Gold in the Fire and Light in the Storm Read Online Free Page A

fire captain was named Arnold. He showed me the ropes. I wanted to honor him so I named Arnold after him.”
    Sean placed his forefinger on his chin. “Hmm. That’s a thought.”
    “Well, young man, right now you need to get up to the house and wash up before dinner. You know how Lizzy is about clean hands.”
    “But, Mom, you and Joshua just got here.”
    “Joshua’s coming to dinner, so you can talk to him at the table. That is, if you pass Lizzy’s inspection.”
    “I will.” He raced from the stall.
    Joshua chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever been used as a bribe to get someone to wash up.”
    “As a parent you learn to use any trick you can.”
    “I’m flattered.”
    “My son was quite taken with you and Arnold.”
    His smile reached deep into his blue eyes. “Maybe I can bring Arnold out here one day.”
    “You’ll make my son’s day.” Darcy left the stall, and after closing its door, led the way into the barn to check each of the newly arrived mares to make sure they were settled. Joshua’s quiet study of her heightened her awareness of him.
    Outside, a line of oaks and maples hid the sun, dusk beginning to settle over the yard. “What made you become an arson investigator?” she asked, relishing the breeze caressing her face, cooling her cheeks.
    “I decided it was the best of both worlds.”
    “What worlds?”
    “When I was growing up, I would fluctuate between wanting to be a firefighter and a police officer. I fight fires, but I also investigate any that are suspicious in nature.”
    “Do you have many in Sweetwater?” Darcy thought of her hometown and the people she knew and couldn’t imagine too many arsonists in the bunch.
    “No, not usually, but with Arnold I cover more than just this area of Kentucky.”
    “But now there’s a chance you have a serial arsonist in Sweetwater?”
    Joshua paused at the gate to the paddock. Rolling his shoulders, he rubbed the back of his neck, apparently trying to massage a stiffness. “It’s looking like that. If these fires continue, someone is going to die. I have to stop the person before that.”
    “You think it’s one person?”
    “Most likely. That’s how arsonists work usually.”
    Darcy again stopped and greeted Bluebell before continuing across the pasture toward the main house. “Do you usually catch an arsonist?”
    “Arson cases are difficult to prosecute.”
    She quaked at the thought that the person responsible for setting three barn fires so far would go unpunished. A mare died last night, but that could have been a person trapped in the barn. She could have been trapped in the barn if Jake hadn’t insisted she get out before she had a chance to save the last mare. That she wasn’t able to help the horse plagued her, making it doubly important that they discover who set the fire. “Then your job is quite a challenge,” she murmured, hoping this case was an exception.
    “Especially when we have random fires with no apparent reason. It’s one thing when someone burns down a building to collect the insurance money or for some other financial reason. Usually we can catch that person. But with no connection between the fires, it’s hard to know what’s motivating the arsonist.”
    “Didn’t you say some people burn buildings just to watch them burn?”
    “Yes, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.”
    Darcy mounted the steps to the veranda. “Why?”
    Joshua frowned, looking back toward the place where the burned rumble of the barn lay in a large mound. “Call it a hunch. Just a feeling I can’t shake. Something’s driving this person—something to do with farms, barns, horses.”
    “That doesn’t narrow down too many people in and around Sweetwater, with this being in the middle of the Bluegrass area of Kentucky.”
    “I know. I have my work cut out for me.” Joshua held the front door open for Darcy. “But from what I understand, running a farm isn’t an easy task. I’d say you have your