Burned by Desire (Highland County Heroes Book 2) Read online

  The chief tapped the paper one more time. “I’ve got some contacts in Albuquerque. There’s an ATF lab there and a guy you can talk to. His name is Alexander Hernandez, good guy but fairly new. He’s been with the department for about six years. He should have knowledge of any type of incendiary device you bring him. After you talk to him, give his name and number to Redding. He might be a good person to send her to, so she can nip at his heels instead of us. Hernandez won’t take shit from a reporter.”

  Gage gripped his seat to quell the sting that he couldn’t handle one reporter, and remind him not to say anything. Hayes might only be his volunteer boss, but if the city ever did hire firefighters, he wanted to be the first one they thought of. That wouldn’t happen if he didn’t show Hayes the utmost respect, and if he didn’t do as his superior asked and take care of the mess he’d gotten the department into.

  “I didn’t mean to drag down the department, sir.”

  “You didn’t,” the chief said. “She did.”

  “The worst part is, she might be right. I don’t know who set this fire—if it was DemaCrane as she suspects, or someone else—but she knew it was arson from the beginning.”

  The chief slammed his palm flat on the paper, sending empty coffee cups and pens to the floor. “That’s pretty strange, considering she seems to be damn quick to point blame, and more than a little suspicious. Keep your eye on her. Some people start fires to get money, some to forget, and some…to become famous.”

  Gage recalled her brand-new boots and impeccable clothes and couldn’t help but think anyone in the city, even retirees, would be more likely to set a fire than her. She probably didn’t even pump her own gas, there was no way she would deal with an accelerant. “I’ll watch her, at least until I contact Special Agent Hernandez. I’ll let him handle her after that. I really don’t think it’s possible that it’s the Moens, but this will delay their insurance payment. They’re stuck at the hotel until that can be squared away.” He wasn’t close to them at all, but he knew them and wouldn’t look forward to telling them that someone had targeted their house for demolition by fire.

  “We don’t know for sure they had nothing to do with it. Let Special Agent Hernandez look around. Take the device or what’s left of it to his office on your next volunteer day.”

  “Yes, sir.” He waited for Chief Hayes to hand him the information. His schedule was tight for the next few days, but he would go soon. He would take a few hours to look at the site and gather everything he could, then schedule a meeting with Alexander and make that happen.

  The chief opened his wallet and took out a card, he wrote down the information, then handed it to Gage. “Call this number and set something up with him right away, then call this woman and see what can be done, though I suspect nothing.”

  “She won’t take back what she said. She’s already got DemaCrane tried and convicted. I just don’t know how to get through to her that it’s possible there is a different outcome. I can’t figure out why she’s so sure.”

  “Don’t leave a stone unturned. If she thinks that’s the best lead, be the first to eliminate it, because she won’t, especially if the trail leads back to her. Not if it’s her pet, and not if she’s already printed it. She doesn’t want to look like the fool she’s told everyone we are.”

  Gage picked up his coffee and took a bracing drink. He needed it more now than when he’d poured it. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. I really thought she would just print the basic information of the story until I got my report done.”

  “Things don’t happen like that. The media will always be against you. They think you’re in the way of what’s really happening, hiding things from them, and you will somewhat. They can’t know everything.”

  Melody wouldn’t appreciate hearing that, but he’d sure appreciate being the one to tell her smug and perfectly rounded ass. “I’ll get right on it.”

  Chapter 6

  Her Gucci sunglasses kept the early-morning sun from giving Melody more of a headache. She’d stayed up way too late with Livy on Friday, and drank too much. All day Saturday she’d slept and nursed a hangover. Now, Sunday, she was dehydrated and cranky. But that would change. She just had to get her hands on a newspaper.

  This was her first news article in a paper, not just an opinion piece or some other nonsense, and not just online. It was a real article that people would read and see her name. They would eventually recognize that name as being trustworthy. She spotted the nearest little green newspaper vending kiosk and slipped in a dollar twenty-five in quarters, then pulled the handle.

  It was even better than she’d thought. One of the pictures she’d taken with her phone of the damage from the garage collapse, capturing the whoosh of heat, had been put on the front page. The title wasn’t the one she’d submitted though.

  Fire Highlights Dangerous Lack in Local Department

  “Oh, no…” her voice lost all sound as her throat constricted. She scanned the article, and resisted the urge to crumple it up and throw it away. Her name had been put on something, and only a few random bits were actually hers. A few quotes she’d written were taken out of context and made the Santinas Fire Department look as inept and incapable as she’d accused Gage of being.

  He would believe she wrote it, without question. Not only that, she’d never be able to convince him she didn’t. Not when she’d acted as she had. Melody rushed back to her apartment, grateful for her oversized sunglasses. If Gage found her out, he’d confront her, and with good reason.

  Once inside, she whipped open her laptop and did another search for him, hoping she’d missed his number the first time she looked for it. It was probably unlisted, or he paid to keep it private. But there had to be a way to find him and convince him the article wasn’t hers. She’d purposely moved to a small town to avoid getting pushed around and having her voice stuffed. Yet, the very first article she’d written had been largely someone else’s writing, most likely Melva’s. Her stomach pitched just like it always had when Leiken controlled her. More control. Why did this always happen to her?

