Chapter 9
Lindsay entered the apparatus room, a laundry sack slung over her shoulder. They were having a slow day at the station, and the crew was using the lull to catch up on chores. She didn’t mind laundry detail. It beat the heck out of bathroom detail. For twenty-four out of every seventy-two hours, she shared close quarters with three men, none of whom understood the mechanics of a toilet seat: up when in use, down when not in use.
Dennis had bathroom detail today, and the image of him on his knees, scouring toilet bowls, brought a smile to her lips.
“You’re so mean, Lindsay,” she chided herself. The smile, however, remained.
Ever since almost catching her and Matt in the equipment room, Dennis had been acting differently around Lindsay. More than once, she’d caught him staring at her in a way that made her uncomfortable. And while she didn’t dislike him, neither did she trust him and preferred to keep her distance if at all possible.
She rounded the front of the engine and a movement above caught her attention. Matt kneeled on the chrome diamond plate over the side compartments, polishing the lights with a soft cloth. Drops of water remaining from when he’d washed down the engine gleamed brightly in the midafternoon sun.
Engrossed in his task, he didn’t see her approach. She glanced around and finding no witnesses, inched slowly forward until she stood directly beneath him.
There, she took in the view, and her smile expanded.
Bless the powers that be who, years before, authorized shorts for summer wear. Matt’s legs were long, well-muscled, and lightly tanned. His butt moved as his arm made small, circular sweeps. He had a great butt. She’d always thought so. Nowadays, however, she wasn’t limited to admiring it from a distance.
They’d spent almost every free night together the last month, usually at her place. Lindsay and Joey’s friendship remained strong, but she didn’t feel comfortable sleeping with Matt at his house while his roommate was there.
Often as not, Joey stayed with his ex-fiancée Karyn, who probably wouldn’t remain an ex much longer. If they became re-engaged Joey would probably move out. Matt and Lindsay hadn’t discussed the subject specifically, but she anticipated him asking her to move in with him in that event. To be honest, she didn’t know what her answer would be.
Cohabitating constituted a huge step and one she wasn’t ready to take. There was also the matter of work. Keeping their relationship a secret would be impossible if they shared the same address. And when Matt’s transfer finally came through, he’d pressure her that much more. He’d already implied as much.
Sooner or later, she’d have to make a decision.
But not yet. She still had time. For now, she enjoyed being with Matt, getting to know him better, and making love at every opportunity.
Taking another precautionary glance around the apparatus room, she pursed her lips and gave a low wolf whistle.
Matt’s head shot up and upon spotting her, his face split into a wide grin. “Careful. A guy could get the wrong idea.”
“Oh, I think you’ve got the right idea.”
“Is that an invitation for later?” he asked, his tone suggestive.
“Possibly. Absolutely.” She laughed and bent to retrieve some rags on the floor and added them to her laundry sack. “You through with these?”
“Yeah. I’ll drop the rest in the hamper when I’m done.” He returned to polishing the lights.
Lindsay resumed walking the apparatus room, scouting for any dirty laundry. It suddenly occurred to her she hadn’t seen Booter since they left the supply room earlier. The dog was usually around, underfoot, in her way, and generally making a nuisance of himself. Not that she minded. She’d come to love the big mutt and missed him terribly on her days off. If only her cat wasn’t so anti-dog, she’d consider adopting Booter permanently as Emilio had suggested.
Behind the engine, she almost tripped over the garden hose Matt had left lying on the floor. All at once, a little voice, intent on evil doing, whispered inside her head.
Do it!
Unable to resist, she set her laundry sack down and picked up the hose. The spray nozzle felt right in her hand, and the little voice whispered louder and louder.
Do it. Do it.
She peered around the comer of the engine. After determining the coast was clear, she snuck up on Matt, dragging the hose with her. He was still kneeling on top of the diamond plate, his back to her. And best of all, oblivious to her plans. Raising the spray nozzle, she took careful aim, pressed the release, and fired. A jet stream of water shot out, straight at him.
She nailed him dead center, soaking his entire backside. “Gotcha!”
With a howl of surprise, he rose up on his knees and twisted sideways, hanging onto the railing with one hand. Lindsay didn’t let up. Within seconds, the front half of him was also drenched.
Dropping the cloth and shielding his face from the blast, he yelled, “Enough already. I surrender.”
“What was that?” With her free hand, she cupped her ear, pretending not to hear him.
