Round and Round

by Andrew Grey

  “I’m less than ten minutes away with traffic. I’ll see you soon.” He disconnected and continued the drive to the fire station.

  The building was old, but they did their best to keep it maintained. The equipment inside, however, was new, and that was because they raised the money themselves to buy and take care of it. The city itself was in terrible financial shape, as their last set of raises had attested, which had left a lot of the men grumbling… loudly. Promotions had been put on hold, and everything had been done to squeeze the budgets. It really sucked.

  He walked inside, passing Clark, who had a paint roller in hand, like he usually did. It was his thing, and all the interior walls were clean and bright because of it. Of course that also meant the building smelled of paint nearly all the damn time. “How’s it going?”

  “Almost done here. Then I’m going to give it a rest. The place looks good.” Clark looked at his handiwork with pride in his eyes.

  “It looks great,” Angus said with a smile. “The captain is waiting for me.” He hurried on past and up to the office. He knocked and went in. “Antonio said there wasn’t anything useful. I think that’s the only reason he gave me a copy.”

  “He’s probably right,” Captain Justinian said, taking the thumb drive. “But it isn’t going to hurt in case anyone sees a familiar face in the crowd. This has the entire department on edge, so whatever we can do to get this guy off our backs, the better.” He looked the drive over. “I’ll gather the men and let them know what’s going on. If it stays quiet, we’ll get together in half an hour.”

  Angus left the office and wandered down to the equipment garage. It was sunny and warm outside, so one of the trucks had been pulled out and was being washed. Fire calls always left the trucks covered in soot and film, and everyone had worked so hard to get the money to buy the equipment that they all took pride in its care and maintenance.

  “Did you get it?” Roy asked. He was as big as a house and liked to use his size to intimidate, but most of the guys knew he was really a big softie and paid him little attention. The guy was also hairy as hell, and with his shirt off looked as though he had a bath mat on his chest.

  “He gave me a copy,” I told him.

  “That guy is a pain in the ass. How come you can get through to him?” He narrowed his gaze as though he thought he knew the answer. “He one of your friends?” Roy had a problem with him; everyone in the station knew it.

  “Jealous? Because you aren’t my type,” Angus retorted. He loved watching Roy turn red.

  “Too manly?” He posed, flexing his arms and jutting out his chest.

  “Too dumb,” Angus said, and the other guys all snickered. “I can do this all day and you’re never going to win, so give it up.” He disguised it as teasing, but he wasn’t going to back down with anyone. Being strong and giving as good as he got was how he’d earned their respect, and that was what ensured his brother firefighters would have his back. Not that he had a doubt about any of them, even Roy. “The truck is looking good,” he said, both to change the subject and to try to ease the tension that was building.

  “We’re almost done,” Roy said. He began walking around it, pointing out areas that had been missed or needed a little extra polishing.

  “Excuse me,” someone said from behind him, and Angus turned around. Kevin stood on the sidewalk, carrying two white boxes in his arms.

  “Cutie” was out of his mouth before he remembered where he was. He heard Roy growl in the background.

  “Knock it off, ya big lug,” Angus scolded and turned back to Kevin. “What are you doing here?”

  “Mrs. V was really grateful for your help on Saturday, and the landlord has replaced her stove. She got a new one—well, a new old one, anyway—and she started baking and then asked me when I got home to bring these to you to say thank you.”

  “Whatcha got there?” Roy demanded.

  “Baklava. Mrs. V, the lady with the oven fire, she made them for you,” Kevin said with a squeak, and Angus wanted to punch Roy right there for being mean. Roy came over and lifted the lid on one of the boxes.

  “Man, those look good.”

  “So the way to a man’s heart and past his prejudices is through his stomach, then.” Angus couldn’t resist, and even Roy gave him a small smile for that one.

  “Where should I put them?” Kevin asked.

  “Come with me,” Angus said, taking the top box before Roy reached in and began grazing. “We’ll go inside and up to the station kitchen.”

