Not wanting to be rude, Jenna nodded. “Okay.” She reluctantly let go of Kane’s hand and found herself in Carter’s arms. “It seems strange you’d take time off in the middle of a case to go dancing.”
“We arrived too late to do anything.” Carter twirled her around the dancefloor. “The sheriff is the best person to hunt down the missing girl. She could be with friends or a boyfriend. If we show at people’s houses they’ll clam up for sure. The FBI have a strange effect on some countryfolk, they don’t trust us.” He sighed. “I might look and sound like a local but it will be all around town by now that I’m not.”
Shocked, Jenna stopped dancing and stared at him. “Missing girl, what missing girl?”
“Oh, I thought Jo had walked you through the case? The bombing out of Aspen Grove, Louan.” He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. “We need your help this time.”
“A bombing? Good Lord, Carter are you telling me there’s a girl missing and we’re out dancing? Have you lost your mind?” Jenna spun on her heel and pushed her way through the crowd. She could see Kane standing beside their table watching her.
“Hey.” Carter grabbed her arm and spun her toward him. “Like I said, there’s nothing we can do right now.”
In a surge of outrage, Jenna narrowed her gaze at him. “Do you have any feelings at all or did the military drain every last drop of humanity from you?” It took some effort to control her emotions because he just stood there and smiled at her. “Leaving Sheriff Crenshaw in charge of anything is as responsible as leaving a two-year-old with a Zippo and an open can of gas.”
“There’s nothing you can do, Jenna.” Carter pulled a toothpick from his top pocket and slid it into his mouth. “You don’t have jurisdiction. He’s the local law enforcement and even a fool can hunt down the friends of a missing girl. It’s been almost twenty-four hours and if she was taken by the killer the chances of her being alive are negligible.”
Fuming at his cold detached attitude, Jenna pulled away from the hand restraining her. “I would’ve called Crenshaw and offered my services, if anyone had told me.” She snorted. “Why did he call you?”
“Maybe because the town doesn’t have to pay us for assistance.” Carter met her gaze. “You’re jumping to conclusions about the girl, Jenna. She could be safe in town with friends. That’s the first place we check, same as you do and Crenshaw is doing that as we speak. He was first responder. His men are chasing down next of kin and the names of witnesses. Wolfe and his team have documented the scene, we’ve even had the Black Rock Falls fire chief to do a report. Everything is being handled.” He sighed. “Apart from the missing girl, this case has turned up an anomaly we can’t ignore and is the reason we came here chasing you down. We want you and Kane to consult on the case. You’ll be working with us under the FBI umbrella, so no uniform. The freedom to move around would be like a dream come true for you guys, right?”
“What’s going on here?” Kane pushed to her side. “You have half the town gawking at you.”
Jenna looked up at him. Carter’s suggestion brought back nightmares she’d put to rest years ago. “Oh, nothing.” She rolled her eyes. “Carter just wants us to join the FBI as consultants.”
/>
Seven
Louan
The first sweet smell of fire excited him. He loved watching flames lick the side of a building, the crackling of burning wood. He could stand forever watching the way fire waved its magic wand and changed everything it touched. Wood, converted to charcoal, misshapen and blackened, would never be the same. He craved the sound fire made as it roared and leapt to reach out in orange and yellow fingers to capture and consume everything in its path. The explosions of glass, scattering like a shower of diamonds to the ground and the pops and whines as flames gorged on furniture and prized possessions. The fleeting smell of hair followed by burning flesh never lasted long enough, and he wished he could be inside the swirling mass of heat to watch more closely. He’d pored over images of burn victims. In awe of the twisted limbs and gaping mouths of the charred remains. Had they screamed their last breath or was it the magic of the flame?
Fire danced, he’d seen it with his own eyes, and a single flame multiplied from one lowly dancer into many. They joined to thunder their way through buildings and over rooftops. His heartbeat raced as he imagined watching a line of fire dancers streaking across the lowlands toward the trees. In the forest the fire changed again into a massive dragon, spewing fire in all directions and roaring its intent to destroy everything in its sight. Tall pines whined for a second before fire engulfed them in a whoosh of orange, so bright it hurt his eyes, first one and then a thousand in a wall of flames so high it reached the clouds.
