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“What were you doing at the station?” Mike asked him.
“Edgar got a new Harley. Drove over to check it out. Cap saw me. Told me to get the rest of the team. Pronto.” Jared gave a toss of his head toward Shep’s office. “Hooley’s in there. Been holed up ever since I came inside. Cap stuck his head out a few minutes ago. I told him you were on your way.”
“What’s going on?”
“Didn’t say. With the investigator here, I figure it’s about the explosion at the training sight. Maybe Hooley found something.”
Mike hoped so. The damn incident had been chafing his brain for weeks. If Hooley didn’t have any news, Mike would grab Jared and Laredo and head back out to the Wimer property. Have another look.
A door slammed with a bang. Cooper stomped into the day room, complaining.
“A guy finally gets a night off. I don’t see no fire. There better be a good reason you called me back in here.”
“Cap said call, I called.” Jared gave a shrug.
“Get over it, pup. You’re not the only one who had to end a hot date.”
Jared smiled at Mike, obviously deducing he’d been out with Cassie. “Only Cooper’s hot date was with Halo Reach.”
Mike raised his brows. “A video game?”
“I’ll have you know I was winning.”
Mike glanced over to the side of the room at the group playing with handheld controls. He’d never gotten into the gaming scene, but his coworkers sure were involved. One of the teens grabbed Laredo’s control.
“My turn.”
The door to Shep’s office opened, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Good. You’re all here. Come on in.”
This felt a lot like Mike’s school days, getting called to the principal’s office. Hooley, the fire inspector, stood to the left, leaning against the wall. Mike nodded to him and took one of the empty chairs in front of Shep’s desk. Jared took the other one while Laredo and Cooper filed in along the back wall.
“I know you all have been waiting, so Hooley is here to give us an update.”
“You find out what happened at the training site?” Jared directed his question to Hooley.
Hooley pushed away from the wall and pursed his lips. “I found several things. For one, the explosion was most definitely arson. We gathered quite a bit of evidence. Gas tanks that an individual had to place and open at just the right time.”
“How the hell was that possible?” Mike burst out. “I was there. Chief Wilson follows procedures by the book. He would not be so careless.”
“We agree on that,” Hooley replied. “I spent a lot of time with the firefighters at Station Nine this past week. I have the film of that day loaded on my computer and I want each of you to take a look at it.”
“Hell, I forgot about the camera,” Laredo said, shoving a hand through his hair. “Is there something on there?”
“I’ve gone over it, but I want you guys to see if you notice anything out of the routine. Anything that might be off.”
“You were a firefighter before you became an investigator. You’d know if something didn’t look right,” Mike told Hooley.
“More eyes, more opportunity that each man might see something different,” Hooley replied.
“Sure thing. Let’s see this film.” Cooper leaned forward, staring at the computer monitor.
Hooley hit a button and the screen came to life. The horrific explosion blew up on screen just as Mike remembered it. He watched every gruesome detail as men shouted and ran. He focused on the team, the instructor, Ryan as he threw the torch. When the footage ended, Hooley started the tape again.
“I didn’t see anything,” Cooper said with noticeable disappointment.
“It was a clusterfuck.” Jared fisted his hands.
