Page 2 of Crash and Burn

“I’m already Search and Rescue trained.” He shrugged as though it was no big deal and she wondered how many other certifications he casually held. “It’s probably another twenty minutes before they finish. Do you want to wait?”

That was always the question with a firefighter. She could wait and he’d be done in twenty minutes. Or she could wait and he’d come out and the bell would ring just as she started to ask her question. Off he would run, and she couldn’t even be mad about it.

She thought for a moment. “Do you have to go back in?”

Sebastian shook his head, the motion calling out that his hair was just a little long for the firehouse rules. Apparently, no one had called him on it yet. “What do you need?”

Maggie wheeled the stroller toward the open family room where the firefighters hung out if they weren’t sleeping, training, or at a fire. Right now, it was empty though she could hear the soft murmur of class just beyond the wall. Sebastian followed, setting Hannah down to let her play.

“It’s this.” Maggie pulled the gift bag from the back pocket of the stroller and set it on the table.

“An early Christmas present?”

“Ha. No. This was the only bag I had.” Sighing, she reached in and pulled out the carved wooden box. It looked Haitian or Caribbean to her, but what did she know?

Sebastian looked at it but didn’t seem put off by it. Maybe he would tell her she was being an idiot and shouldn’t worry about it. So she plowed ahead.

“See the scratches? That’s because I pulled it up from where it was wedged under a floorboard. The board squeaked, I went to fix it, I found this.” She motioned harshly with her hand.

“Okay? That’s weird, but it’s yours now. You own the house, right?”

Maggie nodded. Practically everyone in town knew by now that she’d inherited Abbie’s home. “I don’t think this belonged to my aunt.”

“I thought she was your grandmother,” Sebastian sidetracked then shrugged. “If it was in the house, then it’s yours.”

She sighed. “It’s not the box itself that concerns me. Look what’s in it.” Then she watched as he lifted the lid and saw the tangled mess of jewelry.

“I’m confused.”

“Who does this?” she asked, trying to pinpoint why the mass of gold and silver made her so uneasy. “Look at it … the one bracelet is turning green, so it’s probably ten carat gold.” He was still frowning at her, and she kept chattering, hoping to make some kind of sense. “That necklace? I think that’s a real diamond … probably half to three quarters of a carat, so it’s worth some money.”

He reached for it, but she gently shoved his hand away, still not sure why she didn’t want to touch it, but she didn’t.

“What’s this long bracelet here?” Sebastian had caught on and only pushed the other jewelry aside with his pinky … as though he was preserving evidence.

“That’s an ankle bracelet.” She watched as he turned just a little pink. It was cute that he seemed embarrassed about the error. “And it looks like real sapphires to me … also valuable.”

“You can sell it if you don’t want it.” He clearly still didn’t understand.

“That—” she pointed to another piece, hearing the sounds of the training meeting behind them breaking up, “—looks like a gumball machine prize.”

The necklace was half of a ‘best friends’ heart, the gold tone rubbing off.

“So, you think it’s not all one person’s jewelry?” he asked as, behind him, the other firefighters poured out of the training room. They turned on the TV, swung Hannah around, or came over to the table to see what she had.

“Hey babe!” Rex offered her a workplace-appropriate peck on the cheek. “Did you bring your jewelry in?”

Maggie had tried to tell him about the box for two days … but he simply hadn’t had time to listen. He was up to his eyeballs with his job and his daughter. A month ago, Hannah’s mother had announced that she needed rehab and dropped the girl off. Rex hadn’t heard from her since and it was appearing the change in custody was permanent.

Though it wasn’t Rex’s fault, Maggie was frustrated. Hannah needed her dad, but Maggie found herself doing a lot of the parenting and she barely had a boyfriend. She forced a smile and an explanation.

“I found it under a floorboard in one of the old tenant rooms.” She still hadn’t told him she thought she’d heard something in the house the other night.

Now a good number of the firefighters were crowded around. Though several reached out, Sebastian motioned for them to not touch.

“It is weird,” Kalan commented from over her shoulder, and Maggie turned to smile at the tall, black man. She was glad someone else thought so.

She repeated her words from earlier. “This jewelry probably doesn’t all belong to one person.” Finally, she managed to state what bothered her. “Who collects and hides jewelry that doesn’t belong to them?”

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