12-Alarm Cowboys (84 page)

Cole called himself
a fool from here ’til Tuesday. What the hell was he doing? “Thanks for letting me tag along, Sean.”

The detective with bright-orange hair cut short looked like a young recruit, even after ten years on the force, but Cole knew better. Sean was good at investigation and he’d specifically gone to arson school to be better equipped to help out the fire stations in the area. Cole trusted him to discover the truth.

“I don’t mind the company. I also appreciate the information you gave me. It’s good to know, but I’ll let the evidence lead me to the cause.”

“Of course.” Cole shrugged as if the outcome of the investigation didn’t matter to him. But it did…a lot. “I’m wired after the battle last night. I won’t be able to sleep until tonight now. Besides, I’d like to check out what this nudist resort is all about.” He didn’t want to divulge his interest in setting something up with the resort manager.

Sean took his eyes off the road for a moment to give him a sideways look. “Really?”

Shit, now the man was going to think him a pervert. “Oh, I have no plans to get nude, but I’m curious as to how they operate. I hear they have naked horseback riding. I just don’t get that. You could hurt some pretty sensitive parts doing that, if you know what I mean.”

Sean grimaced even as he turned down the dirt road with the new wooden sign declaring the entrance to Poker Flat Nudist Resort. “I don’t see anything but desert out here.”

Cole grinned. “Wait until after we park. It’s well hidden, which is probably a good thing.”

They continued down the flat dirt road passing nothing but saguaro, mesquite trees and an occasional ocotillo. Finally, they came to the roadblock, the tire tracks from his fire trucks still visible going around the wooden barrier.

“Pull in here. They’ll bring us down in a golf cart.” He pointed to the three-sided garage the size of two fire stations.

Sean raised a brow, but didn’t comment as he parked the unmarked vehicle in the shade of the giant steel structure. As they exited the car, an older man approached dressed in jeans, a checkered shirt, and suspenders with a rumpled cowboy hat in his hand.

“Welcome to Poker Flat Nudist Resort. I’m Billy.” He clutched his hat with one hand and held out the other.

Sean shook. “Detective Sean Anderson. You probably remember Lt. Cole Hatcher from last night.”

Billy scrunched up his face as he peered at Cole, and thrust his hand forward. “I were asleep last night. Nice to meet ya.”

Cole looked down at the short elderly man and shook his hand. He’d slept through fire engine sirens and gas explosions?

“This way.” As Billy led them to a golf cart, Cole studied him a bit closer. Maybe the man was hard of hearing. One way to find out.

Sean sat in the front, so Cole took the back seat. Once they started off toward the edge of the ravine, he quietly commented on the resort, lifting his voice to just above a whisper. “It amazes me how hidden this place is.”

Billy turned his head slightly. “I loves that guests is so surprised. I never gets tired of that.”

So much for hard of hearing. Maybe the old man had been off the resort when he wasn’t supposed to be.

Sean turned toward Cole. “There
is
a resort here, right? This isn’t a joke.”

Billy chuckled as he slowed the cart at the ridge of the ravine. “There she be.”

“Holy sh—cow.” Sean stared.

Cole could sympathize with the man. When the fire engine had crested the ravine at sunset yesterday, he’d had a similar reaction, though not so polite. His men had echoed his expletives. From the desert road, the ravine wasn’t even noticeable, but once cresting it, the resort came into view, perched high on two large shelves of land on the opposite ravine wall, yet below the top ridge.

One side held the stables, a steel building and the burned construction, while the other shelf held the main building and pool with adobe casitas lined up behind it. More casitas were scattered farther down the sloping wall of the ravine with golf carts parked outside. Between them and the resort was a dirt road with a sturdy bridge at the bottom that crossed the stream, which barely trickled at this time of year.

He pointed at the shelf with the stable. “That’s where the fire was.”

Billy picked up speed again. While Sean viewed the entire resort, Cole focused on the building in ashes. Its proximity to the barn from this angle made his gut clench. Last night was too close for the horses here.

After crossing the bridge, they rose up the other side of the ravine and at the split, headed left toward the stables.

