“Neither did I.” Rose anxiously kept an eye on the burning vehicle. Despite the thick smoke, the fire actually didn’t seem to be that bad. “Mack, calm down. I think it looks worse than it is. Maybe someone threw a cigarette through the window out of jealousy or something. See, it’s just the passenger seat that’s actually on fire.”
She’d thought that the observation would reassure him. Instead, he went stark white.
“Th-the passenger seat?” he stuttered.
“Good news!” Chase announced brightly, as a police car pulled into view round the corner. “We just got the go-ahead to proceed. Don’t worry, we’ll have it doused in no time.”
“No!” Mack yelped. “Let it burn!”
Rose blinked at him. “What?”
Griff had already crowbarred open the door of the car, allowing Dai to spray the seat with some kind of white foam. The crackling flames died away quickly, revealing scorched, crumbling leather.
“Make them stop!” Mack tried to pull hims
elf out of Chase’s grip as Dai prodded cautiously at the wreckage of the seat. “That’s my property, he can’t just poke around in there!”
“We have to check for hotspots,” Chase said. Rose sensed a distinct, wicked sense of glee behind his too-innocent expression. “Very thoroughly. Our Commander’s orders.”
“Ash is here?” Rose said in surprise.
Looking past Chase, Rose’s heart give an odd little skip. Ash was there, though she hadn’t noticed him getting out of the fire truck. He was in profile to her, back to the still-smoking vehicle, talking to a couple of police officers. Unlike the other firefighters, he wasn’t wearing protective gear—just his usual gray duty uniform.
Mack let out a strangled moan as he too noticed the watching cops. “Oh fu—”
“Officers?” Dai called, pulling something out of the smoldering seat. It looked like a plastic-wrapped white brick. “I think you might want to take a look at this…”
The wave of guilt and terror from Mack made Rose physically take a step away from him. “That’s not mine,” he babbled, desperately trying to jerk away from Chase. “I have no idea what it is. Someone else must have put it there.”
“Then you won’t mind telling the nice police officers all about it,” Chase said, his eyes glittering dangerously. “Come on. I believe there are some people who would like to have a chat with you…”
“What?” Rose said, but Chase was already frog-marching Mack off in the direction of the police car. From the expressions on the faces of the waiting officers, Rose didn’t think she’d get any answers from that direction.
Giving the smoking, foam-encrusted wreckage of Mack’s car a wide berth, she hurried over to Ash. He stood a little to one side, watching calmly, his hands clasped behind his back.
“Ash, what’s going on?” Rose demanded.
Ash turned his head to look at her. Rose’s breath caught.
Even though he was facing away from the burning car, flames reflected in the dark depths of his eyes.
Just for a moment. Ash blinked, and when his eyes reopened they were as cool and remote as always.
“There was an incident,” he said.
“I can see that. Why have the police arrested Mack? What was that thing they found in his car? And how did it burst into flames in the first place?”
Ash shifted his feet fractionally, his gaze sliding away from her. She was certain he was rapidly trying out and discarding various responses in his head.
“Ash.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “How did you get here so fast, anyway?”
He didn’t respond for a moment. Then his shoulders fell in a long sigh.
“I owe you an explanation,” he said.
“Mack’s a drug dealer?” Rose said incredulously.
“I am afraid so.”