we’ll know better when the sun comes up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go give my crew a hand. I’d like to get this wrapped up as soon as possible. Just in case we get another call.”
“Yeah, sure, of course.” She nodded in what seemed like relief and, stepping back, she shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket. She looked so sweet and vulnerable just now—dressed in those clothes with mud on her face, her dark hair glowing in the firelight. And yet she was acting so strangely...as if she were somehow involved in the fire. Logan felt confused...and conflicted. And those were not the sort of feelings that a fire chief, especially a relatively young one, liked to experience.
“You probably want to go in and clean yourself up,” he told her in a brusque tone.
She looked down at her muddy clothes and nodded. “Yeah. Good idea.”
As she walked toward the house, Logan just watched, dumbfounded. What was going on here? Why was Mallory at her parents’ home when he knew they were on vacation? Why was she dressed like that? And what was she doing outside while there was what appeared to be an arsonist-set blaze going? What was going on?
Logan shook his head as he went to rejoin his crew. As happy as he was to see Mallory again—although he did regret tackling her—he felt torn. Something weird was going on here, and before this night was over, he was determined to get to the bottom of it.
“Doing some mud wrestling over there?” Winnie Halston teased him as she turned a shovelful of dirt over. Logan liked Winnie and appreciated that she worked as hard as any of the guys, but sometimes she got a little too friendly with him. It often felt like a tightrope walk to keep a professional distance, yet at the same time remain congenial and supportive as her boss. Sometimes he just wished she’d find another job.
Logan chuckled as he picked up a shovel. “Yeah, I guess it probably looked like that.”
“Who was the kid you took down?” she asked as she shoved her spade into the soft soil. “And why isn’t he in custody now?”
“The kid was a woman. Deputy Myers’s daughter.”
Winnie’s brow creased with suspicion. “Do you think she set the fire?”
“According to her, she was simply trying to help extinguish it.” He started to dig, helping to expand the fire line. He didn’t really have to do the hard labor anymore, but it seemed to boost team morale to see him doing some of the grunge work alongside them. And since this was a small fire and not really in need of much managerial supervision, there was no reason not to help out. Besides, he felt guilty for ignoring Winnie a little too much this week. Such a fine line between sending a message and being just plain rude.
“So, what’s this girl’s name?” Winnie’s voice had a twinge of jealousy.
“Mallory,” he said in a flat tone.
“And you know for sure that she’s really the Myers’s daughter? I mean, isn’t Deputy Myers on vacation? What’s this chick doing out here all by herself while her daddy’s gone? Sounds a little fishy, if you ask me.”
“I know she’s Deputy Myers’s daughter because I went to school with her,” he said wryly. “She was a couple years behind me.”
“Fine. But how do you know she’s not a suspect?” Winnie persisted. “This girl could be angry at her parents...maybe she gets even by torching their place while they’re gone. Most violent crimes are committed by people known to the victims. Suspects are usually family or friends...”
“Been watching CSI again?”
“Just reruns.” She smiled slyly. “A girl’s gotta do something on a lonely night.”
“Well, I’m relatively certain that Mallory Myers had nothing to do with this fire,” he assured her. “As a matter of fact, she was the one to call 911, and when I tackled her she was actually just trying to hose down a spot fire to protect her dad’s shop. Does that sound like a crazed arsonist to you?”
“You never know.” She frowned. “What about that getup she had on? I saw her. Looked like she was trying to disguise herself as a kid. Maybe to make it appear this was part of the teen group you’ve been tracking. Suspicious.”
He shrugged as he turned a shovelful of dirt over. He knew this was nonsense, but didn’t want to argue the point. “Maybe you’re in the wrong line of work,” he said. “Instead of being a firefighter, you should be working for the sheriff’s department.” He chuckled, but he wasn’t really kidding. Everyone knew that Winnie loved putting her nose in everyone else’s business.
“I’m just saying it’s curious how this woman’s out here by herself while her parents are off on vacation,” she continued. “Just because you went to school with her doesn’t mean she had nothing to do with this fire. And everyone knows we haven’t had lightning in weeks. So you know it’s gotta be human caused.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that, Winnie.” He decided to insert some cool authority into his tone. Time for her to back off and focus on her work. Without engaging further, Logan set his shovel back in his truck then went over to give TJ a hand with unloading another hose from the water truck.
“What happened to that kid you stopped?” TJ asked as they maneuvered the hose toward the south side of the fire line, generously soaking the smoldering embers.
For the second time tonight Logan explained the little mix-up. But he didn’t mind telling TJ. Besides the fact that TJ was his best friend, they’d gone to school together and Logan was pretty sure TJ would remember Mallory, too.
“No kidding? That was Mallory Myers?”
“Yep.”
TJ laughed. “How’d she take that?”
“Pretty furious.”
“Yeah, but as I recall Mallory was always a good sport.” TJ chuckled.
“Hopefully she still is.” Logan hefted the hose closer to the fire. The truth was, he’d always liked Mallory. More than once he’d considered asking her out. But something...or someone...always seemed to get in the way.
He wondered if that would still be the situation. Was Mallory in some kind of committed relationship? And even if she wasn’t, what would be the point in pursuing her now? She lived in the city, he lived here. Besides that, something about her wasn’t sitting right with him. The girl had troubles. He could almost smell it.
Logan worked with TJ for nearly an hour, but it was obvious that the fire was well under control and there was little need for Logan to remain on the line. Except that he was still mulling over some things.
“Is Mallory still good-looking?” TJ suddenly asked Logan.
“Kind of hard to tell with all that mud on her face.” Logan chuckled as he leaned his shovel against a tree. No way was he going to tell TJ that she was even more beautiful now than he remembered her being back in high school.
“Never really told anyone, but I used to kind of have a thing for her,” TJ admitted.
“Really?” Logan felt a small pang of jealous concern. “I never knew that.”
“Well,
