Up in Flames [The Heroes of Silver Springs 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) (23 page)

And dive back into the investigation, which she had done with Max and after she’d left his apartment. They’d pored over everything together, taking frequent breaks for more hot bouts of monkey sex, and she’d finally left his place only to go home and ponder over everything some more.

Max dipped his head and brushed a quick kiss to her lips. “Did you ladies have fun?”

She grinned. “They’re a riot. You should see all the stuff everyone got for Veronica’s new baby. That little guy, or girl, is spoiled already and it hasn’t even seen the world yet.”

“With Dean and Veronica as its parents, the kid is going to be so rotten it’ll stink,” Terri commented on a laugh as she snuggled into Gage’s embrace.

Regina watched the other woman for a moment, feeling oddly glad they’d had their little talk inside the house. She didn’t know what Gage’s intentions were with Terri. Frankly, she didn’t see it as any of her business. She knew about Terri’s reputation as a flinger, but that didn’t make the woman anything less in her eyes. Maybe Gage would be the man to change Terri. Or maybe he would turn out to be the man who made her think and realize the doctor she’d been seeing was Mr. Right. Who knew? Still, Regina found herself hoping for the first scenario. She had to admit Terri and Gage made a great couple.

And, as for Terri cornering her about Dean, she was glad that was out of the closet, too. She’d sensed more than heard the rumors that had started to fly around the firehouse about her and Dean. She’d worried about it, too. The last thing she’d wanted was for Veronica to think she was attempting to break up their marriage. Veronica had always been such a sweetheart to her, and she didn’t doubt for an instant that the woman was the only one who would ever hold Captain Dean Wolcott’s heart.

“Well, Veronica just got plenty of baby bath soaps and lotions in there to keep the smell down,” Regina said and everyone laughed. She sniffed the air, her tummy grumbling when her nose caught the whiff of the hamburgers and hot dogs several firefighters from B-shift were cooking on the grill. “Think those guys are going to be done cooking soon?” she tipped her head back to ask Max. “It smells so good and I’m about to starve!”

“I can go check. Want me to bring you a beer on my way back?”

Regina shook her head. “A soda would be nice, though.” She’d been ignoring the niggling in her gut all day that seemed intent on preventing her from having a good time. Something was off. She could feel it. She simply couldn’t put her finger on it. She needed to stay sober, wanted to make sure she had a clear head if her gut turned out to be right and something went down.

“I’ll go with you,” Gage said, releasing his hold on Terri, but not before he brushed a quick kiss over the top of her head.

Max’s arm slid from Regina’s waist, and she immediately felt the absence of his warmth. The more time she spent with him, the deeper she felt herself falling. She’d already determined there wasn’t anything she could do about it except to let it happen and ride out the storm when it ended. She fully intended to do exactly what she’d advised Terri. She’d enjoy Max…for as long as it lasted.

Her gaze fell on his back as he walked away, weaving his way through the crowd of chattering adults to the firefighters at the barbeque grill. She’d never met a man who looked as impossibly delectable in clothes as he did naked, but Max damn sure pulled it off.

She flattened her hand on her belly as it gave another low rumble, knowing it wasn’t a hamburger or hot dog it was growling for this time. It was Max. Beneath her, on top of her, beside her, or against a wall, it didn’t matter as long as his thick, long cock was inside her aching pussy.

“You know”—Terri leaned closer and lowered her voice to barely above a whisper—“if I’d waited just a little longer to say something, I wouldn’t have felt the need to say anything. The way you’re drooling over Max, you can’t possibly have eyes for anyone else.”

Regina felt her cheeks heat as she dragged her gaze from Max’s tight ass clad in even tighter blue jeans. “Am I being that obvious?”

“You’re only looking like a woman who’s considering saying the hell with the hamburgers and hot dogs and gobbling up the lieutenant for lunch instead.”

Regina smacked her lips. “Yep, then I guess I’m being that obvious.”

