Page 94 of Heating Up (Nugget)
Johnson told him, and Aidan looked over at Dana. “Shit.”
“How quick can you get here?”
“I just have to drop my date home. No more than ten minutes.”
“Bust a move, then.”
He put his phone away and Dana asked, “Another fire?”
“Yep.” He got on the road, headed for home. “Don’t freak out, but this one’s at your real estate office.”
“Oh God.” She fumbled inside her purse for her phone. “I’ve got to call Carol. Wait, where are you going?”
“To drop you off so I can go.”
“Take me with you.”
“Honey, it’s a fire, quite possibly a crime scene. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you get near that.”
“Fine, as soon as you drop me home, I’ll get in my car and drive there myself.”
“Jesus, Dana, not now. At least wait until they have the fire contained.”
“It’s my office, Aidan . . . my papers, records, computer . . . do you really expect me to sit home? I can assure you that as soon as I call Carol, she’ll jump in her car.”
He huffed out a breath. “You promise to stay back, not get underfoot, and for God’s sake not do anything that’ll put you in danger? I’m not fooling around here, Dana.”
“I promise. How bad is it?”
“I don’t know.” But when they drove up, it looked bad.
The back half of the building was enveloped in flames. Aidan saw Kurtis and Hutch take their hoses to the throat of the dragon. A lot of guys working this one. In Chicago they called it an all-hands fire. Aidan didn’t have his turn outs, but he figured Johnson had called him in to investigate.
Dana covered her mouth. “Oh boy.”
“Stay here.” Aidan started to get out of the truck as Dana grabbed for his arm.
“Be careful. And, um, Aidan, close your pants.”
Shit, he’d forgotten about that. “Don’t get out of the truck, you hear me?”
She nodded and he left, joining the captain and Rhys, who were huddled next to one of the engines.
“It’s a worker,” Johnson called.
“I can see that.”
“They’ll get it knocked down fairly quickly.” Johnson got distracted and swiveled toward a couple of the guys. “Duke, what the hell are you doing?”
Aidan watched as Duke fussed with his hose nozzle, clearly oblivious that he had his back to the flames.
“Jesus Christ, the guy’s junk. He’s gotta have a high-up relative in Cal Fire somewhere.”
Aidan wanted to sniff around the perimeter before the fire was extinguished. He borrowed gear from one of the engines and hurriedly dressed, sticking a helmet over his head. Staying out of the way, he made his way around the building, smelling and trying to discover the fire’s origin, not an easy job in the chaos. But timing was everything. When he could get closer, he’d use a portable hydrocarbon sniffer, a handheld device that would help him determine if and where ignitable liquid residues could be found.
“Anything?” Rhys came up behind him.
“I smell gasoline.” He pointed to an area near the building’s back door. “I think the fire started outside, right about there. See how the bottom of the door has the most charring?”
