by Amy Briggs
“Yea, do your thing. You know I got this.”
He patted me on the shoulder and nodded his thanks. As I watched him grab an axe and the camera from his truck and walk toward the building with Isabel and her partner, all I could do was sigh. I had a bad feeling about the entire day, and a twinge of concern for all of us crept in.
I hadn’t actually been to a lot of fire scenes, not even as a beat cop. Not for any reason other than it just didn’t work out that way. The chaos around me was quite fascinating. The flashing lights everywhere were something I was used to, but I was stuck on the smell of the scene; the dirt and smoke permeated my senses, invading my lungs, and making my eyes blur. I had heard this type of debris in your system was a carcinogen, and my thoughts drifted to how well Matt took care of himself. I remembered reading an article about the firefighters who responded in NYC on 9/11 coming down with various forms of cancers, autoimmune diseases, and other serious issues after spending so much time in the debris on that scene. I couldn’t image a mass casualty incident like that and what it could do to you emotionally and physically. I admired Matt’s commitment to health and hoped he took precautions against things like that even on a regular basis at these types of fires.
I watched him point and direct people, noticing how tired he looked. After hearing Brian explain everything that had happened that day, I knew he had to be exhausted. A small nurturing piece of me poked a little hole in my darkish heart and pushed me into an unusual place where I wanted to take care of him, not just sexually. He looked like he needed to be fed and rest, and a part of me wanted to provide that place for him.
An uneasy feeling came over me, knowing something nefarious was definitely happening. This many serious fires in one day, in one district, was something that definitely didn’t happen often, and if Brian thought something bad was happening, then it had to have been. I trusted his judgment. Kevin and I had a standard way of operating on a new scene: he would take notes, while I would engage, so that one of us was continuously connected to whomever we were interviewing or talking with. We walked toward the apartment building, following Brian and stopping at the entrance before walking in.
“Ok, I want you to stay behind me until I’m able to fully assess what’s in front of us. I’d like to make sure it’s safe. Detective Cruise, you stay with me. Detective Connor, if you could stay with Jax, that would make it easiest for us to cover the most ground and look around.” We nodded our heads in agreement and made our way into the building.
It was still quite warm, and there was water and what looked like suds dripping off of just about everything.
“Chief, what’s all the soapy looking stuff?” Kevin asked.
“That’s foam. It’s a chemical that helps smother a fire a little bit better than water in some cases. We started the operation with water, and then, since the fire was spreading so rapidly, we decided to go in with foam before it got out of hand. Unfortunately, I don’t think it helped much. We had to evacuate and drown the fire out anyway,” Brian replied.
As we made our way into the unit Brian assumed the fire had started, we looked around for the point of origin of the fire. Again, I wasn’t a forensic fire expert, but I was most certainly a crime scene expert, so I treated the scene as I would any crime scene, leaving nothing disturbed. I made mental images of the burned-out couch in the living room and continued observing everything in the room, from the charred curtains that hadn’t completely burned up, to the group of small houseplants that sat on a table that had also not totally burned up. It was striking to me how some of the building had been completely charred, and yet some parts were almost untouched. As if the fire didn’t have it out for those things.
Not seeing anything of note in the living room, when he was done snapping pictures, Brian led us into the kitchen, and Jax took off upstairs with Kevin. “What are you looking for, Chief?” I asked. I wasn’t entirely sure what to look for other than something suspicious, which could’ve been almost anything in there.
“I’m looking for an area that would have some sort of a smoke pattern on the walls or the floor, indicating an accelerant was lit or used to spread the fire. It will look like it burned differently, and likely it would leave a clue of some kind.”
“Ok, that’s helpful. Is that how you tell if it was arson?” I asked.
