Page 113 of Burning Skies
Trig dramatically wipes his eyes. “Stop or I’m gonna cry.” I shove Trig, and he grins. “This doesn’t mean I’ve made peace with Beau. I’m still chewin’ on you being in love with that asshole. But I’m not gonna let some little bitch fly into town and swoop off with my baby sister.”
“Thank you. I don’t want to swoop off either.” I frown at him. “Frankly, you deserve an ass whooping for pointing a shotgun at Beau. I haven’t forgiven you for that.”
He glances down and kicks the dirt. “I can admit I let my temper get the best of me.”
“Gee, you think?”
“I’m sorry, Honeybee,” he says, looking genuinely remorseful. “You know I never would’ve shot him with you standing there, right?”
I rest my hands on my hips. “Look, you can hash out your disagreements with the Walkers anytime. Just leave the weapons at home, okay? Use your head and not your fists.”
He shrugs. “Fine. But my offer to kick Fairchild’s ass still stands. Just say the word.”
Cash puts Trig in a headlock. “That’s the biggest apology I’ve ever heard you mutter.”
“Shut up.” Trig shoves Cash off him with a laugh. But then his expression grows serious. “If old Vernon sold us out, what are we gonna do?”
Cash crosses his arms. “Let’s focus on one problem at a time, starting with Ian fucking Fairchild.”
I nod, relieved to have my brothers on my side. “That’s a good plan.” I hold out my hand and look at Trig and Cash, who chuckle and rest their dirty hands over mine.
It’s a tradition, something we always do before a ranch rodeo. The chants vary. But today, I think of something special. “‘Fuck you, Ian,’ on three. One, two, three.”
“Fuck you, Ian!” we all shout, startling the cows.
Now I just have to pray Ian Fairchild’s full of shit and that we don’t owe him a fortune.
43
BEAU
“CanI see you in my office for a minute?” The chief holds his door open.
I follow him in and sit after he motions toward the chair parked in front of his immaculate desk. “What’s up?”
“We got the lab tests back from the Halloween fire.” He opens a file and turns it to me. “You were right to be suspicious of the markings on the rug. An accelerant was used. Good catch.”
“Damn. I was hoping I was wrong.” The room was waterlogged, so it’s a miracle I noticed the weird black marks on the ground. But since sixty percent of fires in schools are deliberate, it wasn’t a stretch to think it was about more than overcooked bacon. Plus, who cooks bacon after school like that? It was too odd.
“You weren’t on the team that put out the fire, were you?”
“No, sir. But after we evacuated everyone, I went in to check to make sure they didn’t need assistance.” That’s when I noticed the marks.
“I’m going to forward the results to Police Chief Reynolds. The school submitted a list of teachers there that night. I wasthinking Reynolds should cross-reference that with the teachers there the night of the shed fire in the back lot. Unfortunately, everyone was there for the stink bomb.”
“Do you really think a teacher did this?”
He tilts his head. “Either that or a student. But I suppose it can’t hurt to ask if there are any pissed-off parents running around.”
“Given the new labs, can’t we get some emergency funding for cameras? Because what if this person strikes again? There are a lot of people who could get hurt.” The thought of anything happening to Honey makes my blood run cold.
“I’ll check with Reynolds to see if he has any ideas about that, but I know funds this year are tight.”
Leaning forward, I run a palm over my jaw. “The best way to catch an arsonist is if they don’t know about the cameras.”
He nods. “I’m not sure what the laws are regarding cameras in schools, but I agree. If we’d had cameras in the hallways, we could narrow down the suspects.”
“And the trash fire in the bathroom? Did we hear back about that?”
