Page 1 of One Little Spark

Prologue

He checked his watch and then returned his gaze to the two people in the room. They were slowly, meticulously, going through every file, page by page. That would never do. Eventually, they would discover his secret. Oh, it would take a while, but they would get there. Unless he stopped them. Ideas swam around in his mind as he watched the old man and his assistant open each file and then discuss what they’d found inside.

Maybe he could just steal the files. It wasn’t like the old man would notice they were gone. The house looked like a hoarder lived there, paperwork in stacks to the rafters. In every room. There wasn’t a single spot in the house that didn’t have files in it. It’s what came from being the town doctor for more than fifty years and not throwing one thing out.

But would he miss five little files? Probably. The guy might be old, but his mind was still sharp. His recall was likely better than many people a third of his age.

Maybe he hadn’t treated all five? That would be helpful. But the old guy had treated three of the patients for sure. If anyone came asking, he’d know where to find the files, and then he would discover they were missing. That might make him, and others, wonder if there was something to the woman’s story.

Damn that bitch! Her mother was old and only had a handful of months left anyway. Why did the little bitch have to kick up such a fuss? If he hadn’t been desperate for the money, he could have held on until she passed naturally. Her heart was a goner. But he’d lost too much to his bookie and he had to pay. So she had to go.

He ground his teeth. Why did he have to end up in a town with a sharp-eyed elderly doctor? Anywhere else, and he would have gotten away with his plan, just like he had in his twoprevious jobs. Five years of success had made him comfortable; sloppy even. Now, he’d spent too much money and was rushing to cover his debts.

He needed to take his time. Usually, people didn’t notice old people dying, but here in Cherry Valley, Pennsylvania, people had started asking questions about some of the deaths. Now, it was a problem. So, what was he going to do about it? Prison just wasn’t an option.

Chapter One

Aiden Wolfe shrugged the heavy oxygen tank off his back and stowed it on the rig. Then he grabbed the bottle of water his best friend, Jory Kincaid, handed him, and collapsed onto the bumper of the fire engine. He took a long drink.

“Third random fire this month,” Jory commented.

Aiden took another long swallow before he answered, “Not so random.”

“No. Arson for sure on this one. Probably the other two as well.”

“Yeah. Whoever is doing this is getting better at setting fires.” Aiden gestured with his now-empty water bottle toward the smoldering ruins of an abandoned warehouse. “He or she made sure this was going to burn all the way to the ground. Considering how dry it’s been, we’re damn lucky it wasn’t windy. The grass and trees around the warehouse could have easily gone up.”

“There’s Phoenix now.” Jory gestured to the tall man walking toward them. “Phoenix,” he said by way of a greeting.

The detective came to a stop beside the fire truck. “Jory, Aiden. How you two doin’?”

“A little toasty, but okay,” Aiden replied. “You?”

Phoenix gave him a small nod. “What do you think?” he asked, pointing to the smoldering ruin.

“Talk to Fire Chief Vickers for the official word, but it’s arson. Same as the other two. There’s definitely a firebug in town.”

Phoenix agreed. “Yes, he’s been operating for a while now.”

“What do you mean?” Jory cocked his head.

“Before now, there’ve been small things set on fire atthe edge of town, like abandoned cars, piles of garbage, even someone’s unused doghouse. Luckily, they burnt out quickly on their own, and we got there to find a pile of ash. But this is the first time he’s hit a building as far as we know.” Phoenix stared at the ruined warehouse.

“Anybody have any ideas on who it is?” Aiden asked.

“Officially, I cannot comment.” But then he shook his head. “Not a clue.”

Aiden wiped his face. “This won’t be his last fire. He’s escalating. You need to find him before he burns down something with someone in it.”

“Yeah, that’s a real fear.” Phoenix glanced at his phone screen and then looked up. The fire chief was standing on the other side of the street. He waved. “Gotta go. I’ll catch up with you two later.”

“Good luck, Phoenix,” Jory called.

“He’s gonna need it.” Aiden would not want to be in Phoenix’s shoes right now. “The chief is gonna ream his ass over why the cops haven’t found this guy yet.”

“Yup. Not Phoenix’s fault, though. Not much to go on when the firebug picks random, abandoned shit and lights it up in the middle of the night. No one around to see anything. Phoenix is a great detective, but there’s not much to detect.”

“Yeah. Glad I’m a firefighter instead of a cop.” Aiden shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to have to track this guy.”

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