  “Shit.” She threw the paper across the room and let it fall in the corner. There was no sense in keeping it now. She’d been toying with Gage for days, but she certainly didn’t want to see his career ruined. She’d only wanted from him what she hadn’t gotten from anyone else—validation. She wanted him to think she was a professional reporter and give her what she needed because he respected her. Now, he never would.

  She stared at her computer screen and willed it to give her an idea. There had to be a way to let Gage know that she didn’t write all that in the paper, without facing him, and still get a great story Melva would want to publish. It would have to be about the fire, but she could find a different angle than the firefighters, and she’d have to avoid Gage for a week until it came out. The heat could die on that for a while until Melva made her follow up on it.

  The only angle was the Moens. She hadn’t talked to them yet. Gage had insinuated she should let them be and, for whatever reason, she’d listened. There had been such a focus on the fire itself and trying to get Gage to believe her, that she hadn’t bothered with the victims.

  Melody searched for the number for The Inn and dialed it. “Can you transfer me to the room the Moens are staying in?” She tried to sound as sweet as possible, even though her own voice made her head pound.

  After a moment, Mrs. Moen picked up the phone, “This is Karen.”

  “Karen, this is Melody Redding with the Santinas Times. I’d like to take a minute and talk with you.”

  “Well, I was beginning to wonder if anyone would ever take note of what I had to say.”

  Melody dug her pen out from under a teetering stack of papers on her desk. “What time would you like to meet? I can be there in twenty minutes.”

  Gage parked in the street and stared for a moment at the beige house with its blackened windows. Kind of like how women looked after they’d cried. He pulled his pho
ne from the holder on the dash and fished Alexander’s number from his pocket. When he pulled it out, Melody’s number came along with it.

  His fingers itched to crumple it up and toss it out the window. If she hadn’t just turned his life upside down, he would’ve found her hot. Her annoying behavior could’ve almost been overlooked. He could’ve seen her pestering as drive, but not now. She’d drawn a red lipstick line between them that he wouldn’t cross. Good relationships started with professional courtesy. Something she lacked.

  He pressed the number into his phone and hit send. “Yeah, hi. I need to speak to Special Agent Hernandez.”

  “Who, may I ask, is calling?” the woman droned from the other end. She probably answered hundreds of calls a day, and even though it was still morning, she’d probably been doing it for hours.

  “This is Gage Lewison with the Santinas Fire Department, I need his assistance with an ongoing investigation.” He scratched his chin and glanced in his rearview mirror, waiting for the inevitable hold music. Last time he’d come to the scene, Melody had shown up. Part of him wanted to see her and get the confrontation over with, another part didn’t want her around again. His body reacted in ways he couldn’t control when she was around and there would be none of that.

  “One moment please.” The woman barely got the words out before he was blasted with the music he’d been ready for before he’d let Melody into his head.

  “Hernandez.” The man’s no-nonsense voice filled the truck.

  Gage decided to skip the pleasantries. “I’m investigating a fire in Santinas, I found an incendiary device, but I don’t have the resources to really look into this. I can’t tell what was used as an accelerant and I don’t have a lab to hand over the ignition device to. Can you help?”

  Alexander mumbled back a repetition of what Gage had just said and he heard the scratching of paper. “One device, or many?”

  “I only found one and the fire was definitely started there.”

  “Any injuries?” Alexander’s short, blunt questions made his gut twist. Was he too busy to help if there weren’t?

  “No, thankfully everyone made it out.”

  “Hmm.” He could hear more scratching from the other end. “I’m about three hours from you. I’ll need to see the scene and the device. I may have to take it with me. Does anyone besides you know about it?”

  Only he and Chief Hayes knew and Hayes only knew of its existence, he’d never seen it. Gage had kept it in the small cabinet they used for evidence, but he’d had to clear the cobwebs first. No one was going to find it. Unless Melody had gone back to the house, investigated, and left it at the scene for him to find. But if she had done that, she would’ve put her findings in the paper and probably not gone back to the scene. “Only myself and Chief Hayes.”

  “Good, keep it that way. If you keep the type of device quiet, it can help when we’re looking for similar hits. Start publishing the bombs and you can get copycats. Makes it harder, and more dangerous.”

  He didn’t even want to deal with one bomber, much less two. “When will you be coming?” He glanced at his watch, knowing he had to be at the shed for EMT duty in under six hours.

  “I’ll get there as quickly as I can clear my desk. What’s the address?”

  Gage told him, then ended the call. A knock on his truck window drew his attention outside. Mr. Moen waited by his door and he got out.

  “Have you had a chance to look? I expected you to come talk to us soon, let us know what was going on. My wife would like to make a statement after that newspaper article this morning.”

  Damn. He hadn’t had a chance to question the witnesses before the paper had gone out. Now, their information would be clouded by what she’d said. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you, but I have investigated the scene.” He was on his last day of three days on and had only found the device on Thursday. At least he could prove one part of that article wrong to the one family who needed to hear it.

