A second later, he shook his head.
“No...” She refused to give up. She shoved him aside and started chest compressions. Understanding on his face, he murmured that he’d take over.
She stared in shock as he worked to try to save her sister. But as he performed CPR, she spotted ligature marks around Tess’s neck. Saw the imprint of someone’s fingers. A man’s.
Her hand flew to her own throat. Robert had choked her once. Had left marks like those.
His threats taunted her. You’ll be sorry.
An ambulance careened up. Medics hopped out and raced to help. Firefighters rolled out hoses, dousing the flames with water. The roof collapsed.
The medic traded a look with the firefighter. “It’s been too long,” he murmured.
The medic checked Tess’s pulse. Her heart. Then his look turned to sympathy. “I’m sorry.”
Reese shook her head in denial. Tears leaked from her eyes and dripped down her chin. She dragged her sister into her arms and held her, rocking her and crying as the truth seeped into her consciousness.
Robert had been here. He’d killed her sister to punish her.
Tess, the only person she had left in the world. Her best friend. Her little sister. Gone.
Dead at twenty-six.
And it was all her fault.
Chapter One
Three years later
Firefighter and arson investigator, Griffin, Griff, Maverick gritted his teeth. Wildfires were springing up all over the mountains. Some were accidental while others had been set by careless hikers—or, as he suspected in this case, teenagers.
He had to put a stop to it. If only he could catch the little culprits. But so far, they’d evaded the police.
At least there were no casualties at this point. But there was always the chance, especially with March winds roaring through, that one would spread and not only destroy property and the beautiful forests along the Appalachian Trail, but that someone would be injured or die in one of the blazes.
He’d nearly lost a member of his own team today when a tree had cracked and splintered down on top of Barney, trapping him in the midst of a brush fire. His leg had been broken in two places, and he’d had to be airlifted to the hospital. Just in time, too, before the flames had caught his clothing.
The scent of smoke and charred wood clung to Griff’s clothes as he loped inside the bar to join his three brothers for their weekly burger and beer night. Now that Jacob and Fletch were married, occasionally they had to skip a week, but they were all committed to keeping up the tradition and the brotherhood bond. The Maverick men stuck together.
They’d also joined forces to find the person who’d set the hospital fire in Whistler five years ago and killed their father.
Fletch, Jacob and Liam were already seated with a bucket of fries and a pitcher of beer. Recently Fletch, who worked search and rescue with FEMA, had found evidence of a possible suspect living off the grid in the mountains.
Finally.
“You look like hell,” Fletch said as Griff slid onto the bar stool.
He felt like, it, too. “No time to go home and change.”
“Still no idea who’s responsible for these wildfires?” Liam, FBI, asked.
“I wish I did.” Griff accepted the mug of beer Liam offered. “Third one in two weeks.”
“Happens every year,” Jacob, sheriff of Whistler, commented.
Liam dug a fry into the ketchup then popped it in his mouth. “I’ve been looking for similar instances across North Carolina, but so far no unsolved ones.”
“I spoke to the principal at the high school,” Jacob interjected. “Asked both the school counselor and principal to alert us if they hear any chatter. Counselor wants to protect the students’ privacy, but I emphasized that it’s only a matter of time before someone loses his or her life and that will constitute murder. She said the school plans to hold an assembly this week. Maybe you can speak at the school, Griff.”
He grimaced. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to a bunch of unruly, rebellious teenagers. He’d been one himself.
Of course, that made him qualified, he guessed.
“I could come along and watch the kids’ reactions to see if anyone gets nervous,” Jacob suggested.
Griff shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.” He took a swig of his beer. “Where are you on that forensics Fletch found in the cave in the mountains?”
Liam shifted. “Like I said before, the prints match Barry Inman’s.”
Inman had come unhinged after his wife died in the ER at the hospital. He’d filed a lawsuit, but it had been thrown out the day before the fire. He’d threatened revenge.
Liam plucked another fry from the bucket. “I spoke to his brother, but he hasn’t talked to him in years. Said he disappeared after the fire and none of the family has heard from him.”
“How about the wife’s family?” Griff asked.
“According to the wife’s mother, Barry completely lost it after his wife’s death. Apparently, he’d been laid off from work and they were having financial problems before she got sick. Mother didn’t believe the hospital was negligent and urged him to drop the case, but she claimed he was crazed and obsessed with the idea of making the establishment pay.”
“He could be our perp,” Jacob commented.
Liam nodded. “When we find him, we’ll bring him in for questioning.”
“I’ve been staking out the area where he’d holed up in my spare time and conducting routine searches for him,” Fletch admitted.
Anxiety tightened Griff’s shoulders. The fire five years ago had taken multiple lives and destroyed families. Cora Reeves’s baby had been kidnapped in the chaos, although recently Jacob had found the missing little girl and reunited her with her mother. Then he’d married Cora and made the child his stepdaughter.
“We’ll keep working it,” Liam said, and they all murmured agreement.
They spent the next hour catching up on sports and other work news. Just as he was finishing his burger, Griff’s phone buzzed. Jacob’s phone rang, as well.
They answered at the same time.
“9-1-1 report. Fire in progress,” his captain told Griff over the phone. “Texting you the address now.” Griff stood as the message appeared on his screen. The address—Joy Norris’s apartment above the nail salon she owned. Damn. He hoped Joy wasn’t there. He’d dated her a few times, but learned she’d lied about her divorce being final. Griff didn’t tolerate lies, so he’d broken it off.