Rhys muttered something under his breath, then said, “So this was a group effort?”
“For all I know, the jacket was just sitting here when the fire started. The owner is an electrician, right?”
“Yep. The goats are his and his wife's side business. I know for a fact that he was doing electrical up at Lucky's ranch when the 9-1-1 call came in. Mrs. Rigsby was at the Nugget Market, where she works part-time. Nope, this has the mark of kids with too much time on their hands. And that jacket you found belongs to a neighbor boy . . . my godson.” Rhys didn't look too happy about that revelation. “Let me round them up for you.” He got on his phone and wandered away.
“Looks like you've got this covered,” the captain said. “Good job. I'm going back to the house. See you later.”
Aidan watched Johnson walk back to the engine with Duke, who still hadn't bothered to remove his gear, trailing him like one of those baby goats.
Twenty minutes later, Aidan and Rhys sat in the Rigsbys' kitchen, staring down two teenagers who only wanted to look at the floor. The doorbell rang and Mr. Rigsby got up to get it, while Mrs. Rigsby made a pot of coffee. The two had come rushing home when they'd heard news of the fire.
Two more teens and one pissed-off father joined their ranks.
Aidan introduced himself. “Justin and Cody McCreedy, right?”
“Yes, sir,” the boys said in unison.
“I'm their father, Clay. We've met a few times, unofficially.”
“Good to meet you.” Aidan glanced over at the boys, who, like their comrades in crime, found the checkerboard linoleum enormously fascinating. Clay was the cowboy who'd given Dana a hard time, already a strike against him.
The boys, on the other hand, he felt sorry for. He still remembered the time he and his brothers had snuck out of the house one summer night and taken a joyride in his father's Ford Torino GT. None of them had had a license, and he, being the oldest, had driven, taking a wrong turn and getting them lost in the process. Hastily trying to find his way back, he'd run a red light, got T-boned by a minivan, and was arrested. Aidan had never seen his father angrier. To this day, he, Arron, and Shane swore that smoke had poured out of Marty's earsâjust like in the cartoonsâwhen he'd come to bail their sorry asses out of police custody. It had been the arresting officer who had diffused the situation.
“Although what you boys did showed terrible judgment . . . someone could have been seriously hurt, or worse, killed . . . I'm just thankful that all we have here are a few banged-up cars.” For the next part of the speech he'd looked straight at Aidan's dad. “I don't have to tell you, Marty, how this could've turned out. Thank God everyone is walking away from this okay.”
The truth was, the Torino GT was never the same after the accident. Still, when they left the station, Marty gathered all three of his boys in a giant hug.
“You guys ever do anything like this again and I'll kill you.”
Aidan would never forget the sheen in his eyes.
He turned to the four teens, each one ready to piss his pants, and said, “Let's cut straight to the chase. You were messing around with fireworks, the barn caught on fire, you got scared and ran off.”
“We got the goats out first,” Justin said. “And I called 9-1-1.”
Aidan looked at Rhys, who nodded. “That was good, Justin. Not good that you were playing with the fireworks. They're illegal in Nugget. If that fire had gotten out of hand it could've burned the entire town down and then some. Not to mention that you four could've been hurt . . . or worse.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Clay's mouth pinch tight.
“We didn't mean it to happen,” Sean said.
Aidan took a deep breath and nodded. “This time you boys were lucky. But there can't be a next time.”
“We know,” Justin said. “It'll never happen again.” He seemed so solemn that Aidan suppressed a smile.
“You can bet your ass it won't.” John Rigsby stood up from the table and glowered at all four boys. He turned his attention to his own. “The two of you are gonna pay, that's for damn sure. All that money you were saving for dirt bikes will now go to rebuilding the barn.”
The man had every right to be angry, but something about his attitude didn't sit right with Aidan. It was almost as if John was putting on a show to demonstrate what a hard-ass he was in front Aidan and Rhys.
Aidan turned to the police chief. “I think we're done here. Rhys?”
