The Fire Still Burns Read online

  The Fire Still Burns

  By Crystal-Rain Love

  The Fire Still Burns

  Chapter One

  Brynn Harlow squared her shoulders and inhaled deeply, willing the shaking in her legs to stop. She stared up at the side of the red brick building where the letters BBGF&R were emblazoned in golden yellow, and didn't know which she wanted to do more—run or puke.

  It had been thirteen years since she’d left town in disgrace, and the person she feared seeing more than anyone else upon returning could be anywhere in that building now.

  Becoming Black Bear Gorge Fire and Rescue’s first female firefighter had been her dream. She’d planned for it her entire life all the way up until she saw that little pink line on the pregnancy test…and realized she'd never be Black Bear Gorge's first anything.

  She wiped her sweaty palms on her jean-clad thighs, took one more calming breath and then, with her head held high just to spite anyone who was there to see, she walked into the rescue station.

  The fire stations in California were library-quiet, but that wasn't the custom in Black Bear Gorge's station. As she recalled the guys could get pretty rowdy, but even when they weren't they were saying something. Her unease grew as, for the first time she could remember, the station was silent.

  Having been to the rescue station several times in her younger years, volunteering to clean the station, do some office work, whatever got her near the action during her school years and the summers in between, she knew where to find the chief.

  All eyes in the station were on her. She recognized most of the men, and some of those nodded in her direction, but most of the crew just stared awkwardly until she reached the hall, which would take her to the chief’s office and away from their sight.

  As she neared the chief's office, she heard loud shouting. Outside the closed door, she paused to listen as a familiar sounding male and Chief Parker waged a war of words on each other. Brynn couldn't believe she hadn't heard them outside the building when she first walked up.

  “Since when is a private investigator an expert?”

  “Look, she's knowledgeable in firefighting and catching the bad guy. I know you've been trained to find arsonists, but have you ever actually had the chance to put your knowledge to the test? We simply don't deal with these things in Black Bear Gorge. She's a city girl. She can catch this guy.”

  “I'm the arson investigator.”

  Sweat trickled down Brynn’s spine as she placed the voice. Oh, please don’t let that be who I think it is…

  “And that's why you'll be assisting her.”

  Assisting me? Her stomach took a dip.

  “And what exactly were you smoking when you thought this would be a good idea?”

  “I thought you could put your personal feelings aside to do your job!”

  “Let's get one thing straight right now. I don't have personal feelings for that cold-hearted bitch!”

  Oh, yeah. That’s Adam.

  Brynn took a deep breath to help prepare her to come face to face with the man whose heart she’d shattered thirteen years earlier, and she walked into the office without knocking.

  “The cold-hearted bitch has a name. I’d prefer you call me Brynn or Ms. Harlow.”

  Standing in the doorway behind Adam's back, her heart thumped loudly in her chest as she waited for him to turn. She braced herself for the inevitable blow to her senses while Chief Parker sat behind his desk, his formerly thick, dark hair now gray and thinned, and a tall blond woman, who she didn't recognize, stood at the side of the desk sizing her up from head to toe with bright eyes and a slight grin.

  Adam slowly turned around and the air left her lungs. His dirty-blond hair was now darker, with only the slightest streaks of blond left. His shoulders and frame were wider than the last time Brynn saw him. The black T-shirt he wore with the red BBGF&R logo was pulled taut over an impressive chest. And those eyes, still a shade of blue that couldn't be duplicated by even the most skillful artist, had hardened into two orbs of fury and, if she assumed correctly, pain.

  The trace of hurt she saw in them sucked the breath out of her. Anger, disgust, even hatred, were what she had expected to see but that sliver of pain took her off guard, reminding her she had truly hurt this man. The sorrow, which came with that reminder, stabbed her in the heart.

  “Adam.”

  He didn't return the greeting. Instead, he glared at her long and hard, his nostrils flared, before finally turning back to the chief. “No way in hell am I doing this.”

  “Fine. You're off the case. Ms. Harlow can investigate the arsons and you can go back to just putting out the fires.”

  “But, I'm the arson investigator!”

  The blond put her hand on Adam’s arm, shook her head and sent him a look, which seemed to relax the tension in his shoulders.

  “Not if I demote you, you're not.” Chief Parker pulled off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt before placing them back on his face.

  “You're no closer to finding the arsonist today than you were a month ago. There was another fire yesterday. I don't want this firebug to keep hitting us until Black Bear Gorge is nothing but charred remains of a once thriving town. Brynn practically grew up in this station. Since leaving for California, she has completed courses in firefighting and has become a skilled private detective.” Chief Parker leaned forward and looked pointedly at Adam.

  “Finding people is what she does, so I suggest you swallow whatever bullshit you're chewing on¾pardon my French, ladies¾and get on board here. Either you work the case with her or you don't work it at all.”

  “Fine, but only because I’ll do anything to find out who killed my brother in that fire.” Adam turned on his heel, spared Brynn one more murderous glance, and stormed out the door, leaving a trail of curse words behind him.

