Page 9 of From the Flames
“So you trained at the same station you work at now?”
“No. That station is now used for equipment storage. They integrated that station with the one I work at now a few years ago. The station I first worked at was too small for what was really needed, so they built a new one and used the old building to house additional equipment that can be called on when needed.”
“I see,” Willy said.
“Why did you become a professor?”
Willy grinned. “I loved economics. When I was a freshman in college, economics was the bane of most people’s existence, but it just seemed to make sense to me. So I pursued it, and the more I studied, the more I understood how things work together. It was like an entire door opened to me. I just loved it. When I decided to do some graduate work, I chose economics and developed some models that became somewhat predictive of certain types of economic cycles. The funny things is that so much of what economists study is theoretical, so it’s lost on a lot of people, and if you ask any economist what he thinks is going to happen, you’ll get a different answer from each one of them.” A bright light had come on behind Willy’s eyes, and his voice held an excitement that Kevin found riveting. And they were talking about economics.
“Which makes it hard to take seriously. I mean, you see it on the internet or on the news and no one knows what to make of it.”
“For most people, yes. Everyone wants a definitive answer to a question, not a ‘well, it depends’ and then a bunch of various possibilities.” He shook his head. “Anyway. My work centered on using models to help predict certain real-world effects. If this happens, then this is most likely to happen. And so on. I concentrated on smaller towns and how they can revitalize their economies. I built models and studied successes and failuresand came up with a list of recommendations for where they can start.”
“And does it work?” Kevin asked.
“It was good enough that the work got me my doctorate and the professorship here at Dickinson. I’m working on some new material at the moment that has the promise of being very interesting. I teach four to five classes a year, and I love it. I teach a freshman class in the fall and a number of higher-level classes during the year. It’s fun, and I get a charge out of it. I really do.” He sat back, grinning brightly.
“So, I get it now. If I want to get you excited, all I need to do is whisper ‘rising GDP leads to growth for all’ in your ear and you’ll be putty in my hands.”
“Kevin…,” Willy said, that blush returning. “That was funny. And no. I get excited by economics, but it doesn’t get me hot.” His cheeks grew even redder. “But you without a shirt on is a different matter.”
“It is, huh?” Kevin said with a smirk he hoped was endearing.
“I think I should go on up to bed. I have a big day tomorrow, and you do too.” Willy stood and leaned down to kiss him softly. “Good night.” Then he scampered out of the room and up the stairs, leaving Kevin to wonder what the hell had just happened. Willy needed to get away from him fast, but he’d kissed him.
Kevin’s smile grew huge as he softly called the dogs. All three of them came and followed him to the back door, then went out to do their business before bed. When they came back in, he gave them each a treat. Benjamin and Elsa went right upstairs, and he had little doubt that they were each guarding their kid. Thumper stayed with him, and he gave him scratches and pets before turning out the lights. Then he headed upstairs, cleaned up, and got ready for bed.
Thumper curled up at the end of the bed, and Kevin tried to go to sleep, but images of Willy kept flashing in his mind. The taste of the man was intoxicating, and he replayed their kisses over and over in his head. The house was silent, but Kevin kept listening for movement. It didn’t take him long to realize he had been hoping that Willy might join him. But that would have been the antithesis of taking it slow. Kevin rolled over, trying to think of something else, but eventually his restlessness sent Thumper out of the room. Not that he could blame him. Kevin eventually fell asleep, but not until utter exhaustion caught up with him.
“WHAT THEheck is wrong with you?” Chase asked. “You look like you were rode hard and put away wet.” He was one of the newer guys in the department and somewhat of a savant on the behavior of fire. More than once he had unraveled a mystery about how or where a fire started.
“I had a rough night,” he said flatly. Chase was a good enough guy, but Kevin wasn’t going to discuss his sexual frustration with him… or anyone, for that matter. “Any updates on what happened at that apartment fire?”
Chase groaned. “What the fuckdidn’thappen is more the issue. No smoke alarms, and the sprinkler system was clogged. It hadn’t been tested in over two years. But still, that doesn’t account for how fast the fire spread.”
“That’s why you and I are heading to the codes office to look at the original plans.” He went into the locker area, dropped his gear, and turned back to Chase. “You up for it?”
“Hell yes. I got more questions thanWho Wants To be a Millionaire.” They strode out of the building, and Kevin drove to the borough hall. The codes office knew they were coming and had the plans ready for them.
Kevin looked them over, and so did Chase, but nothing jumped out at them. “These look like everything was done tocode. I mean, the plans have everything that’s required.” He dug deeper into the fire control and suppression plans and found them to be exactly what he would expect.
“But that doesn’t mean that the systems were maintained and tested properly,” Chase added.
Kevin agreed, but the codes officer showed him where tests had been conducted and had been signed off by the management company. Apparently they had hired an outside firm to test all their buildings within the past year.
“There’s no way,” Chase told the codes officer. “The fire-suppression system was so gunked up that there was no way it passed any sort of test.” He looked determined.
Kevin kept his cool. “Can we get copies of these documents? There is definitely more for us to look into.”
Chase fumed as they walked back to the truck.
“Do you think the codes department is complicit in some kind of cover-up?”
Kevin sighed and shook his head. “No, I don’t. The complex ran the tests and then gave them the signed paperwork that they filed. What we need is someone who knows what was really going on inside that building, and I think I have that person. Professor Daugherty at Dickinson College was burned out by the fire. He and his kids have been staying with me until they can get in their new place.” Even saying the words felt disappointing. He liked having them in the house, and he sure liked seeing Willy every day. But they were going to move on, and once they did, the house would seem empty again and the dogs would wonder what the heck happened. Hell, he was going to miss all of them and he knew it, but wasn’t quite ready to admit it.
Chase snickered. “Is that the reason you’ve been smiling all the time and why you looked like hell this morning? Were you doing the horizontal hula with Daddy?”
Kevin growled. “I’ve known him for just a few days, and Willy lost his home and almost everything else he had in a fire. He has two kids, and they’re all having to deal with a ton of loss and uncertainty….” He left the rest of the thought to hang in the air, and Chase lowered his gaze, which was exactly what he wanted.
