Page 38 of Scorched

Chapter 7

The truck rolled to a stop in the clearing, and Seb shut off the engine. Declan glanced around, his eyes going to the burned-out shell at the edge of the trees. “It’s amazing he didn’t start a forest fire.” He climbed out of the truck, looking over at Seb as they rounded the hood.

“Yeah. Could be he doused the surrounding vegetation before he set the building on fire.”

“Maybe. Where did he get the water, though?” They started walking toward the shack.

“Trucked in? We use those portable water tanks on the ranch all the time.”

“It would take a couple of them to soak the ground enough. And he’d have to find a way to spray it up into the trees above the building.”

“Well, he did something, because the fire didn’t spread.”

They paused in front of the structure that was little more than a large shed. Declan walked around the outside, noting areas where an accelerant was used. “You should have Katie come take some samples here.”

“Jace was working on a warrant. As soon as it comes through, she’ll be out here. What can you tell me?”

Declan pointed to the areas with significant burn scars. “Something was poured here. You can see where it pooled.” They walked around to the front again. “Can we go inside?”

“Yeah. Just don’t move anything. Visible evidence only right now.”

“Got it.” Declan stepped over the threshold, his eyes sweeping over the debris. There were more burn patterns under the lone window and by the door. In the back corner, he made a gruesome discovery. A charred body lay partially buried beneath a piece of the roof. “You don’t need that warrant.”

“What?” Seb stepped closer to look over Declan’s shoulder. “Fuck.”

“Yep.” He sighed. “Damn. How did Jace miss this?”

“He didn’t go inside. He saw the burned building, called me, then came back to town to get a warrant.” Seb ran a hand through his hair.

“What do you want to bet this is why Jed Stafford ended up in that house?”

“I’m not taking that bet. The question is, why was he out here?”

Declan stepped closer, leaning in to examine the body. “I think finding out who this place belongs to, and who this is might answer that question.”

“Yeah. I’m going to call in the calvary and see where Jace is on figuring out who owns this land.”

“I’m going to poke around some more.”

Seb nodded, already heading to his SUV to radio for backup.

Taking care not to disturb anything, Declan crouched near the body, looking for telltale burn patterns. A large burn scar was just visible under the debris. It surrounded the body and went up the wall. Someone had doused the victim in accelerant—likely gasoline if the other fires were anything to go by—and lit him or her on fire. He hoped the person was already dead when that happened.

Footsteps alerted him to Seb’s return.

“Find anything?”

“Just more areas where our guy used an accelerant.”

Seb nodded. “Okay. Katie and Alex are on their way. And I got a text from Jace. The land is part of the national forest.”

“So, whoever built this shed did so illegally.”

“Likely, yes. This is nowhere near the cabin rental place.”

Declan’s mouth flattened. “This isn’t good. Whoever this is, is very smart.”

“Agreed. I hate that we have another body, but he or she may be our only hope of catching this guy before he kills someone else.”

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