Page 13 of Rekindle My Heart

Evans flagged her over.

She sat on the back of the ambulance as he checked her vitals.

“Your blood pressure is up, but that’s to be expected.” He moved the stethoscope to her chest. “Your lungs and heart sound good.”

She’d bet her lucky undies that her BP had nothing to do with the exertion and everything to do with a possible attempt on her life. This was her air mask, not anyone else’s. She’d checked it over before her shift, like she did before every shift, then stowed it in her locker. Not that it had a lock, but it was her cubby for her gear.

Could she have missed the damage?

Erica’s mind kept circling back to Wyatt and the reports. Could someone know she was digging into this? In the ten years she’d been on the crew, she couldn’t remember an incident with the gear. Not one.

This could be the first.

“Randall, are you okay?” Winters picked up her gear.

“Thanks, but I’m good. Just had an issue with my mask.” She took her turnout coat back from him.

“Pack ‘em up,” the captain called out.

Erica got an all-clear from the medic and started helping stow the hoses. The fire was out and the structure, while it would need a lot of work, it wasn’t a total loss. All civilians and crew made it out alive. Overall, a good day at work.

But, she would definitely double, triple-check her gear from now on.

A broad face popped into Ryan’s cubicle. “Daniels, got a minute?”

“Sure, Sarge.” He minimized the window he had open on his screen and leaned back.

Sergeant Al Johnson took a seat in the guest chair. In the year since Ryan turned detective, his old boss’s dark hair held a few new streaks of gray by the ears.

The older man glanced over his shoulder before whispering, “I might have a lead on the corruption ring.”

Police investigation took time, but since they arrested the dirty cop last summer, Ryan’s stomach rolled every time someone mentioned the corruption ring.

“I know you’re working to find the site that was the contact point. Well, I heard a couple of the rookies talking about where they were finding side jobs. You know, Armand and Connors have young kids, and they are always looking for extra hours.” He adjusted in his seat. “I’m not saying they’re dirty or anything.”

“I get it.” Everyone was on edge after Larson almost lost her life when all the shit went down. Ryan cleared his throat. “Go on.”

“Connors was saying he didn’t have much luck with the hiring sites, but he did find a chat room or group on one of the social media sites. I asked him about it, and he clammed up. I think he was afraid I’d bust him for moonlighting, not that it’s against any rules.”

With one long, weathered finger, he slid a piece of paper across the desk to Ryan. “Anyway, he eventually relaxed and coughed up the name of the group. I thought you might want to check it out. I’d do it myself, but I suck at that stuff. I don’t even have social media accounts.”

Ryan scanned the info and palmed the note. He hadn’t heard of this site. It must be new. “Thanks, Sarge. I’ll check on it.”

Johnson stood and with a head nod, left.

Ryan typed the name into his computer and tapped his fingers on the desk while he waited for the search results to pull up. The department had a fair firewall when it came to spam and scammer websites, but even with Ryan’s additional security software, he still wanted to do a background on the site before he signed up.

No red flags signaled either online or in his gut, so he typed in the site name and created an account using a separate email he only used for casework. Once the setup was complete, he logged in and hovered over his avatar. Settings and additional menus pulled up. He spent some time setting up his security before he started selecting interests so the site’s algorithms could start suggesting groups for him.

He rolled up his sleeves and cracked his neck before placing his fingers back on the keys. “Well, let’s find us some dirt.”

In the next hour, Ryan had joined groups, commented on posts, and even posted a photo or two so he didn’t look like a lurker. He needed the site to put him out there—bait the hook.

He pushed back from his desk and stretched. “Now, we wait.”

“What are we waiting for?” Amy Larson leaned on his cubicle wall.

“Johnson got a new lead. I was sending out feelers on the site,” Ryan said in hushed tones.