. “It’s your day off, Chief. Let us do our job. When we have more information, I’ll call you. You work too much. Take advantage of your awesome officers.” She flashed a wide smile.
Jane glanced at her watch. If she hurried, she might catch the boat yet. After seeing the devastation here, she wanted to look at her son and revel in being with him. But being with Will meant facing what Lauren had told her.
Was she ready to hear that Reid had lied to her—again?
Three
Reid planted his feet on the boat rocking in the waves and shooed away a gull trying to land on his head. He turned to watch a pod of dolphins begging for fish just off the starboard side. Dolphins often followed shrimp boats since any catch other than shrimp had to be thrown overboard. They knew how to find a free meal.
“Hold the boat,” Will called, holding up his phone. “Mom is coming after all. Can we go get her?”
Reid squinted through the bright sun bouncing off the brilliant blue water and stared toward shore. “What’s her ETA?”
Will pointed at a small figure jogging down the boardwalk in the distance. “There she is.”
Alfie spun the wheel and the trawler banked. “Won’t take but a minute to pick her up. Have her wait at the end of the dock. You can get her in the dinghy.”
The boat reversed course back to the marina, and Jane’s figure grew closer. Reid’s pulse kicked when he recognized her wind-tousled light-brown hair. It had grown out a bit, just like his, and now brushed the collar of her shirt. She wasn’t in uniform, though she’d been called to a scene. She wore white shorts and a red tank top that showed off her tanned skin and stood with her head high. He’d always loved her I-can-do-it attitude. People said she resembled Reese Witherspoon, but he didn’t think anyone could be as beautiful as Jane.
“I’ll get her,” Will said.
Reid helped him lower the inflated dinghy and watched as he rowed toward shore. Parker gave a happy bark when he caught Will’s scent, and the golden retriever leaped aboard the dinghy when it reached the dock. Jane followed, and Will rowed them back to the trawler.
Smiling, Reid moved to the rail and reached out to help her aboard. His smile faded when she ignored his extended hand and clambered onto the boat without assistance. She didn’t look at him and didn’t smile. It must have been a bad murder scene. But if it was only work, why was she acting so cold?
She brushed past him and even the smile she sent Will’s way was tight. “Sorry I was so late. Augusta is taking over since it’s my day off. I feel guilty leaving it all to her though.”
“That’s why you hired her,” Reid said.
He frowned when she still didn’t acknowledge him. Her stiff back indicated anger or displeasure with him, but he couldn’t think of anything he’d done.
Alfie waved to her. “’Bout missed us, Janey-girl.”
Pete, the pelican Jane had rescued as a fledgling, flapped down to perch on the boat’s railing. If he knew Jane, she had some fish in the small cooler she carried. Sure enough, she opened it and tossed Pete some fish.
Reid grabbed the halyards and hoisted his sail. The wind filled the canvas, and the old vessel creaked as it plied the waves out on Bon Secour Bay. The scent of the sea lifted on the breeze. No one spoke as they tended to their duties guiding the old boat out to the shrimping grounds, but Reid kept stealing glances at Jane’s set face. The gold flecks in her hazel eyes seemed to spark with fury, and dread curled in his belly. What could have happened to make her so aloof? She hadn’t even cracked a genuine smile Will’s direction.
“Drop the nets,” Alfie shouted.
Isaac and Will tossed out the shrimp nets, and they sank into the blue waters. Megan hovered nearby, and her gaze never left Will’s broad shoulders.
Will turned and approached Jane. “You okay, Mom?”
The answering grimace could only be called a smile by someone who didn’t know her. “Fine, honey. Just a lot on my mind.”
Will gave her a doubtful glance, then shrugged. “Wanna swim with us?”
“I didn’t bring my suit. You kids go ahead.”
Jane turned away and walked to the bow and stared off into the horizon. Will lifted his brows at Reid and jerked his chin her direction.
The kid was throwing him to the sharks. Reid nodded, and the boy turned away to jump off the stern with Parker, Isaac, and Megan. Reid made his way to where Jane stood and waited until she noticed his presence.
When she gave no sign that she wanted to talk, he nearly retreated, but he squared his shoulders and stepped closer. “I can see you’re upset, Jane. Want to talk? Was the murder scene bad?”
His gut told him her demeanor had nothing to do with the murder scene and everything to do with him.
Her knuckles went white with her grip on the railing. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes on him. “Are you still married to Lauren?”
He held her disdainful gaze. “I don’t know. It’s something the court will have to decide. Scott thinks a case could be made either way, but no one has tested the Nevada law.”
“And how long have you known this?”
He flinched. “A couple of weeks. Scott isn’t sure what to do, and I was waiting for more direction from him before I talked to you about it. I didn’t want to worry you if he was able to find out a clear ruling.”
“You should have told me right away.”
“Maybe so. I thought I was doing the right thing for you. Filing for divorce for abandonment seemed a waste of time when I’d already had her declared legally dead.”
“But she had a year to contest that death ruling, and now everything is up in the air,” Jane said.
How did she know all this? Did Scott tell her? “Scott doesn’t think I should run the risk of going before the court with this. He says it would cost more than paying her off.”