  “That went well,” the blond commented, her words directed toward the chief but her curious eyes on Brynn.

  Brynn stared her down as well, wondering who she was and why she seemed so close to Adam. She reminded herself it wasn't her business, not anymore. Still, the pangs of jealousy refused to die away completely. A few sparks still lingered as the woman left the office and closed the door behind her.

  “I didn't realize I was going to be working directly with Adam Good.” She laced her tone with accusation.

  Chief Parker gestured for her to take a seat before his cluttered desk. The small office was decorated only with photos of the crews, past and current. She even spotted a picture of her and Adam together when they were junior rangers. She had always wanted to be a firefighter. He had wanted to be a cop, and had only been a ranger one summer, because it would look good on his record when applying for the force. She had no clue what made him become a firefighter instead.

  “If I’d told you Adam Good was your partner, you’d never have agreed to do this. I'm hoping this little incident isn't going to change your mind, Brynn. Zeke Good's killer needs to be found and these arsons need to be stopped.” Chief Parker leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Adam has had the training and all, but you know as well as I do our arson investigation training isn't that great. We simply don't deal with these things here. Shoot, the most hardened criminals we have are a few town drunks and even those boys don't do a whole lot of bad.”

  Black Bear Gorge was a safe town, far safer than the city she had returned from, but far from perfect. Yet, the chief was right. As far back as she could remember there had never been any arson or any murders which didn’t result from something other than a fistfight gone too far.

  “I could do this alone, you know. Just give me the files you already have and I’ll get this done as quickly as possible.”

  “I can't do that, Brynn. Th
is is a fire and rescue matter. You're not officially part of our team.”

  Thanks, Chief. I could do without another reminder of what all I’ve lost. Angrily she crossed her arms across her chest.

  “Then hire me on.”

  “I can't. The economy hasn't been doing so hot lately. I have all the men, er, fighters I can afford. I'm already pushing the budget by hiring you on in this capacity. I couldn't afford to suit you up, too.”

  “I could volunteer.”

  “I don't have the space.”

  “I understand.” She understood this was going to be a long, hard case, no matter how quickly she found the arsonist. “I suppose there's nobody else you could partner me up with, huh?”

  “I'm afraid not. Adam is the only guy we've got with any sort of investigative training.”

  “Now that you know this sort of thing can happen here, I assume you're changing this fact?”

  “Looks like we need to, doesn't it? I know we're ill-prepared for this, Brynn. That's why I called on you. Your daddy always bragged about your achievements. I knew you'd be perfect. Take care of this thing for me, so the city boys don't come down here. They'll make us out to be small-town hicks and you know it. We may be small and we may be country, but we have our pride. Besides, Zeke's family needs some justice. They deserve to know who killed one of their own and why. Zeke deserves that.”

  Brynn nodded her head although she wasn't one hundred percent in agreement. The town's golden boy, Ezekiel Good, wasn't as golden as they all thought, but she wouldn't speak of that. The man had been murdered. He’d paid his dues. While she couldn't feel sympathy for him, she could feel it for his family, even if they'd treated her as though she were the town whore.

  “Why aren't the police investigating the murder aspect?”

  “They did. It took them all of two weeks to declare it an accident,” the chief said, his tone liberally laced with disgust.

  “Adam isn't letting it go though, and I can't blame him. Although I'd never have thought it could happen in this town, Ezekiel Good was murdered. Adam needs your help on this whether he wants to admit it or not.”

  Wonderful. The small town police system had struck out so now they were passing the torch to her…the one person whose help Adam Good would rather spit on than accept.

  “Give me what you've got so far and I'll get this thing wrapped up as soon as possible.” She rose from her seat, ready to complete the job and get as far away from Adam as possible.

  “You'll have to see Adam for that. He has the files.”

