Page 76 of Spark
“Not a bad question,” Ryan said, his face sliding into a smile that said in no uncertain terms how head over boots he was for his near-future wife, “because no shit, I probably don’t deserve her.”
It was the best segue Tyler could have hoped for.He ran a palm over the back of his neck, said a silent prayer for his balls, and said, “Speaking of which, Chloe and I are seeing each other.It kind of happened all at once, and we didn’t mean to keep it from you.I think we were just trying to figure it out, and with all this stuff going on with the case and Esme, too, it just took us a minute.But we’re together, and it’s”—incredible.A little scary.The easiest thing I’ve ever done—“yeah.Yeah.I didn’t want to keep it from you any longer, especially with the wedding right around the corner.”
Ryan looked at him, his face a brick wall and his eyes locked on Tyler’s, unblinking.Finally, after the most excruciating seven seconds of Tyler’s life, Ryan said, “It’s about damn time.”
“That we got together?”Tyler asked, confusion smacking him in the face.
“That youtoldme,” Ryan corrected, and wait, had he just laughed?“Jesus Christ, Gates.I was starting to think you were never going to say anything, and I was going to have to pry it out of you with a fucking Halligan.”
Annnnnd whip up another batch of fresh confusion.“Youknew?”
“Yes, I knew.”Ryan shook his head as if Tyler had just asked if he knew water was wet.“I’m not an idiot.Plus, you guys have been weird for months.I figured something had to be going on and that you’d tell me when you were ready.”
Holy shitballswas not strong enough for this.“You’re not mad?”
Ryan hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his uniform pants, shifting back to give Tyler an assessing stare.“I’m not crazy about you taking her to fire scenes—which, yes, I know about from Addison—and we are never, and I do meanever, going to talk about what you two do in your alone time.But you’re my best friend.We’d literally walk through fire for each other, man.No, I’m not mad that you and Chloe are together.”
He stepped forward to give Tyler a handshake that turned into a hug in one swift motion.“Thanks, man.”
“No problem,” Ryan said, stepping back.“Just do me a favor?”
“Don’t do anything stupid or Addison will murder me in cold blood?”
Ryan grinned.“Oh, good.I see you two have already had The Talk, then.”
Tyler was halfway through forming a mostly smartass response when they were interrupted by a familiar voice.“So, this is where the party is.Good to know you’re both still slacking off on inventory duty.”
They both turned toward their former squad-mate and the RPD’s newest criminal profiler, Dallas Garrity, and Tyler grinned.“Dempsey’s slacking.I was just offering moral support.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Gates.”
They swapped a round of handshakes and smiles before Tyler noticed the thin file folder in Dallas’s hand, which he held out to Ryan.“Here you go.We’re all set, as promised.”
“Oh, excellent,” Ryan said, meeting Tyler’s questioning look with a smile.“Our wedding officiant couldn’t make the new date because her daughter is having a baby this week.Since we’re not having a religious ceremony, rather than go with a person we don’t know, Addison and I asked Dallas if he’d be willing to get authorized to perform a one-time civil marriage.I mean, Faurier’s the ring bearer, Hawk’s giving the blessing before dinner, and you’re the best man, so I thought it would be perfect for everyone on Squad to have a part in things.”
“That is pretty perfect,” Tyler agreed.
Dallas shook his sandy blond head, a smile breaking through his three-day scruff.“Now that I’m on the books with the RPD, it wasn’t too hard to get a judge to sign off on things.”
“How’s it going over there?”Ryan asked.“You catch any more wild cases like Faurier and Lucy’s arsonist?”
Dallas had worked with Intelligence and the Arson Investigation Unit earlier in the year to bring down a serial arsonist.Tyler had heard that Dallas’s profile of the guy had been instrumental in helping take him down.They’d only worked together for a few months before Dallas had sustained a career-ending injury that had eventually led him to working as a therapist for the fire department, and now as a behavioral analyst with different units of the RPD.But once a firefighter, always a firefighter.The five of them—Dempsey, Tyler, Faurier, Dallas, and Hawk—would always have that Squad Six bond.
Something flickered through Dallas’s stare, so fast that Tyler couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a trick of the light.“A couple.I heard you guys caught a crazy one last month.A forensics lab fire that turned out to be arson?”
Under any other circumstances, Tyler might’ve called him out on the subject change.But the missing link in that case had been bugging him more than ever.Maybe Dallas and the rest of Squad could help with some fresh eyes.
Tyler nodded.“Yeah.It’s still active.Complicated as hell.I’ve been working the case with Arson Investigation, but we’re kind of at a dead-end.You guys willing to give it a listen?”
“Sure.I’m in between cases right now,” Dallas said.“If it helps catch this guy, I’m in.”
Ryan already had his phone in his hand.“I’ll text Faurier and Hawk.”
Two minutes later, the five of them were standing around the equipment room, all eyes on Tyler.He filled them in on the basics, starting with Sal Brinkman’s murder.Their expressions grew more serious when he got to the fire, which Ryan, Faurier, and Hawk clearly remembered per their nods.Their faces grew downright grave as Tyler connected the dots between the murder and the arson, ending with his frustration.
“If we could nail Navarro for the arson, it would guarantee that Tara can put him away for life.But with the DNA gone and nearly everything in that lab having been destroyed by the fire, there’s not a lot to go on.Capelli’s still trying to hunt down the hacker, but if he comes up empty…”
“Then this guy might get away with murder,” Hawk said grimly.
