Page 95 of Burn With Me

“Pam, what the fuck is happening!”

“You have to hurry, Noah. Please.” I’m not even fighting the tears. “He started the fire, and they weren’t moving to leave. Please, hurry,” I choke out.

“I’m doing everything I can, I promise. I’ll call you back,” he says before hanging up on me again.

Call me back, my ass.

“Come on, Penny. We have to go make sure your mom is all right.”

Grabbing my keys, I turn and walk to the truck with Penny on my heels. I open the door, and she jumps up and gets settled in. I climb in after her, start the truck, and head toward the farm.

“If Noah thinks I’m just going to sit here and do nothing, he’s got another thing coming.”

Forty

Luke

Plumes of smoke billow out from the house. Using my shoulder, I wipe the sweat dripping down the side of my face. Whoever is setting these fires has perfected their ratios because this is so much more of a pain in the ass to put out. We switched to two hoses being used on the houses next to our rental to make sure the fire doesn’t spread and one hose on the house to do what we can.

“You good?” the captain yells beside me.

“Yeah, why?”

When he doesn’t answer me, I look at him out of the corner of my eye and see him grabbing something from his pocket.

“Hello,” he barks into the phone. “What do you mean? Where?”

Without taking my eyes off the fire, I strain to hear what he’s saying because if there are two fires in one night, that would be unusual and against this person’s pattern.

“You’re going to have to call the on-call fellas. They were alerted of this fire already, and while you’re at it, call the dispatch from the next town over and tell them to send us some help. Where did you say the alarm was at again?” He pauses and turns to look at me. “Which farm?”

Panic threatens to seize my chest when he says “farm,” and I immediately know something is wrong. I shift my eyes to my right, to Sam with the second hose. I know he hasn’t heard anything, but I’m doing everything in my power to focus on the fire in front of me.

“Do you think this is the same type of fire we’ve been seeing the past couple of months?” the captain asks me as he stands next to me.

“Based on the way this is burning? Yeah, I do, but I think whoever did this has messed with their ratios because this is burning slower than before, which is why it’s taking longer to put out.”

“Damn, and nothing in your investigation with the police has stated anything about multiple hits in one night?”

“No, the only thing I can think of is that this one is a distraction. Is that what your call was about?” I ask, not ready for the answer but knowing I need to hear it.

He sighs. “Yeah, and I’m trying to decide whether the choice I’m going to make is good or bad.” Shaking his head, he yells as he walks away from me. “Carter!”

I hear him talking to Carter, but the roaring fire is drowning out the words. My gut is telling me something is wrong at Amelia’s farm.

My chest starts to tighten, and if my gut is right, I won’t be able to concentrate here, which makes me a liability.

“I’m taking point on this. The captain wants to talk to you by the engine,” Carter yells as he walks up next to me.

He takes over the front of the hose for me, and I let go once he has a handle on it.

Panic claws at my chest with every step toward the fire engine, and Jim, the fire investigator, pulls up.

“What’s up, Cap?”

He looks between me and Jim.

“The panic button has gone off at Amelia’s farm along with the fire alarms. I’m having Jim take you there, and you’ll only help in the investigation capacity and relieve people as needed on rotation. Someone from the on-call unit is on their way now to swap out with Sam.”

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