Part 18 (1/2)
”Yes, he did,” Nick said.
”This is crazy,” Brett said half under his breath. ”I don't even know why I'm here. Just couldn't stop myself, I guess.”
Rose watched him continue tentatively up to the farmhouse, as if every step were torture. Nick edged closer to her. ”More company,” he said, pointing down to the driveway.
She noticed Zack Harper's pickup truck pull behind her Jeep. Ranger bounded to her left side, and she stroked his broad back, settling him down and combating her own uneasiness.
Zack clearly wasn't expecting to find anyone there. ”What're you all doing,” he said as he ambled up to them, ”setting up for a winter picnic?”
Rose grimaced at his sharp tone. ”Just wanted to have another look now that the police are done here. What about you, Zack?”
”The same.” He glanced down the snow-covered slope. His jacket was open, and he wasn't wearing gloves, a hat or a scarf. He seemed unaffected by the cold and the wind. ”Bowie and Dominique left, huh? I saw them down by the guesthouse when I drove by about an hour ago.”
”Dom Belair?” Rose couldn't contain her surprise. ”She was with Bowie?”
”She was in her own car. Bowie had his van.”
Rose frowned. ”I didn't realize she even knew her way out here.”
”I didn't stop,” Zack said. ”I had a call to make down in the hollow. I was on my way back to town when I saw your Jeep.”
”Brett Griffin's here, too,” Rose said.
”Yeah, I saw his car.” Zack turned to Nick. ”Want to take a look at the fire damage with me?”
”Sure,” Nick said.
Rose let Ranger poke around in the snow and went with Zack and Nick to the farmhouse. Brett seemed frozen in place by Lowell's woodpile and said nothing to the two firefighters as they headed onto the narrow path behind the shed.
”You okay?” Rose asked Brett.
He sucked in a breath. ”Those two will look at the scene differently than either one of us. I understand that Nick and your brother Sean are elite smoke jumpers. Do you think Zack feels inadequate?”
”Zack? Not a chance.” Rose smiled. ”He's a Harper, for one thing.”
She noticed Brett had pulled off his gloves. He fiddled with a k.n.o.b on his camera and chuckled. ”There's that. I heard all four Neal sisters have a crush on Zack.”
”They wouldn't be the first. It'll be interesting to see if they all turn up for winter fest.” Rose realized there was still a faint smell of smoke in the air. ”Unless Derek's death isn't resolved by then.”
”Why should that make any difference? The Neals live in Was.h.i.+ngton. Imagine all the ongoing death investigations there. They're under Secret Service protection. They'll be fine wherever they are.”
”Good point. Brett, did you see Dominique when you arrived?”
He shook his head. ”Just Bowie, unless they came together-”
”She came in her car.”
”I didn't see it when I arrived.” Brett abandoned his adjustments to his camera. ”Coming out here's harder than I imagined it'd be. I thought I wanted to see for myself where Derek died. Now I don't know if I can look.”
”You don't have to look,” Rose said sympathetically.
He raised his gaze to her. ”It really was bad, wasn't it?”
”Yes, it was. I'm sorry.”
”Have you talked to Elijah and Jo yet? I don't know them myself. I saw Elijah at O'Rourke's last year when Derek got drunk and said those things to Hannah. We didn't chitchat, obviously. He's very controlled, isn't he?”
”When he needs to be, I guess.”
”Spoken like a true baby sister,” Brett said with a strained laugh. ”I've heard that Jo and Trooper Thorne don't get along.”
”That's too strong.”
”She's a federal agent, and he's a state trooper. It's not surprising there's a bit of a rivalry between them, is it?”
”There's no rivalry on Jo's end, and I doubt there's one on Scott's. It's nothing they couldn't work out if he and Beth decide to stay together.” Rose straightened sharply. ”Brett? Are you and Beth-”
”No, no. I'm just an observer. There's nothing between us-on her side or mine.” He seemed taken aback by any suggestion he might have a romantic interest in Beth Harper. ”I don't mean to pry. It's the cla.s.sic curse of the outsider in a small town.”
”I guess I wouldn't know about that, since I've lived here all my life.” Rose nodded to his camera. ”You're also a photographer. An observer. I'd love to see some of your photos one day.”
”That'd be great.” Watching Ranger wander over to the shed, Brett quickly snapped his picture, then lowered his camera. ”Trooper Thorne's on the state police search-and-rescue team. Are you and he rivals?”
Rose got Ranger back to her side. ”I don't think of what I do in those terms. I doubt he does, either.”
”Sorry. I'm saying all the wrong things.” Brett edged onto the narrow path that led to the back of the shed. ”I'm just blurting out whatever pops into my head. Being here...” He sucked in a breath. ”I think I can do it. I think I can look. I'd hate myself for being a coward if I didn't.”
”I'll go with you.”
”All right, but you don't have to. Zack and Nick have experience with fires. They'll be objective. They'll help if I can't handle being there.”
”There's not much fire damage to the shed, Brett.”
He looked grim. ”So Derek took the brunt of the flames.”
”If Coleman fuel was in that lamp, it's highly combustible. The flash and fire-”
”He didn't stand a chance if he was standing close, didn't know.”
Rose remembered every detail of walking into the shed. The smell, the cold, the stillness. Seeing Derek's coat on the back of the chair. The shed wasn't heated but he'd had on layers. He could have been warm from hiking up from his car.
She signaled Ranger to follow her as she and Brett went around to the ell. Even with the fresh snow, the area in front of the door was still visibly trampled from the investigators. The smell of charred wood was stronger here, but the shed blocked the worst of the wind. The rough wood door was propped open with a brick.
Brett hesitated, gripping his camera, and jumped, visibly startled, when Zack exited the shed.
”It won't be easy to figure out exactly what happened here,” Zack said.
Nick was right behind him. ”It often is with a fire. Arson's one of the hardest crimes to prove, solve and prosecute.”
”Too many of these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds get away with setting their little fires,” Zack said, his disdain clear. ”You can't generalize about arsonists. Each one's an individual. They have their own methods, their own reasons, if you want to call them that, for doing what they do.”