Wrapped in Flame by Caitlyn Willows

Author:Caitlyn Willows [Willows, Caitlyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary; suspense
Publisher: Loose Id LLC
Published: 2015-06-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Mike had slept worth shit the night before. A three-vehicle accident involving one of the news trucks and the resulting brush fire as a result had taken hours to clear and required not only Valley View Fire Department to do so but also the assistance from two other neighboring towns. Craig had stayed behind, leaving Mike to aid his people. It’d been a nasty collision with one fatality and four critically injured. All the vehicles were totaled, and traffic had been blocked both ways while the firefighters and law enforcement worked. So they’d had to deal with angry people on top of it, some of whom kept demanding answers. Why hadn’t the fire department commented on the death of one of their own? How could they be effective when they’d failed to protect one of their female firefighters from assault, when the fire chief couldn’t even keep track of his wife? It’d been ugly and somewhat ironic that they were assisting one of those news outlets from Palm Springs that had stirred up shit in the first place.

He didn’t fault them for doing their jobs, but he did have a problem with the way they went about it—twisting information around to their version of fact that held little validity. Running the same story over and over and over again, yet saying nothing. Jumping to conclusions. Case in point—thinking Sandy was Erica. They’d found out soon enough once they’d gotten to Sandy’s house, but not before they’d broadcast it over the airwaves. Their distraction had given Erica time to run home and grab some things for the night, but barely. Reporters had been scrambling to cover from their mistake ever since. The accident last night had given them the outlet they needed. One of their cameramen had died in that collision, and they’d made the Valley View Fire Department a new target for their hounding. It didn’t matter two other fire departments were assisting in the accident and fire. Valley View had the target on its back, and the media was aiming for it.

At least some good had come out of their presence. Craig got the word out about Betty’s disappearance. A little reluctantly so at first, but he’d been good on camera. Clearheaded and professional even while rattled, his voice shaking. It’d cut Mike to the quick to see yet another vulnerable side to his stalwart chief. Hurt him even more to realize that as much as he thought he knew the man, Mike really knew nothing about him at all. Craig’s plea was enough to finally engage the detectives to look for her but not enough to get any leads yet on her whereabouts.

By the time Mike had finally hit the rack, he was too keyed up from work to sleep—like everyone else. When they finally crashed, they’d all be down hard. He’d heard pacing and low voices in the common room. Generally, he’d join them to wind down from the run. But the only thing he could think about was that Erica was in his bed and he wasn’t with her.

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