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at getting insider information about this community. “There are six of us, though I haven’t seen my siblings in a while. I’ve been too busy to get home in the last few months.”
    “You should make the effort,” she said. “Life is short. You wouldn’t believe the people I come in contact with that would give their right arm to have one more conversation with their loved ones.”
    “I’m working on it.” Wyatt turned his attention from the mini-lecture to the ashes. “Has anyone been out here salvaging material from the site?”
    “I don’t know for sure, but this is how the place looked yesterday when I came out to refresh my memory. Is something missing?”
    “Without knowing more details, I can’t say, but something about this place feels wrong. I can’t put my finger on it yet, but it’ll come to me.”
    He sampled the burnt sand and sealed it in his paint cans. He hacked out a chunk of deeply alligatored wood that smelled like gasoline, made notes about what was visible, and snapped photos. He noted the wood paneling and floors had been tongue-in-groove construction. They’d sealed the fire for awhile, allowing it to superheat inside the restaurant.
    From the destruction of the structure, the lack of artifacts in the ashes, the smoke inhalation victim, the candles and dryer sheets for fire starters, and the isolated location, this felt very much like his arsonist. Since Wyatt had arrived three days after the fire, chances were slim the man was still in the area.
    But by God, if he was, Wyatt would nail him, no matter what it took.

Chapter 6
    After walking through the ashes with the arson investigator, Laurie Ann felt confined in his midsize pickup. Her heart beat a little too fast, and she was very aware of the man beside her. He smelled like wood smoke, ocean breeze, and testosterone. The perfect trifecta for her tastes, which was a crying shame, given her policy of not dating her colleagues.
    No one should smell that good.
    It didn’t help that he met her height criteria either. At six-two, he was neither bone thin nor packing forty extra pounds. He looked … just right. Better yet, he was all business. No teasing. No flirting.
    No sad puppy dog eyes because she didn’t fall all over him.
    His commanding attitude, which had seemed abrasive over the phone, still chafed, but she understood he had a job to do. She was merely the tour guide. Focused and forthright, he’d complete his investigation in short order.
    The surprise was that Wyatt had opened up to her about his family. With his many siblings, he had a gaggle of relatives. They came from different worlds.
    When he cranked the motor, she turned to him. “Where to next?”
    “I’ll drop you at the station. I need to mail my samples for analysis immediately. Do you have the contact information for the owners?”
    Erlene at the Tax Commissioner’s office had given her the Foxworths’ phone number. “It’s in my report. Ellie and Glen Foxworth live in Jacksonville. Investigator Rusty Rawson spoke with them after the fire. They have a solid alibi.”
    “How do you explain the body in the fire?” he asked.
    Good question. Brown’s gaunt face flitted through her memory and stirred her emotions. “James Brown did odd jobs around town, but he had no fixed address and spent every penny he came across on booze. Most of his life he was a quiet drunk, but lately, we received plenty of drunk and disorderly calls on him.”
    “Lately, as in the last week?”
    “More like the last three months. Seemed like he was angry about something, so we locked him up, he slept it off, and he’d be back out on the street the next day.” A memory flickered at the edge of her mind. “At one time...oh, never mind.”
    He glanced her way before halting at the four-way stop. “What?”
    She waited until he cleared the intersection before answering. “We had some break-ins a while back, and we could never pin them on a single suspect. James Brown was seen