“Okay, boys and girls,” Captain Bishop called out.

Remi looked up to see him emerge from his office with a slightly pudgy man in a gray suit with gray, wavy hair and black framed glasses. It had been a slow Sunday shift so far, but after the pileup on Thursday night, Remi wasn’t complaining.

Most of the team were sitting around watching more sharks on the Discovery Channel. Travis had passed Remi a bag of pretzels an hour ago. He hoped that meant their feud was officially put to bed.

The captain pointed the pen in his hand toward the gray-looking fella. “This here’s Mr. Epstein from the fire investigation team over in Houston. Y’all might remember him from that business back in April.”

Oh, yeah. Now Bishop mentioned it, Remi did kind of recognize the guy. That had been so crazy with the explosions around town. That was some shady CIA business, he was sure. They’d never officially heard back on those reports. Remi assumed it was above his paygrade.

Epstein took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. “This damn town,” he muttered.

“Epstein and his team have concluded their findings on the Bottom’s Up fire,” said Bishop. It looked like it pained him every time he had to say the bar’s name. Remi glanced at Alondra and they both suppressed a snicker at his discomfort.

His next words wiped the smile off Remi’s face, however.

The captain sighed. “It looks like it was arson.”

“Arson?” Remi repeated. Immediately, his thoughts flashed to Kris. Jesus, fuck. He could have been really hurt if someone had set that fire on purpose.

Epstein nodded and slipped his glasses back on. “It seems we have a town of fire starters!” he cried in disbelief.

Remi thought that was taking it a bit far. On the whole, Hidden Creek was usually a calm and quiet sort of place. This guy was bound to think differently, though, if the only reason he came was to investigate suspect blazes.

“I need someone to take Mr. Epstein over to the bar so he can discuss the matter further with its owner, Mr. Maddox,” Bishop said. “Any volunteers.”

Ordinarily, Remi and the guys would do anything to get out of babysitting duty. What if they missed a call while they were out? But today, Remi stood and raised his hand. “I’ll do it, sir,” he said.

He felt like Travis might have twitched below him. But he was slightly out of Remi’s eyeline. He was probably already lining up jokes about Remi looking out for his ‘boyfriend’s’ job. Well, fuck him. He could make jokes like that all he liked.

The truth was, Remi was concerned on Kris’s behalf, and he wanted to learn everything he could on the matter. Especially if some fucker had torched the place intentionally.

“Excellent, thank you, Washington,” the captain said. “You’re in safe hands with Remi, Mr. Epstein. I’m here if you need anything further.”

Epstein nodded and strode over to Remi. “Thank you kindly,” he said. “Please lead the way.”

Remi wanted to ask the guy more about the investigation on the drive across town. But Epstein spent the entire journey on the phone alternating between his wife and teenage son, from what Remi could catch. It sounded like his son had gotten in trouble at summer camp.

Remi felt sorry for Epstein as he pinched the bridge of his nose under his glasses and sighed. “I know, I know, Tommy,” he said. “But…please. Can you just try? If not for me, for your mom.” There was a pause while Remi made a right turn. “Thank you. That’s all I’m asking. Okay, I’ll see you soon, okay?”

He closed the call and Remi tried to pretend like he hadn’t heard any of it. But Epstein sighed again and looked over at him from the passenger seat.

“You got kids?” he asked.

Remi glanced at him and gave him a sympathetic smile. “No, sir,” he said. “Not yet, anyway.”

Epstein rubbed his gray, stubbled jaw and slipped his phone back in his breast pocket. “The thing is, Tommy’s a great kid. He really is. He’s just suddenly gotten so angry.”

“I think all teenagers get angry at some point,” Remi offered. Epstein nodded and gave him a half smile in return. Remi suspected his words weren’t much comfort, but he did truly hope the guy’s kid worked out what was making him lose his shit.

They pulled into the empty parking lot beside Bottom’s Up. The building looked charred and sad in the daylight. A husk of what it had been before.

Remi recognized Kris’s boss, PJ, as he stood looking up at the damage with a couple of guys in hard hats. Contractors, Remi guessed. They were probably giving him a quote for the restoration. PJ squinted through glasses in the afternoon sunshine at Remi and Epstein as they got out of Remi’s car. He lifted his hand to block out the glare and walked closer to them.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked pleasantly enough.

Epstein nodded and did up the middle button on his gray jacket. “David Epstein,” he said, offering out his hand as they came together.

“PJ Maddox,” was PJ’s reply as they shook.

Epstein nodded, apparently expecting that, then released his hand. “I’m with the fire investigation team out of Houston.” He nodded toward the remains of the bar. “I believe you’ve been informed this was a deliberate blaze.”

