“None of your damn business.”
“Then it’s true?”
“Nothing’s true, and I don’t know what any of you jackals are talking about.” I pivoted on my heels to exit the kitchen. Before leaving, I paused and looked over my shoulder. “Carter, I need to speak with you, alone.”
He sobered as he took in the serious expression on my face, nodded, and followed.
As we left, I glared at the rookie over Carter’s shoulder. The rookie looked at me and took a step back, even though I hadn’t made a move in his direction. Payback was a mother, and he didn’t want to test my ability at payback, especially not in the firehouse.
We entered the central area of the firehouse. Luckily, there weren’t many guys around, but we still kept our voices low.
“What’s up?” Carter asked.
“That security guard that works for your family. He’s able to get all kinds of information and shit, right?”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. “You mean Brutus? Yeah, he can get just about anything you need. If he can’t he knows someone who can. Is this about the arsonist? Where are we on that?”
I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m coming up with dead ends all over the place. The investigator over at headquarters still isn’t taking this seriously. So, I’m taking shit into my own hands.”
“What about Jocelyn? I thought she was helping with this.”
My chest tightened. “She is, but some things I need to look up that she can’t help with. And I can’t go to headquarters or my contacts at the police station. If I start asking questions and poking around, there’s too much of a chance it could get back to anyone I suspect could be involved.”
“Which could cause even more problems.”
“Yeah. This bastard is unstable.” I glanced around to make sure no one else was within earshot. “He called me.”
“Who?” Carter asked, anger creeping into his voice.
“The arsonist. The other night, while I was out with... while I was out at the movies. He called me.”
“What the fuck did he say?”
“He asked if I was sure I could keep us safe.” I paraphrased because I didn’t want to let Carter know that this guy had, in a roundabout way, threatened Jocelyn. I hadn’t slept in two fucking nights thinking about it.
“Fuck.”
“Shhh.” I looked around again. “Look, he’s fucking with me. Trying to get in my head to rattle the rest of us at the station which would allow him to take a clear shot at us. I’m not about to let that happen.”
“Why the hell is he targeting us?”
Sighing, I scrubbed my hand down the side of my face. “I’m working on figuring that out.”
Carter’s lips thinned, and he dropped his gaze to the floor for a moment. “I know you’re already looking at the angle that this could be someone in the department, but what about someone else?”
“Like who?”
“Someone we may have helped. Or thought we helped. Someone whose loved one died in a fire or something. Maybe in a twisted way, they developed a vendetta against us.”
I turned the pieces over in my head. Parts of Carter’s theory made sense. If this guy blamed Rescue Four for failing to save a member of his family, that could explain why he was making this so personal.
“Can your private security guy look into a few people?” I asked. “I know it’s a lot to ask.”
Carter shook his head, brows drawn together. “It’s not a big ask, and I absolutely would. The only problem is, Brutus is out of town with Aaron and his family for a while. Most of the other security is tied up with family and business shit.”
I forced out a heavy breath. I would have to resort to Plan B. Something I’d been trying to avoid.
“Okay.”
