Page 18 of Raging Inferno

Dom didn’t have the heart to wake Presley, so he picked up the cover that Gia had been using. Before he could drape it over her, she woke. He’d never seen anyone go from fast asleep to wide awake so quickly.

“Sorry, I dozed off.”

“My fault. I needed to wash off the smoke and grime.”

“Speaking of, what do you know about the fire?”

“There were two fatalities.”

“Two?”

“Nancy Baker Babcock and her husband, Gene. That’s off the record until their families are notified.”

“I knew it,” Presley muttered. “Someone is killing the Cheerios.”

“I think you’re right.”

Her head jerked up. “What?”

“It’s too much of a coincidence that Nancy died a couple of days after Margy, both in fires, both with non-working fire alarms.”

“Oh, God, we have to warn Charmaine, Tamera, and Jessie.”

“We will first thing in the morning.”

Presley raised a brow. “We?”

“Yeah, I’m going to help.”

He’d decided that on the drive home. It wasn’t his job to solve crimes, but they’d happened on his watch in his town. That made it his fight.

“Someone has to be drugging them.”

“We can stop by the chief medical examiner’s office in Duluth. That’s where Tamera lives.”

“Do you know how the fire started?”

“The inspector concluded it was faulty wiring. Gene was tackling home renovations.”

“Is he an electrician?”

“Insurance salesman. He and Nancy fancied themselves as do-it-yourselfers.”

“Do you think that’s the cause?”

“Yeah, I do. I went in with the inspector, and I trust Ric’s expertise. We both concluded the same thing.”

Presley was pacing, and even in the dim room, he could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

“It was late afternoon when the fire started.” She spun around to him. “Why didn’t they smell the smoke?”

“I assume that’s a rhetorical question.” He certainly didn’t have an answer.

“It’s a shame they were both at the house,” Presley murmured.

“Gene worked from home. Nancy created jewelry she sold online, so they are both there most of the time.”

“Any security camera footage?”

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