Page 2 of Murder in Calusa Cove
“He doesn’t date at all?” Hayes asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, I don’t pay attention. Dewey keeps to himself except for occasionally hanging out with Silas.” Carter shifted his gaze. “My old man told me once that Dewey had a girl back in the day and that she broke his heart, but that was when he was like twenty.”
Hayes knew all about how one woman could change a man’s view on love.
The rest of the eight-minute drive to Purdy Street was done in silence. It was a single station alarm, and there were no expected casualties. That was always a plus.
But it didn’t make fighting the fire any less dangerous. Any number of things could go wrong.
As soon as Carter rolled to a stop, Hayes leapt from the vehicle, pulled his jacket over his shoulders, thrust his arms inside, and plopped his hard hat on his head. His heart danced in his chest. The blood in his veins raced through his body. It was chaos, but his mind was clear.
“Working fire,” his captain called. To most, that seemed like an obvious statement, but all it meant was that firefighting operations had commenced. “Fire attack,” Bear shouted, waving his arms.
Hayes snagged the hose, hooked it to the truck, and twisted the knob. He looped the hose over his shoulder and jogged toward the fire. He was used to running toward danger from his military days. He scanned the area, first assessing the wind and then the size and scope of the flames.
“Over here.” Jenson waved. “Water on the fire.” Another command that had seemed odd at first, but essentially it meant Jenson believed he’d found the main source.
Hayes rounded the corner and stared at the back kitchen door, which had been knocked down, or blown off, or had simply fallen off. He couldn’t be sure, but flames spewed out like hungry fingers in search of more food, and to a fire, that meant anything that could burn. He adjusted the hose, turned the knob at the end, and braced as water coursed through it, smacking against the flames and pushing them back.
Other firefighters attacked the fire from different angles. They shouted commands and projected their progress as the fire slowly dissipated into smoke and ash. Hayes and Jenson inched closer into the kitchen, dousing the flames as dark smoke billowed into the air, circling toward the sky like a signal to the world that soon every flame would be nothing but a hot ember.
It took forty minutes to put the fire out, which had mostly been contained to the kitchen and half of the old dining area. Hayes let out a long breath as he turned, sucking in a deeper one. He always felt as though he’d smoked a dozen cigars after fighting a fire. He knew he smelled like ash. It probably clung to him for days.
He coughed, set his helmet on the side of the engine truck, and took the water his captain offered, chugging vigorously, as if he’d been depleted of every ounce of hydration.
“Do you mind doing the primary and secondary search?” Bear arched a brow. “We have to go through the motions.”
“I don’t mind.” Hayes nodded. “Can I have Carter at my six?”
Bear shook his head. “He’s still going through investigator school. He needs the experience with Jenson, and we still need to figure out what caused this fire.” Bear pointed his finger. “Your buddy, the Chief of Police, is here. I don’t have a problem if you take him with you.” He shrugged. “He’s a cop. He won’t do anything stupid.”
Hayes laughed. “You don’t know him like I do.”
“Maybe not, but he’s marrying Audra McCain.” Bear smiled, letting out a big laugh. “I had the biggest crush on that fiery redhead in high school, but she was dating Ken, and they both scared the crap out of me.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something, and since I’ve got to wait for it to cool down in there, mind if I ask it now?” Between what had happened with Audra about six months ago, and then Trinity just a month ago, strange revelations about his old pal Ken had come up—things that Hayes and the guys didn’t like.
Things that made Baily uncomfortable—and angry—making it more tense between her and Fletcher.
“Shoot.” Bear leaned against the engine truck and wiped his brow.
“How well did you know Ken?”
Bear lowered his gaze. “That’s a weird question coming from you. Wasn’t he one of your best friends? Aren’t you tight with his sister?”
“All true.” Hayes nodded. “But there are some things that have come up that have been …concerning.”
“I thought Ken’s involvement with Benson and the drug running was all sorted out.”
“For the most part, but as you can imagine, that was shocking to all of us.” Hayes needed to be careful how he worded this, not just because he didn’t want to say things that would upset anyone or stir up trouble, but he was about to accuse his friend—a dead man—of being a secret keeper.
That’s exactly what Hayes had been doing for years when it came to his twin and his love life. It had taken him years to explain to his buddies why he didn’t do relationships or children, and it wasn’t just his religious upbringing or his twin dying right next to him.
All it had taken was one teenage girl to betray him, a twenty-two-year-old girl to lie to him, and he was done with romantic love for good.
“Small towns like this one will do crazy things to even a good man.” Bear arched a brow. “Most kids spend their youth dreaming about the day they’ll leave this place for some big city with a nightlife and something more to do than a makeshift movie night at the docks. Those who never leave, either do so because it’s all they know, or…” he tapped his chest. “Because it’s in their blood. It’s who they are. If they leave and come back, well, they found out what’s out there isn’t necessarily better.”
“Where do you put Ken in that speech?”