“Yup.” The chief nodded.
No one seemed more stunned than the kids themselves.
“You're not going to arrest us?” Cody asked.
“Nah,” Aidan said. “But I am going to confiscate the fireworks. You guys know how lucky you were that this didn't turn out to be a full-fledged catastrophe . . . that no one wound up in the burn unit? I want you all to think about that.” He made sure he included the parents in that last statement. What was Rigsby thinking, keeping all those fireworks in his shed where anyone could get to them?
“My boys would like to volunteer to come down to the fire station and wash latrines,” Clay McCreedy said and eyed both his kids as if daring them to contradict his offer. “It's the least they can do after putting Cal Fire to so much trouble and expense when you folks have your hands full.”
“What about my barn?” Rigsby asked and glared at Clay. Aidan got the distinct impression there was no love lost between the two men.
“I'm sure you've got insurance, John, but my boys will do their part.”
Rhys stood up. “I think we're good here. Deputy Fire Marshal McBride and I need to know if there are any other fireworks, pyrotechnic chemicals, or mortar tubes besides what we found in the shed near the barn.”
“Uh, that's my private property,” John said, folding his arms over his chest. Aidan viewed the gesture for what it was: a sign of aggression.
“Not anymore.” The chief moved toward the door. “Do we need to tear this place apart?”
“Not without a warrant,” John spat, and got in Rhys's face.
Aidan moved between the two, not because the chief couldn't handle himself but because he wanted to neutralize the situation in front of the kids. “We just got done saying we're not charging anyone with a crime here. We don't need a warrant because these are exigent circumstances. I found enough illegal pyrotechnics to burn down half of Plumas County. We're taking them, and if you don't want us adding more chaos to what has already been a trying day”âhe made a point of looking at the boysâ“I'd step up here.”
He was practically bumping chests with the guy, who looked like he spent a lot of time bench-pressing. Of course the onesie Rigsby tried to pass off as a shirt probably gave the illusion that he was more pumped than he really was.
“I know you were some hotshot arson investigator in Chicago, but here you're just a firefighter, not even a captain,” John said. “So don't threaten me.”
There was some truth to what Rigsby said. In California, Aidan was starting almost from scratch. He would have to work his way up to make captain, and most arson investigators here held that rank. Still, the state fire marshal's office wasn't about to overlook Aidan's expertise and experience, especially when the department was strapped for resources in rural locales like Nugget. He'd been designated a peace officer, despite the lack of rank, and was expected to investigate suspicious fires in the wilds of the Sierra Nevada.
“This isn't a threat,” Aidan said and turned to Rhys. “Let's call in a team to go over this farm with a fine-tooth comb.”
“I'm on it.” Rhys grabbed his radio, but John, who'd been receiving death glares from his wife, stopped him.
“Fine.” He puffed out an impatient breath, like he was doing them a favor. “I have more in the basement.” It was always the ones who came on strong that folded the fastest.
Aidan would rather think John Rigsby was trying to teach his kids right from wrong. More than likely, though, he knew he and the chief were well within their rights to rip the place apart.
Rigsby led them downstairs to a semifinished room with a pool table, opened a huge storage closet, and pulled out shitloads of the stuff. Rockets, missiles, aerial repeaters, firecrackers, and Roman candles.
“What were you planning to do with all this?” Rhys asked.
“Sell it. I was working for a guy, rewiring his house, and he had all this stuff from a stand he used to operate every year around the Fourth of July in Nevada. He gave me a good deal.”
Not such a good deal because it was all getting removedâand never returned. “You can't bring fireworks into the state without the California State Fire Marshal seal on it.” Aidan turned over the packages to demonstrate there was no such seal. Another reason to confiscate it.
The three of them made several trips carrying up boxes.
“This is it?” Rhys asked.
John nodded. “Just this and what's in the shed.”
