Opal Fire Read Online Free PDF

dog food.” I pointed to the cans.
    “They don’t have grocery stores around here?”
    I blew a strand of hair from my face. “It’s a long story.”
    “What’s with the cape?”
    “That’s a longer story.”
    “Well, you can tell me on the way out. Ready to hit it?”
    Something was pulling me to that corner. Something strong. I stilled myself, then hinged forward for a closer view. My cape was strangling me at that angle so I unclipped the top hook.
    “Derek, do you have a flashlight?”
    Derek grunted. “What do I look like, Handy Andy?”
    “No, you look like a one-hour photo lab.” I squatted down to get another look, but it was too dark.
    “Just point your camera over there and snap a shot, will you? Maybe the illumination will highlight the area and I could get a better look. “
    “Or maybe you’ll just get a clear picture? I hear they last longer.”
    Okay, that was stupid of me but it had been a long-ass day.
    “Just do it.”
    Derek aimed the camera, twisted a few knobs and punched a button. The flash revealed nothing more than the charred brick wall, with a few bricks missing.
    “We done here?”
    I sighed. “I guess.” I bent to pick up the bar tool and the necklace, the cross hot in my hand.
    “Shh.” Derek put his finger to his lips.
    I heard it too. Footsteps.
    “Go,” I said. Derek took the stairs two at a time.
    I shoved the opener and the necklace in my jeans pocket, gathered the cans, and sprinted up after him.
    It might have gone well, too, if that damn cape hadn’t clung to a nail and yanked me back.
    The dog food went flying and my hand caught just enough rail to land on a case of wine. I tried to jimmy free but my ass was stuck. And wet.
    “Who’s down there?”
    Not sure how he did it, but Leo managed to shine a beam of light right at my face.
    I delivered my sexiest smile. Which was the only part of my body not covered in muck.
    He shook his head and put a finger to his mouth.
    That was the second man that had shushed me in the space of five minutes.
    “All clear, Mayor. Must be a mouse.”
    A mouse? There were mice down here? Son of a bitch! I hate rodents. But- oh, he probably just meant me. Duh. A little bit of that Northwestern degree chipped away each day I lived in this town. Man, I needed a drink. Which was ironic since I was sitting on a box of them.
    “Leo, I thought I told you to ward off the building. It’s wide open back there,” the Mayor said.
    Mayor Ritsos is Leo’s uncle. He brought Leo in from Chicago to appoint as chief after Cin’s father died. Uncle Deck was the chief of police in Amethyst for years, which may have something to do with my cousin’s anger management problem.
    The Mayor was not my biggest fan. It was not clear why. But if I had to guess, I would say he felt Leo’s involvement with a woman whose family danced naked under the full moon on mid-summer’s eve, might hurt both their careers.
    Who could blame him?
    “What do you mean?” asked Leo. “I had caution tape across there.”
    Oops.
    “Well it’s not there now,” the Mayor said.
    “I’ll take care of it,” Leo said.
    “See that you do. I don’t want anyone wandering in here and getting hurt. I want this place locked up until I get a report on what caused the fire. Tommy, what do you think?”
    Tommy Delaney was the fire chief. He was a few years ahead of me in high school.
    “Can’t say yet. I suspect an electrical short. There’s a busted fixture down there and some burned out wires.”
    Electrical. Huck was right.
    “Well,” the Mayor said, drawing out the word. “Find out for sure.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “All right, let’s go.”
    The footsteps tapered off.
    “Just let me secure this entrance. I’ll catch up,” Leo said.
    He ducked down into the basement, shined the light, and said in a low voice, “Do you stay awake at night trying to invent ways to try to get me fired?”
    “Sorry,” I whispered.
    “Get that burn looked at,” he said.
    “Already