Terri threw her head back and laughed. “Go get ’em, tiger.” The woman’s cat-shaped hazel eyes gleamed with mischief. “Or is it pit bull? Isn’t that what I’ve heard him call you from time to time?”

Regina giggled and rolled her eyes. “Probably more like a thousand times.” She looked back toward Max in time to see him and Gage headed back their way, beers and a soda in hand. “I think we’re past that stage now, though.”

Terri clucked her tongue. “That’s too bad. A good argument sets the perfect foundation for making up.”

“Uh-oh.” Gage stopped short just as the men reached them and shot a playfully worried look at Max. “It looks like they might have been conspiring against us.”

Max held Regina’s gaze and waggled his brows. “As long as she plans to take it out on me later, I don’t mind.”

Regina briefly closed her eyes and laughed to herself. She’d been worried about what everyone on B-shift would think about her arriving with their lieutenant today. Sure, she’d been invited to the party. Dean had made certain she accepted the invitation, too. And it had only taken Dean one glance from her to Max when they’d first arrived for her to know Dean was thoroughly pleased that they’d come together.

“I—” Regina started to tell Max she fully intended to take her lust out on him later when her phone in the front pocket of her blue jeans started to vibrate. “Am apparently going to answer my phone,” she finished, changing what she’d been about to say as she pulled out her phone and glanced at the name on the screen. She met Max’s gaze as she answered. “Philip, what’s up?”

Max’s eyes widened slightly, and she saw his posture stiffen at the name. Philip Mead had taken over the fire investigation office, promoting her to lead investigator in his spot, and settling into the spot of acting director.

“Are you listening to the scanner?” Philip got straight to the point of his call.

“No. I’m, uh, at a get-together with the B-shift crew from Station 1.”

“Station 1’s C-shift just rolled on a call. It’s a physical therapist office, Regina. 900 Holcomb Boulevard. It’s got to be your guy.”

* * * *

“It was too soon for you to do this.”

Max watched Regina as her fire boots sloshed through the standing water in the building at 900 Holcomb Boulevard, knowing she was in her own investigative world. They’d left the cookout and headed straight here. C-shift had fought the blaze for nearly two hours before extinguishing the flames and deeming the structure safe for her to enter. He’d helped her and the boys in blue gather witness statements while they’d waited outside. As with the fire at Mr. G’s, no one had seen anything except the flames.

“You shouldn’t have hit for another few days. Why now? Why change your timetable?”

Good question.
Max knew he needed to fill her in on the information Ford had found, but he decided now wasn’t the time. Her mind was fully focused on the scene around her, her thoughts churning over the path the fire had obviously taken as she worked to determine the point of origin.

There was no doubt it was the work of the Flame Jumper even before Regina stopped short in the doorway of the first examination room and took a scraping from the molding. Max watched as she sniffed the charred specimen before scraping it off her tool into an evidence vial. She stretched her arm out, handing him the vial to put in her kit that she’d asked him to hold after they’d entered the building.

“It was him,” she confirmed, wiping the back of her hand over her forehead and nearly dislodging her helmet from her head. She’d insisted on putting her kit and full turnout gear in the back of his truck when he’d picked her up for the cookout. Good thing, too, considering their Flame Jumper had picked today to strike again.

“He used the same accelerant, a mixture of gasoline and citronella gel.”

Her.
It’s a her.
If the information Ford had uncovered turned out to be the link they’d been looking for, their arsonist was a female by the name of Joyce Randolph.

“You scoped out this place, didn’t you?” Regina continued to talk to the Flame Jumper as if she were there in the building with them.

What she was doing, Max knew, was trying to think like the Flame Jumper, attempting to put herself in the Flame Jumper’s mind.

“You came in here, got a good look around, and devised your plan in your head for quick work and an even quicker escape.”

