Page 29 of Too Much Heat

Joe looked up. “Gage, Abe, you okay?”

“Yeah.” Both moved away from the shelves. Gage shrugged his shoulders a couple of times and Abe held his side. Abe said, “Sore is all.”

“Where’s Lara?” Gage asked.

“Take care of Danny,” he told their paramedic.

Again, Joe rolled to his feet and rushed to the bunkroom. When he found her on the floor leaning against the bunk, an intense sense of relief shot through his body.

She stared up at him. “What happened?”

“The stove exploded.”

Her big blue eyes widened. “Are the guys all right?”

“Minor injuries. You?”

She touched her hair. “I hit my head.”

Kneeling over her, he checked her scalp. “You got a goose egg again. No split skin, though.”

She rubbed her temples. “I have a killer headache.”

“I’ll get you ice.”

“I want to stand up.”

“No. Not yet.”

Back in the common room, he saw Danny lying on the couch, but awake. “How is he?”

“Miraculously, all right.” Abe scowled. “Lara?”

“Just a goose egg.” He hurried to his office for ice, then back to the bunkroom. He saw she’d eased herself up onto the bed even though he told her not to. He sat next to her. Applied the ice.

“Ouch.”

He tried to internalize all that had happened.

She said, “The stove is brand new.”

“I know. No reason for this to happen. Unless…” He thought about the holes in his backyard, his smashed windshield, the anonymous report that he and Lara were sexually involved.

“Unless what?”

The others entered the bunkroom, each holding one of Danny’s arms, so Joe didn’t have to say more. Best to keep his suspicions to himself. They helped Danny stretch out on his cot.

“Sit down, guys.”

“Was it an electric fire?” Pike asked.

“I don’t know. The stove needs to be checked out by an electrician.” And for an incendiary device, but he didn’t verbalize that suspicion.

Finally, Gabe broke the tense silence. “And here I thought it was Swanson’s lasagna that caused the explosion.”

They chuckled, even her. Joe took out his phone. “We’ll stay in here.” He punched in a number. “Stella, I need to talk to the Chief right away.”

“He’s in a meeting.”

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