It was a plan, all right. He’d determined since his arrival in Mount Isabel that no one else would be hurt on his watch. Rachel wouldn’t make it easy for him to keep that commitment.
Whether she liked it or not, ensuring her safety had become critically important to him. He suspected that she’d be taking a field trip over the weekend. What she didn’t know was that Mick planned to be there as backup when she did.
Chapter 14
The whole apparatus bay was hopping with activity and noise when Mick pushed through the door of Station 1 on Saturday morning, already breaking his promise to himself not to work on weekends. This time he had an excuse. They’d had another call for a suspicious fire the night before, just as he’d predicted to Davison. Captain Al Park had kept him in the loop, assuring him that his services weren’t required, but he still wanted to know more.
The parking lot hadn’t been as full as he’d hoped since he’d arrived at shift change, but a few stragglers from Rotation 2 were still emerging from the locker room in their civvies. Maybe they could offer some details, possibly some that Park wouldn’t include in the report.
With the fresh crew busy cleaning Engine 1 and Ladder Tower 1 and inspecting for damage, along with the sound system blasting out alternative rock, Mick hoped to make it through the side door without being noticed. But Felicia Lucas rounded Engine 1’s rear step, a thermal imaging camera dangling from one hand and a flathead ax in the other.
“Good morning, Chief. Didn’t you already get enough of us this week?”
“Morning, Lucas.” Though most of the Rotation 3 crew members had watched him with caution all week, the thirty-something firefighter with dark hair barely long enough to pull into a ponytail had been friendly right from the day he’d met her. As the only full-time female firefighter in a station filled with men, she had to be an expert at getting along.
“I don’t know about you, Chief, but if it were my day off, I’d be at home, cuddling with my pups, and nowhere close to here.” She continued past him to the side of the truck but glanced back over her shoulder. “But I guess that’s why you’re chief, and I’m cleaning the truck.”
He chuckled since it was easier than admitting that he had nothing to do all day other than buy some furniture or linens or even a single saucepan and a bowl. Those things he would put off as long as he could after Davison’s reminder that his job was contingent.
“If you ever want to switch places…”
She’d rested the camera on a tarp and was opening a compartment on the side of the truck to stow the ax, but she glanced back at him, grinning.
“With all that’s gone on around here lately? I’ll have to decline your kind offer.” She tucked the equipment inside the storage area and closed the door.
“Who’s throwing around promises now?”
Mick startled at the sound of a second female voice coming from behind him. He turned to find a sturdy-looking woman with short blonde hair, a bucket of cleaners and a deep frown. Her eyes widened when she recognized him. Since there were only two women on the crew, he didn’t need the embroidered name,Garritt, on her shirt to place her, but he hadn’t expected to see both of them on the same shift.
“Sorry, Chief. I didn’t know you were here today.”
“Just stopped by.”
“I’m Emily Garritt.” She extended the arm that didn’t have a bucket hanging from it. Then noticing the rubber glove she still wore, she lowered it. “We can shake hands later.”
“Nice to meet you, Garritt. I still haven’t met most of the paid-on-call firefighters yet.” He glanced around the room, noting several familiar faces from earlier in the week. “Are you covering for someone today?”
“McMillan had a death in the family.”
“Right. I knew that.”
As distracted as he’d been on the job all week, he was surprised he remembered any of the information he’d been given that didn’t relate to Rachel Hoffman or her family.
“Well, they aren’t going to scrub themselves, so…” Emily reached in the bucket and waved a toilet brush before disappearing through the door that led to the day room and the locker rooms.
Mick watched her through the glass as she disappeared down the hall.
“Don’t mind her, Chief. She didn’t know until she got here that it was McMillan’s assignment to clean the locker rooms,” Felicia said, with a chuckle. “Seems she draws that short straw on nearly every shift she covers.”
“Probably thinks he planned that funeral so he could skip his turn.”
Felicia’s grin faded. “Um, also, she’s been trying to get on full-time for a while.”
He glanced through the window to the now empty hallway. “How long’s that?”
“A while,” she repeated.
Mick mentally added Garritt’s record to the list of files he would need to examine on Monday. Beyond those in the Riley Hoffman camp, who didn’t want Mick anywhere near Station 1, he kept finding situations where some of his crew had their own axes to grind, legitimately or not. How could he figure out who inside the station might have had a reason to target Rachel’s brother when several could have had a motive?