“Ms. Kendra say you be coming and to keep everyone away. Lacey send the construction guys a packin’.” Billy smiled a toothy grin, showing a significant gap between his tarnished teeth.

Sean nodded. “Good. What’s that?”

Billy slowed the cart. “Sheet, I forget. Wade block the road with the buckboard to keeps everyone away.” He brought the cart to a stop.

Cole stepped out. “Can we move it?”

“I doesn’t know. Wade use the big horses to pulls this.” Billy scratched his head. “I guesses I can walks to the barn and gets Wade.”

Sean exited the golf cart and walked around the wagon. “This is a pretty sturdy reproduction piece.”

Cole joined him. “I think we can move this. You two guide it at the front and I’ll push from behind. We only need to move it far enough for the golf cart to get by.”

“It can’t hurt to try.” Sean patted Billy on the shoulder. “Come on, Billy. Time for your morning workout.”

Billy grumbled something unintelligible and Cole smiled. He doubted very much that Billy was excited, but if this worked, it would save them at least a half hour.

He strode behind the replica of an old western wagon, glad he wore his Stetson because the morning heat was well on its way to the low nineties. He leaned against the wagon to test its willingness to move. Though it had four sturdy wooden wheels, it didn’t even rock. Not a good sign.

“Ready when you are, Cole.” Sean looked back at him from the horse hitch.

Pressing his hands against the back of the wagon’s bed, he pushed. The wagon rocked but remained in place. Shit.

Sean yelled back, “Need some help?”

He shook his head. “And get your pretty clothes dirty?”

“Trust me. They’ll be dirty soon enough.”

Cole grinned. Investigating fires wasn’t exactly clean work. “Let me give it another try. I just need to get it rolling.”

He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he leaned his back against the wagon and used his leg muscles. The vehicle rocked, creaked, and finally rolled. Not wanting to lose the momentum, he quickly shuffled his feet back and pushed harder. When the wagon had rolled a good fifteen feet, he stopped. He turned to see where they had directed it. Billy and Sean had angled the wagon so the horses could easily be hitched. He was glad someone was thinking.

Sean walked over. “You guys obviously don’t have enough fires to go to. It looks like you spend your shifts working out on the equipment at the station.”

He shrugged. “Hey, it was donated to us. The least we can do is use it between calls.”

“I may just start coming by once a week.” He patted his lean stomach. “Detective work isn’t helping my beer belly.”

Cole raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, right.”

Billy drove the golf cart to where they stood. “Ready?”

They both resumed their seats and Billy headed up to the burn site. When they arrived, they climbed out.

Sean immediately switched into detective mode. “Billy, thank you. We will find you when we need a ride back.”

“Okay.” The old man smiled then headed the golf cart toward the barn.

Cole tamped down his interest in the barn and focused on the wet debris spread over thirty yards. What was the building going to be? The layout gave no clue.

“Explain to me where the fire was when you arrived.” Sean took out a pad of paper and a pen. “Then walk me through your strategy for knocking it down.”

Cole filled Sean in on the entire night from driving up to the blaze, the explosions, the old barn wood, the precautionary measures and the decision to let it go. The man took copious notes on his pad.

“And you say the woman you knew from another fire was here?”

“Yes. She brought out churros and iced tea for the men.”

Sean raised his brows. “Really? I like this place already.”

He kept his thoughts to himself. He’d been pissed when he’d seen her walking up with food, but he and his men had devoured it shortly after, as well as the sandwiches Kendra brought them later in the night when it was only himself and Mason.

“So tell me about the other fire this woman was accused of starting.”

Cole’s gut tightened. He didn’t want this fire to be laid at Lacey’s door, but he had to tell Sean what he knew. “Lacey Winters is her name. Eight years ago she used to hang out in an old carriage house on her parents’ property. It was her space to gather with friends of which I was one. One night a friend called me to tell me the carriage house was on fire. I rushed over and Lacey had soot on her clothes.” He didn’t need to tell Sean it was Lacey who called him. The less the detective knew about their past relationship, the better.