Clay and his sons had left, but he figured McCreedy had been serious about sending the kids over to the firehouse for cleaning duty. In Aidan's opinion, that was the right way to bring up children. And knowing Captain Johnson, he'd have them washing the engines. The boys would probably get a kick out of it too. Aidan, Arron, Shane, and Sloane used to wash engines at his dad's station before Marty had become a battalion chief. Hanging out with their father and the other firefighters had been one of the highlights of being a kid. Water fights. Watching the Bears. Eating spaghetti dinners. The guys at the station were the McBride kids' extended family.
He and Rhys returned to the shed and loaded up the rest of the pyrotechnics in their two vehicles. Rhys agreed to store the cache at the police department until they figured out what to do with it.
“Nice job in there,” Rhys said. “Don't take what John said personally. Even back in high school he was a dickhead . . . always thought the world owed him . . . always resented anyone he perceived as having more than he did. His wife's good people, though. Believe it or not, she's softened his edges. He never would've given in to us if she hadn't been standing there. The kid, Sean, is a holy terror. I was kind of hoping John would've volunteered Sean and Seth for work at the firehouse like Clay did . . . keep that kid out of my hair for a while. Clay's boys are good kids, though, even if I am biased.”
“Hey, fireworks are pretty seductive to boys that age, hell to men my age.” Aidan laughed. “They at least got the goats out and called 9-1-1. And Rigsby probably has insurance on the barn.”
“Yeah,” Rhys said and flashed a sardonic grin. “But let's hope it's a bitch of a deductible.” With that, he drove away, leaving Aidan thinking that he and his sister's boss were going to get along just fine.
Aidan followed him to the highway and headed back to the fire station, needing to write up a report on the incident. Then he'd take the rest of his day off and see what Dana was up to. Maybe they'd go to dinner in Reno. She'd grown up there, so she was bound to know where the good restaurants were.
When he got home later, he found her at the kitchen table, eating one of his Otter Pops.
“Hope you don't mind that I stole one?” she said.
“Have as many as you'd like.” Jeez, watching her eat the pop . . . yeah, not gonna go there. “What's going on?” He eyed the maxi dress she had on. Not her usual style, but he liked it. A lot.
“My client countered today on the Rosser Ranch. A few days ago, I don't think old man Rosser would've accepted her counter, considering it's not the full thirty thousand more he wanted. But due to new circumstances, we may have a done deal.” She crossed her fingers.
“Yeah?” He couldn't help pulling her out of the chair and getting his arms around her. She felt even better than he'd imagined, soft and round in all the right places. “That's great. We've got to celebrate.”
She tugged free of himâhe might've been crushing herâand her face glowed with a combination of delight and surprise. “Really?”
“Hell yeah. This is a huge deal, right?” What, didn't she ever celebrate things like this?
“It's the biggest sale I've ever had . . . will probably ever have. But I don't want to jinx it.”
“Okay.” Aidan understood being superstitious. “Then we'll just go out to dinner. We'll do the celebration thing when everyone's signed on the dotted line.”
“All right.”
This, Aidan could tell, pleased her. He couldn't say why, but he liked pleasing her. She was no pushover but seemed inordinately appreciative of any overtures of friendship. Last night, at the party, he didn't think she even realized how charming she'd been. Once people got her talking, she'd been open, friendly, and nonjudgmental. It sounded like her family's candy business dwarfed Hutch's, yet she acted like they were in the same league. Sue always compartmentalized people. They were either in her strata or not worth her time.
“Where do you want to go?” Dana asked.
“What about Reno? I haven't really checked out the place.”
“We can go there. You in the mood for Italian? I know a good place.”
“Absolutely. Do we need a reservation?”
“I'll make one on the way.” She held up her phone, then looked at the time. “But let's go now; I'm starved.”
“Okay. Let me change first.” Aidan was in shorts and a T-shirt he'd put on at the fire station. “This place have a dress code?”
She laughed. “You're in the West now. A nice pair of jeans will get you in just about anywhere.”