Page 8 of Rescued Dreams
Amelia eased the door shut. “Should I sit?”
“That might be a good idea.” His frown lines deepened as he sat back in his chair, his wide shoulders almost as broad as the seat. “I was going through the personnel files recently and discovered that yours doesn’t seem to have your rank qualification report included. Any idea why it’s missing?”
Amelia held herself very still. “From your files?”
“The system indicates the files were paper, not electronic. They were never scanned into the database by the admin pool, and I can’t seem to locate the paperwork. Until I can, you’re technically not able to work as a lieutenant, as I only have the firefighter qualification for you. Nothing after you passed the initial training.”
She swallowed. “So it went missing? Or someone took it?”
Amelia needed to seem surprised, maybe confused. She was only confused about why it had taken him this long to realize there was a problem.Ridge.Macon had gone into the files to update Ridge’s rank and discovered the discrepancy in hers.
“I need a copy of your lieutenant paperwork, Patterson. ASAP. You have to get it to me by next shift, or you won’t be able to lead Truck. Put in a call to the Benson FD and have them send it over. I’m sure you’d rather not have Foster take your spot until this is cleared up, so get it figured out. Got it?”
“Yes, sir. Is that everything?”
The chief nodded. “See you Thursday.”
She got up, moving as easy as she could, keeping things smooth. No jerky movements. “See you later, sir.” Amelia closed the door to his office. She walked sedately to the front door. The receptionist who worked during the day on weekdays said something, but Amelia didn’t hear the words. It sounded like garbled whomps.
Then she was outside, and all she could hear was the rush of her own breath in her ears.
Amelia practically ran to her pickup truck, then slid in behind the wheel. She grasped the steering wheel while rain dropped on the windshield. She hadn’t even noticed it was raining. The sky was heavy with dark gray clouds.
Ridge walked by her truck, his duffel bag over his shoulder. She spotted Eddie and Izan walking together.
Amelia turned the truck on, shoved it into Drive, and peeled out before Ridge could open the passenger-side door and try to talk to her. Someone honked, but she didn’t know if she’d cut them off or simply had a taillight out.
She ignored everything. Shut off the music on her radio, tuned to the local country station. She drove to Main Street in town and pulled into the parking lot behind Bridgewater Café.
Amelia keyed in the code for the back door, letting herself in the employee entrance. Meg Andrews, the owner, had been Amelia’s best friend in high school. Back then, Amelia’s father had…She didn’t want to think about him.
Steven Hilden had run the town like a tyrant until local cops and first responders had exposed what he was doing a handful of years ago. He’d been the fire chief at the time—and he was responsible for Meg’s father’s death.
On the wall of the back hallway in the café hung an old photo of Meg’s father in his firefighter uniform. In the picture, he stood beside another firefighter with short blond hair and dark-brown eyes.Dad.The sweet man her mom had remarried when Amelia was five, Matt Patterson.
They’d both died on the same shift.
Not just because the fire had overtaken their position, leaving them with no way out, but also because the chief had known they disliked his extracurricular activities. For the crime of believing a firefighter should be working to save lives and prevent fire—not working for his own personal gain through any and all illegal means—they’d been left to die.
She remembered fondly this man she had loved, who had doted on her. Amelia lifted her fist and knocked it against the frame of the photo in solidarity. But with how shaken she was, it rattled a little too much.
Meg stuck her head out of her office. “Whoa. What happened?”
Amelia shook her head. “It’s fine.”
“Fine enough you look like your cat ran onto the freeway.” Meg rolled her eyes. “Get a soda and get in here.”
Amelia went to the refrigerator in the kitchen and grabbed a diet plus a drink for Meg. She set Meg’s on the desk in her tiny office—mostly covered with textbooks for the college courses she was taking. Her friend was trying to get her degree in all the masses of spare time she had after running the café.
“Don’t tell me it’s fine. Tell me whatitis.” Meg sat back in her chair and took a sip of her drink.
Amelia wanted to throw her drink at the wall, so she put it on the desk and turned to pace. “Macon asked for my lieutenant paperwork. By next shift.”
“Oh boy.” Meg paused. “We knew this could happen eventually.”
She wanted to explain that Ridge would get her spot on Truck, but that wasn’t even the point that made this whole thing so huge. “We knew it would blow up in my face.” She turned back to pace the other direction and shrugged. “Now it’s over. I’m done.”
“You’re not done until you quit.”
