More kerosene. Chase kept that thought to himself, no longer sure who he could trust to have his back on this. That any evidence to dispute an accidental fire was as scarce at this scene as the last didn’t help his case, either.
A curious neighbor waved Glenn over, but before he trotted off, he turned to Chase. “See that this report is turned in with the other one Monday.” He didn’t wait for so much as a nod of confirmation before he turned his back and hurried across the street.
Chase spotted Ryder in the Davenports’ driveway, still dressed in jeans and a Cabela’s T-shirt from their earlier cookout, talking to both Henry and Crissy. Chase hoped he was asking the right questions, but the only way to know for certain was to join them. Before he could close the distance however, someone else stepped into his way.
“Fancy meeting you here.” Tuck Granger’s voice grated against Chase’s ears. He was surprised the man was still in town, since the only thing he was waiting on could easily be sent to him in an email. He trusted the man about as much as he trusted a hungry grizzly bear.
“Thought you’d be in Anchorage by now.”
“I like it here. It’s a nice break from the wife. You know how it goes.” That cackle made Chase want to punch the man, the ugly impulse urging him to get away. Rarely did anyone draw out that impulse, and it unsettled him. The best thing to do was walk away before Ryder was forced to arrest him.
Before Chase could escape, Tuck added, “Say, Deputy Chief Monroe, you finish up that report yet? My boss is hounding me hourly about collecting it.”
Chase stared straight at Tuck, studying his expression hard. He had a string of questions he wanted to fire at the man, but he’d never been formally trained in interrogation. Anything he said now might work against him. Especially with that urge to deck the guy growing stronger.
“Monday,” he answered curtly before he marched off toward the site where the garage once stood, needing to cool off before he approached the Davenports. A melted snow machine, remnants of the heater, and several dozen random tools littered the ground where the garage stood only hours before.
“You good, man?” Marc asked, wiping sweat from his brow. Now that the fire was out, the men had ditched their helmets and opened their turnout coats. Chase had to look twice to be sure it was Laurel’s brother, because they hardly spoke a word to each other unless forced. “You look like you want to slug someone.”
“I do.”
“Well, don’t. You’re not my favorite person, but it’s not worth it.”
“I won’t.” Chase let out an aggravated sigh. “Just don’t like how this smells, that’s all.”
“The melted plastic or the pile-of-crap story those two are telling?” Marc said with a nod at the Davenports, surprising Chase. Even his best friend thought he was trying to shove puzzle pieces together that didn’t fit.
“Both.”
Chase watched the couple talking to Ryder, their expressions illuminated by the orange glow of a streetlight. In his ash-stained sweatpants and dirty T-shirt, Henry was either a really good actor, or genuinely perplexed. Maybe Glenn was right. Maybe Henry forgot to turn off the heater and was embarrassed by his carelessness.
“Don’t get strong-armed into doing something that doesn’t feel right,” Marc added, nodding at him before he returned to clean-up. It was a relief to have an ally in the department, even if they were enemies outside of it.
Chase helped the crew until there was nothing more for them to do, biding his time until Chief Bauer left. Ryder was more likely to let Chase get in a few casual questions with Henry before he stopped him. Glenn would keep him from spitting out a single one. He waited until the fire truck headed down the street and pushed his luck.
“Glad you folks are okay,” he said to both Davenports. “This could’ve gotten ugly really quick.”
“I swear I don’t remember evenusingthat heater tonight.” Henry looked at Chase, a plea to believe him in his desperate eyes. Oddly enough, Chase did. If there was a culprit in all of this, he doubted Henry was the guilty one.
“You’ve been very forgetful lately,” Crissy snapped. “I’ve had to turn that heater off half a dozen times this year because he forgot. We’re just lucky it didn’t burn down sooner.” Looking at Chase, she added, “It was an accident, that’s all. Don’t go believing we have enemies out to get us or anything crazy like that. We don’t. I’m going to bed, gentlemen.”
Watching Crissy spin on her heel and march toward her house reminded Chase how late it was.Just past midnight. Was it coincidence that these fires happened in the evenings? If they were truly caused by a cold squatter and a forgetful man working on a project in a chilled garage, then no. But if it were someone trying to set a fire and stand a better chance at not being seen, they’d use the cover of the dusky darkness to help cloak them.
“What were you working on?” Chase asked Henry before the man could turn to leave.
“Building a spice rack. Crissy’s been bugging me all week to do it.” He shook his head. “It wasn’t that cold tonight. I really don’t think I even used the heater. But she’s not wrong. I have been forgetting things lately. Where I put my wallet or car key . . . found them in the freezer yesterday. You believe that?”
“It was just an accident,” Ryder reassured Henry at the same time he directed a quick warning glare to Chase to back off. It was obvious that Henry was rattled by not only the fires, but the possibility of losing his mind. He didn’t look like a guilty man, which unraveled Chase’s theory.
Chase pressed his luck with one more question. “That night the cabin on Jack Rabbit Creek Road went up in flames, you were out that way.” He ignored Ryder’s stern look to drop it. It was the one question that had plagued him the most. “Why?”
“Just needed a quiet place to think.” Henry shrugged pitifully. “Crissy thinks I need to be on medication on account of my forgetting things. As if I’m some old geezer. I’m only forty-nine, for crying out loud. I went out there to think it through. I hate doctors, and I’m not convinced I’m as forgetful as she thinks.” He looked back over his shoulder at his house. “Can I go inside?”
“Yes. We’ll meet at the station tomorrow to knock out the paperwork,” Ryder told him.
Chase waited until Henry was to his door before he spoke. “You really think he forgot he turned on a heater?”
“I believehethinks he didn’t.”