Matt swung a leg over the side, his foot finding purchase on one of the fold down steps. “I said I surrender.”
She showed mercy and let up on the release. The water slowed to a trickle. Holding the nozzle to her mouth, she blew on it, as one might blow on a smoking gun. Then she snickered.
He took another step down. “You’re going to pay for that. And pay plenty.” Eyes narrowed, he released his handhold and jumped the last few feet to the concrete floor.
Lindsay dropped the garden hose and scooted around the side of the engine to the back. Too late, she realized her mistake. She couldn’t return to the kitchen. Emilio was there, fixing lunch. Neither could she escape down the hall to the living quarters, not with Dennis busy scrubbing toilets.
That left only one place to go.
“You can run but you can’t hide,” Matt called to her in a singsong voice from the front of the engine.
Grabbing the top rung of a small ladder, she hauled herself up the back of the engine. She didn’t get far. Matt grabbed her from behind and pulled her down. With an arm banding her middle, he pinned her against his chest.
“I’ve got you now,” he whispered in her ear. Wrapping his other arm around her, he molded her to his shape, and she felt every inch of his hard, wet body from the back of her neck to the back of her calves. “The only question now is: how shall I punish you?”
Lindsay’s heart raced, and they both breathed heavily. The game had changed, taking on a new dimension.
“I’m sorry, Matt. I couldn’t help myself.” She squirmed and tried to pry his arms loose when he dug his fingers into her ribs. “Please don’t tickle me.”
His voice deepened, became husky with desire. “That’s not the kind of punishment I had in mind.”
She knew what he was implying, and her heart beat even faster. There was a line at work, and they were careful not to cross it. Occasionally, they lost control and stepped over the line, but never to the extent they had that time in the equipment room.
“I can’t wait,” she answered, heat pooling in her middle. There were days when the end of their shift couldn’t come fast enough.
“Hey, Pfeiffer!” Dennis’ shout echoed through the apparatus room.
Instantly, Lindsay and Matt sprung apart. Saying nothing, they each took different routes. He climbed the engine, as she had attempted to a few minutes earlier, and she hurried back to where she’d left her laundry sack.
“Pfeiffer. Where are you?”
“Over here.”
“Didn’t you hear me?” Dennis asked grumpily as he approached her.
“I was in the weight room.” Lindsay knotted the drawstring on the laundry sack. “What’s up?”
“Seen your dog lately?”
Something about the look in his eyes set her nerves on edge. “Why? Is he missing?”
“We should be so lucky.”
Lindsay constantly worried that Booter might one day revert to his former stray self and take off for parts unknown. The station grounds weren’t fenced and the large overhead doors remained open most of the time, particularly in summer. Nothing, other than an addiction to free food and a burgeoning loyalty to Lindsay, prevented the dog from leaving. His training was coming along, and he certainly seemed to consider the station his home. But not all the crew treated him with affection, Dennis among them.
Other than his chewing habit, which no amount of discipline had so far corrected, Booter learned quickly and was an ideal canine student. Their daily lessons were more fun than a hardship. Sometimes, when she wasn’t too busy, she’d take him on a walk in the neighborhood or at the park down the road where she and Matt sometimes swam in the public pool.
“What’s wrong, then?”
“Cap sent me to find you. The stupid dog’s sick.” Dennis made an ugly face. “Puking all over the place. It’s disgusting.”
“Where is he?” Alarm surged inside her.
“In the kitchen. Cap’s with him.”
Lindsay dropped her laundry sack and bolted. She heard noises behind her, possibly Matt climbing down from the engine. She didn’t stop to wait for him.
Booter sat in the middle of the kitchen floor, his head hanging between his front legs. He looked up at Lindsay as she entered the room, his dull eyes full of misery. Rather than bound over to greet her, he lowered himself slowly to the floor, as if every little movement caused him pain.
Emilio was also on the floor, cleaning vomit up with a paper towel. He stood as Lindsay fell to her knees beside Booter.
“Hello, sweetie,” she crooned to the dog, stroking his ears. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” He felt warm to the touch.
Emilio came and stood beside her. “One minute, he was fine. The next, he started throwing up. I think he ate something he shouldn’t have.”
“Spoiled food?” Lindsay had tried to remove temptation from the dog’s path by relocating the trash can to the pantry. But old habits were difficult to break, and the dog outsmarted her now and then.