  “Okay. I hope I didn’t cause any trouble,” Kevin said, turning back to where Roy watched them.

  “He’s harmless. All bark and no bite.” Angus held the door and motioned Kevin up the stairs. He followed behind him and knew he shouldn’t be watching, but he couldn’t take his gaze off Kevin’s jeans-encased butt as it swung back and forth like a metronome, ramping up the heat with each movement.

  “Who’s this?” the captain said as they reached the kitchen.

  “This is Kevin. He was the hero at the club fire, and the one who got everyone out of the apartment building with the stove fire on Saturday.”

  “The lady with the stove fire, Mrs. Vertebedian, sent these over as a thank-you. She’s getting older and forgets things sometimes, but she loves to cook and doesn’t have anyone left to cook for.” Kevin set the box on the table, and Angus put the one he was carrying next to it. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “Bringing food to this crew is never an interruption.” Just as the captain finished, the guys began making their way in. “See? Food will call them every time.” The captain smiled. “We’ll run the security video, then you can get something to eat. This is going to be pretty dull, especially since we’re looking for someone we’ve seen hanging out at fires. You all know the drill and how some arsonists behave. Let’s hope this one follows the pattern.”

  “I should go,” Kevin said. “You all have work to do.”

  “You could stay if you want. You were there and might see something. Do you have to go back to work?” Angus asked.

  “I work early at the call center, so I’m done for the day,” Kevin answered, and Angus shooed one of the guys off the sofa so they could sit together.

  “No hand-holding,” Roy grumbled.

  Angus made a face. “Don’t want to hold your moldy hand anyway.” The guys chuckled, and Roy crossed his arms over his chest. Angus made sure to sit between Roy and Kevin as the captain started the video.

  “That’s way before the fire started,” Kevin said as an image of part of the dance floor and tables played on the screen. “Maybe an hour or so.”

  “How do you know, other than the time signature?” the captain asked.

  “Because Zach isn’t dancing, and the strippers just ended. Zach loves to dance, and most of the time he dances with one of us because Bull doesn’t dance much. He does his security thing.” The captain fast-forwarded the video until Kevin said to stop. “Okay, see, that’s Bull and Zach. I think they only danced for maybe two songs. It was during the second one that the fire started.” Kevin got up off the sofa. “Watch right there.” He pointed at the screen, and a flash appeared in the corner. “I was over here, but I saw that.”

  The captain slowed the playback as the light returned and got brighter. Flames showed on the screen, and then Kevin rushed into the frame, spraying water as people hurried around him, the floor emptying in the rush to get out.

  “Stop,” Kevin said. “Can you go back?”

  “What do you see?” the captain asked as everyone in the room leaned forward.

  “Those shoes. They’re Nike Air Max in fluorescent yellow. See? Watch as you move forward.”

  The captain started the video, and Kevin pointed out the shoes. “I’ll be damned.”

  “Yeah, even in the rush to get out, he takes the long way around to avoid the camera. Now maybe he doesn’t want to get his expensive shoes wet, or he simply wants to stay off camera.”

  “Good eyes,” t
he captain said with a smile. “But it doesn’t get us further in getting a look at the guy.”

  “Maybe not, but the club is near the capital complex, and there are cameras there. Maybe one of them caught the scene outside. We know what shoes he was wearing, and they aren’t exactly dark. They would show up if he was standing alone or something. I can ask if Bull has video set up outside, but I don’t think he’s allowed.”

  “I wouldn’t think so.”

  “It gives us a place to start, and that helps a lot.” The captain was smiling, and Angus grinned at Kevin. “You just keep coming to the rescue.”

  “Nah, you would have figured it out.” Kevin was too modest, in Angus’s opinion. “I was there so I knew what not to look at.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Roy said.

  “Sure it does,” Kevin countered. “I work in computers, and sometimes in order to make a program work, you have to devise the logic so you get what’s left. You have a list of things you know your answer isn’t, so you reverse the logic. That’s what I did here. I knew it wasn’t me or the guys running toward the exit, so I looked for something different.” He flashed a smile and stood up. “I should let you all get back to what you were doing.”

