Chapter 4

Just as Gray started to doze off, his phone buzzed. Please don't be trouble. Very reluctantly, he rolled over, careful not to jostle Jack. He checked the screen: Thornton. Hoping to sound coherent, he answered the call. "Sadler."

"We got a new case and it might be connected to your dead prostitute."

"Yeah?" Gray asked, trying to wake up enough to process what Thornton was telling him.

"A young woman's body has been found at the scene of a house fire. The fire marshal's initial investigation indicates she didn't die in the fire. The neighbor who called the fire in noticed a woman getting out of a car a few hours before. He knew the driver who dropped her off because he uses the same car service. The driver was easy enough to track, and since the service's app requires a picture, we got a visual on the girl. Her name is Danielle Mossy."

"Fuck." Gray dragged himself from the warm bed and fumbled around for his pants.

"Yeah, that's about right," Thornton said. "A bit of digging showed that she's got a record. She's been picked up for prostitution twice under the name of Sugar Snow. And here's the clincher. She is—was—connected to Billy Andreas."

Andreas was one of the biggest crime bosses in the city. Word had it the sex side of his business specialized in "nice" girls who'd gotten desperate. He was well connected and had never been convicted.

"Are we sure Danielle Mossy is the vic?" Gray asked, cradling the phone against his shoulder as he pulled his pants on.

Thornton sighed. "No. The neighbor never saw her leave. Apparently he spent a good deal of time watching—must be a nosy son of a bitch—but I doubt he had his eye on the house every second. No one else in the area saw her at all."

"So, she doesn't live there, and no one else was at the house?" That was sure interesting as fuck.

"Right. The house was empty other than the one body."

"How old is she?"

Thornton sighed. "Sixteen."

Gray's stomach twisted. His other vic had just turned seventeen a week before she was killed. "Where?"

Gray grabbed a shirt from the closet as Thornton rattled off the address. "You want me to meet you there?"

"Yes. I want us to get a look as soon as we can. The scene's already been under investigation for too long to be fresh. No telling what we've lost."

"Right. I'm on my way."

Jack didn't stir, but Mason raised up as Gray ended the call.

"Work?" he asked.

Gray nodded as he finished dressing. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Me too."

Gray glanced at Jack, but before he could say anything, Mason read his thoughts. "Don't worry. I'll make sure he takes more ibuprofen in the morning if you're not back."

"I hope to God I will be, but we got a suspicious death at a fire. It might be related to one of my other cases."

Mason nodded. "Be careful." Gray started to protest, but Mason held up his hand. "I know you always are, but I have to say it."

"And I have to grumble."

Mason smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Those words now came naturally; something Gray never thought would happen. Jack and Mason were turning him into a sap, and he didn't even care.

Of course Thornton beat him there, but his drive was shorter. Gray ran a hand through his hair, trying to make it lie down as he parked the car. He relaxed a bit when he saw Thornton talking to Bryce, a friend who used to bartend with Mason. Bryce was new to the fire marshal's office, but he was thorough, top of his class coming through the Police Academy. They'd lucked out to have him at the scene.

Bryce glanced up and waved Gray over.

"So what's up?" Gray asked as he joined Thornton and Bryce.

Bryce motioned for them to walk with him. "No way was the vic killed in this fire."

They stepped into the building, wincing at the smell, which was bad enough outside and grew much worse as they worked their way slowly toward the back of the house.

"Where did the fire start?" Thornton asked.

Bryce pointed toward the kitchen. "Here. It initially looked as if the coffeepot was to blame, but once we started investigating, it was obvious that a trail of accelerant had been spread from the kitchen toward this bedroom." He indicated the door they were entering.

A body lay on the floor, burned beyond recognition.

"The victim was positioned to look as though she was trying to crawl to safety," Bryce explained. "Our perp is smarter than most arsonists trying to cover up a murder. Usually the body is just dumped."

Gray fought his gag reflex. He'd been on the job enough years that not too much bothered him, but he'd rarely been confronted with bodies from a fire, and just thinking of what such a death would be like was enough to sicken him. "What makes you think she wasn't killed in the fire?" he asked, needing to distract himself.

"See the charring on the wall here?" Bryce pointed to the wall above the bed next to the victim. "That indicates that the fire spread from here." He pointed to the side of the bed where the victim lay. "But that wall"—he pointed to the other side of the room—"is closest to the origin point of the fire. If the fire came from the kitchen and traveled across the room, then the area where the victim is would have the least damage."

Gray looked at the room. Now it seemed obvious the fire hadn't traveled from one side to the other, and if it only had one source, it would have. "So you think she was killed and then the perp burned the body?"

Bryce nodded. "I would bet the ME will find a cause of death that has nothing to do with the fire."

Gray glanced at the body and imagined the ordeal the young woman might have gone through, assuming it was Danielle. He would find her killer and make sure the bastard paid. "If we're lucky and it is connected, the cause of death will be the same."

