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

Veronica giggled. “He’ll probably be worse.” She waved a hand dismissively and continued. “But that’s not why we’re having second thoughts about the baby shower. The whole ‘it’s just for girls’ thing doesn’t sit right with us. I know you men don’t care about all the absolutely adorable clothes and toys and all that jazz, but having a baby is about family, right?”

Dean lifting a brow. He was having trouble figuring out exactly where she was going with this, so he did the smart, husbandly thing and simply agreed. “Right.”

“So, shouldn’t all of our family be in attendance?”

Dean angled his head and dared to take a guess. “You mean B-shift? Not just Bailey and Terri, but the guys, too?”

“Well, yeah. They’re our family, sweetheart. Neither one of us has blood kin in Silver Springs anymore with your family gone and mine in Florida, but those guys out there”—she turned slightly and pointed at the closed office door—“are as much our family, maybe even more, as anyone else.”

“I agree. So, what do you have in mind?”

Her eyes brightened with her idea. “A cookout shower at the house. We haven’t invited anyone over since we moved in. We’ve got a huge backyard, a great deck, and that brand new smoker you bought last summer we’ve rarely gotten a chance to use. We’ve got everything we need to throw one heck of a baby shower.”

“And enough space that the women can get together and do their gushing over baby stuff while the men do their thing on the back deck,” Dean added, liking the idea. He lifted a shoulder. “Why not? If that’s what you want, B-shift’s rotation will fall into that magic land where we get a full weekend off.” He glanced at the calendar on the wall behind his desk. “This weekend, as a matter of fact. We’ll get everybody together and have your cookout shower Sunday afternoon. That way Romantic Illusions will be closed and you can invite Judy, too.”

“Will you invite the guys? Oh, and be gentle when you invite Terri and Bailey. Make it sound like it was your idea or something. I don’t want them to get their feelings hurt because they were planning something different and we’re taking over.”

Dean chuckled, got to his feet again, and moved in front of his wife, caging her in with his hands on the desktop on either side of her hips. “I doubt either of them will be hurt, but I’ll lay on the sensitive charm when I talk to them, just in case.”

Veronica wound her arms around his neck and let out a sultry moan that traveled straight to his cock. “Mmm, you do have an irresistible sensitive charm, Captain Wolcott.” She brushed a kiss to his lips, eased back, and glanced over her shoulder. When she met his gaze again, he saw pure heat and devious intentions dancing in her eyes. “It’s been a while since we’ve played at the firehouse. Think anyone will come to your office anytime soon?”

“We played at the firehouse at the New Year’s Eve party, remember? You jumped me in the supply closet out in the bays.”

Veronica waggled her brows. “Oh, I definitely remember that time. It was right before I informed you of your impending Daddy status.”

Dean cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes. “It was one of the best nights of my life.” He started to kiss her, not knowing if anyone would be looking for him anytime soon or not, and frankly not giving a damn. Almost from the first moment his amazing wife had walked back into his life, they’d been living on the edge, making love wherever the mood struck and riding on the thrill of getting caught.

It was a horrible example for a captain to make to his crew, but his crew knew how deeply crazy about this woman he was. They’d give him hell about getting busy in his office, but that’s as far as it would go.

His lips had barely touched hers when three soft raps sounded at the door. Smiling, he closed his eyes briefly as he rested his forehead against hers and ordered his rock-hard cock to stand down.

“I guess that answers my question.” Veronica giggled. She planted a quick kiss to his lips and unwound her arms from around his neck. “Come home in the morning expecting to be jumped, Captain. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Dean threw his head back a growled. “This is going to be a long shift.” He lifted his head and took a step back before answering the knock at the door. “Come in.”

Regina opened the door to Dean Wolcott’s office and immediately started to back step. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she’d interrupted. Dean was in the process of sitting down in his chair and his wife was pushing herself off the edge of his desk. Veronica’s face looked flush with arousal, and Regina couldn’t miss the way Dean adjusted his cargo pants on his way down into his seat.