“She didn’t bother with the alarm this time,” Max pointed out. His deeper voice reverberated off the charred walls in the building. Regina didn’t seem to notice he’d referred to the Flame Jumper as a she rather than a he. Max didn’t expect her to. Her full attention lay on the facts right now, collecting them so she could form her opinion of precisely what had occurred here and how. “C-shift’s captain reported the sprinklers went off, too, but they were no match for the fire that was set.”

“Does that mean he’s getting careless or more intent on getting caught?” Regina walked into the first examination room, but turned just inside it to face him. “He came into the building through the back door, set off the alarm, and didn’t attempt to stop it. Did he get off on the knowledge that he only had precious minutes to douse the place and set the fire before the SSPD showed up?”

“Maybe she simply didn’t see another way,” Max suggested. “You said after you interviewed Mr. G’s employees that you found out the guy who shut the place down the night before had failed to set the alarm. He also couldn’t be certain he’d locked the back door.” He turned slightly, glancing around before meeting her gaze again. “It made Mr. G’s an easy mark. This place was locked tight. The alarm was set. The sprinkler system is run differently, too. The access to the primary valve isn’t as open in here.” He looked up. “Hell, it’s run above the ceiling tiles here. She wouldn’t have even seen it, especially not with the limited amount of time she left herself after setting off the alarm to get inside.”

Regina turned her back to him as she moved further into the examination room. “This room is the point of origin. I can tell by the burn patterns, the way it moves out the door, and how it encompasses the outside area.” She bowed her head as she moved to the far wall and then tipped her head up as she stared at the window. “He used the same means of escape. There’s scratch marks on the floor going from over there”—she turned slightly and pointed to her right—“leading here.” She smacked the table sitting beneath the window. “This belongs over there. He used it to get the leverage he needed to get out the window, just like he did with the workbench beneath the window at Mr. G’s.”

“And no one saw her because that window faces the trees separating this building from the one next door,” Max concluded. “There’s barely ten feet between the outside wall and that line of trees out there.”

“With the alarm blaring like it was, anyone close would’ve been paying attention to the front of the place anyway.” Regina stepped back from the table, her head still tipped back as her gaze danced over the ceiling. “The amount of accelerant he used caused this place to go up like a match. The fire spread quick. C-shift’s captain said the call came through with flames already visible from outside in the street.”

“She would’ve made sure of that, too. Catch anyone’s attention and keep it on the front of the building so she could make her escape in here.”

“I’ll tell you something else he made sure of,” Regina said as she made her way back out of the examination room. Max stepped aside to give her room to pass. “Do you see any security cameras anywhere?”

“Son of a bitch,” Max breathed.

“Exactly.” Regina pointed a finger in the air as she walked further into the building. “He knew it, too. He cased this place at some point, knew there were no security cameras, and picked it as the easiest mark.”

“You’ve got to give it to her, she’s one smart bitch,” Max muttered and shook his head.

Regina stopped halfway down the hall and turned, her brows etched together and her eyes narrowed questioningly. “Why are you suddenly referring to the Flame Jumper as a female? I thought I was mistaken, but that’s not the first time you’ve said she since we walked into this place.”

Max couldn’t help but admire her sharpness even though he knew his goose was cooked. He’d thought she wasn’t listening to his every word, that she hadn’t picked up on his use of the different gender, and hadn’t bothered with trying to correct himself. He’d been wrong. She had heard it, likely as clearly as she was seeing everything around her with her highly trained eyes and quick mind.

“I have reason to believe our Flame Jumper might be a woman,” Max admitted, seeing no point in attempting to prolong this conversation until they got out of here. He knew Regina too well to think she’d let him get away or delay anything until she got the answers she was waiting for.

“What reason?”

This would be the tricky part. “How much have you looked into your father’s career and the fires he investigated?” Max asked carefully.

A muscle tightened in Regina’s jaw at the mention of her father, and when she spoke, her tone held a hint of warning. “My father has been a fire investigator my entire life, right up until his retirement. He’s always talked to me about the fires he investigated, his findings based on the evidence he uncovered, and the opinions he made based on the facts.”