“Could be.” Emilio crouched down beside Lindsay. “The stuff’s clear, if that has any significance. What were you and he doing earlier?”
Lindsay continued stroking the dog’s head. “He was with me in the equipment room early this morning while I was restocking the medical supplies. I remember getting after him because he was nosing around some of the boxes.” Suddenly it hit her. “Oh, God. The latex gloves!” She sprung to her feet. “He was chewing on one and I took it away from him. I’ll be right back.” She ran off, knocking into Matt, who stood near the doorway with Dennis.
In the equipment room, her worst fears were realized. Booter had obviously returned at some point. The cardboard box containing the latex gloves lay on the floor, tom open. A dozen gloves were scattered about, many in pieces. It was impossible to tell how many he’d ingested. The box held hundreds. She returned as fast as she could to the kitchen.
“He ate latex gloves,” she said in a breathless rush.
“Stupid dog.” Dennis started to leave. “I hope he croaks.”
Matt stepped in front of him. “Shut up, Bigelow.”
“Yeah?” Dennis puffed up. “You gonna make me?”
“Stop it!” Lindsay hollered at them, tears stinging her eyes. She turned to Emilio. “I’m taking him to the vet.” She remembered Mahina’s new boyfriend, Dr. Travis Montgomery. “There’s one in the shopping center across the street.”
He nodded. “Matt. Bring her a radio while we transport the dog to her car.”
“You got it.”
Dennis stayed in the station while Emilio and Lindsay carried Booter to her car and settled him on a blanket in the front passenger seat.
A minute later, Matt met them and handed her a two-way radio. “Can you manage alone or do you want me to come with you?”
“I’ll be all right.” She shot him a brief look of gratitude, then climbed in behind the steering wheel. “Thanks. For everything,” she said, hoping he understood how much she appreciated him standing up to Dennis.
Emilio slammed the passenger door shut. Worry lines creased his face. “Call us as soon as you know something.”
“I will.” The tires screeched as she sped off.
~~*~~
“I’M AFRAID THE news isn’t good,” a grim-faced Travis informed Lindsay.
Her panic escalated. “Tell me.”
He clipped an X-ray film onto a lighted panel. They were in the examination room where he’d first seen Booter. The dog was in another part of the animal hospital, sedated and hooked up to an IV.
“The X-rays aren’t conclusive.” Travis pointed with a pencil to a swirling mass in varying shades of grey that meant nothing to Lindsay.
“But there has to be something there. He’s so sick.”
“You say he ate latex gloves?”
“Yes. This morning. I don’t know how many.”
Lindsay searched Travis’ face for some indication of Booter’s prognosis. She’d met the vet twice in the last few weeks, both times at Mahina’s apartment. Lindsay had liked him immediately, warming to his easygoing charm. Now, in this situation, his compassion toward Booter inspired her confidence.
He tapped his chin with the pencil eraser. “Clear latex won’t show up on an X-ray. But given his history and condition, I’d say there’s a blockage of some kind. The question is, how big.” He removed the X-ray and placed it in a large white envelope and wrote Booter’s name, along with some other information, on the flap.
“How do we find out?”
“I suggest we do a contrast film, which is more involved than a simple X-ray. We’ll have to anaesthetize him, give him barium. The entire procedure takes about two hours, but we’ll know for sure what’s in there when we’re done. It’s costly, too.” The look he gave her told her he’d understand and support any decision she made.
“I don’t care about the cost.”
“If the blockage isn’t too large, he may pass it on his own.”
“And if it is too large?” Lindsay hated asking, but she had to know.
“Then he won’t pass it.”
Travis didn’t expound. He didn’t need to. She understood the probable outcome in that case.
Death.
She swallowed a sob. There had to be another solution. “What else can we do?”
“I can attempt to remove the blockage surgically.”
“What are his chances?”
“Better than without surgery. He’s young and healthy. And we discovered the problem early. But there’s always a risk of complications,” he cautioned.
“Do it”
He nodded. “You’re making the right decision.”
“I hope so.” She bit her bottom lip. This was her fault. Why hadn’t she moved the box of gloves to a shelf when she’d first found Booter chewing one?
“I’ll try my best to save him.” Travis gave her a reassuring smile.
“Thank you.” She swiped at her damp cheeks. “Can I wait outside in the reception area?”
“Why don’t you go back to the station? Two hours is a long time. I’ll call you the minute I know something.”
She shook her head stubbornly. “I’m staying.”