Smoke too had its own fascination. First it curled up and away in a white line, innocent and ethereal. Deceptive like a joker, it soon billowed into rolling gray or toxic black clouds. Smoke was as lethal as its brother. It burned lungs and suffocated, filling the air like an afterthought to capture anyone foolish enough to try and extinguish the flames. He enjoyed fire from the very first spark to the steam and hiss from water-soaked flames carrying the distinctive odor that stuck to his clothes. The blackened aftermath called to him. He had to go inside a burned-out shell of a building or walk through a blackened forest. It made him feel alive. Fire made him powerful.
He dragged his thoughts away from his passion and leaned back in the seat of his truck to watch the sheriff and his deputies return to town. Behind them came the medical examiner from Black Rock Falls. They’d been out since dawn, maybe earlier. He’d no idea how much sleep they’d lost, nor did he care. The law had never worked in his favor and he despised every last one of them. The law hadn’t protected him as a child and as if fate had caught him in an endless loop of bureaucracy, not one of the goodie-two-shoes, procurers of children for foster homes, had been there to protect his son when he couldn’t. He opened his phone and pulled up the trail cam app to check on Sophie. He’d spent a great deal of time setting up the caves. The light ran on a battery but he’d had to run cable from the webcam to a wireless receiver outside the caves to counteract the magnetic force of the mountain. The effort and expense had been worth it. The sight of her helpless and scared made his lips curl into a smile. He’d taken her from her home without a fight. Her father had been weak and done nothing to protect his wife and daughters.
He shook his head. A father should fight to the death for his family, a mother should protect her children. The law should protect children against monsters disguised as foster parents. He snorted. He’d walked right in the house when Sophie had taken out the trash, just like she did every night, and her parents had allowed him to play out his fantasy. Now he had Sophie and they were just charred remains. He stared at her again, curled up under the blanket waiting for him to return and smiled. There was no rush. She wasn’t going anywhere and he had all the time in the world. He accessed his blog and added an image of steaks sizzling on a grill. He wrote a post.
Last night, I dropped by a friend’s place for a barbecue. His wife made a special effort to make me feel at home. I had a great time. In fact, the night went off with a bang. Everyone had a turn at the grill and I got to take some home to enjoy later.
Eight
The mood inside Kane’s truck was somber as they waited for Carter to collect Zorro and the assortment of bags and equipment from Maggie’s home in town. The knowledge there was a missing girl out there, probably in the hands of a pyromaniac murderer, ate at Jenna but her hands were tied. Without Crenshaw asking for her assistance, she could do nothing. When Maggie’s door opened again and Carter spilled onto the sidewalk, the Doberman danced around Carter’s legs in an uncharacteristic dance of joy before a click of his fingers had him fall into step beside him. Jenna had watched the affection Kane lavished on his bloodhound, Duke, and wondered if Carter treated his dog the same. Her concerns were answered when the dog jumped into the back seat between him and Jo. She turned to look at Carter. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah.” Carter put an arm around Zorro and gave him a rub from ears to tail. “He knows I care about him but he expects orders from me. It’s how he’s wired. The burst of excitement at seeing me is a left over from when I took a bullet at one time during a tour. They took me away and there was no one left alive in my team to explain, he was part of our bomb squad. I was out of it for almost two days. He didn’t eat or drink for all that time. When I explained we worked as a unit and he won’t take orders from anyone but me they wanted to shoot him, so I dragged myself out of a field hospital and went to find him. It’s been okay working for the FBI in the city, but now we’re out west, things happen. Nobody knows us apart from Jo and the two of you.”
Jenna stared at him and shrugged. The solution seemed easy enough. “Then add our phone numbers to the one on his collar. We’ll come get him if anything ever happens to you.”
“I’m not shooting him if you’re stupid enough to get killed.” Kane turned in his seat to look at him. “No way.”
“Once he knows I’m gone, Jo can take over.” Carter looked away. “We’ve been working with her.” He sighed. “I figured, since I’m working in your Godforsaken neck of the woods, I need a contingency plan.”
Dumbfounded, Jenna swallowed hard and stared at Jo. “What are you two mixed up in, Jo?”
“We’ll explain later.” Jo frowned. “Carter found something in the fire out of Louan. It’s complicated.”
After getting their guests and dogs settled, Jenna made a pot of coffee and waited for Carter and Kane to haul in laptops and a couple of evidence boxes from the truck. When they’d finally sat around the kitchen table, Jenna looked from one strained expression to another. “Okay, I know seeing the results of the victims of a fire is harrowing but I’m sure this isn’t the reason you two are being so evasive. Why do you need us to assist you? You could call in any number of FBI agents from other field offices.”