Page 50 of Fire Peak

The wound was a jagged rip in the back of her thigh. The area was already turning purple from blood clotting under the skin. He had minimal medical training, but it seemed logical to him that it would be best to keep it clean and dry until the professionals could take care of it.

“Let me see that arrow.”

The damn thing was still gripped in her left fist. She handed it to him, and he examined the arrowhead for any signs that it might be missing a piece, that part of it might still be lodged in Charlie’s thigh.

“Oh shit,” he murmured.

“What?”

“There’s something written on the shaft.” He met her shocked gaze. “It says, ‘strike two.’”

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“What does that mean? Were they aiming at me? The smoke bomb, now the arrow? Am I the target? Now I’m just supposed to wait for strike three? Then what happens? I’m out?”

Charlie couldn’t stop the flow of nervous questions that poured from her lips as Nick loosely bandaged her thigh. It was throbbing now that the adrenaline had worn off. All she wanted was some painkillers and some answers.

“I don’t think they were aiming at you.” She twisted her head around to see Nick shaking his head. “They kept shooting more arrows even after you were down.”

“So maybe you were the strike two?”

“It doesn’t make sense. I’m just a summer visitor. I’m not a threat to anyone.”

“You’re taking on all these jobs,” she pointed out. “You’ve told half the town you’ll help them with one thing or another.”

“So someone wants me to go away before I solve one of the petty crimes on my plate? Which one, the missing chickens or the weird smell in Martha’s woodshed?”

“What are you, a crime snob? Maybe something isn’t as petty as it seems.”

That got a laugh from him. He helped settle her back into place on the bench. The trailer smelled like cast iron pans and musty fabric, but it felt cozy to be here with Nick, safe from the rain and the arrows. Any time the trailer smell got to her, she could always bury her face in his jacket, which smelled like roasted coffee and buttery leather.

Nick…she still didn’t know much about him, and the more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to. “How did you become an investigator?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Need a distraction?”

“Yes please.”

He tilted his head, obliging her. “I was home from college, helping out at my dad’s firehouse for the summer.”

“That’s right, you said he was a fireman. Sisters? Brothers?”

“Four sisters, two brothers. The smell of flatirons and hairspray takes me right back to childhood. The only time it was ever quiet in our house was…actually, it was never quiet. Even at night, someone would be getting a snack or sneaking in a late night phone call. My brothers and one of my sisters are firefighters too. We didn’t have much money, so I saved up my lawn-mowing funds for a set of headphones. My family thought I was weird because I actually liked homework. That was my escape from the chaos.”

Charlie found these details fascinating. “You were a good student?”

“I loved school. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family too. They’re just…a lot. I was right in the middle of the pack. Someone had to be the quiet one.”

“You might be quiet but you’re…what’s the word…powerful. When you talk, people listen.” She touched his cheek. “Wait, is that a blush I see? Are you embarrassed by compliments?”

“What if I am?”

“Then that’s adorable. Look at you, being adorable. And getting pinker by the minute.” He really was adorable, she wasn’t just teasing about that. Her heart gave a little jump as he turned his face into the palm of her hand and dropped a kiss there. It was such a tender gesture, the kind of thing a real couple might share.

Right. As if she could ever be part of a “real couple,” with her shady history. She settled her hand back in her lap. “Okay, so you were home for the summer…”

“Yes. Someone had a vendetta against the crew because they’d recently hired their first female firefighter, Mercy Shaw, this gorgeous girl I knew from high school, a few years ahead of me. She kept getting fake calls and death threats. It pissed me off, so I made it my mission to figure out who was doing it. I discovered it was a local group of incel assholes. I brought all the evidence to the police. When they went to interrogate them, they found a stash of weapons. The officers told me I probably prevented something even worse. I decided right then that I wanted to do investigative work.”

“Wow, that’s quite a story. Did you get a date with Mercy out of it?”

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