Chasing Fire
Page 46

Nobody complained. Not about the extra work or the tedium of doing it. While she’d been with Quinniock, Janis set up her MP3 with speakers so R&B, country, rock, hip-hop softened the clamor of the machines. She watched Dobie do a little boot-scoot across the floor to Shania Twain with a load of Smitty bags in his arms.
Could be worse, she thought. It could always be worse, so the smart thing to do was to make the best out of the bad. When Gull hauled in chutes for repair, she figured the cops had cleared the ready room.
She left her machine to go to the counter and help him spread the silks.
“How bad is it?” she asked him.
“Probably not as bad as it looked. Everything’s tossed around, but there’s not as much actual damage as we thought. Or I thought, anyway. A lot just needs to be sorted and repacked.”
“Silver lining.” She marked tears and cuts.
“With a rainbow. Maintenance is setting up tables outside. Rumor is Marg is putting a barbecue together, and she’s got a truckload of ribs.”
Rowan marked another tear. Men who hadn’t bothered to shave or shower that morning were singing along with Taylor Swift. It was just a little surreal.
“When the going gets tough,” she decided, “the tough eat ribs. We’ve got nearly all the chutes that were in for rigging and repair done, and nearly all of those packed. Coming along on PG bags, Smitties, ponchos and packs.”
She paused, met his eyes. “If it keeps moving, maybe we’ll fit in that run.”
“Ready when you are.”
“I hate being wrong.”
“Anybody who doesn’t probably has low self-esteem. Low self-esteem can lead to a lot of problems, many of them sexual.”
She knew when she was being ribbed, so nodded solemnly. “I’m lucky I have exceptionally high self-esteem. Anyway, I hate being wrong about thinking this was a shot at me. I’d rather she’d taken a shot at me. I’d rather be pissed off about a personal vendetta than this.”
“It sucks, but there’s something to be said about listening to Southern and Trigger singing a duet of ‘Wanted Dead or Alive.’”
“They weren’t bad. No Bon Jovi, but not bad.”
“If your glass is half empty and has a chip in it, you might as well belly up to the bar and order a fresh one. I’ve gotta get back.”
Bright side, she thought. Silver lining. Maybe it took her longer to find them—or want to—but what the hell. She might as well toss away her crappy glass.
She examined every inch of the chute before turning it over to repair, then started on the next. She was so focused on what she thought of as an assembly line of life and death, she didn’t hear L.B. walk up beside her.
His hand came down on her shoulder like a spotter’s in the door. “Take a break.”
“Some of these need rigging, but most of the ones coming up just need patching.”
“I’ve been getting updates. Let’s get some air.”
“Fine.” The bending, hunching, peering left her stiff and knotted up. She wanted that run, she decided, wanted to burn off the tension and hours of standing.
Then she caught a whiff of the ribs smoking on the grills, and decided she wanted those even more.
“Holy God, that smells good. Marg knows exactly the way to get the mind off problems and on the belly.”
“Wait’ll you see the cornbread. I just got off the phone with the police.”
“Did they arrest her? No,” she said before he could speak. “I can tell by your face. Goddamn it, L.B.”
“She claims she was home all night. Her mother’s backing her up.”
“Big surprise.”
“The thing is, they can’t prove she wasn’t. Maybe when they go through everything, they’ll find some evidence. You know, fingerprints or something.”
He thumbed out a Life Savers to go with the one already in his mouth, and made her realize the stress had him jonesing for a Marlboro.
“But right now,” he continued with cherry-scented breath, “she’s denying it. They talked to the neighbors, too. Nobody can say for sure if she was home or wasn’t. And since none of us saw her, they can’t charge her with anything.”
L.B. puffed out his cheeks. “Quinniock wanted us to know she’s making noises about suing us for slander.”
“Give me a break.”
“Right there with you, Ro. She won’t, but he thought we should know she got up a pretty good head of steam when he questioned her.”
“The best defense is offense.”
“That could be it, sure.” He looked out over the grill and she imagined the dozens of things on his mind, the load of weight on his shoulders.
“Hell, all that’s for cops and lawyers anyway.”
“Yeah. The main thing is if we get called out, we’re okay. We can send out twenty at this point.”
“Twenty?”
“Some of the mechanics pitched in to help out the ready room team. They’ve been working like dogs. We’ve got gear and supplies for twenty squared away. I’ve already requisitioned replacements for what’s damaged or ruined. This isn’t going to slow us down. You’re back on the jump list.”
“I guess it wasn’t as bad as it looked.”
“Well, it looked pretty damn bad.” She watched him, very deliberately, roll off some of that weight. “We’re smoke jumpers, Swede. We can saw a line from here to Canada. We can sure as hell handle this.”
“I want her to pay.”
“I know, and by God, so do I. If they find anything to link her to that ready room, I want them to toss her in a cell. I felt sorry for her,” he said in disgust. “I gave her a second chance, then a third one when I fired her instead of calling the cops. So believe me, nobody wants her to pay more than I do.”
The phone in her pocket jingled.
“Go ahead and take it. I’m going to pass the word on lunch.” He headed back, turned around briefly to walk backward. “Keep clear of the stampede,” he warned.
Laughing, she pulled out her phone. Seeing her father’s ID reminded her of the messages she’d left him.
“Well, it’s about time.”
“Honey, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you. I got in late, and didn’t want to chance waking you up. I’ve been busy all morning.”