Regina felt her cheeks heat. God, what would it feel like to be so in love she couldn’t keep her hands off her man even after so many years of marriage? What would it feel like to be so secure in her career that she could afford to explore the option of even having a man?

“I’m sorry. I can come back later.”

“No.” Veronica smiled at her warmly as she rounded the desk and walked toward her. “I was just about to leave.”

Yeah, right.

“I’m sure the two of you have business to discuss,” Veronica went on. She tossed her smile over her shoulder at Dean. “Honey, don’t forget to include Regina in what we talked about, okay?”

Dean chuckled softly. “Will do.”

Veronica blew him a kiss. “Love you. We’ll see you in the morning.”

Regina saw a sparkle of heat in Veronica’s eyes as she turned back around. Her gaze flicked to Dean, and she noted what she could only define as sheer anticipation in his expression as he watched his wife walk out of the office.

“Include Regina in what?” Regina asked as she stepped further into the office and closed the door behind her.

“Cookout shower this Sunday at our place. Say, two o’clock? That should be late enough not to interfere with anyone’s schedule who attends church on Sunday mornings.”

“A cookout shower?” The possibilities that sprang to her mind about exactly what that meant were too comical to be right.

“Men grilling. Women gushing over baby stuff.”

Regina smiled. “I get it. A baby shower for the women while the men do their thing.”

“You’ll be there, right? You know we moved into the house Veronica’s parents used to own a few months ago.”

Regina nodded. “The one on Cumberland Road. I know where it is.”

“Great. Then we’ll expect to see you around two o’clock.”

His tone, kind and yet firm, told her he wasn’t giving her a choice. Rather than argue, she took another step, and said, “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Dean grinned. “It’s probably a good thing you did. That woman has been insatiable lately. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but…” He lifted a shoulder and gestured with a flourish of his hand to one of the chairs that sat in front of his desk. “Please, have a seat. Did you get everything you needed from the crew about the fire at Mr. G’s this morning?”

Everything I needed and then some.

Christ on a pogo stick! She felt her cheeks heat again, this time for an entirely different reason. What would he say if he knew about one specific thing she’d gotten from a certain member of his crew this morning? She still couldn’t believe she’d allowed that to happen. She’d been doing so well, falling back into her normal routine of keeping Max at arm’s length and letting him believe she truly did think he was the father of all supreme assholes. Then, he’d touched her. He’d put his hands on her waist and asked the question that had incinerated her resistance.

Am I right, Gina? Do you want me to kiss you again?

Damn it, for the second time in as many days, she’d cracked,
broke
, and it’d had to happen with Max Jasper, of all freaking men on the planet.

Regina took the seat Dean had offered, placing the briefcase she’d brought with her in her lap. “I just finished speaking with Magee and Barrett. Lieutenant Jasper gave me his statement this morning.”

Dean nodded. “Was the lieutenant able to help you at all?”

If you mean was he able to help me fall further down my path to destruction, then yes, he most definitely accomplished that.

“All of them were.” She purposely kept her answer vague, but at the look that swept through Dean’s expression, she decided to expand on it. “Hearing the first-in firefighters’ accounts of what they saw is always a help in any investigation.” She opened her briefcase and withdrew a copy of the preliminary report she’d printed at the office. “This is by no means complete,” she said as she slid the copy across the captain’s desk. “It’s a rough draft, so to speak. I still need your report as well.”

“I was working on that when Veronica showed up.”

“Based on the evidence gathered at the scene, the witness statements I’ve gotten so far, and those of your crew, I’ve determined the fire was definitely arson.” She fell silent as Dean quickly skimmed her report.

“Thank you for keeping me posted.” He looked up from the report and smiled. “As you always do when you investigate any fire that involved my crew.”

Regina closed her briefcase. “As I said, my investigation is far from complete. I’m headed to speak with Mr. Reuben Gadsby now. He managed to slip away from the scene this morning before I could get to him.”

Dean scratched his chin. “Yeah, I, uh, heard about that.”

