Valentine Wishes (Baxter Academy Book 1) (3 page)

A
million thoughts
and fears are going through my mind as I run down the path. Luckily it isn’t too dark to see right now. Brett is behind me. I can hear his feet hit the ground. I shouldn’t have run off without explanation but surely he understands that I just can’t ignore sirens going to the camp. There are a ton of campers and counselors there. Yes, we have plenty of adults to supervise, but that doesn’t really help my worry. My family owns this camp. I’m kind of an administrator. If anyone got hurt, or worse…I can’t even finish the thought.

Besides counselors, there are therapists to see to the kids’ mental health. Most are at the end of their education and use this as part of their clinicals. I pray a kid didn’t wig out. Or one with gang affiliations didn’t decided to return to his or her roots instead of taking a break from the violence. They’ve all only been here a day and I don’t know them yet. Anything could have happened.

The smoke burns my nose as I run into the open area. A fire was built in the pit. Actually, we have several pits for different groups. But this one, closest to me, had a huge fire. Much bigger than was safe and a tree is burning.

If it spreads… I don’t even want to think about that either. “Get the kids up to the house now, and stay out of the drive,” I yell. Adults were already trying to do that, but some kids lingered back, watching. One particular kid was standing there grinning, his arms across his chest. A tough kid of about fourteen.

Theo and a counselor were trying to put out the fire with a garden hose, not that it’s doing much good.

“Why is the fire even going yet?”

“We were all at the picnic tables having supper when someone noticed the fire,” Theo explains.

“Who did this?”

“He did.” Theo points to the kid grinning at the fire. He was the only one left.

I turn to march over to demand an explanation but Brett beats me to him. “Did you set the fire?”

“Isn’t it awesome?” The kid is just looking at the flames, and there’s an eerie gleam in his eye.

Fuck. We have a pyromaniac at the camp.

The fire engines drive slowly drive onto the property, avoiding the other fire pits and buildings to get to the fire. We have three hydrants on the camp grounds because we are so far from the road, and with having kids here, and all of the woods, it’s a necessity that the family insisted upon. The hydrants pump water in from the lake, so it’s really convenient.

One of the firemen jumps out of the rig and heads over to me. I point to the one closest to us .

A couple of squad cars follow them in and stop. The first officer to exit is Deputy Bailey and I cringe. Of all the dicks on the county, he is the biggest one.

“What happened?” he asks when he gets to me.

“A fire was built too high.”

“One of the kids I bet,” he says with disgust. “I’ve always said this camp was a bad idea. Bringing in those troublemakers.”

I clench my jaw to keep from giving him a piece of my mind.

“I can guarantee when my little Larry is old enough to go to camp, she won’t be coming here.”

Yes, his precious four-year-old, Larry, named after her father, probably won’t ever be exposed to the world. Officer Bailey will keep her wrapped up in cotton over those pink frilly dresses and satin ribbons. Besides, little Larry doesn’t fit the qualifications for Baxter Art Camp.

“So, which one of the delinquents did it?”

“I didn’t see who. I just got here myself.” I’m not going to out the kid to Officer Bailey. I might have to someone else, but not this dick. Besides, we have our own system for dealing with the troublemakers. He’ll be left with a therapist and adult all night. I’ll put a call into the service that brought him and they’ll get him first thing in the morning. Even though we want the kids to have fun, we do have a one strike rule when it comes to damage to property or harming people. The fact that this kid set a fire will make it impossible to sleep until he’s gone. We can’t put any of the other campers at risk for one person.

“The kid committed arson. You better find out who it is.”

“It could have very well been an accident too,” I point out.

He straightens and glares at me. “Do I need to question each one of them?”

Shit. I don’t need Bailey, of all people, questioning the campers. Especially when I already know who the arsonist is. I glance over and see Brett. If only he
was
a cop, then this would be dealt with properly.

Brett steps forward, pulls a slim wallet from his back pocket, and flips it open. “FBI. I’ll take care of this.”

He is fucking FBI. No wonder Ashley didn’t tell me anything about him. I would have never agreed to a date with him. Shit!

“Probably another bleeding heart liberal,” Bailey says as he walks back to his car. “Don’t come complaining to me when you’re all murdered in your sleep.”

“If that happens, it would be kind of difficult to complain, now wouldn’t it?”

The firefighters are hosing down the tree on fire, and two closest to it that had also started to burn. Thank goodness there is no wind tonight or this could have been a complete disaster.

A counselor and therapist walk over.

“Take him up to the carriage house and sit with him. Don’t let him out of your sight.”

“First,” Brett steps forward. “I want to search him, just to be safe.”

The kid’s arms go out and he spreads his feet without instruction, as if he’s not new to this. Brett pats him down and comes away with two books of matches and a lighter.

“They know they aren’t supposed to bring anything like that with them.”

“Maybe he found them here, or you need to start searching the kids before they enter the camp.”

I watch as they lead the kid up to the house. I’ll need to find his file and make a call.

“Thanks for not contradicting me to Bailey.”

The left side of his mouth turns up in a half grin. “Trust me, I ran into him earlier when I was with my uncle. The guy’s an ass.”

