Page 71 of Ink and Ashes
“I know.” I turn my attention back to the contact for Joshua. “Let’s just reach out to this guy and see what he has to say.”
“If he’s a friend, Tony’s probably already called him to arrange an alibi,” Dom mentions.
“I’ve thought of that. But if Tony was in Enderby all weekend, I’m sure there’s footage of him on a street camera or in a gas station. I’ll do my due diligence on this, and if I’m still skeptical, we’ll take it to the police.”
I look between the men, neither of whom look convinced.
“Please, follow my lead on this, guys. I know what I’m doing.”
They exchange a glance, an unspoken conversation passing between them. But they know there’s nothing more we can do until I talk to Joshua, so they let it go. Colson starts the truck, and we drive back into town in silence.
When we get back, the three of us head straight for the dining room to make the call to Joshua.
I navigate to my phone’s settings to turn off caller ID, then type the number into the phone. With my thumb hovering over the dial button, I say, “Stay quiet. He’s more likely to talk to me than to you.”
Colson and Dom nod, so on an exhale, I hit call. The phone rings a few times before a male voice cuts through the line.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” I say. “Is this Joshua Green?”
“Depends who’s asking.”
“My name is Holland Rhodes. I’m an investigative journalist, and I’m looking into a series of suspicious wildfires in Ember Grove. I’ve just spoken with Tony Watkins, and he named you as his alibi for last weekend. Can you confirm that he was on the reserve visiting you from June thirtieth until July second?”
Joshua doesn’t hesitate. “Tony? Yeah, he was here then. Was helping me out with some stuff.”
My shoulders fall. I hadn’t realized until I heard those words how much I’d been hoping the alibi wouldn’t check out. How much I was hoping the arsonist would be Tony, just so this can be done. Things are never that easy, though.
“Did you guys go anywhere while he was there? Somewhere that may have caught you both on a camera?”
Joshua hums. “Yeah. We went to a hardware store, and a gas station for smokes.”
He rattles off the names of the businesses, and I write them down. “Great. Thanks for your help, Joshua.”
He hangs up without another word.
“Fuck,” Colson mutters, running a hand through his hair.
“I’ll reach out to these places to see if they can provide me with the footage from last weekend and the night of the barn fire, but all things considered…”
“Tony’s in the clear,” Dom fills in. “Which means we’re back at square one.”
My theory that it could be a firefighter pops into my mind. I keep my gaze trained on the two men, preparing myself to tell them, but I’m not sure now’s the best time to share something like that. Not that there will ever be abesttime, but I’d like to spend more time around the fire crew to get a better read on everyone before I do. News like that isn’t going to be easy for them to hear, and it’ll be better if I have more evidence to support the theory first.
So for now, I let them believe we have nothing.
CHAPTER 26
Colson
We’re about a week out from the next expected fire, so all our free time at the station has been spent preparing for that. The whole team has been in over the past few days, taking shifts out at the locations we know are more prone to fires and making sure everything’s looking good. Those of us at the station have been testing all the equipment to make sure it’s all in working order and doing everything we can to ensure we don’t have any surprises at the next call.
Thankfully, July tends to be a quieter time of year for naturally caused fires because we get the most precipitation. It’s been raining for what feels like a week straight at this point, and while it gives me hope that the next arsonist-caused fire won’t burn long, I also know the weather patterns for this area. After a spell of rain, the forests always dry up quick, which often leads to another spike in holdover fires. Which means whenever the rain does end, I’m expecting us to have to split resources between multiple fires.
It’s hard to know exactly where will be hit, so I’ve just been hoping that the rain continues to fuck with the arsonist’s timelineand throws him off enough to make a mistake.
Anything to get us another step closer to catching the bastard who’s been terrorizing our jurisdiction for months.