  Kevin left the room, and Angus followed him to the stairs. “It was really nice of you to bring by the desserts. The guys will love them.” Now that the show was over, they were most likely already gathering in the kitchen area.

  “Of course. Mrs. V felt bad getting everyone out because she forgot she had things in the oven. She’s very sweet, and getting old alone is hard on her. Her circle keeps shrinking, and she doesn’t know what to do about it.” He descended the stairs and Angus went with him.

  “Did you drive?”

  Kevin pointed out where he’d parked. “I’m glad I could help.” He began walking to the car, and Angus realized this was the third time they’d parted without him actually making a move.

  “How about Sunday afternoon? My last shift is Saturday, but I’m off Sunday and we could do something.”

  Kevin paused. “That would be nice. Bull is hoping to be able to reopen the club on Friday, and I usually go with the guys. So Sunday would be perfect.”

  “Let’s hope there’s no repeat of last week,” Angus said, and Kevin waved as he took advantage in a lull in traffic to cross the street. “I’ll call soon.” He watched as Kevin got in his car and waited until he pulled away from the curb and had joined the flow of traffic before turning to go back inside.

  He met a number of the guys, baklava in hand, as they came down the stairs heading back to truck-washing duty. Angus had just decided he’d lend a hand when the siren went off. Guys shoved food into their mouths. Angus raced to his gear, stepped into his pants and boots, and grabbed his coat and hat before jumping into the driver’s seat of the hook and ladder. Within seconds his heart was racing, adrenaline pumping, and they were pulling out of the station, lights and sirens blazing. Traffic stopped as they made the turn and raced to the address that flashed on the GPS built into the dash. This was what he lived for: the excitement. It was what they all loved. There was an excitement to being a fireman that was lacking in any other job Angus had held, and this was what he longed to do for the rest of his life.

  He went as fast as he dared, screaming through the city streets. He saw smoke rising in the distance, and it got closer as he followed the directions. This was no oven fire, but an old house converted to apartments that hadn’t been in the best of condition, and it was now getting worse, judging by the flames already shooting out of the upper-floor windows. Angus pulled to a stop, and the men jumped off, already working to secure hoses to hydrants as he lowered the jacks that would support the engine. By the time it was secure, hoses were run from the hydrants and water was gushing at the fire.

  THAT SEEMED to be the routine for the rest of his shift. Every time anyone got started on a project, a call came in and they were off and running. “It’s fire season,” said Harold, the old-timer and self-proclaimed source of general wisdom of the group. He was semiretired after a lifetime of fighting fires and manned the station when the team went out. “Happens this time every year. It gets dry, and people get careless.”

  Angus wondered what the heat had to do with their last call, a house fire. A man got drunk, lit his cigarette, and went to bed. Burned the place to the ground around him. Fires with a death were bad. He was only grateful there weren’t children involved—those were the worst.

  He looked at the clock and kept quiet, not wanting to jinx anything. He would be off shift in two hours and silently willed it to remain calm until then. He was exhausted. He never slept well at the station with other men around, especially with Roy doing his imitation of a chainsaw.

  “MacTavish,” Captain Justinian called down the stairs to where everyone was hurrying to clean and ready the equipment for the next call. Angus handed his cloth to Frankie, who took it with a flash of concern. They all knew that tone of voice. Angus wondered what he’d done as he climbed the stairs and went into the captain’s office. “There was another one last night.”

  “Arson?”

  “Yeah. Cameron United took the call. It was at a halfway house for former gang kids. The entire building went up, and three people didn’t get out—one of the counselors and two of the kids. This guy’s body count is starting to stack up.”

  “Are there any leads?”

  “No, and cameras in that part of town are nonexistent. You’ve been involved in this since the beginning, so I wanted to let you know. I told their captain to make sure your best friend in the police department was involved. He probably was anyway, but you know how organizations work. Right hand and left hand, and all that.” Justinian stopped. “You look like hell.”