“All right.” He squeezed her shoulder before leaving.
Lindsay didn’t wait long. Less than twenty minutes later, her radio went off. Leaving word with Travis’ receptionist, she hightailed it to the station. No matter what, work came first. She had to respond.
~~*~~
LINDSAY CHEWED ON a thumbnail, counting the seconds it took for Dennis to pull the engine into the station and park it.
Too many. What was the hold up?
The call, their second since Lindsay left Booter at Travis’ clinic, had taken longer than usual because of extreme circumstances. Lindsay remained focused while necessary, but on the ride back to the station, she’d thought only of Booter and any impending word on his condition.
She couldn’t escape the confining cab fast enough. The blaring radio grated on her nerves like chalk on a blackboard. When the engine at last came to a complete stop, she flung the door open, leapt from the rear seat, and ran to the kitchen.
There, she checked the voice mails on both her cell phone and the station phone. No message from Travis.
“Damn,” Lindsay muttered under her breath.
She should have heard by now. He’d called earlier to tell her the contrast films he’d taken showed a sizeable mass at the top of Booter’s small intestines. As they’d agreed, Travis proceeded with the surgery. That was shortly after lunch. The digital clock on the desk now read 4:10.
Did no news mean good news, or had one of the complications he’d warned her about materialized?
Replacing the receiver, Lindsay pressed a hand to her stomach. Guilt, worry, and frustration battled for dominance. A dozen ‘if only’ scenarios skipped through her mind. At an unexpected tap on her shoulder, she jumped, her hand flying to her throat.
Upon seeing Matt, she relaxed. “I’m a little on edge.”
“Understandable.” He gazed at her expectantly. “Did the vet call?”
Shaking her head, she expelled a long sigh.
He smiled encouragingly. “That dog has a cast iron stomach. You’ve seen some of the junk he’s eaten.”
“Nothing like this.”
“He’ll be all right.”
“You don’t know that,” she snapped.
“No, I don’t. But I want him to be all right. For your sake as much as his. Part of having a relationship with someone is being there for them. Saying what you think they want to hear.”
“I’m sorry.” Lindsay instantly regretted losing her temper. Matt had done nothing except offer his support. “You didn’t deserve that.”
“Hey. What are friends for?” He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
Lindsay remembered he’d done the same thing that day at the dunking tank. In a moment of sudden clarity, she realized the depths of his feelings for her. His simple show of support held more meaning, carried more weight, than any lavish display of love and affection.
A hundred words were on the tip of her tongue. She uttered only two. “Thank you.”
“Go on.” He jerked his head toward the living quarters. “Take a shower. You’re a mess.”
That brought a smile to her lips, albeit a weak one. She was a mess. They all were. In a freak accident, an older model van caught fire in the middle of downtown traffic. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. But there had been an incredible amount of thick, black smoke which left behind an oily residue on their clothes, skin, and hair.
“You sure know how to flatter a girl.” Lindsay’s cell phone suddenly rang. She ripped it from her pocket, noting the unfamiliar number. “Hello!”
“Lindsay? It’s Travis.”
“How’s Booter?” she asked without preamble and instinctively reached for Matt. His hand locked with hers.
“He’s fine. Came through surgery with flying colors.” “Thank God.” She paused to collect herself. “When can I see him?”
“He’s still groggy, of course, and will be for quite a while. I want to keep him here for at least two days. Maybe three. Why don’t you come by in the morning? He’ll be alert by then and ready for visitors.”
“I’m off duty at eight a.m. Is that too early?”
“No, that’ll be fine. We don’t open until nine on Saturdays, so come to the side door and ring the bell.”
“Will do.”
“If you’d like,” Travis continued, “I can call you before I head home this evening and give you a status report. Text you a picture if you want.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Sleep easy tonight, Lindsay. The worst is over.”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s me who should thank you.”
“Why?”
“For giving me a chance to impress Mahina.” He laughed good-naturedly. “Talk me up a bit, will you? Convince her I performed a miracle.”
“It was a miracle.”
He didn’t answer right away. When he did, his tone had sobered. “Some days are better than others.”
How well Lindsay knew that. “I’ll say.” She hung up the phone and without conscious thought, spun around and flung herself into Matt’s arms. “Booter’s going to make it.”
He enveloped her in a warm hug. “I told you so.”
She hid her face, somewhat chagrined at the tears pricking her eyes. Horrible events were a daily occurrence on the job, and she considered herself made of stronger stuff.
