Page 52 of Built of Flames

They all stood and he and Christo left the office, nodding at Paul, who was waiting to enter.

“You’re on kitchen tonight. What are we having?” Christo asked Mitch as they moved that way.

“Pulled pork. Just going to whip up the sauce and get the meat into the crockpots now.”

While he was prepping the meal, more firefighters wandered in and out of the kitchen. He analyzed every comment, every person, until he was sick of it.

He might not be best buddies with all of them, but he trusted all the squad to have his back. You didn’t go into a fire without people you trusted surrounding you. How could one of them be putting the rest of them in danger?

A Hot Lead

Rather than driving straight to Mitch’s house, Bella drove through Kelsor. She didn’t stop anywhere, but she drove by some of her favorite places and the scenes of many of the fires they’d been studying.

The bakery her mom had loved was now a fast-food burger joint. The strip mall where Bella had worked at the deli now housed a gym for women only. Apartments stood where they’d once bowled.

A lot of the other buildings had been repaired and remained the same. Some had been given makeovers.

She drove her route from her family home to the high school, past the soccer fields and the hockey rink. To the park where her mom had taught her to swing as high as the boys. The swimming pool where she’d flirted uselessly with Mitch.

She even drove to the lookout point where she’d had her first kiss and rounded a few of her first bases. So many wonderful memories.

For so long, she’d associated Kelsor with sadness, anger, and grief. Now she could see it was a regular town. With good times and bad, like any other town.

Her family was the same. Good times and bad, just like any other. She’d magnified the bad and had made it worse by staying away for so long. Her dad might never be the warm and fuzzy type, but she was determined to keep him in her life from now on.

Christo too. Although that wouldn’t be something she had to remember to do. Not only was he best friends with Mitch, he was intrigued by the Phail volunteer fire department and by Midnight Security. She’d be seeing a lot of him.

Bella stopped at a new bakery and grabbed herself a coffee with a shot of caramel and a box of pastries that she couldn’t resist.

At Mitch’s, she parked in the driveway and used the key he’d given her to bring her bag and things inside. She dropped the duffel on the couch and was about to set up her laptop there when she decided to work on the back patio instead.

It was a brilliant day full of sunshine. With the fall deepening, they wouldn’t get too many more of these days.

It took a couple of attempts to find a spot with enough sun to keep her warm and enough shade for her to see her work. She set up her laptop on the small table and sipped her coffee.

Would Mitch want to move to Midnight Lake permanently? He and Christo had bought this property as an investment when they were first hired on at the station, about ten years ago.

Would Christo buy him out if Mitch wanted to sell? Or maybe her brother and Gina could renovate it into one large home. She could imagine them having kids soon. She’d be the best aunt and spoil them rotten.

Smiling as her hopes and memories swirled around in her head, Bella put her feet up on another chair and turned her attention to her spreadsheet.

Reality sucked, but it would be better once they’d solved the puzzle. She’d have to channel Hercule Poirot and use her little grey cells to solve the mystery.

Her gut still told her it was one of the people at the top of her list. Bob Jeffrey had been reprimanded more than once for not passing the physical exams and for slacking off during training.

Gino Perretta had been pissed about Bella joining the department.Little girls were too weak to have his back.Asshole. But he was a decent firefighter who’d never had a reprimand in his life.

Kent Speers gave her a creepy vibe. Although creepy vibes didn’t necessarily translate into setting fires.

Kent’s father Steve was also high on the list. He’d retired around the time Bella had been hired, so she didn’t know him well. Her memory said he was a sullen man who blamed the world whenever he screwed up.

Was it possible the father and son had teamed up to set the fires? Did creepy plus sullen equal arsonist? Seemed a stretch, but she couldn’t dismiss it.

She added a new column and labelled it partners. Then she put Steve and Kent Speers in it. She didn’t remember Bob or Gino having anyone particularly close, and they hadn’t been friends. Bob had retired, but Gino was still on the team.

If there was a partnership in action, would they be two firefighters, setting fires alternately on their off shifts? Following their own patterns so no one spotted an overall pattern.

It was difficult to channel the emotions of anyone willing to set fire to a building with people inside. Who did that kind of stuff?