  “It’s been a long week.” Angus resisted the urge to look at the clock yet again.

  “The guys will start to arrive in a few minutes. You get out of here as soon as turnover’s done.”

  “Thanks,” Angus said, though some of the joy in going home had been sucked away. “I really want to get this guy.”

  “I know. We all do.”

  Angus shook his head and took a deep breath. “There’s something more, isn’t there?”

  Justinian paused, giving Angus one of those steely stares that was supposed to get him to open up. Angus had become immune long ago. “You’re a gifted firefighter. Sometimes I think you understand what the fire is going to do before it does.”

  “It’s like a living being to me,” Angus said. He stopped there. There was more, so much more, but he wasn’t in the mood to tell the story. He hadn’t in quite a long time, and he thought he’d buried the ache deep down where it would never show its head again. “Is there anything else?”

  “No. But I talked to the chief today, and he’s asked in his own way”—which meant he’d told him and Justinian was softening the blow—“that you be the point man for the department on this. You’re the only one who can get squat out of Reyes.”

  “We have a history,” Angus explained, but that was as far as he was willing to go.

  “I don’t want to know. The two of you fight like cats and dogs when you’re together, yet you always get the goods.”

  “He isn’t a bad guy. I just know how to get around his pain-in-the-assness.” He made light of it. Antonio’s life in the closet was his business. It was no longer Angus’s.

  Voices rose and overlapped as people gathered outside the office. The station was filling with men and women from his shift and the next one. Angus allowed himself a look at the clock and waited for Justinian to nod before leaving the office. He joined the others as he wondered just what being the department point of contact for this arsonist would involve… and the toll it would take on him.

  After turnover, he left right away. He wished he’d ridden his motorcycle, but the weather report that morning had been iffy. He was in his Mustang and pulling away from the station when he heard the rumble of the alarm, and a minute later the trucks
started pulling out. He pulled to the side of the road and silently wished for all of them to be safe as they whirred past, honking the horn as they went. When he’d first joined the department, he would have followed and checked to see if he was needed. At the moment, he was too tired to be of any use to anyone, so he continued to his house in the historic Shipoke area of town, pulled into his garage, and then went up to his living quarters.

  The house was newer construction. This part of town had a tendency to flood every few years, so having the garage on the first level meant his living space and possessions remained high and dry. He left his gear in the garage and made a note to clean it soon. He carried his laundry up with him and started the machine right away. Then he wandered through the house, checking every room, glad to be home once again.

  He spent the afternoon on the sofa, doing very little but watching television and dozing off. He made something from the freezer for dinner, ate, and went to bed, sleeping soundly in his own bed in his quiet room.

  When he woke the next morning, he felt human again, rested, and was filled with excitement. He had a date—a real date, not one of the hookups he usually ended up with. Angus checked the clock. It was well after ten, so he snatched up his phone to call Kevin. The guy had to be wondering about him. He’d forgotten to plug the phone in, so he found the cord, waited for it to power up, and hoped like hell there were no messages from work. When it finally came up, the phone remained quiet, no message chimes or anything, which was just plain lucky. He located Kevin’s number in his contacts and dialed.

  “Are we still on for this afternoon?” he asked when Kevin answered.

  “Yeah. I was wondering since I hadn’t heard from you,” Kevin said with a jittery voice.

  “Sorry. When I’m on shift, things are so busy I usually don’t get much time, and when I got home yesterday, I slept. Just woke up, as a matter of fact.”

  “Me too,” Kevin said, and Angus wondered exactly what kind of fun Kevin had been up to. He’d said he was going out with his friends. “We went dancing. Well, they did most of the dancing, since they are the ones with boyfriends. Zach and I danced together, though, because after the fire, Bull won’t take any time away from his security duties.” There was such energetic joy in the way Kevin told him about his night. “Not that I blame him, but it makes it hard on Zach. Bull is a great guy, but Zach loves to dance… and he really loves to do it with Bull.” Kevin giggled when he realized what he’d said. The guy was so cute sometimes. “So what did you have planned?”