“I’ll also be speaking with his employees, checking background records, and looking into the customers who’ve brought their cars in for service in recent weeks.”

“I can’t imagine Gadsby having any part in that fire. Mind you, I can’t say the man is anything more than an acquaintance of mine, but he’s been in business in Silver Springs for a number of years and his reputation is solid.”

Regina nodded slowly. “It’s standard procedure any time a business goes up in flames. Insurance scams make up a phenomenal amount of the arson cases investigated every year.”

Dean sighed. “Sad, isn’t it? That people will resort to setting a match to their business to collect the insurance money. Jasper mentioned that building had an internal sprinkler system. Gadsby mentioned an alarm, too. Any clue why neither of them went off?”

“From what I’ve been able to determine, it doesn’t appear the alarm was on at all. It could be that whoever closed the place last night forgot to set it or whoever set fire to it knew the code to turn it off.”

Dean’s brows winged up. “Then it was an inside job?”

“I don’t have enough concrete evidence to state that as fact yet. As for the sprinkler system, I can tell you whoever torched the place had a good knowledge of how those work
. The building was equipped with a
full-coverage combination wet and dry pipe sprinkler system. The primary valve was located in the area of the point of origin of the fire. Whoever our arsonist is closed off that valve, shutting off the water supply to the sprinklers.”

Dean shook his head. “It sounds like we’re dealing with a smart one, here.”

“That it does.” Regina started to get to her feet when a memory echoed through her mind. She remembered Max’s voice from last night when he’d been making idle conversation on their way to her house. “B-shift responded to a MVA last week. A Buick Regal that caught fire under the hood upon impact. Do you remember that call?”

“A motor vehicle accident involving a Buick Regal,” Dean repeated slowly, obviously thinking back. He drew his brows together even as his eyes widened slightly. “Wait a minute. I do remember that. The driver of that car.” He put a finger to his temple as if he were trying to push the memory to the forefront of his mind. “I believe his name was Beau Hughes. He’s a mechanic at Mr. G’s.”

Regina sat up straighter. “Really?”

Dean nodded. “I overheard him talking with SSPD. The fuel line wasn’t properly connected to the carburetor. It snapped lose on impact. That’s why the car caught fire like it did.”

“I can’t imagine a mechanic not knowing how to connect a fuel line to a carburetor.”

Dean lifted a shoulder. “Neither could I. The guy looked pretty torqued. I believe he tried to blame it on one of the other mechanics who’d apparently helped him work on the car recently, but don’t quote me on that.”

“May I?” Regina asked as she reached for a pen in a cup on the captain’s desk.

“Of course.” He slid a pad of sticky notes across the desk for her to write on.

“You said the guy’s name is Beau Hughes?” Regina confirmed as she scribbled down the name.

“If my memory serves me correctly, yes.”

“Thanks.” Regina tore off the sticky noted and shoved it in her briefcase. “You may have just given me another lead.”

“Which you weren’t expecting,” Dean pointed out. “That’s not why you were asking about the accident.”

“No, it wasn’t. There was a similar incident a couple of weeks before that, same type of car, same make and model, and another front-end collision. Station 4 was toned out for that call.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that one.”

“It’s okay. I thought I would run it by you anyway. The similarities struck me as odd. There aren’t many true coincidences in this world, you know?”

“And I’ve just handed you another possible one with Beau Hughes and his connection to both the first MVA and the fire at Mr. G’s.”

“So it seems.” Regina smiled as she got to her feet.

Dean stood, too, and walked around his desk. “Now that we’ve got the business portion of our program out of the way…We didn’t get a chance to talk much this morning. Did something happen last night?”

Flashbacks of last night, of Max kissing her, of Max fondling her breasts, of her cupping his cock through his jeans, and of Max sandwiching her against her living room wall played through her mind in warp-speeded vivid color. She squared her shoulders, held her chin high, and hoped when she spoke that her words would ring with a confidence she didn’t feel. “I’m putting in a transfer to the Kingsford Fire Investigation office.”