“Well, it’s how we tell a fire was started. I believe it to be arson just because of the day we’ve had; however, there are no clues leading me to believe that really yet. Normally, my first assumption would never be arson, but today I feel differently.” He sighed. I examined him and watched as he poked at debris from furniture that had burned up, as well as pieces of wall that had been ripped out. “We rip the walls out to try to find the fire as well. That’s where you would find an electrical fire in some places. This is all new construction, so there is a lot of space in the walls for fire to grow. A fire needs three things, Detective: fuel, oxygen, and heat; along with a chemical reaction or ignition. The fuel in new construction is the wood that frames it out, as well as the drywall, which burns as well. The air pockets in the frame provide lots of oxygen, so it’s a matter of figuring out where that third piece comes into play.”
I hadn’t realized how much chemistry and science was really involved in fires. I think I might have known deep down, but I was fascinated learning something new at the same time. “That actually makes a lot of sense. It didn’t occur to me at first, the chemistry of it all,” I admitted.
“Yea, it’s not all hot guys climbing ladders and getting wet, you know,” he tried to make a joke.
“No, no, I know. So, I’ve got to ask you, Chief, while it’s just you and me, did you request me on this case? Because I’m not an arson investigator, and I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to help solve these crimes with my little knowledge of fires and fire scenes.” I wanted to help, but I didn’t want Brian to get his hopes up I was some kind of specialist in this area at all.
Stopping to look at me directly, Brian looked around before meeting my eyes. “Isabel, you are a friend of the fire department and a friend of my family. Someone is putting my family in danger, and that makes me trust very few people right now. I trust you. This is not something I can handle and investigate on my own, and frankly, asking for help isn’t my thing. But I knew you would help. I did call today and speak with your captain this afternoon and requested you be put on this case indefinitely, and discreetly. I hope that’s okay with you.” I stared into his green eyes. They shined brightly against his dirty, pale skin.
“You can trust me. You can also trust my partner. I’m sure we’ll figure out what’s going on here, and then we can all move on. This sort of thing doesn’t usually drag on, and there has to be a reason of some kind for these events. Motive always presents themselves, and we’ll find out who did this and put them away.”
Going back to searching, he simply replied, “Thank you.”
We continued to poke around and take pictures, looking underneath everything, locating the furnace and other appliances that could cause a fire, until we had searched everything downstairs and came up empty-handed.
Brian called up the stairs, “Jax, you find any point of origin up there? We’re coming up with nothing down here!”
“No! There’s actually very little damage up here overall.” They met at the stairs to regroup and discuss the next steps.
“I’d like to look in the kitchen again, actually. Something isn’t sitting right with me,” I said.
“We already checked the kitchen, Isabel,” Brian said, seeming confused by my request.
“Yea, I know. Something is nagging at me. I want to look again. It was totally burned out, but we didn’t find any point of origin anywhere, and I feel like it has to be somewhere in that kitchen.”
All four of us tromped back into the kitchen, and the three men watched me poke around. I put on a pair of latex gloves from my pocket to keep my hands clean, but also to preserve anything I touched, and began looking a
round more closely.
“What are you actually looking for, Isabel?” Kevin asked me.
“I’m not sure yet. The fire had to start in here, and it obviously didn’t start with one of these appliances. The stove is burned, but it’s not where the fire started, so it has to be something else. But it’s not something with a motor or electrical. At least I don’t think it is.” I ran my hand along the counter, which was charred but not completely disintegrated, while I thought. Where would the fire start if the stove, the fridge, or the dishwasher didn’t cause it? While they were all burned out, they were not so badly burned to be the cause.
As the boys watched me think and walk around slowly, I began to open cabinets until I found exactly what I was looking for. “Come here! I found it!”
They gathered around to see what I had found. A hole had been cut out of the drywall through the back of the cabinet, and what we found was the perfect pattern of fire damage, proving the origin of the fire was that very spot. The cabinet hadn’t been burned to nothing, simply because whatever was used to set the fire was shoved into the space between the walls, and the fire had spread that way. Upon opening all of the other cabinets, we found similar holes in other walls. Whoever set this fire didn’t expect for the structure to be salvageable. They had definitely expected the building to burn to the ground, destroying this evidence.
