Page 53 of No Take Backs
“Nunya business.” Nia brushes past me on the way to the bathroom. “It’s called girls’ day for a reason. The reason being that there aren’t any guys allowed to know about our plans. Not you or Rich or your brothers, if you think you’re going to convince them to ask me about it instead.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” I lie through my teeth. But Nia laughs, shaking her head while she brushes her teeth and then turns on the shower.
“Go to work.” She gets in the shower, and before I follow her in, I walk back into the bedroom.
By the time I’m dressed and ready to go, she is wrapped in her towel and putting on makeup at the bathroom mirror.
“I don’t know what time I’ll be done tonight,” I tell her quietly. “I’m supposed to be getting some lab reports back that I’ve been waiting on.”
Nia’s eyes cloud over for a second, and then they clear. “Be safe, Josh. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
For Nia, that is just as good as her declaring that she loves me to a room full of our closest friends.
I ride that high all the way into work, like the pussy she’s turned me into, and I don’t give a single flying fuck about it.
“What are you smiling about?” Ryder’s voice cuts through the early morning quiet as he strolls into the administrative office, two steaming cups of coffee in hand. It’s still an hour before shift starts, but here he is, as usual, with that damn grin on his face that suggests he knows exactly what’s going on in my head. He sets one of the cups in front of me, the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee filling the room. “Could it be the lovely and perfect Nia Davidson is the reason for that smile?” he teases, raising an eyebrow as he leans against the doorframe. “If not, I’ll have to tell her big brother so he can kick your ass next time he’s home.”
I can’t help but chuckle at that. Ryder’s always been one to give me a hard time, especially now when it comes to Nia. He’s got this protective streak a mile wide, not just for Nia but for everyone he cares about, and I respect that. But he also knows how to push my buttons, and I can tell he’s enjoying the fact that he’s caught me in such a good mood.
I take the coffee he offers, feeling the warmth seep into my fingers as I bring it to my lips. The bitterness of the first sip wakes me up fully, grounding me in the reality of the day ahead. I’ve got a lot on my plate, but for now, I allow myself to bask in the afterglow of the morning I spent with Nia.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I finally admit, a grin still tugging at the corners of my mouth. “But if you tell her brother anything about our relationship, I’ll have to kill you, Ryder.”
Ryder laughs, a deep, hearty sound that fills the room. “Fair enough, man. Fair enough. But seriously, it’s good to see you like this. She’s good for you, Josh. Really good. Don’t fuck it up.”
I nod, not needing to say anything more. Ryder’s words resonate with me, and as much as I’d like to keep up the banter, there’s work to be done. The reality of what’s on my desk is a stark contrast to the lighthearted conversation we’re having, and I can’t ignore it any longer.
“The lab results are in,” I tell him with a grimace as I check my email with one hand and take a sip of the coffee he brought with the other.
Ryder nods, drinking his own. “Why do you think I’m here early. I figured you wouldn’t want to be alone when you get the confirmation we both know is coming.” He jiggles the coffee cup slightly. “And I brought coffee to help keep the edge off.”
“There was a different accelerant used in the fire we pulled Nia out of.” I read off the screen. “But every other fire, including the one that Piper died in, had the same chemicals used, down to the percentage. Over ten fires in the past two years, but that’s it.”
Ryder grimaces, his usual easygoing demeanor slipping away as the gravity of the situation sinks in. He doesn’t say anything, just nods, his jaw clenched tight. There’s nothing he can say, really. What could he say that would make any of this better? The truth is, we’ve been dealing with something far more sinister than we initially thought, and now that we have the proof, the weight of it is almost suffocating. I can see the same realization dawning in Ryder’s eyes, the same grim understanding that this is just the beginning of something much bigger, something that’s going to require every ounce of our focus and determination to stop. If we can stop it at all.
“It’s a mix of turpentine and kerosene,” I explain, reading off the specifics from the lab report. “The exact same chemical composition in every single fire. There’s no mistaking it. The fires were all started by the same person. Or the same people, I should say. We still don’t know how many are responsible for it, or if it’s just one sick bastard with a lot of time on his hands. But this gives us a paper trail, and a long one at that.”
The implications are staggering. The fact that someone has been able to pull off this many fires without getting caught means they’re either extremely lucky or extremely smart. And either way, it means we’re dealing with a serious threat. I can feel the tension building in my chest, the pressure of knowing that we’re running out of time. If we don’t stop them soon, there’s no telling how many more fires they’ll set, how many more lives they’ll destroy.
I want to throw my computer against a wall, but I don’t. Instead, I print out a copy of the results and add them to the file that I’m putting together for Chief Hayes. The one that I have to present to him after lunch and has already given me something that will ruin my week.
“Murder and arson,” Ryder says sullenly. “Who’d have thought that those two would mix in Birch County again so soon after what happened with that rogue firefighter a few years ago.”
“Raymond James.” I say his name like the curse it is. “No relation to Deacon or Avery James.” I clear my throat. “I got a report on him as soon as I took over the investigation, and the accelerants he used do not match. He’s still in prison, where he’ll stay for the rest of his life. I also found out that one of the cops he killed had the same last name as Nia. One of her cousins. But that’s not a story for today. I don’t know who it could be or what reason they’d have. And it’s not just one fire that might have been started accidentally.”
“This is heavy, Josh.” Ryder whistles darkly. “You’re saying you think someone killed a three-year-old little girl and they didn’t have a reason.”
I don’t want to admit it, don’t even want to think about the possibility of what I’m getting at actually being real. But there it is, like a lead weight just sitting there now that Ryder puts words to what I am insinuating.
“Piper was the only fatality in any of the fires.” I tap my pen against the table, recounting the facts.
“Still,” Ryder says. “You said there’s a paper trail?”
“Yep.” I rifle through the manila folders I got when I started to pull all the suspicious fires. “Just a minute.” They each have the date and location of a fire on the outside, and all of the investigatory notes are contained within them. Or copies of that information because I don’t want to have the originals of anything in case I lose it.
While he waits, I go through them and separate the files into two piles until I make it to the last one. The one that Piper died in.
“These.” I set the file on the smaller stack. “Are the files that all had the same accelerant. Including surveillance tapes and other information that investigators found at the time.”