PJ shrugged. “Yeah,” he said. “They told me you guys had all the evidence you needed and I was good to go ahead with the rebuild. I’m losing money here.”

Epstein blinked, then nodded. “Yes, that’s correct,” he said.

Remi’s eyebrows shot up over his sunglasses. “You don’t seem all that surprised it was arson, Mr. Maddox?”

PJ shrugged again. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said, shaking his head. “It fucking sucks. But we’ve been getting regular threats for a while now. Nothing specific, so I didn’t go to the police. But this kind of place? Nah, I’m not all that surprised. I just thank god whoever did it waited until everyone had gone home, you know? And then my guy made it out, too.” He shook his head and whistled. “It’s a damn miracle. This could have been a hell of a lot worse.”

Remi had to agree with that. He counted his blessings they were dealing with arson here and not a terrorist attack. The mere thought sent chills down his spine. It was almost too awful to think about something like that happening in a town like Hidden Creek.

“A place like this?” Epstein repeated.

PJ nodded. “A gay bar. There are some folks who really take offense to that, as I’m sure you’re aware. I’m not part of the community myself, but I was proud to run this place for the LGBT folks.” He looked back at the building. “Will do again, soon.”

“Huh,” said Epstein, nodding. Remi was relieved. For a second, he’d worried Epstein might have not taken that news well. Perhaps reacted like Travis with the attitude that it was ‘only a gay bar and maybe if they didn’t prance about so much, people wouldn’t light the place on fire.’ But Epstein just scanned the remains of the bar’s exterior with a look of concentration. “Threats?” he asked, getting right to the point.

PJ nodded. “Mostly direct messaging on our social media accounts. I can put them all together and email them over, if you like?”

“Please,” Epstein said. “Is there anything else you can think of? Any unusual activity or anything you might have seen that was out of the ordinary?”

PJ shifted from foot to foot. He already looked like he wanted to get back to his contractors who had tape measures and calculators out as they slowly paced in front of the bar. It was going to be a pretty substantial restoration, Remi guessed.

“I left the place right after closing,” PJ said. “If anyone saw anything, it would be the guy that closed up, Kris Novak.” He glanced at Remi. “He’s the one that lived above the place, too. You guys pulled him out?”

“I pulled him out myself,” Remi said. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling so defensive. “He was asleep when the alarm went off. Not sure what he might have seen.”

Epstein was writing in a small notebook he had produced from somewhere on his person. “He could have noticed someone suspicious hanging around the bar when he took out the trash,” he said. “Something like that. You never know. I’d like to speak to him at some point, if you have his contact details?”

PJ sighed and gestured towards the bar. “Somewhere in there, I guess?”

Remi hesitated. He wasn’t sure how this would look, but he wasn’t comfortable with obstructing an official investigation. Besides, Kris didn’t have anything to hide. Remi didn’t need to worry about him talking to Epstein. He seemed on the level.

“He’s a friend of the family,” Remi said, pulling out his cell phone. “I can give you his number.”

Epstein smiled at him and nodded. “That would be great, thanks. Any idea of an address?”

Remi smiled back at him, telling himself this was no big deal. “Actually, he’s staying with me. So, yeah, I know my address. Obviously,” he added, feeling dumber by the minute. Epstein didn’t appear to mind, though. He just copied down the details Remi told him.

What was Remi really worried about here? That these guys might assume something about him?

About him and Kris?

So what? Remi was psyching himself up to come out of the closet. Soon, if he could manage it. They would be correct if they thought Remi might date someone like Kris. He would have to get used to the idea that not everyone would be happy about that.

It was kind of a lot to wrap his head around as he let PJ and Epstein talk. Remi zoned out and looked at the blackened walls of Bottom’s Up. This was the kind of hate, prejudice and intolerance he would be facing when…or if…he came out. No, when. He didn’t want to hide this part of himself anymore. But it wasn’t going to be easy, he had to admit. Looking at the evidence of the lengths people would go made that very clear to him.

Maybe he should wait to come out when he found a great guy? Someone to stand by his side and make it all worthwhile? Otherwise, he’d be opening himself up to this kind of crap unnecessarily.

But then…people like Kris didn’t have the luxury of that choice. There was no hiding their sexuality from the world. It didn’t seem fair that Remi should get that option and they didn’t.

He chewed on his lip and made up his mind. He was going to wait for the right moment, sure. But he promised himself there and then that he would come out as soon as he could when the time felt right. When the person he told felt right.

Remi couldn’t help that when he thought of the ‘right’ person to come out to, his mind still supplied an image of Kris. Maybe it was time to stop fighting it and just go with his gut instinct that Kris might be who he trusted the most with this.

His heart warmed with the thought. Yeah, