Wild Fire

“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?”

“A piece of metal, maybe?” The growing realization that the incident could’ve been deliberate made her shudder.

“Something big? Small?” he asked.

“Could’ve been as small as a paper clip or a coin.”

“Or flammable liquid inside the bag?”

“Yes, any of those.” Had someone really tried to kill her? Or was the microwave faulty and she had just happened to be using it when it malfunctioned?

“I’ll have the lab guys look at it. From your time together, Tyner knows you eat popcorn every afternoon. He could’ve planted something in the microwave before you tossed in your bag. So could Shepherd.”

“I can’t believe Shep would do something like this.” It was frightening to realize she wasn’t sure about Vince.

“I’m checking them both out anyway. I want you to take a leave of absence until we figure out what’s going on.”

“But I just came back to work today.”