“So, what did you find in there?” I asked impatiently as Brian, Jax, Isabel, and her partner came out of the building and walked over to the truck I was still standing at. I was really over this day and wanted to go the fuck home to sleep. Knowing I still had to go back to the station was annoying me more than anything as exhaustion had truly set in.
“We definitely have an arsonist on our hands,” Brian stated without any emotion. He appeared to be equally exhausted, and while I didn’t know exactly what they found inside, it was apparent there was more to the story judging by the troubled look on his face. I looked over at Jax, who met my eyes and shook his head, signaling to me they had found something pretty bad inside.
The fact it was arson wasn’t really surprising to me after the day we’d had; what was more troubling was the fact it was an apartment building and people could have been seriously hurt or killed in a fire like this. The last two fires had been set at businesses, which meant the motive could’ve been insurance related or something like that, much less human collateral. Once you’re talking about arson related to a residential setting, you’re talking about possible murder charges. Fortunately, in this fire, everyone appeared to have gotten out safely, but it certainly could have gone a different way.
“Jesus Christ,” I shook my head. “Are we ready to get out of here?” I ran my hands through my hair, the sweat dripping down my neck. I caught Isabel’s eyes, and she quickly looked away, avoiding my glance.
“Yea, we can wrap it up here. The investigation needs to be turned over to the detectives here, and we’ve already got the caution tape set up, so it looks like we’re good to go. Thanks for manning things over here, bro.” I simply nodded and gathered my helmet, coat, and other shit to take back to my truck.
“Do you need anything else from me? I’m going to go back with Matt and the rest of my crew,” Jax asked Brian.
“Nope, thanks for your help. I’ll see you back at the station,” Brian replied.
“Detectives, sounds like we’ll see you soon,” I muttered in their direction.
“You can count on it,” Isabel replied, finally meeting my stare with her big, brown doe eyes. I quickly scanned her face and noticed a slight smirk forming, causing me to smile back. She was totally into me, and I loved the secret we had between us. Her little remark put a spring back in my step. Something about her really just got me worked up all the way around; she was hot as fuck but super smart too. It was funny to me, thinking back at how I disliked her early on when we’d first met.
“Sounds fantastic,” I grinned as Jax and I took off to meet Jo and the rest of our crew at our truck. I really did need a shower and at least a nap before going home to crash after this hellacious shift.
“Dude, is something going on between you and that detective?” Jax asked me as we walked.
Surprised and not wanting my secret out, I attempted to shut it down immediately. “Hell, no. I still think she’s a bitch. Why?”
“No reason. Just seemed like you guys were sharing some kind of inside joke or something.” He raised an eyebrow at me questioningly.
“Nope. She’s not my type. You know I like them blond and not that smart or bossy,” I laughed.
“Yea, you definitely do have a type.” That was thankfully the end of that conversation.
Once we got back to the station, none of us wanted to talk. We were all far too exhausted. I knew I’d catch up with Brian later anyway, and Jo and I talked every day, so we all got our showers and crashed in our bunks for a few hours before the end of the longest shift in history. When I woke up at seven the next morning, I felt like I had been in a coma and couldn’t wait to leave.
Quickly grabbing my shit, I got to my truck to go home but decided to make a stop first. I decided to go see Isabel and address the hard-on she gave me last night by just standing near me. Figuring she’d be up, I sent her a text and hauled my ass to her place. She lived relatively close to the firehouse, so I was there within about ten minutes, already feeling my dick get hard in anticipation.
I pulled into her driveway on a mission, having gotten myself worked up on the short drive. She knew I was on my way, so when I knocked on her door, it flung open almost instantly. There she was, in the smallest white shorts I’d ever seen and a black tank that hugged her tits and accentuated her tiny waist. She had that squat ass I could not get enough of, and for a brief moment, I was speechless.
“Cavanaugh…” she said like a question, holding the door open for me to enter.