“I’m being silly,” she said, extricating herself from Matt’s embrace and dabbing at her sniffly nose. “He’s just a dog.”
“You care about him. Nothing silly in that.”
Matt’s fingers curled around the column of her neck, and his thumb stroked her cheek. Lindsay closed her eyes, letting herself sink into the soothing emotions his touch evoked. He drew her to him and lowered his head until their temples brushed. She started to say something.
He quieted her with a soft, “Shh.”
“Don’t let me interrupt you two lovebirds,” Dennis said from the doorway.
Lindsay froze.
Matt cursed softly and let his arm drop to his side. Keeping his expression neutral, he stepped back from her and pivoted to face Dennis. “You’re not interrupting anything. Lindsay’s just worried about the dog.”
“Looks to me like I was.” Dennis strutted into the room. “Kinda like that night in the storage room. Only this time, you can’t lie your way out of it.” His mouth curved into a mean smile, and he clasped the sides of his face in a pantomime of distress. “Oh, dear. My poor sensibilities are offended. I’ll have to report this indiscretion to the captain. I wonder what he’ll say?”
Matt must have nerves of steel for he acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She, on the other hand, was a wreck.
What they’d done was completely and unquestionably against regulations. No intimate contact of any kind outside of what was necessary in the line of duty. Matt could try and dismiss it, and someone other than Dennis might understand and overlook it, but that didn’t change the fact she and Matt had committed a serious violation.
“Don’t,” Matt warned, pushing past Lindsay. “Don’t make this into more than it is.”
Dennis snorted a crude laugh. “A little too late for that.”
Lindsay sensed impending disaster and trying to head if off, raised her hands in supplication. “Hey, you guys. Take it easy, okay?”
“Butt out, Pfeiffer.” Dennis took his eyes off Matt only long enough to glare menacingly at her.
Matt ignored her completely and addressed Dennis. “What are you going to tell Emilio? That you walked in on us during an innocent hug?”
“Innocent hug, my ass.” Dennis shifted tactics, shrugging his beefy shoulders. “Hey, it’s none of my business what goes on between you two. But Fire Administration? I’m thinking they’ll be very interested to learn Lindsay’s putting out for a coworker during work hours. Course, I might be willing to overlook what I just saw.” He openly leered at her. “If Pfeiffer’s willing to share the goods.”
Matt covered the distance between him and Dennis in the span of a single heartbeat. Dennis clearly didn’t expect that kind of reaction from Matt. His eyes bulged with alarm when Matt, taller, but many pounds lighter, grabbed him by the shirt front and shoved him into the wall with a hard thrust.
“Geeze, man,” Dennis hollered. “Are you nuts?”
“Don’t you ever insult her like that again. Do you hear me?” Matt spoke through clenched teeth, his dark, angry face inches from Dennis’.
“Screw you, Callahan.” Dennis shoved Matt, but his efforts to budge the man towering over him failed.
Lindsay frantically glanced around the kitchen for something, anything, to stop them. A fistfight was grounds for immediate dismissal, regardless of who started it. Matt and Dennis would both lose their jobs, and she couldn’t let that happen. The situation had blown way out of proportion.
But how to stop them? Placing herself in the middle wasn’t an option for obvious reasons. All at once, an image of her holding the garden hose and spraying Matt flashed in her mind. Lunging toward the sink, she flipped on the faucet, grabbed the water sprayer, and took aim. Water shot out, showering the two men with a cold, wet spray.
It worked. They fell apart in a frenzy of flailing arms and oaths.
Wiping his face with his hands, Dennis turned from Matt to Lindsay. “You bitch,” he shouted.
“Leave her alone.” Matt leaned on the refrigerator door, his chest heaving. “She just saved our jobs.”
Had she? Lindsay hoped so.
“You’re not getting away with this.” Dennis jabbed the air with his finger. “Either of you.”
“What the hell is going on here?” Emilio appeared in the kitchen doorway wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else. Fresh from the shower, his damp hair stuck out in several places, and he looked ready to kill somebody. “I heard you all the way in the bathroom.”
“Matt started it. He—”
“Save it for later.” Emilio cut Dennis off, then surveyed the room. With a disgusted shake of his head, he said, “Clean up this mess. All of you.” He turned to leave. “Callahan, I’ll see you in my office in fifteen minutes. After that, Bigelow and then Pfeiffer.”
