Page 92 of Wild Fires

“Are you okay?” Vance asked.

“No. I need to get out to the cliffs, now. I think Gracie's in trouble.”

“Come on. I'll drive you.”

I didn't turn down the offer as we hopped into his police cruiser and, with the lights on, raced through town and out to the cliffs.

“Is this about Gracie?”

“Sort of.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know we've been working on the arson case together, right?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Multiple fires have sparked all over Ravenden.”

“Residual from the wildfire? I mean, we knew it was a possibility, right?”

“Yes, but she said she has proof it's him. And he started the big fire. I'm sure of it. We both are. You're gonna find this funny, but Gracie was convinced it was you.”

“What was me?”

“The arsonist. She thought you were the arsonist.”

“What the hell? Why would she think I would do something like that?”

“Just following the trail. Plus, you always seem to beat her to the site.”

“Well sure, I'm usually already out around town and dispatch goes out to police and fire at the same time. They have to suit up and get ready before rolling out, but I just jump in my car and go. I always have a head start on them. I look at it as my job to get on site and start keeping people back and safe as soon as a fire call comes in. I'll admit, we've had a big influx of them lately. She really thinks it's an arsonist?”

“We know it's an arsonist.”

“But me?”

I laughed at his reaction. It really did seem ridiculous in hindsight, yet until only a few moments earlier, he was still our number one suspect.

“Why me?” he asked. “Seriously. Walk me through this madness.”

“The cliffs, the old barn, the football field . . .”

“Those are all places hundreds of people around here could be attributed to. Every single generation has hung out at those places from the beginning of time as far as I know. So why me?”

I frowned. “We were reminiscing and your name just kept coming up over and over again, even at some of the more obscure sites. Like the fire behind Gia's place. It was right where Big Dick wrecked senior year. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah, I was in the car.”

“Exactly.”

“But I wasn't the only one. I mean besides Dick, there were like six other people crammed in there.”

“But you were there. How about down by the river? Do you remember that time Guffy threw a kegger down there and you and Carson got in a fight over Penny Caldwell?”

“So what? I was there. A lot of people were there.”

“And then the football field.”