Page 48 of Through the Fire
“Okay,” Kit said, raking the area with her gaze a final time. “Let’s head to the station. We can talk in the warmth there.”
Chapter 14
After listening to her story for the second time, Kit left Theo with a still-sniffling Elena and headed for the viner. She’d vainly attempted to convince Theo that they should do a gunshot residue test on Elena’s fingers, but he’d shot her down, saying that the tests were too expensive to waste when the marks were most likely just soot. She’d been in a fire, after all, and had similar smudges on her face. Kit had pushed it until he’d firmly suggested she check in with Hugh at the viner.
Wes was still sitting in the back seat of her SUV, sweetly petting an ecstatic Justice, and she gave him a wave as she passed. The sight of the two of them together eased some of her lingering angry tension. She was impressed by how calm Wes had been, how he’d been just as willing as she was to run toward danger. Almost as remarkable was how well Justice responded to him. Normally, her dog obeyed only her commands, and that was after a long, intense year of training. Today, however, Justice had listened to Wes, and Kit loved that. Secretly, she liked to think that it meant that her dog approved of Wes.
She ducked under the police tape and entered through the front door of the VFW, skirting around the enormous fans the fire department had used to clear the smoke from the building.
The dining area looked normal, with only a hint of smoke. The walls of the kitchen were darkened from soot, and the burned back wall was a mess, but the room was surprisingly undamaged. A tall woman with a sharp-edged face was scrubbing off one of the workstations, ignoring the milling cops, firefighters, and EMTs. Kit headed her way.
“Hello,” Kit said in her most calming tone as the woman’s dark gaze threatened to pull out all of her internal organs and tie them into a slippery knot. “I’m Officer Kit Jernigan.”
The woman laughed, a dry bark of a sound that was as far from amused as you could get. “Great. Another one.”
With some effort, Kit ignored the sarcastic comment and held her smile. “What’s your name?”
“Vicki Burt.”
The name was familiar, and Kit remembered hearing stories about Vicki and how her love of practical jokes bordered on the sadistic. “Can you tell me what happened?” Kit always liked to leave her questions open-ended. She found that witnesses—and suspects—shared more information that way.
Vicki shot a glare at the crowd of first responders milling around the kitchen. “I can’t, but I’d bet you a gazillion bucks that Elena could tell you exactly what happened.” After scrubbing the counter viciously for almost a full minute, Vicki finally spoke again. “I suppose you think she’s all pixie dust and angel sneezes, too,” she muttered.
“Not really,” Kit said quietly. Normally, she wouldn’t have said anything about her suspicions, but she really wanted to find out what Vicki knew. She had a feeling that the cook wouldn’t respond well to heavy-handed orders, so Kit decided to try to bond with her instead. “I actually find her to be a bit of an instigator.”
The scrub brush paused. “Instigator?”
Lowering her voice even more, Kit said, “Shit stirrer.”
This time, Vicki’s bark of laughter seemed more genuine. Kit noticed Hugh glance over at the sound, but she ignored the other cop. If she started second-guessing her technique mid-interview, it wouldn’t do Kit or the investigation any good. Vicki started scrubbing again, more gently this time. “That is exactly what she is.” She pointed the brush at Kit. “You nailed her perfectly.”
“What do you think happened?” Kit asked again.
Vicki glanced over at the other first responders again, but this time the look was more furtive than furious. “That little bitch caused this. I know it.”
Holding back the torrent of questions that wanted to pour out, Kit waited for Vicki to elaborate.
“Megan thinks she’s great,” Vicki continued in a low voice. “Jules is all protective of her. But neither of them see that it’s just an act. I know what scared looks like. Hell, Jules was scared when she first started here, but that Elena isn’t scared. She’s tricky, but she’s not scared.” After rinsing off the scrub brush, she shook it at Kit as if to emphasize her point. “Normally, I don’t mind tricky. I can even respect bitchy. That whimpering victim crap, though… I don’t have any patience for that. If you’re going to be a vicious bitch, then you own it. Not her, though. She’s owning nothing.” Vicky raised the brush and brought it down hard on the counter before starting to scrub again.
“What makes you think she caused the fire?”
“From what I heard, she’s trying to say that some stranger in a ski mask came through the back door while I was in the bathroom—trying to clean off the honey she’d ‘accidentally’ dumped on me. This random pyro started the fire, dragged her out, threatened her with a gun, and tried to stuff her in a car. Supposedly, she was barely able to escape.” Vicki smirked.
“You don’t believe that?” Kit asked, attempting to keep her voice neutral. She definitely thought something felt off, but she was a cop. Extreme suspicion was her thing.
As if she could read minds, Vicki gave her a flat look. “Do you think she’s telling the truth?”
“I don’t have enough information to make a decision yet.”
Vicki made a humph sound. “I don’t need more information. My gut tells me there’s something off about that woman.”
“How is Elena involved, do you think?” Kit asked. She had her own theory, but Vicki was proving to be a font of information so far.
“I think she set that fire and faked the kidnapping for attention.” Vicki answered quickly enough that Kit was pretty sure she’d already been considering the question. “Or maybe she wanted to get rid of something in that fire.”
“Get rid of something? Like you?” The question popped out before Kit could think about it, and she hid her wince. What a thing to ask. It was as if Vicki’s bald frankness drew the same quality out of Kit.