“Detective… I’m not here to talk.” I walked in past her, turning around to face her as she shut the door.
“I don’t expect you to,” she said.
And with that, I launched at her, immediately picking her up by that beautiful round ass, crushing my mouth to hers. She welcomed my tongue into her mouth passionately and squeezed her legs around my waist as I pushed us up against her front door. She tasted like coffee and toothpaste, and in that moment, she was what I wanted for breakfast. With her small frame, I was easily able to hold her against the door with one arm under her ass, while the other was free to rove over those perky tits.
I felt her heart racing against my chest, and all I wanted to do was be inside her. I pulled away, looking intently into those big, brown eyes, and whispered, “Bedroom. I need you. Now.” She nodded and started licking and nipping at my neck, driving me absolutely wild.
As I carried her up the stairs, feeling her tongue gently taste me between my neck and my shoulders, my knees buckled from the sensations of pleasure tingling through me. Since she was holding on to me tightly with her legs, my aching cock was rubbing against her, begging to be freed. When we reached her bedroom, I gently set her on the edge of the bed and kneeled between her legs, salivating already, knowing I was about to taste her again. She watched me intently, waiting for me to control the situation, which just got me fucking hotter. I pulled my t-shirt off over my head and tossed it aside before I grabbed the bottom of her tank top and pulled it up just over her round tits. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and her little brown nipples were stiff peaks, letting me know how turned on she was, making me even harder, if that were possible. I leaned in to take the left one into my mouth, sucking and licking the little pebble, and pulling her into me while I kneaded the other, just barely squeezing it between my thumb and forefinger. As she let out a little moan, she arched her back and spread her legs open even more for me to get closer. I moved to the right breast to get a taste, letting out a groan of my own. I fucking loved sucking on her tits, and it drove her wild, which made it even hotter for me.
I leaned back to look at her beautiful bod
y, that tank top resting on top of those delicious breasts, leaving her torso and beautiful, flat stomach exposed. It was time to take charge a little more before I totally had my way with her. I put my hands just inside the waistband of those tiny little shorts near her ass, feeling her soft skin down the small of her back, and whispered, “Have you been a good girl, Isabel?”
Her breath hitched, and she met my eyes intently, shaking her head no. A smirk of anticipation crossed her face as I yanked her shorts down around her ass then down her legs to her ankles abruptly. I noticed a big bruise on her hip and gently ran my hand over it. I wanted to know what happened to her, but now wasn’t the time. I needed to deal with my naughty girl, and the anticipation was creating a fully involved fire inside me.
“No?” I questioned as I removed the shorts from her ankles, exposing her naked sex to me. Again, she shook her head no to me. God, she’s so fucking hot, was all I could think. How the fuck did I get so lucky that this chick wants me to fuck her like this and play these games with me? I’d never been so turned on by a woman in my life.
“You know what happens to bad girls, don’t you, Isabel?” I asked her as I unbuttoned my jeans to give some relief to my aching cock. She nodded her head yes. I ran my hands up her thighs, grabbing her ass and pulling her toward me, her ass just barely at the edge of the bed now, causing her to lean back onto her elbows with her legs spread to me. I couldn’t wait another minute to taste her and leaned in, gripping her thighs tightly, immediately going for her clit with my tongue. I couldn’t resist torturing her as her ‘punishment’ for being a bad little girl, and even though I wanted to smack that beautiful round ass again, I had to eat that pussy first. She leaned her pelvis into me, giving me exactly what I wanted. Her breathing became heavy, letting me know how much she liked it.
As I flicked my tongue at her hard little nub, an idea came to me, and I sat up, stopping abruptly. Clearly taken by surprise, she leaned back up toward me with a pouty look on her face since I’d taken away what she wanted. “I know you have toys, Isabel. Where are they?” Her eyes got huge, and she pursed her lips, knowing I was about to torture her. She didn’t reply, so I slipped a finger inside her dripping wet pussy and asked again, “Where are they, Isabel?”
