Page 50 of Built of Flames

“Absolutely not. He’s creepy.”

“He’s never touched you?”

Bella squeezed his hand. “No. He makes lewd comments to all women. He’s one of those guys.”

“We’re keeping him at the top of the list.”

She leaned over to kiss him on the lips. “Thanks.”

With one hand holding hers, Mitch went back to scrolling through the names. “You didn’t include us.”

She shook her head. “I know it’s not us.”

Mitch grinned and squeezed her fingers. “Who else did you leave off?”

“Christo, my father, and Roberto.”

Mitch nodded and went back to looking at the names.

After a minute, Tess’s quiet voice broke the silence. “Can I ask you to input your names and some data for me?”

Mitch looked as surprised as she felt, but Sam was nodding.

She had to ask. “Why? Do you suspect one of us?”

Tess smiled. “No. It’s not that at all. But if this is about one of you, or all of you, we need some of the information. I’d like to see which fires each of you were working. And if there were other people not hired when you were hired. Or if anyone was passed over for a promotion for one of you.”

Sam agreed. “If it’s personal, and it looks like it might be, the more information we have, the better.”

When they said it that way, it made sense. But Bella didn’t like having the people she loved most in the world on the list of suspects. They were all going at the very bottom.

Mitch walked into the firehall earlier than normal for his shift. He wanted to get a feel for how the news of a potential arsonist was affecting people on both shifts.

After watching Bella deflate when she’d added their names to the suspect list, he wanted to get this case closed. The last few weeks had been the proverbial roller coaster for her. She’d had a lot of lonely years. Now she was surrounded by friends, but she was still worried.

He wanted to stamp the worry out like a stray ember. The best way to do that was finding the arsonist. Not wanting to arouse suspicion by questioning anyone directly, Mitch changed into his workout gear and headed to the gym.

Perfect timing. Amy, Paul, and Mac were working on weights, and Kent was on one treadmill. Mitch hopped onto the one beside him and gave a nod while he set his program. “Any action overnight?”

Kent shook his head. “Quiet night.”

“Good.”

Paul called over. “Any more thoughts on the arsonist?”

Mitch held in the grin. He hadn’t had to broach the subject himself. “Nothing concrete yet.”

Amy frowned. “Don’t most arsonists have signatures? Like types of ignition sources or specific targets?”

Mitch nodded. “From what I know and from what Bella has told me, that’s the way most of them are. But this one might be a little smarter and is mixing things up.”

“Then how do we catch him? We can’t have some asshole running around burning shit on our watch.” Mac’s growl filled the gym. The man never talked much, but the obvious anger in his voice had Mitch moving his name further down the list.

Unless he was angry because people were figuring him out.

Suspecting every single person he worked with wasn’t going to make for a pleasant day. At least Christo was on shift with him, so there was one he didn’t suspect.

The fires dated back at least six years, so those new to Kelsor were probably off the hook as well. Although Tess had pointed out that they didn’t know the ties that had brought them to the town so they couldn’t rule them out.

---