That was going to be one thing we’d have to have a talk about, I realized. If he was the kind who thought it was fine to cheat with other women while they were on the road, or during parties, or any of the other wild things I’d heard over the years—a couple of our guys were in law enforcement motorcycle clubs, and those were a lot more tame than the one percenters—then we were going to have a big problem.
“Appreciate the head’s up. I’m going to go find him now,” I told Hale. “You sticking around?”
He nodded, the early morning sunlight shining over his hair like a beacon. “If you’re here, I’m here.”
I waved a hand at him as I grabbed my bag out of the back and headed off to find the homicide detective. The lot was dry now. It would have been damp or even filled with puddles yesterday as Hale’s crew worked to put out the flames. A lot of the smoke had cleared too, which I was grateful for.
Approaching a uniformed officer, I smiled. “Hi, I’m Fire Inspector Bell. I’m looking for Detective Bowers.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the young man—he must’ve only been twenty-two or three—smiled at me. “We’ve been waiting for you. Follow me.”
“Thanks,” I told him, hesitating just inside the doorway. I waited a beat to see if my stomach was going to clench or pitch at the smell of the smoke inside the building. I’d only eaten a very small breakfast this morning, enough to keep the sickness at bay, not enough that it was trying to crawl back up my throatnow. I’d started to get the hang of what was going to make me feel awful throughout the day, thankfully. Picking my way through the burned out rubble, I followed the cop through the building.
“Right through there. Watch your head with those beams,” the officer warned, pointing at some thick wooden beams that had collapsed down from the roof. One was in a precarious position, but there was another beam under it, wedged between it and the floor. That would’ve been done by Hale and his crew, to make it safer for all the people who needed to come in and out of here.
One of the fire fighters walked past and grinned. “Good to see you, Devyn.”
“You too, Buck.”
The fireman and cop just gave each other curt nods and I had to stifle a laugh. The competition between firemen and police officers was well known. It made my thoughts stray back to Bolo and everything he’d told me last night. The difference was even though fire fighters and cops had a rivalry going, they still considered themselves on the same team when it came down to it. None of them would consider a one percenter motorcycle club to be on their team.
I left the young officer behind and walked up to where a man in a suit was speaking with the coroner. People were standing over a pile of bones. They were broken and smashed to bits, leaving no doubt that this had been done intentionally.
So much for the homeless people theory.
“Look Bowers, I don’t know what you expect of me,” the pissed off coroner barked. “This is a mess. It’s going to take time to straighten any of it out.” He swept a hand over the pile.
“I need to know who they were,” Bowers told him, his voice calm and neutral.
“Yeah, I get that. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more time than ‘by tomorrow’, is all I’m saying. These remains are smashed to hell. Despite what TV tells you, DNA testing isn’t an overnight deal. You’ll have to wait.”
I studied the scene. “So whoever started the fire, knew they were here and came back afterward to smash the evidence?”
They all looked over at me. “Who are you?” the coroner asked.
“They would’ve had to do that before the fire department got here,” I said, meeting Bowers’ gaze as I worked through it, ignoring the coroner’s question.
“It’s pretty remote out here,” Bowers said with a nod, watching me with a perceptive gaze. “Since it was daylight, the damn thing was burning quite a while before they got here to put it out.”
“Still,” I said in a considering tone, “that’s a pretty dangerous stunt to pull.” I squatted down next to the pile of bones. Pile didn’t exactly describe it accurately, though I didn’t have another word for it, because there was a skull over in the corner, almost like someone had kicked it over there. Or maybe it had flown over when the skeleton had been hit. “They must have started the bodies on fire first.”
“Who’s she?” the coroner said in a low voice.
“Guessing she’s the fire inspector.”
“Sorry,” I said, giving them a sheepish smile. “I’m Inspector Bell.”
“What makes you think they started with the bodies?” Bowers asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t look surprised, so I was guessing he’d already come to the same conclusion. He just wanted my thoughts on it.
“They piled them up here-”
“They?” the coroner interrupted, though he clapped his mouth shut when Bowers scowled at him.
“Just guessing for now,” I said. “This is a big job for one man though.”
The coroner opened his mouth again, then just shut it without asking when Bowers held up his hand.
“Not if he’s a really big man,” Bowers said. To the coroner he said, “Why don’t you go get started on whatever paperwork you have? We’ll let you have the remains once Inspector Bell is done with what she needs to do.”
