Page 14 of Heating Up (Nugget)
“You finish your errands?”
“Mm-hmm.” She had her eyes glued to the menu, like it held the secrets of life.
“In Reno?”
She put the menu down. “I got a phone at Costco and paint for the house at the hardware store.”
Aidan eyed her new phone. “Give me your number.” Pulling out his, he programmed in her digits. “Here’s mine.”
“Uh . . . okay . . . I guess it would be prudent in case of an emergency.” She plugged in the numbers he gave her.
A waitress came to take their orders and both of them put their phones away. Dana got a salad and Aidan went for a steak with all the fixings, a side of onion rings, and a plate of nachos for the table.
Dana lifted her brows. “You must be hungry.”
“I didn’t eat much today. The nachos are for both of us to share,” he said defensively. “Tell me about yourself.”
“Like what? You already know I’m a real estate agent and that my house burned down.”
“Like are you from here, what are your hobbies, your favorite TV shows? It’s called a conversation.”
“I’m from Reno and I don’t have any hobbies or favorite TV shows. How about you?”
Who didn’t have hobbies or favorite shows?Fine, he’d break the ice. “I’m from Chicago, where I was a firefighter and an arson investigator. I like football and baseball and just about any other sport you can think of.”
“Why did you leave Chicago?”
Their drinks came and he took a swig of his beer. Some kind of microbrew from around here. Good stuff. “I came to visit my sister in February and fell in love with the place. All the wide-open spaces, the mountains, the fresh air. A job opened up with Cal Fire and my sister put in a good word for me. Here I am.” It wasn’t the whole truth but close enough.
“You must be tight with Sloane.”
“I am with all my siblings.”
“How many more do you have?” She sipped her iced tea. Nice lips, he noted.
“Two brothers. I’m the oldest, Sloane’s the baby. My brothers and dad are also firefighters. How about you? Sisters? Brothers?”
“I had a younger brother . . . Paul. He died when I was fifteen.”
“I’m sorry, Dana. That’s tough. Was he sick?”
“No, he drowned . . . well, sort of.”
He waited for her to finish.
“It’s called ‘secondary drowning.’” She paused, like she was trying to come up with the best way to explain it.
“I know what it is.” He’d never actually had a case but had been warned about it in training. “How did it happen?”
“We were tubing in the Truckee River, near where we lived. Paul went out farther than he should have and his tube got caught up on a rock. He wiggled out of the tube to pry it loose and got caught up in the current, which dragged him under. Luckily, another tuber pulled him out and got him to shore, where he coughed up a lot of water. After a short rest he seemed fine, even went back in the river for a little while.”
Aidan signaled for the waitress to refill Dana’s iced tea. “Is that when it happened?”
“No, we made it home. Paul went upstairs, said he wanted to take a nap. We figured he was knocked out from spending the day in the sun. My mother checked on him a couple of hours later and he had white foam around his mouth and blue lips. She called 9-1-1, but Paul never made it to the hospital. He died en route.”
“Did the medical examiner find water in his lungs?” Aidan knew that was typically the case.
She nodded. “They said he died from asphyxiation from drowning.”
