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Mason smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Those words now came naturally; something Gray never thought would happen. Jack and Mason were turning him into a sap, and he didn’t even care.
Of course Thornton beat him there, but his drive was shorter. Gray ran a hand through his hair, trying to make it lie down as he parked the car. He relaxed a bit when he saw Thornton talking to Bryce, a friend who used to bartend with Mason. Bryce was new to the fire marshal’s office, but he was thorough, top of his class coming through the Police Academy. They’d lucked out to have him at the scene.
Bryce glanced up and waved Gray over.
“So what’s up?” Gray asked as he joined Thornton and Bryce.
Bryce motioned for them to walk with him. “No way was the vic killed in this fire.”
They stepped into the building, wincing at the smell, which was bad enough outside and grew much worse as they worked their way slowly toward the back of the house.
“Where did the fire start?” Thornton asked.
Bryce pointed toward the kitchen. “Here. It initially looked as if the coffeepot was to blame, but once we started investigating, it was obvious that a trail of accelerant had been spread from the kitchen toward this bedroom.” He indicated the door they were entering.
A body lay on the floor, burned beyond recognition.
“The victim was positioned to look as though she was trying to crawl to safety,” Bryce explained. “Our perp is smarter than most arsonists trying to cover up a murder. Usually the body is just dumped.”
Gray fought his gag reflex. He’d been on the job enough years that not too much bothered him, but he’d rarely been confronted with bodies from a fire, and just thinking of what such a death would be like was enough to sicken him. “What makes you think she wasn’t killed in the fire?” he asked, needing to distract himself.
“See the charring on the wall here?” Bryce pointed to the wall above the bed next to the victim. “That indicates that the fire spread from here.” He pointed to the side of the bed where the victim lay. “But that wall”—he pointed to the other side of the room—“is closest to the origin point of the fire. If the fire came from the kitchen and traveled across the room, then the area where the victim is would have the least damage.”
Gray looked at the room. Now it seemed obvious the fire hadn’t traveled from one side to the other, and if it only had one source, it would have. “So you think she was killed and then the perp burned the body?”
Bryce nodded. “I would bet the ME will find a cause of death that has nothing to do with the fire.”
Gray glanced at the body and imagined the ordeal the young woman might have gone through, assuming it was Danielle. He would find her killer and make sure the bastard paid. “If we’re lucky and it is connected, the cause of death will be the same.”
Thornton nodded. He started to speak, but his phone rang. He talked briefly, then ended the call. “Crime scene techs are here. They’ll go over the room before the body is moved. Let’s go talk to the witnesses.”
Gray was more than happy to get out of that room. He didn’t know how Bryce handled his job, but he was thankful for his competence.
Gray, Thornton, and the uniformed officers who’d come to the scene questioned all the onlookers, but by the time they finished, they didn’t know any more than they had before they’d begun. The neighbor who called 911 confirmed he’d seen a woman matching Danielle’s description enter the house around midnight. He’d not seen her or anyone else leave.
Thornton had officers working to locate the homeowner, who’d been identified as Chris Whittaker. None of the neighbors had any ideas where he was, why Danielle had come to his house, or who would have let her in if she didn’t have a key. From what the collective group knew about Whittaker, he lived alone and rarely did anything but go to work. There was no car at the house, but the neighbor who’d called in the fire had seen Whittaker’s car being towed earlier that week. Apparently he’d been in a minor accident.
Gray looked at his watch. It was five AM. It would be a while before they learned anything about the evidence being collected from the house. Gray was considering going home to try to get a few more hours sleep when Bryce approached him.
“You want to grab some breakfast?” he asked.
“I was thinking about going back to bed.”
Bryce frowned. “You really think you could sleep after this?”
Gray shook his head. The adrenaline rush of jumping out of bed in the middle of the night and the gruesome scene had him too on edge. Besides, he’d likely wake Jack and Mason, and they had been up later than they should since they both had to work today.
“Nah. I’m in as long as there’s bacon.” Rather than being queasy after what he’d seen, he needed comfort food. “Bacon, eggs, grits, and a fuckload of coffee.”
“Let’s go to Louie’s,” Bryce said. “I need a pile of hash browns all the way.”
“Deal.”
Gray had fallen in love with Louie’s diner when he and Jack were first partnered. Uniformed officers ate free on the night shift and were served complimentary coffee any time of day. The deal was good for the diner’s security and excellent for Gray and Jack, who’d frequently worked nights. Depending on who was serving him, his meal was often still comped now that he was a detective. Uniform or not, he was fucking intimidating no matter how rough the late night crowd got, nd so was Bryce.
