Dallas Fire & Rescue: Wheels on Fire (Kindle Worlds Novella) (MacKay Destiny Book 4)

by Kate Richards

  Text copyright ©2017 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Paige Tyler. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Dallas Fire & Rescue remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Paige Tyler, or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Wheels on Fire

  A Dallas Fire & Rescue/MacKay Destiny Crossover

  By

  Kate Richards

  Edited by Laura Garland

  Cover by Laura Garland

  Table of Contents

  Wheels on Fire

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Epilogue

  Kate Richards

  Also by Kate Richards

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for purchasing this book. I am proud to contribute a MacKay Destiny crossover story to Paige Tyler’s Dallas Fire and Rescue Kindle World. I hope you will have the opportunity to enjoy all the world has to offer at http://paigetylertheauthor.com/BooksDallasFireAndRescueKind…

  XOXO

  Kate Richards

  Wheels on Fire

  A sixty-year-old arson spree ending in murder…

  Arson investigator Kat MacKay cannot believe it could be the same person who committed the crimes she studied in college, but all signs point to it. Could the Fresno Firebug have gone to ground for that long and still be physically capable of creating such mayhem? He’d have to be quite elderly.

  His injuries have sidelined him from firefighting…

  But Dante Rossi cannot sit home and dwell. He’s delivering some of the finest, most innovative fire trucks and other apparatus to departments all over the country, providing distraction while he hopes for his back to heal enough to return to work. An overnight stop at Cedar Valley on the way to drop a truck at Dallas Fire and Rescue Station 58 provides more distraction than he ever dreamed possible. His focus goes from his injury to a certain dark-haired blue-eyed arson investigator who seems to find him even sexier than the wheels he’s delivering.

  A ride into the mountains at sunset…

  The glittering valley below and a sky full of stars above offer a romantic backdrop for two people who never saw romance coming. But there is still evil afoot in the valley in the form of a murderous firebug, and for a temporarily derailed firefighter and an arson investigator, the lives of others must come first. Can they stop the Fresno Firebug—if it is him—before he kills again?

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for purchasing my latest contribution to Paige Tyler’s Dallas Fire and Rescue Kindle World. As in MacKay’s Fire, Wheels on Fire is a crossover to MacKay Destiny, a series I am co-authoring with LJ Garland. I hope you will enjoy Wheels on Fire and your visit with the inhabitants of Cedar Valley, a little firehouse whose connections with Station 58 go back generations.

  Kate Richards

  Katerichards09@gmail.com

  Prologue

  “What do you think, Kat?” The local fire chief, Bob Waggoner, held his phone in his hand, gripping it so tight his knuckles whitened. Close to eighty, the man was usually the life of the parties she attended with the other fire personnel in the area, hale and hearty and cracking jokes with the other long-timers. Today, he looked his age and then some, deep grooves carved into his face like Mount Rushmore. After his retirement from the Sacramento Fire Department, Bob had moved to the rural area adjacent to Cedar Valley and taken up the post with the volunteer department.

  “We’ve got a serial arsonist.” What else could she say? But the words seemed to take the last of the steam from the man. His shoulders slumped, and he leaned back on his red department pickup—a chief’s perk in many small volunteer brigades. “But we’ll get him.”

  If she’d hoped to cheer the man up, she’d have a long way to go. Sure she’d get him, she and the other authorities, but how long would it take, and how much damage would be caused by then?

  The small house was red-tagged now, so far out in the country that the ten minutes it took for the volunteer brigade to arrive had been long enough for the blaze to fully engulf the place. Why would someone burn down a little family farmhouse? There was nothing special about it, except to the owners, of course. Luckily, they’d just arrived home from a rare dinner at the Gondola in Cedar Valley, the closest town, when the fire hit. At least the flames had not gotten to the barn and the animals. The family had splurged on Mrs.—she consulted her notes—Mrs. Cobb’s birthday celebration. People like them could ill afford such a loss. They might not even have fire insurance; the little structure had been in the family for three or four generations and had no mortgage according to the records.

  People like the Cobbs survived on the good crop years and starved in the bad. No satellite dish perched on the blackened roof, and the truck parked by the ancient but freshly white-painted barn was an early 1990s Dodge. Salt of the Earth types, as Granddad liked to say.

  “If it weren’t for the ignition methods, I wouldn’t connect it at all with the four others in the area since Christmas. A Catholic church, a highway gas station, a very nice mini-mansion at the edge of Cedar Valley. What is the common denominator here?” Besides the fact that it matched the MO of the Fresno Firebug of the 1950s. A similar area, fewer hills but just as rural, an odd variety of locations. After an even dozen burns, the thirteenth resulted in a death, then nothing. No more fires, no more anything. Had the death scared him, or had it been the ultimate goal? They’d probably never know. Unlike some serial criminals, the Fresno Firebug sent no notes, made no contact with the press, seemed to let his “work” speak for him. Or her.

