Page 7 of Through the Fire
“Work?” Theo asked Otto, although his gaze found Jules and followed her around the dining area. “The general store is gone. Where’s she working?”
“Grady’s house. She’s helping him with his insurance paperwork,” Otto said absently as Hugh returned, dropping into his chair with an exaggerated scowl that Kit suspected hid a wince of pain. She glanced over to the door to see Grace leaving the dining area.
“That woman is incredibly stubborn.”
Theo gave Hugh an incredulous look. “You’re just learning this now?”
“She needs to be,” Otto said mildly. “You’d steamroll anyone who wasn’t.”
With a gasp, Hugh clutched his chest as if mortally wounded by Otto’s words. When no one else reacted, Hugh dropped his hand and shrugged affirmatively. “That’s probably true. Did either of you get any information?”
“No.” Theo had mellowed slightly, but the reminder made him scowl again. “She said later.”
Hugh grunted. “I didn’t even get that promise. All I got was a ‘mind your business.’ Obviously, she’s forgotten that everything is my business—everything interesting, at least. My curiosity is hungry and must be fed. Otto? Anything from the lovely Sarah?”
Otto shook his head silently.
“It has to be a new arri—” Hugh cut off so quickly that Kit was pretty sure someone had kicked him under the table. He turned to eye Kit with a thoughtful gleam in his gaze, one that made her want to scoot back a little to keep from being sucked into his shenanigans. Her younger sister, Casey, had a look very similar to that, and it had gotten Kit into a lot of trouble when she was little—a lot of fun, maybe, but mostly a lot of trouble. From Hugh’s expression, Kit guessed he was even more of an imp than Casey had been.
He smiled, and her suspicions quadrupled. “Let’s go, greenie.”
Although she had to press her tongue against the back of her teeth to keep from telling him that she was not green, that she’d had eight years of experience in a much bigger and busier town than this bombed-out little hamlet, Kit managed to stay silent as she stood.
“Where are we going?” The suspicion in Theo’s voice confirmed it. Hugh was planning something that would get them in trouble. So much for having a quiet first day consisting of filling out forms and getting measured for her uniform.
The way Hugh widened his eyes in a look of innocence made Kit brace herself and Theo groan. “We’re giving our newest officer a tour of the town, of course. We could start at Jules’s place. See if any…old friends happened to stop by for a visit.”
“If you wait until this afternoon, Sarah will tell me what’s going on,” Otto said.
“I’ve always been bad at waiting. Want to tag along?”
“Can’t.” Otto didn’t sound too disappointed. “I need to stop by Gordon Schwartz’s to check on the animals.”
“How’s he doing?” Theo asked. “Is he staying out of trouble?”
“So he says.” From Otto’s shrug, he didn’t fully believe this Gordon was telling the truth.
“I’d be surprised if he was,” Hugh said as he headed for the door. “Once a paranoid, gun-collecting militia guy, always a paranoid, gun-collecting militia guy.”
Making a mental note of Gordon Schwartz’s name—since he sounded like someone she’d likely be dealing with in the future—Kit followed Hugh toward whatever trouble he was going to drag her into.
As they left the VFW, her stomach sank. Bending the rules was sometimes necessary when it was the right thing to do, but she had planned to stay out of trouble at her new job—at least on her first day. The problem was that she didn’t know enough about the situation or Hugh to make a judgment. She glanced over her shoulder at Theo, hoping he’d be the voice of reason.
Instead of trying to rein in his partner, though, Theo was wearing a look of grim determination. With a silent sigh, Kit ignored her instincts and followed Hugh into the parking lot. It looked like she needed to start trusting her new partners. Hopefully, they wouldn’t get her killed…
At least not on her first day.
Chapter 3
The red-tailed hawk was back, and Wes was pretty sure she was laughing at him.
She landed on the railing of the fire tower’s observation deck, turning her head sideways and fixing one eye on Wes through the wall of glass that made up the south side of the tower room. He took a slow sideways step, his arm lifting ever so slowly as he reached for the camera sitting on the rolling workstation. If he hadn’t been worried that the sound of his voice would startle the hawk, he would’ve used the voice command to move the wheeled table—and the camera—closer to him.
The red-tailed hawk was pathologically camera shy, but Wes was determined. The bird had been basically taunting him all summer and fall, posing like a Vogue model until Wes lifted his Canon. As soon as the perfect shot was a second away, the hawk took off—every single time.
Today looked like it was the day. He even had the right lens on. His fingers closed around the camera, and the hawk didn’t startle or fly away. Instead, she stayed stock-still, watching him. Forcing himself to keep his movements slow and smooth, he raised the camera and peered at the blurry shape through the viewfinder. Far behind it, nestled in the valley, was the town of Monroe, its blackened buildings covered in a fresh layer of white snow. It would’ve looked like a Christmas card if not for the plume of smoke rising from the southwest side of town.
