Neighing with Fire: A Mystery (Colleen McCabe Series) by Kathryn O'Sullivan Page B

on the windows and the Dumpster in the driveway confirmed that it was a house under construction. The initials “AS” on the side of the Dumpster indicated that it was one of Pinky Salvatore’s.
    She eyed the smoke engulfing the neighboring house and yelled, “Jimmy, evacuate the house next door.”
    Jimmy nodded to Chip, who sprinted to the neighboring house and helped evacuate the residents to a safe distance across the street. Moments later, flames shot through a window of Pinky’s building, raced up the side of the house, and stretched toward the house next door, just out of reach.
    “Did you get the man out?” the attractive woman in her thirties asked Chip as he helped her and her son.
    “What man?” Chip asked.
    “The one that was in that house,” the woman said, indicating the burning building.
    Colleen’s heart skipped a beat. Someone was inside. “Send rescue in,” she called, and Jimmy signaled Chip and Kenny, who were already positioning their oxygen masks over their faces. They grabbed their tools, a thermal imaging camera, and rushed to the burning structure.
    “Give ’em some help, fellas,” Jimmy said to Bobby and the guys on the hoses.
    Her men opened up the nozzle and aimed the water toward the flames as their comrades entered the house. Colleen bit the inside of her lip. It was a nervous habit she had whenever her men were in danger and wouldn’t go away until they were all out safely.
    The wooden dwelling was burning fast, and because much of it was still under construction and open to the elements the flames were getting plenty of oxygen. Colleen scanned the crowd for the woman who had reported seeing a man inside.
    “You said you saw someone inside?” she asked the woman. “Are you sure?”
    The woman nodded. “He was talking with another man not too long ago.”
    “He was yelling at the funny-looking man,” interjected the woman’s child.
    “There were two men?” Colleen asked.
    The woman gestured for her son to be quiet and said, “The other man left.”
    “Thank you,” she said and joined Jimmy.
    “How are they doing in there?” she asked with concern.
    “They haven’t found anyone,” Jimmy said.
    The walkie-talkies buzzed with static. “It’s getting pretty hot in here, Chief,” she and Jimmy heard Chip say.
    Chip wasn’t known to show concern about his own safety, especially when he thought someone was inside. The fact that he was mentioning the heat told her he was worried. She hated pulling her guys out but it was preferable to going to one of their funerals.
    “Time to get out, Chip,” she said into the walkie-talkie.
    “On our way.”
    “They’re coming out,” Jimmy called to the rehab team, the crew responsible for tending to the health issues of the firefighters.
    Bobby and the other guys on the hose were winning the battle with the fire on the side of the house. The house next door would be spared. Chip and Kenny emerged from the front of the house, dashed down the steps, removed their oxygen masks, and took bottles of water from the rehab team. Chip was exhausted and, Colleen knew, disappointed that he hadn’t come out with anyone alive. She made eye contact with Jimmy, who was talking with Chip and Kenny. Jimmy gave her a thumbs-up that they were okay.
    It took her men about an hour to extinguish the fire completely, after which they went inside to check for any rekindle and to open up walls. With the ground saturated from the tropical storm, it hadn’t taken long for the water from the hoses to transform the street into a two-inch-deep river. The house would need to be torn down, but she was proud that her men had managed to save enough of it that evidence as to what started the blaze might still be present.
    “Hey, Chief,” Bobby called from the doorway of the house.
    “What is it?” she asked, gazing up at him.
    He held his arm at his side, pointed his index finger toward the ground, and waved the hand two times. The hair on her neck