Wild Fire. Debra Cowan

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      “Tell me about it,” she muttered. She wrapped her arms around herself. “This is too strange, Clay.”

      He brushed her hair away from her forehead and eyed her healing cut, then propped his hands on his hips. “Show me where you were and what you did.”

      Shelby walked him over to the cabinet where she kept her popcorn. “After Vince was here, the guys got a call—”

      “Tyner was here?” he asked sharply.

      She nodded.

      “When? How long? What did he want?”

      “It was less than half an hour ago. He was here maybe five minutes. He wanted to talk about getting back together. At first, I told him here wasn’t the place to talk, but he wouldn’t leave so I told him—again—that I wasn’t interested in seeing him anymore.”

      “How did he take it?”

      “Not any better than last time. He kept after me until Cap and Monroe and Shepherd came out, and told him to back off.”

      “Did Tyner threaten you? Try to push you around like he did the night you broke up with him?”

      “No, he just grabbed me.”

      A savage light flared in Clay’s eyes. “I really want to hurt that guy.”

      A police cruiser pulled up. Two uniformed officers stepped out of the black-and-white, met at the end of the sloping firehouse drive by the crime scene technician who was removing his work kit from a white van.

      “Are you bruised?” Clay asked.

      “No. He scared me more than he hurt me.”

      Clay’s eyes turned cold and hard. Shelby knew that look. He waved the crime scene tech into the kitchen then turned back to her. “Where did you first see Tyner?”

      “In here. I came in with a bag of groceries and he was waiting.”

      “Was he alone?”

      “Yes.”

      His gaze shifted to the destroyed microwave. “How long after he left did the microwave blow up?”

      “Maybe five minutes.”

      “Did you know he was coming?”

      “No.”

      “He was in here alone for a bit before you knew he was here. Maybe no one else knew he was here, either.”

      Her eyes widened. “Do you think he did this? But why?” She felt sick. “Just because I broke up with him?”

      “People do take revenge for those kinds of things, Shelby. But it might not have been that at all.”

      “What else?”

      He searched her face, then said quietly, “It could be related to M.B.’s murder.”

      “Clay!” Her surprise left in a rush as realization sank in. “You mean, Vince might’ve killed M.B., then come after me?”

      “I have to look at all the angles.”

      “But he hardly knew her.”

      “Are you sure?”

      She froze. “No.”

      “I want to find out what connections he had to Ms. Perry.”

      “She met Vince a couple of times here when she brought over goodies. He took his ambulance to her school and showed the kids around.” Could there have been more between the paramedic and the teacher? Something that might make Vince want to hurt M.B.? Shelby suddenly couldn’t breathe.

      “Did you notice if any of the firefighters were in here alone at any other time?”

      “You’re scaring me.”

      “Did you?”

      “Alone?” She thought hard. “Maybe Shepherd.”

      Clay nodded. “I’ll check him out, too.”

      “We already know he was friends with M.B. We all were.”

      “How did he act around her?”

      “Flirty, like he does with every woman.”

      “We’ve been assuming M.B.’s lover was married, but maybe not.”

      “That’s true,” she said slowly, her stomach still in knots. “You really think Shep could’ve had something going with M.B.?”

      “We’ll have to find out.”

      “You’re making me paranoid, as if Vince weren’t enough,” she muttered.

      “Sorry.” His gaze searched her face. “You sure you’re okay?”

      She nodded. “Thanks for getting here so fast.”

      “I need to talk to your captain, as well as Monroe and Shepherd.”

      “Just to see if they saw or heard anything, right?”

      There was something in his face.

      “You don’t suspect either of them?”

      “I suspect everyone until I have a reason not to. I want you to wait for me, then you’re moving to my house.”

      “Do you think that’s necessary?”

      “I think Tyner would’ve hurt you if your captain hadn’t stepped in. And I’m real suspicious about the timing of Tyner being in the kitchen just before the microwave blew.”

      “What do you think caused the explosion?”

      “We’ll have to wait for the lab guys to give us a solid answer. Was popcorn the only thing in there?”

      “Yes, but that by itself couldn’t cause an explosion.”

      “Even if the bag overheated and caught fire?”

      “Even then. There has to be a lot of heat and pressure behind an explosion like that. If the bag caught fire, it would burn, but probably not even crack the glass. There had to be some power to make the glass shatter and for the door to blow off,” Shelby explained.

      “Power caused by what? An accelerant?”

      “Yes. Or maybe a malfunction of some kind.”

      “You mean electrical?” Clay looked pensive.

      “It’s possible.”

      “What about accelerants? What could be used?”

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