Thornton nodded. He started to speak, but his phone rang. He talked briefly, then ended the call. "Crime scene techs are here. They'll go over the room before the body is moved. Let's go talk to the witnesses."

Gray was more than happy to get out of that room. He didn't know how Bryce handled his job, but he was thankful for his competence.

Gray, Thornton, and the uniformed officers who'd come to the scene questioned all the onlookers, but by the time they finished, they didn't know any more than they had before they'd begun. The neighbor who called 911 confirmed he'd seen a woman matching Danielle's description enter the house around midnight. He'd not seen her or anyone else leave.

Thornton had officers working to locate the homeowner, who'd been identified as Chris Whittaker. None of the neighbors had any ideas where he was, why Danielle had come to his house, or who would have let her in if she didn't have a key. From what the collective group knew about Whittaker, he lived alone and rarely did anything but go to work. There was no car at the house, but the neighbor who'd called in the fire had seen Whittaker's car being towed earlier that week. Apparently he'd been in a minor accident.

Gray looked at his watch. It was five AM. It would be a while before they learned anything about the evidence being collected from the house. Gray was considering going home to try to get a few more hours sleep when Bryce approached him.

"You want to grab some breakfast?" he asked.

"I was thinking about going back to bed."

Bryce frowned. "You really think you could sleep after this?"

Gray shook his head. The adrenaline rush of jumping out of bed in the middle of the night and the gruesome scene had him too on edge. Besides, he'd likely wake Jack and Mason, and they had been up later than they should since they both had to work today.

"Nah. I'm in as long as there's bacon." Rather than being queasy after what he'd seen, he needed comfort food. "Bacon, eggs, grits, and a fuckload of coffee."

"Let's go to Louie's," Bryce said. "I need a pile of hash browns all the way."

"Deal."

Gray had fallen in love with Louie's diner when he and Jack were first partnered. Uniformed officers ate free on the night shift and were served complimentary coffee any time of day. The deal was good for the diner's security and excellent for Gray and Jack, who'd frequently worked nights. Depending on who was serving him, his meal was often still comped now that he was a detective. Uniform or not, he was fucking intimidating no matter how rough the late night crowd got, nd so was Bryce.

At five in the morning, Louie's was fairly quiet. The post-bar crowd had mostly filtered out, though a few still lingered.

"So how've you been?" Bryce asked.

Gray exhaled slowly.

"That good, huh?"

Gray laughed. "It's been a long couple of months."

"Yeah, same here."

"Work?"

Bryce nodded. "Things with Matt and Toby are good if that's what you're asking."

"Good."

Bryce watched Gray. He seemed to be waiting for something.

Finally, Gray got it. "You want to know about Jack and Mason, I guess."

"They're still putting up with you, apparently."

Gray scowled. "Fuck yes, they are."

Bryce laughed. "Big of them."

"Yeah, well… Like I said, it's been a rough few months."

"The Benson trial had to be hard for you."

Gray nodded. "But it's over. I just want to forget about it."

"I saw the press conference. You looked good up there."

Gray rolled his eyes. "I just said what I had to."

"But you looked calm, controlled. I knew you didn't want to be up there, but it didn't show."

"Thanks, I guess, but I don't want to be the DPD poster boy."

"You make a good one, though." Bryce winked. Fucking flirt.

"Watch out, or I'll see if I can get you in the limelight too."

"Ha! I'll be lucky to just get through the next few months and prove myself."

"Looks like you did a damn good job tonight."

"Thanks."

Gray could tell his compliment really meant a lot to Bryce. "It's because you had a hardass teacher." Gray had taught a few of Bryce's classes at the Academy.

Bryce rolled his eyes.

The waitress brought their food then, and they tucked in. A few minutes later, Gray's phone buzzed. What now?

He pulled it out of his pocket, expecting it to be Thornton. Instead, it was a text from Jack on the family thread with Mason.

Missed you when I woke up.

I miss you too. Got called in right after you went to sleep.

Back soon?Mason this time.

I wish.

A heart emoji appeared next. Then two more from Mason. If Gray hadn't known he was head over heels for Jack and Mason, the fact that sending hearts to each other didn't register as absurd would have clued him in. Keeping the phone where Bryce couldn't see, he sent back a few hearts of his own.

"Work?"

"No. Jack and Mason."

"Aww, they text you together."

Heat rushed into Gray's face. "Sometimes."

"It's okay. I already know you're crazy about each other."

Gray rolled his eyes and checked the time. "I better get going. I need to see if we've gotten closer to finding the homeowner."

"You could go home and take a ‘nap.' I bet your boys miss you."

Gray raised his brows. "I could say the same to you."

"True."

"I might as well just stay up and hope I can leave at a reasonable time tonight."

"Good luck with that."

They left a hefty tip for the waitress and headed out.