on?”
“I have some news. They’re going to start demo on the arson site—yours—tomorrow.”
“Oh. Yes, you mentioned that before.”
“I wondered if you’d visit the building with me. Take a look before it’s gone. I know you went down once before, and nothing came back to you. You also found it upsetting then. Do you think you’re okay to go now?”
She took a second to consider. “Yeah, I think it would be fine. I don’t know that it will make any difference, but I think I can handle it. I think the time that’s passed has helped. When I went, I was just out of the hospital, and I was pretty raw back then.”
“If you’re up to it, then, maybe we can stop by the second site, too.”
“The second fire?”
“Yes. I want to walk you through a few things. See if anything pops for you. There could be commonalities or something you might notice that we didn’t. It’s a long shot, but it’s worth trying.”
“I don’t know what I could find. I have no connection to that one.”
“You never know. You tagged along with me a few times when I was training for arson investigation, as an interested observer. You showed some skill, too—you have a good eye for investigation. But maybe going over there now that you have some distance will make something pop.”
“I can definitely try.”
“Great. So, we can take the afternoon to do that, and maybe go somewhere after?”
Erin paused, and then met his gaze. “Sure. We could probably stay around here. I mean, I don’t think it’s a big deal if anyone sees us. No one seemed to think twice about you coming over to help with the house the other day.”
“You invited everyone at the department who wanted to help.”
Still, his heart—and his hopes—rose at her notion that it didn’t matter if people saw them together. He would have given his left arm to hear her say that six months ago.
“I don’t think we have to worry. We’re out visiting the sites, so that can be our excuse.”
Her words brought him back down to earth. “Yeah, but we’ll take my truck and come back for your car later. So it’s clear that it’s just business. Not personal.”
He wasn’t sure if he caught a slight flinch as he said that, but she agreed and stood, walking ahead of him out of the office.
Things had been tense between them since their discussion at the house, and Bo hoped this went well. It seemed as if Erin’s memories were there, but being with him was only triggering relationship memories. And that was triggering all kinds of other complex emotions.
She’d wanted him to share more about his desires at the house, but he couldn’t do it. Not when they didn’t have a future. What was the point? In truth, he had expressed a few secret fantasies back when they were together, but Erin had been uncomfortable with it because it meant she had to give up control. She had to trust him completely.
And apparently she didn’t. Bo had no desire to tread over that territory again. They had to stay clear on the real reason they were doing this and see if they could rouse memories about the fire. That was the goal.
There’d been no activity for weeks, and for that he was grateful, but the investigation had also hit a dead end. Whoever was setting these fires, they were hard to track.
On their way out to the truck, Bo watched her walk. He liked how her bottom moved. It made him think about other things he wanted to do later.
Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned that bit about her maybe wanting them to get caught. He might have been way off. As she said, it wasn’t that, but the idea itself was the thrill. That would be more Erin’s style, daring the world to cross her.
She’d been good at firefighting because she knew how to stay calm and keep her cool under pressure—the way she did when she was turning him on with all the guys and her sister a few rooms away.
She liked the challenge. She craved excitement. They were alike in that.
Her offer to try something new—anything he wanted—was tempting. It was also dangerous. Did it mean that Erin had changed? That some of the old rules between them no longer applied? That she trusted him more?
That there could be something new between them?
He shook his head as if trying to cast away the thought.
“What?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.
“What?” he echoed back, taken off guard.
She smiled. “You were shaking your head no at something.”
“Oh. Just lost in thought, that’s all. Here we are,” he announced. “If this is bad and you want to leave, you say so, okay? We’re only here to look around—no pressure.”
“Got it.”
They stopped, and she slid out of her seat to the pavement, taking in the skeletal remains of the burned-out warehouse. Erin seemed to confront it without any particular emotion at all. That was a good start, he supposed.
They approached a small shed, where Bo grabbed hard hats and handed her one. She put it in her head, and he stifled a smile. He’d once told her how cute she was in her firefighting helmet, and she hadn’t taken it as a compliment. She’d been cranky with him the rest of the day, until he got her back to her place and did things that made her decidedly uncranky.
“Let’s go.”
He went ahead. No one else was there, though there was heavy equipment on the other side of the lot. They were obviously prepping to level the place. He couldn’t blame the company that owned the property—it lost money the longer it sat here unused, and the investigation had held it up for long enough without yielding much. This was Bo’s last chance, literally.
The light was fine as the sun came in through the rafters, and safe passage through the burned-out building was marked with small flags and chalk so that inspectors and others weren’t injured.
“Make sure you stay within the marked areas. Other spots are not safe.”
Erin nodded, but was otherwise quiet. Bo hoped this wasn’t a mistake.
“It’s so spooky,” she finally said when they paused inside the large entry, looking around. “But also weirdly pretty. The way the sun comes down in between the burned rafters.”
“I’ve thought that, too, though it feels wrong to see something artistic in so much ruin.”
She agreed silently and walked ahead of him, her expression mostly curious. He let her lead, but made sure she stayed on the safe route. He wondered what it would be like, to see it all again for the first time. Even with his experience, it was still overwhelming sometimes. The ability to analyze discrete parts of a fire scene as well as the overall picture took discipline and practice because there was so much to look at. It was also easy to see something misleading or something that