  She didn’t want to bring it up, though. The fatal fire had been in 1956. Way too long for it to be the same perpetrator. Right? But if it was, what had set them off?

  Or it could be a copycat. Her arms goose bumped at the thought.

  The chief pushed his hat back on his bald head and mopped at the beads of perspiration with a big bandana hankie. “I just don’t know. But it breaks my heart for the Cobbs. I don’t know the others, at least not well. I’ve stopped at that gas station a few times, but I couldn’t tell you whether the owner waited on me or not. We have a tank at the station, you know, so usually I get my fuel for the truck there. Or the wife’s car in town. The church…we’re Baptists, the missus and me. And so were the Cobbs.”

  “Well, I’ve still got work to do here, now that I can get into the point of ignition. Why don’t you go get some water, maybe sit a few.” The elderly volunteer was not really up to big fires anymore, but with free hands at a premium, nobody was going to turn him away. Still, the stress wasn’t good for someone with his blood pressure. “In fact, why don’t you head home? The fire’s out. Your crew did a fantastic job under the circumstances. It’s a shame about the house, but you saved their livelihood.”

  “I think I might do that. You’ll send me your report as soon as you have it? Call if you have any news?”

  “Of course. And some of your crew is still here, right?” Along with a few other departments, not all volunteer.

  “They’ll stay until the end. Pride, you know. Those state guys try to shoo us off, but we’re first on site, and we don’t leave until we know there’s not a lick left. Eve
n if we are just volunteers.”

  “No just about it. You guys save lives and do it basically for free. And so many are like you, retired professionals.” She accepted the chief’s hug—not her usual behavior at work, but she’d known him her whole life. He climbed stiffly into his truck then the window on the passenger side where she stood rolled down. “Go get ’em, Kat MacKay. Don’t let him get away with it this time.”

  Smart old bugger. “You see it, too, huh? Fresno Firebug. But he’d have to be so old now.”

  His eyes held more than just age. “I was a cadet with the fire department down there at the time. I’m still here. So are a lot of the guys I started out with.”

  Oh god. “Chief, were you on any of those fires?”

  “Just the last one. I never want to see anything like that again. One of the cadets quit that day and never came back. I heard he even left the state, but I think that was his folks more than him. He came from money, and his out-of-state family didn’t like him doing a lowly job like firefighter. Guessing the body we found was the last straw for them.

  “I’m going home to take a short rest, but if you want to talk, call me. It’s been a good while, but I’ll never forget anything about that day. It almost made me change my mind about my career.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “No. My dad didn’t raise quitters. He was a firefighter, too. Did you know that?”

  She shook her head. “No. Does seem to run in families, though.”

  “Does, doesn’t it?” His lips curved in an ironic smile, lifting some of the lines and making him the nice older friend of her Granddad again. “I swore I’d help to put that bastard behind bars. I thought he’d keep going, was afraid he would. But he just went dark. We all thought he’d be dead after so long. And now, here he is again.”

  “You seem pretty sure. What about a copycat?”

  “It’s him. Be careful, Kat. Life means nothing to someone like him, but we need to get him before he kills again. Let me know if I can help.”

  “I will, Chief.”

  While many of those involved in this arson outbreak were not connected—apparently—to each other, Kat knew most of the fire personnel who’d worked the sites. Growing up the granddaughter of Chief Mac MacKay had her in the fire community since toddlerhood. With Aiden, her brother, teaching at the Fire Academy in Sacramento, her sister, Brigit, a helicopter pilot for Cedar Valley Fire, and of course Mac still in the driver’s seat of Cedar Valley Station, she’d been raised with firefighting in her blood. Granddad’s connection with Station 58 in Dallas had led to some fun trips to Texas when they ran joint trainings as well.

  Connections…they helped. But she’d been brought in because of her gift for ferreting out the most difficult bits of evidence and putting them together to make a case the county prosecutor could take to court. She’d rarely been in on the actual capture of an arsonist. And, sometimes, what initially looked suspicious turned out to be an unfortunate accident.

  Not in this case.

  The arsonist, or arsonists—although she had a gut feeling it was a single person, male, most likely—employed the exact technique used by the Fresno Firebug, right down to the little pile of seashells left on the ground outside the burned building.

  Something never revealed to the public. Chief Waggoner only knew because he’d been on the ground.

  Sixty years ago. Wow. He was right. If the chief was still here, no reason to think the arsonist wasn’t. He could have been the same age, even younger. And nothing about this coward’s methodology required strength or youth.

  Only malice and possibly a desire to see people die.

  Sliding on her latex gloves, Kat moved toward the farmhouse, or what remained of it. Last time he quit when he killed someone. She had to stop him before he did it again.

  At his age, he might be impatient to see results.

  The bastard.

  Chapter One

  Cedar Valley Fire Station

  Kat MacKay’s day ended late. As always. But the good thing was it ended close to Cedar Valley where she could find one of many friends and relatives to have dinner with and, if she wanted to open a bottle of wine and relax, they would all be willing to put her up. Including the firehouse. As a contract fire inspector, the less than rigid rules of the local fire department would guarantee her shelter if she ended up there too late at night. That and the fact her granddad was chief.

