Storm Damage - C.P. Smith Page 0,88
but just as lethal. In that moment, I caught a glimpse of the man he’d been just a year before. A deadly sniper with ice water running through his veins.
“You’re scaring me,” I whispered.
He leaned his head down and rested it against my forehead, an act I’d come to treasure as much as the man. “I know. But better scared and by my side than the alternative.”
I swallowed hard, understanding him completely.
The alternative was ending up like Frank, Rip, and Duke.
Nineteen
By The Book
THE FIRE MARSHAL for Madison County seemed flustered as he melted the snow gathered inside the cremator. Logan stood to the side while he used an industrial-size heated blower to peel away the layers of snow and ice in order to preserve any evidence that might lay inside.
Greeley had been argumentative when Logan had called him. Said he was sure he’d checked the hollowed out shell of the cremator and that Logan was wasting his time investigating what had been ruled an accident. To the mayor’s credit, he’d intervened on Logan’s behalf and insisted Greeley head over immediately and assist the new chief of police. He may have interceded in an attempt to charm him into staying on the job once Duke’s disappearance was solved, but Logan didn’t care. He needed as many people as possible on his side, if his instincts were right. If Chance Bear, the county’s most powerful man, was involved in Duke’s or Rip Jackson’s deaths, it wouldn’t be easy to convince the local sheriff. Not with the amount of weight Bear threw around. He had to make an ironclad case against the man, or he would walk free.
Logan kept taking pictures as layers melted away inch by inch. Greeley glanced at Logan with contempt every time the flash went off. Questioning the man’s investigation had put Greeley’s hackles up. Logan was the newcomer to Ennis, so that made him an outsider. Outsiders didn’t question authority; they went along with the status quo. But Logan had more at stake than Greeley. Not only the safety of the town of Ennis, but Skylar and her brothers. He would question every step taken to determine the cause of the fire, so he didn’t fail Skylar like he’d failed his brothers a year before. If he was wrong, he’d gladly admit it and shake the man’s hand. Until then, he’d make sure anyone involved in the investigation did it by the book.
Footsteps sounded behind Logan, so he glanced over his shoulder and found the mayor trudging through the snow toward them. Greeley’s back stiffened when he noticed they had a visitor, but he didn’t stop. Like an archaeologist digging for a hidden dinosaur, the man carefully placed large chunks of snow that had fallen off the interior on a sheet he’d laid on the ground and began melting them further with a handheld blow-dryer. He’d give Greeley this much credit, he knew what he was doing.
“How’s it going?” the mayor asked.
“We’ll be at it all night at this rate,” Greely complained. “This is a waste of man hours, if you ask me.”
“We’ve got a body missing,” Logan stated. “You wanna explain to Chance Bear we can’t find his father’s body?”
Greeley cleared his throat and went back to melting the snow.
“He may not be missing,” the mayor interjected. “We’ve been unable to contact Mr. Bear to determine if he’d already picked up his father’s ashes.”
Logan wouldn’t argue with that. It was possible that’s exactly what happened. But he wouldn’t take any chances where Skylar was concerned.
A large chunk of snow began to dislodge from inside the cremator, so Logan reached in and caught it, then moved it to the sheet. He repeated this action over and over until the inside of the cremator was clear of snow. When the last large piece of ice had been removed, Logan pulled out his phone and began recording as he directed even more light inside. The hair on the back of his neck began to rise when his flashlight drifted across what looked to be a tooth in the back corner along with bone fragments.
“This is Chief of Police Logan Storm, along with Fire Marshal Max Greeley and Mayor Jordan Blake at K & L Mortuaries. We’ve got something in the back corner of the cremator, Mr. Greeley. Looks like a tooth and bone fragments,” Logan announced, making sure all parties and the location were recorded for the official investigation.
Greeley moved quickly for an older man and shined his own flashlight