I winced. “I wouldn’t think so—since he might’ve planned to steal more later.”
My response should’ve been a hardno. Except Marlon really had a bug up his ass about Miriam. DEI hire and all that bullshit. The truth was she was a hundred times better than him. Partly because she had to prove herself over and over and mostly because she worked so damn hard.
Nepo baby was just a jackass who barely completed his required training, and who never put effort into anything.
“Food’s ordered.” Giancarlo popped his head back in. And I got extra fries.” He grinned.
For Miriam. Because that was the kind of guy he was.
The bell went off, and dispatch’s voice rang through.
Miriam tossed her pot into the sink with a muttered curse.
I said thanks to the powers that be we’d have an admin person here to sign for the food delivery and a microwave to heat it up later.
Then we were off.
Chapter Five
Ulysses
“Please tell me you weren’t here all night.” Spring Dixon sauntered into our newsroom—if it could be called that—at five minutes after nine. As always, her long black hair swung loose and her pale-blue eyes sparkled. Not the palest of the eight Dixon sisters—that was Rainbow. Still, nearly translucent. She wore a huge grin and carried a takeout bag and drink tray from Tim Hortons. My cub reporter dropped the bag on her desk. She handed me an extra-large black coffee and put her double-double on her desk.
I couldn’t abide either milk or sugar in my coffee. She liked two of each.
Gross.
Then she tossed me a bran muffin.
My appreciated treat. I’d buy lunch today for the two of us. Fridays were always office days. The paper came out Thursdays, and we strategized our upcoming week and celebrated the arrival of the weekend—even if we both usually had things to do. Underfundedcommunity papers kept dedicated reporters stretched thin with too many stories to tell and not enough resources to get it done.
I removed the wrapper from the muffin. “Another fire last night.”
“No shit.” She plopped into her chair. “I can’t even keep track. Surely this isn’t normal.”
“Chief McInerny told me the same thing he has been saying since I arrived in town—long, dry summer. No rain. Last night, he pointed out we were in the first week of October and still haven’t had any decent rain.”
“Yes, but there’s a nip in the air. That should help with the tinder-dry conditions, right?” She sipped her coffee. Then sighed.
“Something to investigate, I guess. Last night was the second fire this week.”
“Sheesh. Which firefighters worked it?” She yanked her laptop out of her messenger bag and hooked it up to her docking station.
“I didn’t get a chance to ask. Seth held me back.”
“Good old Seth.” Spring chuckled.
Seth Jacobs was an RCMP officer working out of the Mission City detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “Yeah, he’s a good guy.”
“Better than Colton.” Spring shivered.
Colton Pritchard. Corporal with the Mission City detachment. Also, Spring’s ex-brother-in-law.
She’d never been entirely clear why she held such animosity toward the man—just that she did.
I knew better than to pry. “Colton doesn’t work the streets, right?” I already knew the answer, but hoped this time she might elucidate.
“Nope.” She stared at her computer screen. “Great for the average citizens of Mission City. Not so good for the accused criminals.”
