Burn You Twice - Mary Burton Page 0,55

Elijah had been quiet, in a know-it-all kind of way. It had been easy to push him around then.

“You almost sound afraid of him.”

The challenge stoked Dan’s frustration and anger. “I’m not.”

“You’re still pissed about what he did to you in high school.”

Dan remembered walking outside his home to discover fire licking up all four wheels of his new truck. The flames had scorched the white paint, popped his tires, and melted his side-view mirror. As he’d tried to beat the flames out with his shirt, the smoke had scorched his mouth, nose, and lungs. Coughing, he had run to the side of his parents’ house and grabbed the hose. His hands trembling, he’d squeezed the nozzle. To this day, he could remember the sound of the flames hissing like a viper as he shot them with cold water. Later, the truck was towed to a body shop that had soon slapped him with a $4,000 repair bill, half of which he’d had to eat because insurance did not cover it.

The cops later decided it was arson. No shit. And said the fire had started in a plastic milk jug filled with gas. A rag had been used as a wick. At the time, they’d had no idea who’d set the fire.

After the College Fire, the cops had come to talk to him, but there was no proof linking Elijah to his truck fire. Dan knew it was that weirdo Elijah. Who the fuck else would have been crazy enough to mess with him?

“I just want to make a smart play,” Dan said. “In this PC world, too many people don’t fully grasp the old brand of justice.”

A heavy silence lingered on the line, and then he heard the swig of beer. “I’m in.”

Confessions of an Arsonist

I miss the days I saw fire burn in my lover’s eyes.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Missoula, Montana

Monday, September 7, 2020

8:00 p.m.

Enough evidence was pulled from the Beau-T-Shop fire to suggest that Gideon was dealing with an experienced arsonist. Whether it was Lana Long working with Elijah or someone else, this perpetrator had been skilled enough to fashion low-tech incendiary devices and then place them for maximum effect.

However, before he talked to Elijah or the warden at Montana State Prison, he wanted a complete record of recent arson reports across the state. He glanced up the darkened stairwell of his home, listening for signs of Kyle. The quiet suggested he was asleep, but Gideon still closed the door to his home office before placing a call to Bryce McCabe, an agent with the Montana Highway Patrol. He had known Bryce for years, and if his theory was full of holes, Bryce would say so immediately. As the phone rang, he reached for a yellow legal pad and pen.

Bryce picked up on the third ring. “Gideon.”

“Bryce, how are you?” Gideon asked as he leaned forward at his desk.

“Can’t complain. What’s up? Not like you to call on a holiday weekend without a good reason.”

Gideon uncapped his pen and drew a #1 at the top of the yellow pad. He circled it once. “Did you hear about the fire we had on Saturday?”

“I did,” he said. “I also understand your newest resident is a convicted arsonist.”

“That’s correct.” He circled the number a couple more times. “I have a few questions that may seem off base, but bear with me.”

“Have at it.”

“Have you had any significant fires in your area in the last few years?” Gideon asked.

“You mean while Elijah Weston was incarcerated?”

Gideon sat back and wondered what the hell path he had set out on. “That’s correct.”

Bryce was silent a moment. “You don’t think Elijah Weston is responsible for your fire?”

“He’s on my radar, that’s for damn sure.”

“Fair enough. Let me get to my computer. Hang on.”

“Got all the time.”

In the background, a door opened and closed, and a light switch clicked. “Here we go,” Bryce said. “We had a warehouse fire eighteen months ago in Helena. The structure burned to the ground.”

“Cause of the fire?” He jotted down the incident by the number one.

“Electrical. No fatalities, but the damage and losses totaled more than a million dollars. That’s all the structural fires we’ve had recently. In 2018, there were four dumpster fires in Bozeman. No real property damage sustained in those events, beyond the dumpsters.”

Gideon made a notation. “Any rural fires?”

“Funny you should mention that. Statistics show a thirty percent increase in brush fires. The causes range from unmonitored campfires to electrical line failure.”

“How many were undetermined?”

“Of the seventy-four