I give a half chuckle and then shrug. “I guess the date is over.” I gesture toward the front of the camp, hating that it’s ending so suddenly because of something like this. But, I can’t very well go back to my date of enjoying pizza and conversation when there’s a dangerous kid in camp.

Hell, they all can be dangerous, but for the most part, we rarely have issues with the campers because they are so glad to be free of where they came from. Even if it is for only a short time and most of them don’t want to mess it up.

T
his isn’t
how I thought the date would go, but I’m not exactly ready to leave yet either. “If you don’t mind, I’ll stick around.” I look after the kid. “He looked a little too happy watching the tree burn.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” she says absently and a little worried.

I may not know Jacqueline very well, or at all for that matter, but my protective instinct is on high alert. That kid’s a pyromaniac. The gleam in his eyes was unsettling. “I’m glad you didn’t let him go with Bailey. That kid needs professional help, not incarceration.”

Jacqueline whips her head and looks at me with wide green eyes. “You get it!”

“Get what?”

“That just because a kid screws up doesn’t mean it should be an automatic jail sentence.”

“Of course not. Too many variables figure in.”

Slowly she smiles at me. “What do you know about this camp?”

I shrug. “It’s a summer art camp for underprivileged kids.”

She still smiling. “It’s a tad bit more.” She turns toward the front of the planation. “Why don’t you come up with me? I need to talk to the kid, make a few calls, and make sure everything gets back on track. Then we can talk.”

“Happily.” I am quick to agree. Of course I want to spend more time with Jacqueline.

“The carriage house, which used to actually have carriages, was converted to offices, a bedroom and living area when the camp was established.”

“Didn’t it used to be a living history planation back in the day?” I could swear I’d heard that before.

“Yeah, it was. But after we stopped getting many visitors the family turned it into a camp for kids almost twenty years ago.”

We reached the carriage house that sat on the opposite side of the drive at the back of the plantation house that could have been in movies like
Gone With the Wind
.

“Does anyone still live there?” I nod to the house.

“My grandmother, younger brother, and me.”

I follow her inside the carriage house and two adults are sitting with the pyromaniac. The look in that kid’s eyes is still disturbing. “Why did you build a fire when you know it’s prohibited?” Jacqueline asks him.

He shrugs. “Wanted to.”

“Why build it so high?”

He grins. “Because it’s awesome.”

A chill goes down my spine. What if his urge for a fire would have come later, like when everyone was asleep and he would have decided to set one of the cabins on fire instead? I hope Jacqueline realizes how lucky they all were.

“Well, I’m calling your caseworker.” She points to an open door. “That is where you will be spending the rest of the night.” Inside it looks like there’s a bedroom. “You won’t be left alone.” She looks at each adult and they nod their head before she looks at the kid again. “And, you’ll be gone in the morning.”

The kid comes to his feet, hands fisted at his side. “You can’t do that. I had a promise of two weeks and I just got here.”

“You violated one of the rules.”

“Because of a little fire?”

“One that could have burned down the entire camp,” I point out.

There’s that cold gleam in his eyes again. Maybe Jacqueline should have let Bailey take him and lock him up in jail for the night. But, he’s a kid and would most likely have been put in juvie over in Poughkeepsie, since that was the closest facility.

The kid glares at Jacqueline. “You’ll be sorry for this.”

I’m not sure what the kid can do, but the warning is ominous and I don’t want her anywhere near the pyro. Maybe his thrills don’t just come from fires, but other things just as potentially deadly.

“What’s your name?” she asks.

He closes his mouth, sits back down and crosses his arms over his chest, staring at her defiantly.

“George Casterns,” one of the adults answers.

Jacqueline nods and heads up the stairs.

I’m torn between following so I can keep an eye on her, or staying down here to keep an eye on George. I opt to watch George. He’s too dangerous, even if there are two guys sitting with him.

Jacqueline’s gone about fifteen minutes before she comes back downstairs. “I talked to your caseworker. Because of the severity of the situation and what you did, he and another social worker are coming up tonight. They should be here in about three hours.”

“Fuck!” The kid shakes his head and then glares at me.

We step outside as the fire truck is coming up from back. They stop and Captain Russ Harper steps out. He’s a good friend of my Uncle Quinn and their boys, Kian and Cole, have become best friends. They’re about the same age as the kid waiting to be picked up.

In college and while at Quantico, I’d sat through all kinds of classes on the psychology of why people do things, what might make them tick, but reasons are never cut and dry and you still wonder why one kid is drawn to fire while other kids collect Yu-Gi-Oh cards. “Do you know what happened?” Harper asks, though the cause was pretty obvious and he wasn’t warning Jacqueline about building such large fires.

“Turns out we have a pyro in the group.”

“Should we just hang out?” I know he’s joking but it’s odd that the Captain doesn’t seem too surprised or alarmed.

“He’s getting picked up in about three hours, so all should be good.”

“Good to know,” he said and got back in his truck. “Call if you need us.”

She walks back toward the camping area. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather hang out here, until George is gone and to make sure the kids are not too upset.”

“Sure.”

“And, I’ve got two guys watching which leaves the others understaffed.”

“I can help,” I quickly offer, so not ready for this date to end, even though it has to be the oddest date I’ve ever been on.