Becket lowered his voice. “Have you looked into that girl who died?”
The humor dropped from Jesse’s face, and he moved closer. “I found the news reports. Her name was Eloise Porter. She had two living parents but no siblings. There was, however, a boyfriend.”
Becket’s muscles locked. “Did you look into him?”
“Yes.”
Something dark flashed over Jesse’s face, and Becket knew he wasn’t going to like what was coming.
“He’s a firefighter,” Jesse finally said. “And he was part of the crew that went to the café fire.”
Becket’s entire frame stiffened. So he’d attended the fire that had killed his girlfriend. “That would have a massive fucking effect on him.”
“It would,” Jesse agreed. “Maybe even make him angry enough to seek revenge.”
Becket’s jaw clicked and he looked back at Sky again. “Do you know where he is now?”
“I plan to get in contact with the fire department and ask to speak to him.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll let you know when I have more.” Jesse squeezed his shoulder and headed over to Aspen.
Becket’s muscles remained tense while he finished shampooing Bella. And maybe Bella realized, because she didn’t growl or splash water on him again.
Sky came up, bucket of water in hand. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” When he took it from her, their hands grazed, and it shot awareness all the way through his body.
“You’re welcome.” Sky gave Bella a pat before stepping back. “You know, most people only did a two-hour shift.”
How long had Becket been here? Four hours? More? It was the only place he wanted to be, but that had nothing to do with the dogs. “Guess I’m more committed to the cause.”
Sky rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of a grin on her face.
“It’s going well,” Becket said as he looked around the park.
Her eyes lit up. “It’s been so much busier than I thought. I don’t know why, but I always worry I won’t raise much money with these fundraisers, and then they do a lot better than I think.”
“Because you put a lot of yourself into them. And you do it for Charlie, right?”
Her chest rose, surprise flickering in her eyes. “Yeah. I do it for Charlie.”
“I saw your mom earlier. She came by and said hi. Even told me I was doing a great job.”
She shook her head. “Yeah, she’s been helping. Seems she doesn’t hate you.”
“Very few do.”
Sky scoffed.
He rinsed the shampoo from Bella’s fur. “What does she think about our…breakup?” Fuck, that was hard to say.
She frowned. “You’ll be happy to know she was quite surprised. She even tried to convince me that I should get back together with you.”
“I knew I liked your mom.”
Sky laughed, and the sound was light and airy. “It surprised me.”
