Page 45 of Big Daddy Firemen

“Yeah,” Daisy continued. “That place has been abandoned for a while and the family that owns it doesn’t even live in the area. They just inherited. But they’ve never done anything with the property.”

“Yeah,” Cane said. “Same as… the store!” His eyes lit up as he saw where Daisy was going with this. He stood too and walked up to her. “Folks have tried to buy that old store for years, but the people who inherited wouldn’t budge.”

“Sort of the same as that old cabin and the property it sits on,” Daisy said. “And that’s valuable real estate! Especially with prices sky-high around here like they are. So many rental companies are trying to buy every track of land they can get their hands on to throw cabins up and make a killing off the tourists.” She stopped talking as she realized the guys were watching her so intently, smiling from ear-to-ear, beaming with pride. “What?” she asked with a giggle, spreading her hands.

“You’re as smart as you are cute,” Walker said. “Little girl, you might have just solved this thing.”

She giggled again but quickly added, “Not yet. I came up with a possible motive. That doesn’t tell us who is behind it.”

“It makes it easier, though,” Cane pointed out. “And tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, I say we run with the theory and see where it leads.”

The others agreed with the plan.

And Cane, Walker, and Austin agreed that their little girl was the smartest, most beautiful little girl in the whole damn world.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The following morning, Jean came in even though it wasn’t her usual weekend shift.

She’d seemed thrilled for the opportunity of extra hours when Daisy called to ask. It hadn’t taken her long at all to reach the station, and she brought not one, buttwomystery novels with her.

Daisy was in the kitchen when the older woman came in and started making herself a cup of coffee.

“Need someone to fill in for you today while you hang out with the guys, eh?”

Daisy smiled. “Yes. We’re going to look into a few things regarding those recent fires.”

The older woman started her coffee brewing and then cast a suspicious glance at Daisy. “They’ve got you investigating now?”

Daisy shrugged. “Just following up on an idea I had.”

Jean didn’t look convinced. “Look, honey, if you want to spend your day getting railed by them you don’t have to make excuses with me.”

Daisy gasped. Of course, she had spent last night getting railed by them before taking a cum shower, but Jean didn’t need to know any of that.

“We just want to get to the bottom of what’s going on.”

Jean snorted. “Kid, this ain’t my first rodeo. I’ve seen the way they look at you and the way you look at them. There’s something in the air here and I know exactly what it is. Reminds me of a Dane-bang I had back in ’87.”

Daisy covered her mouth for a moment, her mind reeling, before she finally managed to say, “I’m sorry, but did I hear you right? ADane-bang?”

Jean picked up her piping hot mug of coffee, took a sip without even blowing on it, and didn’t flinch at the scalding temperature. “You heard right. A Dane-bang. That’s when a group of Danish guys—or guys pretending to be Danish—it doesn’t matter as long as they wear those weird, pleated, lacy shirts. Anyway, they pick you up in a van and?—”

Daisy held up her hands. “Maybe I should stop you right there and ask. Is this story going to be offensive to Denmark?”

Jean snorted even louder now. “The best gang-bangs are.” She looked at Daisy unapprovingly, shook her head, and muttered, “You’ve got a lot to learn, sweetheart,” before marching out with her coffee toward the dispatch room.

Daisy stood there, leaning against the counter, stunned when Walker came into the room, opened the fridge, and grabbed a bottle of water.

“You okay?” He took a swig.

“Yeah. Just, uh, well… Jean is interesting.”

Walker grinned and took another drink before saying, “Was she talking about Swedish Smash Sessions?”

“Oh my goodness!” Daisy exclaimed. “No. This time, she was saying something about Denmark. But how many of these… experiences… has she had?”

“Apparently a lot,” Walker answered with a wry grin. “And you’d be surprised how many involve Nordic countries. A lot of them seem really culturally offensive, too.”

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