Page 6 of Inferno

Julio locked the iPad and set it on the table, reaching up with both arms and stretching.

“Hard day?” The old timer didn’t even look up from his paperback.

“I was reading the file from that callout last week, the little girl?”

The paperback lowered. “Yeah?” The guy’s mustache shifted.

“Arson found the accelerant, but it might be tough to locate the customer who purchased it.”

One of the guys playing chess lifted his chin from his hand and glanced over. “Did they tie it to the Wilson Street fire?”

“Not explicitly.”

“Because it isn’t connected.” The guy’s brow rose. “Or because no one wants to use the wordsserial arsonist?”

Julio’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it, about to continue the conversation when one of the younger firefighters on shift strode in and said, “Cap, the chief wants to see you.”

Julio pushed his chair back and took the iPad with him to set his bowl in the sink. The rookies were on KP duty tonight, and they’d be responsible for all the cleanup in the kitchen after their spaghetti dinner.

He didn’t get those duties anymore. He’d been on rotation for bathrooms and the kitchen for years. These days he had to write the schedule and file reports. He also had to call firefighters into his office if they needed to shape up. Or give them praise for a job well done. All part of ranking up in any organization, becoming a manager.

But he still missed the day-to-day of riding truck.

Julio strode right through the open door into Chief Greyson Frayer’s office. “Chief.” He looked around. “You ever miss cleaning toilets?”

Greyson barked a laugh. The skin on his hands, below the sleeves of his shirt, and above the collar, showed the telltale burns of someone who’d battled a fire. He might’ve lost a lot—but he hadn’t lost everything.

Julio wasn’t sure he could continue being a firefighter, even in the chief’s chair, after getting burned the way Greyson had. But the guy was a hero, and firefighting was in his blood.

“Can’t say I do.” Greyson had gray hair on his temples, but the fact he’d fallen in love a few months ago and was about toget married in a matter of weeks meant these days he looked younger than he had in years.

Julio would be surprised if he didn’t look ancient. He certainly felt it, settling into the chair across from Greyson’s dark wood desk. Used to be the desk didn’t have anything on it but work stuff, the photos of his mom and his late father, and pictures of his sister’s family were on the shelves in the corner. Now there was a fake plant in the corner of the office, Greyson had a new thermal mug, and the photo facing him that Julio couldn’t see was likely a copy of their engagement picture.

“You saw the arson report?”

Julio nodded.

“They officially tied it to the other two fires. Though, you didn’t hear that from me. At least, not on the record.”

“Got it, Chief.”

Greyson wiggled his mouse. “Commander Herrington wants every chief in the city to report in immediately when we come across a fire that might be arson. Especially ones where it appears to have been altered in some way to make the fire more catastrophic.”

“So it’s for sure, then.” Julio shifted on the chair. “Someone is setting fires and making sure there’s maximum damage.”

“Not only that. They’re ensuring that lives are lost.”

“I thought there weren’t any casualties in the first two fires?”

Greyson winced. “It wasn’t released with the rest of the information. Arson Investigation is keeping things close to the vest, but a body was discovered at the second fire. An older woman. They believe the first was a test. His attempt to perfect the scene and get it right. No one died.”

“But someone was in the second. It was an abandoned house, right?”

“A foreclosure, that’s correct.” Greyson nodded. “Until we cleared the scene a couple of days later, we didn’t realize there was a body in the basement. Back corner, in a closet.”

“Could’ve been there before the fire.”

“Not according to the autopsy,” Greyson said. “The victim died in the fire.”

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