Into the Fire by Keira Ramsay Read Free Book Online Page B

other retailers earlier in the month.
    “ Do you think he went
further with this one because it wasn’t attached to another
building?”
    Charly swung around slowly to face
him. It was something she’d already considered. It shouldn’t
surprise her he’d come to the same conclusion, but it did. “I like
the way you think, Nate. This is the only solo structure so far,
and one with an apartment to boot. He’s escalating, rubbing our
noses in it.”
    She pulled a digital camera from her
turnout coat and began to shoot, noting the winding damage trail
through the sodden heaps of still-smoldering clothing. An
accelerant had definitely been used. The smoke eaters had destroyed
some of her evidence out of necessity, but the damage trail was
still blatantly clear.
    Fifteen minutes later, she’d finished
her first circuit of the scene with Nate following silently behind
her. She crouched, directing the beam from a mini-Kleig toward the
fire’s point of origin. Just like the other fires, the alligatoring
was blatant evidence of an accelerant.
    Pulling a bottle from the evidence
case, she carefully deposited scrapings and chunks of charcoal into
the container, then screwed the top on. At floor level, the smell
of kerosene was overwhelming.
    Putting the evidence carefully away,
she retrieved a camcorder and began her second sweep, complete with
dictated observations. “Initial search indicates the same
perpetrator. The method of ignition appears to be an exact match to
the previous three fires. No apparent container is visible.” She
paused near the back door. “There is no sign of forced entry, with
the exception of the Halligan tool marks made by initial
responders. I’ll leave fingerprint discovery to the crime scene
technicians. Building appears to be a total loss. A uniform will
stay on-scene until CSU completes their initial.”
    She panned around the room one last
time. “No injuries, as with the earlier conflagrations.” Clicking
off the camera, she turned to Nate, who watched her silently in the
gloaming. “I don’t know how long we’re going to be this lucky,” she
said, shaking her head. “He’s gonna kill someone. I just feel it.
C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
    They wound their way through the
bundles of clothing and splashed through the standing water. With
each step, she felt his warm, comforting presence at her back.
She’d been able to push away the earlier events of the night, their
lovemaking, his incendiary words, because the job took precedence.
Now, all of those thoughts bubbled to the forefront of her mind,
and each of them made her ache.
    Outside, night had fully fallen; a
full moon rode high and bright in the inky sky. One ladder truck
sat idling, along with the battalion chief’s SUV. Chief Ryan strode
up to them.
    “ Same perp?” he asked
matter-of-factly.
    “ Looks like,” Charly
answered as she pulled off her helmet and ran her fingers through
her sweaty bangs. Nate--and their love life--would have to take a
backseat again. “Same MO, probably used kerosene as the
accelerant.” She stretched out her back and stared at the building.
“Why was the store closed? It’s Saturday night, prime shopping
hours before women hit the clubs.”
    “ Employees’ night out. The
owner does it once a quarter as a bennie. She’s standing over
there.” He pointed out a tiny woman dressed in casual clothes,
leaning against a patrol unit; her expression was shell-shocked.
“Her cell was turned off; she had no idea what happened until they
finished dinner.”
    “ Thanks, Chief. I’ll have
the prelim paperwork done in the next few hours. I just want to
talk to her real quick.”
    Ryan tipped his white
helmet in acknowledgement and walked to his vehicle. Just before
getting in, he turned back. “I’ll expect to see you bright and
early at the ‘house, Andrews. You can return the gear
then.”  And talk to me about sniffing
after our only female arson investigator.  The chief might not