He never forgot how her hair smelled like smoke as he held her in his arms while they watched the building burn to the ground. The firefighters had focused on protecting the barn and the house, very much like he’d done last night.

“How did the arson charge come about?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t privy to the investigation. I was just a senior in high school at the time, but rumors were rampant. The next thing we all hear, she’s been charged with arson and then later the charges were dropped. I do know there was gasoline involved as there were two explosions at that fire.”

“What was the carriage house used for?”

“Mostly storage.” He envisioned the place as it was when he hung out there with Lacey. They enjoyed not only the old couch, but the old bean bag chair, the saw horses, the antique rocker and the gilt-framed mirror. “There were antiques in there as well as old junk, like family portraits, clothes, and old toys.”

Sean scribbled on his pad. “So no reason for gasoline to be in there?”

“Actually, there were also old farm tools, a weed whacker, lawn mower and stuff. It kind of doubled as a garage, I guess.”

More scribbling. “Okay, got it. Now I need to get to work on this one. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to leave.”

Cole took the hint. “Good luck.”

Sean shook his head. “I don’t need luck. I just need to read the story written in this debris.”

He nodded. His own goal was to make captain so he could go to arson investigation training. The extra cash couldn’t hurt. He didn’t want his grandparents to have to help support his horse project forever.

With that project in mind, he strode toward the state-of-the-art barn in hopes of catching Wade inside. He’d learned last night that the stable manager was on vacation for two weeks, so Wade was the person he needed to convince. Billy’s golf cart was gone. He must have returned to the garage to wait for other visitors.

As Cole stepped into the relatively cool shade of the red structure, he noticed two horses had recently been brought in for a good combing. That meant whoever was planning to do the work should be back shortly.

He took the opportunity to walk by the stalls. Including the two horses in the grooming area, there were four others, but another ten stalls remained empty. The first six had name placards for each horse. His heart beat harder at the potential. If the resort did a good business, they would need more horses…maybe his horses. Opening the barn doors at the back, he found a large empty corral. The place could be the perfect home for his rescues, if they were treated well.

“Can I help you?” He recognized the male voice before he turned around.

“Yes, Wade. You may just be able to.” He strode forward then tipped his hat toward Kendra. “Ma’am.”

She looked at him quizzically before recognition dawned. “Oh, it’s Cole.” Her eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”

He forcibly kept himself from shuffling his feet beneath her hard stare. “I’m not here on official business. Just wanted to talk horses with Wade here, if that’s okay, unless of course I should be talking to you.”

Her demeanor changed from affronted to uninterested in seconds. She waved her hand. “If it’s horse talk, you can chat with him. I have to get back to my office.” She put her hand on Wade’s. “Thanks for the ride.”

Wade smirked and wiggled his brows. “Anytime.”

The two had obviously gone for a ride, and from the looks of it, had sex out in the desert. Talk about uncomfortable.

Kendra winked and sauntered out the open barn doors. Cole opened his mouth to ask about the trails, when Kendra came back in. “Who moved the wagon?” She didn’t sound happy.

Cole suddenly felt as if he’d done something wrong. “I did, ma’am. We needed to get the golf cart by so the investigator could reach the burn site.”

The woman stared at him as if he’d turned into a jackrabbit. Then she raised her brows at Wade.

The man shook his head, his smirk firmly in place. “That’s one heavy wagon to be moving without draft horses.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Cole rolled his shoulders.

Kendra turned back to him. “When you’re done talking horses, maybe you could help Wade hook up the team and move the wagon back to the barn.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Wade opened his mouth, but Kendra spoke. “Don’t call me ‘ma’am’. Kendra will do.”

He nodded, keeping his mouth shut. It was too much a habit to risk saying it again, so he kept quiet. Luckily, she didn’t wait for a reply and left.

“What can I help you with?” Wade strolled over to the two horses waiting to be attended to.

Cole followed him, noticing the Arabians were particularly fine horses. He had an Arabian on the ranch. Elsa was well built, but scars marred her neck, making it look like the hair of her mane was falling out. “These are good-looking horses.”

Wade began to rub one of them down. “This is Ace and that one is Sundancer. I got them from the same ranch.”