Page 80 of Heat Advisory

I sat in on the final investigator meetings, the ones where we handed over files, confirmed timelines, made sure we hadn’t missed anything, and officially closed the case.

Jade and Darren were both headed to prison and would remain there until their trials. They likely would have had the opportunity for bail had the fires not killed people. It also didn’t help their case that they told the judge they didn’t regret starting the fires—only that people had died.

Leavenworth stood at the front of the room, arms crossed, looking like he’d just won a war. I’d noticed Trent was missing from this particular wrap-up meeting, which seemed odd, but I chose to ignore it for now.

“Alright,” Thompson said, his voice tired but satisfied. “If anyone thinks of anything else later, just come find me. Otherwise…that wraps up the investigation on our end.”

Thompson stepped forward and joined Leavenworth at the head of the conference room.

“We have just one more thing to tackle today,” he said and then looked at me. “Rainer.”

I stood after being addressed, knowing this had to be about the inspector position, or at least hoping it was.

“You have completed all the necessary requirements for advancing into a fire inspector role and have worked very hard to achieve that,” Leavenworth said. “We feel you would be a huge asset to one of our teams.”

Oh shit.

I knew that meant there was a possibility that either Trent or I could be shifted to a different part of the state if we got selected, but I had hoped they would keep me local. Unfortunately, now that Jade and Darren had been caught, we didn’t have nearly as many cases to investigate, so there likely wasn’t a need for both Trent and me.

“Rainer, congratulations,” Leavenworth said. “We’d like to offer you the role of fire inspector here in our Reno division.”

Fuck yes.

It was an understatement to say that I was elated.

I smiled and nodded to him. “Thank you, sir. I’m honored to join the team.”

“We’ll have you fill out your transfer paperwork today and get you set up to start tomorrow,” Thompson added.

Everything I had worked hard for had paid off, and I’d gotten the job here. I wouldn’t have to leave Cora or figure out how to make long-distance work.

For the last week, I’d slept at her place every night. There was nothing wrong with mine, except it didn’t feel as homey as Cora’s. Her place felt like home. Plus, she had her cat, so it was easier for us to stay there.

In the beginning, I’d told her I needed to stay the night because I needed to be near her after what had happened. The truth was, I’d wanted that even before the incident with Jade and Darren—this just gave me the excuse I needed.

After I finished all my paperwork, I stopped by my place to grab enough clean clothes for a few days and then headed over to Cora’s. I slept for a few hours while she worked but woke when my cell kept going off.

Groggily, I finally reached over to see what was going on. I had seventeen new texts, four missed calls, and two new voicemails—all from coworkers.

This couldn’t be good.

I started to open some of the messages when an incoming call from Blake popped up.

I swiped to answer it. “Hey, man. I just woke up. What’s goin’ on?”

“They canned Trent’s ass,” he said, sounding thrilled.

What did he just say?

“Apparently there was an internal investigation going on because of what he’d said to Nicole, and because of that, they were watching him extra closely. Not sure how, but they found out he was the one who keyed your car.”

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.

I’d suspected it was him, but there’d been no way for me to prove it.

“He came in and cleared out his locker an hour ago.”

“Damn,” I said. “I was wondering why he didn’t show up to our meeting this morning.”