  “Can I meet with your wife right away?” Gage glanced back in his truck to see if he had anything he could use to conduct an interview. He hadn’t planned for it, and wasn’t even sure what to ask, since he couldn’t tell her about the device until it was cleared with Alexander.

  “She met with the reporter already today, and was pretty shaken up. She’s convinced we were the victim of some deep plot. I was hoping talking with you would calm her down. The reporter just left our hotel room and I came to find you.” He rolled his eyes. “She’s hearing explosions, crazy talk, if you ask me.”

  His inability to meet with a witness because of his other responsibilities had caused the corruption of said witness and now the ATF would be involved. Worse still, he couldn’t put her “crazy talk” to rest, because her story could be exactly the information he needed. He wouldn’t just look like an inept fool, he’d be one.

  “I’d definitely like to meet with her, unless you were home as well?” Maybe Mr. Moen wasn’t a tainted witness. It was worth a shot, even though he hadn’t seen the man on scene.

  Mr. Moen shook his head and stared at the house. “Nope, I was at work. Since I was all the way over in Blackjack, I didn’t get here in time to do anything but take Karen and Lucas to the Inn after he was done at the hospital. It sure would be nice to be done staying there.”

  With the determination that the fire was arson, they wouldn’t be able to move soon. “I would suggest if you have family, you might want to stay with them for a while. We’re working as hard as we can to get the report done for the insurance company, even bringing in some experts to help get the investigation done faster.”

  “We had the rep from the insurance company come out two days ago. She said it’s a total loss, but they’ll need to know the cause in order to start the process of paying our loan. We can’t even think about moving on until that happens.”

  “And do you have family?” He hated leaving them at the mercy of the insurance company, but there wasn’t much he could do to prevent it.

  “Yeah, Karen’s mother lives here in town. If we have to, we can stay with her for a while. I can’t live there too long, though. You’ve got to get this figured out.”

  Gage turned to look at the house again. It was important that he take a last look through it, but getting to the witness before any more time had passed, and before the reporter could do more damage, was more important.

  “I need to make a call, then I’ll head on over to the Inn and meet with you both, get a statement.”

  “Lucas will be glad to see you. He thinks you’re a hero.” The words didn’t help that sinking dread mounting in his chest. Melody Redding was about to bury his career without much effort at all.

  Gage watched him walk away, then climbed back into his truck for some privacy. He called around and found someone to take his shift for him, then he stared at Melody’s card. What he had to say to her should be face-to-face, but if he saw her, he’d be mad. Mad as hell. He stuffed her number into the glove box and slammed it shut.

  He called Alexander’s office back, but he had already left. That meant he only had three hours to do an interview and make it back to the house before Alexander arrived to look at the house and what he’d found, and three more hours to think about Melody and what he would do when he finally met up with her. The town was small and it was only a matter of time.

  Chapter 7

  There was a quick knock on Melody’s door, then Livy burst in with two bottles of wine. It didn’t even matter that it was only Sunday afternoon. “It’s time to celebrate, my famous friend!” Livy wore her usual knee-length skirt and heels with a curve-hugging blouse. Her curly brown hair landed just past her shoulders and Melody was sure that every teenage boy Livy had as a student was probably hot for teacher.

  And while her mind was wandering in that direction, Melody had to admit that, even though he annoyed her to no end, she was hot for Gage. He was untouchable. As a journalist, she had no business mixing with someone whom she might have to inve
stigate, even with as few fires as occurred in Santinas, but who did that leave her?

  “Hey, are you even listening to me?” Livy flopped down on the sofa and kicked off her heels.

  “Sorry, lost in thought. And, there isn’t really much to celebrate. Most of what was published wasn’t even mine. But I’ve got promise as a photojournalist.” She’d worked so hard and had searched for the perfect place to start. If Melva would undermine her first story, she would do it whenever she pleased as the editor.

  “That was a great photo.” Livy set the bottles on the coffee table and stared across the room at her. “I’ve had a long day with my family badgering me constantly. All I’ve heard all day is, ‘when will you get married?’ I’m ready to relax. Want to get some glasses and relax with me?” She waggled her perfectly plucked and preened eyebrows.

  “Sure.” What could it hurt? Livy always wanted her to drink and she didn’t have the heart to fight it. She stood and closed her laptop, then went to the kitchen for two glasses and her corkscrew. The only time she ever used it was with Livy.

  “Toss that over here.” She held up her hands and Melody rolled her eyes. As if she’d throw a sharp twisted screw at her best friend.

  Melody set everything on the table and curled up in the chair angled next to the couch. “There, did you bring snacks too, or was that for me?”

  “I brought the drinks, the snacks are on you,” Livy said, grabbing the corkscrew. “Let me tell you what. My parents are acting like twenty-six is older than dirt and I should be married and having babies. I don’t feel old enough to be married. This town is just too damned small.”

  “Tell me about it.” It was small enough that she would have to hide in her apartment all week to avoid Gage. Of course, now that she knew mostly where to find him, she could probably manage by just staying away from those places.