  Of course.

  ~~~

  “Is this everything?”

  “You think I'm holding out on you?” The words came out harsher than he'd intended, but Adam didn't care. The last thing he expected when he had left for work was to be paired up with Brynn on the investigation, his investigation. It was bad enough she had stolen his trust all those years ago, but now she was taking away his job as well.

  “I wasn't accusing you of anything.” Her tone relayed her exasperation. “It was just a question. I like to make sure I have all the facts before I start on an investigation.”

  “Yeah, I wish I had all the facts on you all those years ago,” he complained under his breath.

  “What was that?” She looked up from where she sat at one of the tables in the training room to watch him as he paced. Her eyes, lit from what he assumed to be irritation, were still the same pure green he remembered, her bow-shaped mouth still as kissable. Her body was fuller than he remembered. She wasn't heavy at all, just a little more filled out, more womanly. But her hair killed him slowly.

  He could still remember putting his hands in those thick auburn waves, pulling her head down to his so their tongues could caress as she went wild on top of him in his truck at Blue Mountain Park. They'd taught each other everything they knew about sex, and she had always been wild, uninhabited and adventurous. Unfortunately he'd been stupid enough to believe she only shared that part of herself with him.

  “Nothing,” he finally answered, trying to purge the old images of her from his mind before they drove him insane.

  He continued to pace the floor of the training room, too angry to sit. “I could do this myself, you know, so don't go thinking I need you.”

  She slammed her hands down on the table, her fiery glare hot enough to burn a hole through him. “Look, I never wanted to come back to this town in the first place, but now I'm here, and I'm doing what I have to do to get by until I can get the money together to get the hell back out. I don't like working with you any more than you like working with me, but I'm adult enough to make the best of it so why don't you follow my lead and grow up.”

  Adam stopped pacing and started to lash right back at her, but then remembered his promise to himself. He would never let her know just how deeply she had hurt him. Standing there yelling at her, letting it show loud and clear that she affected him did just the opposite. Besides, he figured at least half of his coworkers were somewhere close-by eavesdropping.

  “Fine.” He schooled his features into as blank a mask as he could muster and sat at the table before her, forcing himself to sit there when he really wanted to run.

  Her sweet scent wafted across the table bringing back memories best left forgotten, and he became infuriated by the fact that he was remembering moments spent with her while his brother's killer was still on the loose.

  “I want Zeke's murderer. I don't give a damn what I have to do to find him, even if it means I have to work alongside you, but don't get in my way on this.” He leaned forward with his hands braced on the table edge, purposely invading her space.

  She looked up from the papers before her to glare at him, closing her hands into tight little fists. “I didn't apply for this job. The chief contacted me because he knows I can find the arsonist. I’m a volunteer firefighter in Los Angeles and a very successful private investigator. I'm not trying to get in your way, Adam. I didn't even know you were the investigator. If I had, do you really think I'd have taken the job?”

  Adam sat back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I don't know, Brynn. I thought I knew you once and it turned out I was wildly mistaken.”

  “Insult my character all you want, but I'm on this case whether you like it or not.” She bent her head back over the files in front of her, reading the pages. “So there were two incidents almost exactly a month apart.”

  “Yup.”

  She looked at him briefly in what he assumed to be annoyance, before returning her eyes to the information before her. “Depending on when your brother was actually taken, the incidents may have actually been an exact month apart. Why don't I see a list of suspects?”

  “Right there.” He pointed at the sheet in front of her.

  “Two names?”

  “That's right.”

  She smiled at him, one of those smiles people used when they thought they were smarter than you and were about to say something clever to prove it. “So tell me, how did Ames Anderson and Chuck Davis make the list?”

  Adam held her smug stare, determined not to show his growing irritation with her and the situation he had been forced into. “Anderson’s a drifter, hardly known by anyone, and Davis got into an argument with Zeke at the bar a couple nights before his murder.”

  “If my memory serves me right, Chuck Davis has had an argument with just about everybody in this town, and is especially volatile when he's drunk.”

  “So?” Adam shrugged, growing annoyed.

  “So…why would he get into a spat with your brother and just up and decide to burn him alive a few nights later? Did they even exchange blows or was it just words that got thrown around that night?”

  “Words,” Adam conceded, knowing there wasn't much evidence against Davis but, hell, there wasn't much evidence against anyone.

  “Yeah, must have been some pretty rough words to turn him into an arsonist, especially since I can't see Davis having the mental faculties to pull these two fi
res off.” Her gaze fell back to the papers. “These took planning.”

  “What about Anderson? Nobody knows much about the guy.”

  “And that instantly makes him suspect? That's the problem with small town justice. The innocent are condemned with no evidence whatsoever.”

  He picked up the loathing in her tone but didn't bother attempting to determine where it came from. She could hate Black Bear Gorge, she could hate him, all he cared about at the moment was finding his brother's murderer. “So who do you think the guy is?”

  “I have no idea,” she said in a tone completely devoid of emotion, a fact which irked him. “I'm not so sure it was a guy though.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Brynn shrugged, something odd in her posture, the way she wouldn't look at him directly, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. “Never rule out the so-called fairer sex. Vengeful women are dangerous women. Did he have any bad break-ups, dates that got out of hand?”

  “What the hell do you mean by that?” Adam’s anger surged through his veins, making it damned difficult to remain sitting across from the woman he wanted to strangle.

  She had betrayed him, lying straight to his face while sleeping with his best friend for who knew how long, and now she was insinuating something like this about his brother. “My brother was a good man. You should know.”

  “Should I?” Her eyebrows raised, her lips twisted into a near sneer. A look he'd never seen on her before, a look that didn't seem right on her, but then again, he hadn't known her as well as he'd thought.

  Before he had a chance to respond, she erased the sneer and restarted her interrogation. “Surely he must have had some sour relationships. No man is perfect.”

  “He never had a relationship serious enough to go sour. You remember how he was.”

  “So he was still a ladies man.” She sounded bitter. “Had he gotten into any confrontations around the same time, other than the one with Chuck Davis?”

  “None I recall or I would have put it in my report.” Adam closed his hand into a fist, barely keeping his temper under control. How amateur did she think he was?