Following protocol, Emilio called a meeting with all three crew members an hour after their private interviews. “I’ve heard from each of you individually,” he began. “What say we see how the story changes when you’re together?” He nodded at Lindsay. “You first.”
She gave her version of what happened, the same as she had when she and Emilio met earlier.
“Dr. Montgomery called from the animal hospital with the news that Booter came through the surgery fine. I was so relieved when I hung up the phone, I hugged Matt. That was it. No big deal.”
“You are aware that any physical contact between two firefighters not necessary to the performance of your job is strictly prohibited?”
“Of course I am.”
“Yet you hugged.”
It had been difficult enough for Lindsay when she’d met with just Emilio. Having to repeat the story in front of Matt and Dennis was excruciating. “I didn’t think.”
“Did he try to kiss you?”
“No.” She shook her head emphatically.
“Bullshit,” Dennis interjected.
“Quiet.” Emilio scowled at him. “You’ll have your turn.”
Dennis grumbled, but did as he was told.
“Go on.” Emilio motioned for Lindsay to continue.
“Dennis walked in on us and jumped to the wrong conclusion. He then made a comment. Directed at me.”
“Describe the comment.”
Lindsay gnawed on her bottom lip, debating. “He implied that I’m involved...sexually, that is, with Matt. The term he used was far from flattering.”
“I see. What did you do?”
“Nothing.” The admission shamed her.
“What did Matt do?”
She gnawed on her bottom lip again. To answer truthfully put Matt in a bad light. Yet what choice did she have?
“Lindsay?” Emilio prompted.
“Matt charged Dennis. But he was only trying to defend me,” she added hastily.
“Did Dennis threaten you?”
“Oh, no!”
“Then why was Matt defending you?”
“Not from any physical threat.” Lindsay swallowed. Everything was going terribly wrong, and she didn’t know how to fix it. “More like defending my honor.”
Dennis made a rude sound.
Matt stared out the window.
“All right.” Emilio’s gaze landed on Dennis. “What have you to add?”
“In a nutshell, I came into the kitchen and found them in, shall we say, a compromising situation.”
“Were they touching?”
“Close enough to swap spit.”
Emilio considered a moment. “Did you say something to them?”
“Of course I said something.”
“Would you define your comment as unflattering?”
For the first time during the interview, Dennis lost some of his cockiness. “She deserved it.”
“I didn’t ask you if she deserved it.”
Dennis fidgeted in his seat. “I wouldn’t call it a compliment.”
Emilio jotted a note on a pad of paper. He’d already filled numerous pages. Then he turned to Matt. “Your turn.”
Matt didn’t immediately respond and continued staring at the window.
Lindsay’s sweat-dampened shirt stuck to her and itched like mad.
“We’re waiting.” Emilio drummed his fingers on his desktop:
Matt brought his attention back to the group, and in a dispassionate voice, said, “She was relieved when the vet called. The hug was both impulsive and innocent. Afterwards, I didn’t want to let her go.” A spark flickered briefly in his eyes. “What can I say? I’m a guy. She’s an attractive woman. An opportunity to hold her presented itself and I took it. Dennis walked in on us. He made a remark I took issue with and I got mad. The entire incident is my fault.”
“Don’t listen to him.” Lindsay almost came out of her chair. “It isn’t all his fault.”
Emilio shot her a warning look, and she quickly returned to her chair. “Are you admitting you took advantage of Lindsay and then instigated a confrontation with Dennis?” he asked Matt.
Matt nodded stonily. “Yes, I am.”
Emilio jotted down more notes.
Dennis grunted with satisfaction.
Lindsay struggled to make sense of the last ten minutes. What did Matt hope to gain by shouldering the blame? They’d all contributed to varying degrees, her more than Dennis. If she hadn’t hugged Matt...
Then all at once, she knew. Matt was protecting her. Both her career and her reputation.
Damn him!
Emilio dropped his pencil, reclined in his chair and stiffly flexed the fingers of his right hand. “I want a written report from each of you on my desk by the end of the shift. After I’ve reviewed them and checked with Fire Administration, I’ll advise you of my decision. The process may take several days. Until then, you’re not to discuss the matter with anyone else in the department or with each other. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.
“Dismissed.”
They exited Emilio’s office single file, Lindsay in the lead. For the first time since becoming a firefighter, she planned on deliberately disobeying a direct order from her captain. She would definitely talk to Matt about this. And soon.