  Tonight, she’d promised her Grandma to sleep in her childhood bedroom.

  Not that a MacKay would ever lack for shelter. Their family was spread all over California and Oregon with a few elsewhere. Even one in Tahiti. Harry. His mom still called him the runaway, and all the cousins visited as a rite of passage. Or on their honeymoons. Or most did. She’d never managed it herself, falling right from college into a job with a fire department in SoCal and then into her current work without a long vacation. But it was on her bucket list.

  Sometimes, as a single career woman whose job as an investigator of suspicious fires—a consultant brought in only when the actual government employees were stymied—she had family envy. Most of her relatives were long since happily married and had families of adorable children. While she loved every one of them, they presented a reminder that, while her skills provided her a great living, she had entirely failed in her personal life.

  If she didn’t solve the current case soon, she’d have that failure to deal with, too. If the criminal managed to take another life. Or more than one.

  “Kat! One of my favorite granddaughters.” Mac MacKay, the legendary fire chief, appeared from the back of the firehouse. “I didn’t think we had anything so big going on here we’d need you to figure it out.”

  Shoving thoughts of the Fresno Firebug out of her mind, Kat moved into his open arms and snuggled close, welcoming his enthusiastic bear hug. Her granddad was an example of everything good about Cedar Valley and another huge reminder of what she lacked. When she was her grandparents’ age, would she be hugging her own descendants or be the lonely aunt at holiday dinners? Resting her head against his chest, she welcomed the steady thrum of his heart under her cheek. “No, she murmured. Not a problem in Cedar Valley. It was a bit north of here. A house fire. Bob Waggoner was there.”

  He held her at arm’s length and eyed her. “Another suspicious house fire?”

  “I’m not supposed to discuss the particulars while the investigation is ongoing.”

  He chuckled. “I get briefed, you know.”

  “Bob will probably call you.” Kat rolled her eyes and drew her professional veneer back around her. “Then you don’t need the particulars from me, Chief Mac.” She glanced at the big wall clock and back at him. “Why are you here, anyway? I thought Grandma said you were going to be home for dinner tonight.”

  He stepped back. “She’s making your favorite, chicken enchiladas.”

  “Aren’t those your favorite?”

  He grinned, unrepentant. “Oh yeah. What a lucky coincidence. Want to carpool to the house?”

  “I just need to make a few notes while they’re fresh in my mind. Are you leaving right away?” She set her laptop on the station kitchen table and sniffed the air. “Dinner all done and cleaned up here?”

  “Yep, and they ate every bite of Rusty’s chili as always. I don’t think there’s even a scrap of cornbread left.”

  She sighed. “Grandma would be upset if I didn’t eat her dinner, but I missed lunch, and I was hoping for a nibble to tide me over anyway. Did he make that cheesy-jalapeno cornbread that’s more like corn pudding?” Kat loved to put a big spoonful of the concoction in the middle of a bowl and pour the spicy, hearty chili over it…

  “He did.” Mac rested his hands on her shoulders. “Want me to make you a sandwich, or can you hold out until we get to the house?”

  “I’ll wait.” She flipped open her computer and brought up a blank report form. “I’ll make this quick and let Grandma stuff me. But you don’t have to wait around if you’re ready
to head out.”

  “I’m waiting for a guy delivering a truck to stop by.” He settled into the seat next to her. “Dante Rossi. I think I’ve mentioned him to you, right?”

  Dante…rang no bells. “No, doesn’t sound familiar. But a new, shiny fire truck? And you weren’t going to tell me?” New apparatus was an event at any firehouse. “Granddad, I’m surprised at you.”

  “It’s not for us. Just passing through on the way to Station 58 in Dallas.” He grinned at her. Even in his sixties, Mac MacKay could charm the ladies. He used that charm to get his way with the ladies in the county offices, the grocery store, to get specially good service at the café…just about everywhere he went, except at home. Grandma Tina, a retired schoolteacher, knew when it was real and when he was putting it on.

  She had confessed to Kat once that he’d “just about melted her knees” when he saved her life shortly after they met, and if she didn’t take care, she’d have just mooned around after him for all the years of their happy marriage. “There’s a time and a place, Mac,” she’d say from the circle of his arms, but the kids all knew the face she buried against his shoulder was rosy and grinning.

  No wonder Kat was still single. Her parents, from what she could remember, had been deeply in love. The grandparents who raised her and her siblings after her parents’ tragic death also set the bar for marital bliss so high. How could mere humans hope to approach it. And she’d never settle for less. No matter how many hot firefighters she met in the course of her job. Shaking her head, she refocused on the moment. “It’s new, it’s shiny…and you were concealing information, Chief.”

  Mac dropped a kiss on her head. “Guilty as charged. I guess I wasn’t thinking. I hear it’s so loaded with new equipment, it will be the envy of everyone in the entire state of Texas.”