Page 120 of Heating Up (Nugget)
“Yes. I remember because Duke told me to call 9-1-1 and I told him we already had.”
Aidan caught Rhys’s eye, then pulled out his phone and called Johnson, who was still outside doing the post control overhaul. Johnson appeared a few minutes later.
“What’s up?”
“Was Duke on shift today?” Aidan asked him.
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Did he say why he just happened to be here when the fire started?”
Johnson appeared perplexed at first, but Aidan saw the minute his captain started putting the pieces together. “Ah, crap, it was the same way with the Bun Boy fire, the one where he had to go to the hospital. The little turd. How did I not see this?”
“None of us did,” Aidan said. Sadly, it wouldn’t be the first time a firefighter had gone to the dark side. A hero complex, a morbid fascination with fire; there were all kinds of motives. “He was there that day when we got into it with Rigsby about confiscating the fireworks, wasn’t he? Perhaps in Duke’s warped mind the fires were a way to set up Rigsby . . . a little vigilante justice.”
“Who knows?” Johnson said. “The kid’s never been right in the head as far as I’m concerned.”
“Is he still out there?” Rhys wanted to know.
“Last I saw, he was helping with the overhaul. You want me to bring him in?”
“I’d rather bring him over to the police station.” Rhys turned to Aidan. “You ready to do this?”
“Yep.”
For the next two hours they interrogated Duke, who, by the time Aidan left, was singing like a canary.
* * *
When Aidan came into the room, Dana was propped up in her hospital bed, the oxygen mask gone.
“Hi.” She broke into a smile. Just seeing him made her feel instantly better.
He didn’t waste time responding, just crossed the floor in three giant steps and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.” He brushed back her hair. “How you feeling?”
“I’m good.” She tipped her head to the other side of the room. “My parents are here.”
Aidan turned and nodded his head. “Mr. and Mrs. Calloway.”
“Did you catch who did this?” her mother asked, sniffling. Her father lightly rested his hand on Betty’s arm.
“We did,” Aidan said, and told Dana and her parents about Duke and how he’d set the fires to show the world his firefighting prowess. “He thought if he was the first one at the scene he could put the fires out quickly and be a hero. So he staked out the buildings to make sure they were empty, lit ’em up, and anonymously made the 9-1-1 calls himself. The problem was, he realized he’d left a boot print at the first scene. In order to throw us off course, he started leaving evidence at the other scenes to implicate John Rigsby. He was at the Rigsby farm the day we confiscated the fireworks and decided John would make the perfect fall guy. The truth was, it almost worked.”
“Thank goodness you got him.” Betty covered her heart with the palm of her hand and quietly began to sob.
Dana’s dad stood up. “We should go, Betty, let these young people have some time together so Dana can rest.”
Betty reluctantly got to her feet, walked to the bed, and planted a soft kiss on Dana’s forehead. “I’ll call you tomorrow, dear. Sleep.”
Her father came forward and gave Dana a quick pat on the arm. “Good night, bug.”
“Good night, Dad.”
When they left, Aidan cocked his brow. “Bug?”
Dana beamed. “That’s what he used to call me, before Paul . . . he used to say I was cute as a bug in a rug.” She scooted over and patted the space on the bed next to her. “How are you? Tired, I bet.”
“It was a hell of a full day.” There was a world of implication in that statement. Just this morning, Sue had shown up on their doorstep, and for all Dana knew she was still there. “It was nice your parents came.”
