Big Daddy Firemen (Big Cedar Daddies Book 2)

Walker stepped into the café and greeted Marsha as he approached the small counter that held the cash register atop it. The bottom portion was made of glass and contained five different pies, and all of them looked mighty appealing to the hungry firefighter.

“Hey, Walker. What can I do you for?” Marsha asked, coming through the doorway behind the counter. She had her apron on and there was a touch of flour in her hair.

“Just wanted to drop in and chat with you for a few minutes. But I wouldn’t mind a slice of that chocolate pie. And a cup of coffee, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Coming right up,” Marsha told him. “You just park yourself wherever you’d like.”

Walker went to his usual booth and slid in. He and the guys had lunch there quite a bit and he knew the menu backwards and forwards. He was tempted to get more than pie but decided against it. He’d wait and eat with everyone else back at the fire station. He wanted to ensure Daisy ate a proper meal. He had her to think about now.

Marsha sauntered over with a plate and mug and sat them before him. The steam rose from the coffee and Walker figured it was best to give it a moment before bringing it to his lips.

“You wanted to talk to me?” she asked as she slid in the booth across from him.

He finished the bite of pie he’d just forked into his mouth before saying, “Just checking in with folks. Making sure everything is okay. I know you’re nervous. And with good reason.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I’m nervous. I don’t know if it’s all that stuff that happened with Little Alyssa that has me on edge or what. Don’t get me wrong! I love that girl. She’s as cute and sweet as can be. But with the trouble that came to town… well, you were there. We had people shooting on Main Street! That kind of thing doesn’t happen in Big Cedar.” She laughed. “There was a time this town was so dead, and my business was barely hanging on, that I would have been glad for the commotion. At least folks would have been in town!”

Walker chuckled, too, but remained silent, eating his pie, as he let the woman continue.

“Now, though… well, all you Daddies and Littles and such moving in… it’s changed Big Cedar. It’s a wonderful place and I don’t want to see it burnt to the ground. Literally.”

“You’ve been around a while,” Walker said. “You have your finger on the pulse of this place. Is there any particular reason you think these fires aren’t random?”

“Like have I seen something?” Marsha asked, tilting her head to one side and studying him. “No. I haven’t seen anything. It’s more intuition. Something isn’t right around here, and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.”

That meant something to Walker. He trusted Marsha. She just had a wisdom about her that he could put stock in.

Plus, he felt the same way. But why? What was going on around there? He couldn’t put his finger on it, either.

And it was frustrating him beyond belief.

One thing was for certain: he needed to get a handle on things before another building burned. Or worse—before someone lost their life.

What he needed was some sort of break in this case.

As fate would have it, he was going to get that sooner rather than later. The bell above the door jingled and he looked past Marsha to see Jason Bennett hurrying in. Marsha shifted in the booth and looked behind her, too.

“Hey, Jason. Where’s that sweet Little of yours?” she called with a smile.

But the approaching man didn’t return her grin. Instead, he wore a grave expression that told Walker something was wrong.

The firefighter tensed. Was there another fire?

He would have gotten the call from dispatch if that was the case, so most likely Jason was here for something else.

That was proven correct a moment later when he said, “Hi, Marsha. Walker.” There wasn’t any small talk beyond that. He thrust out his phone to Walker, revealing a paused video on the screen. “Sorry to interrupt, but I saw you come in here a minute ago and I wanted to show you this. I just found it.”

Walker took the phone and said, “What is it?”

“Video from one of my game cameras,” Jason said.

His voice took on an even graver quality when he opened his mouth again to elaborate.

“And I think it captured someone in the woods setting a fire.”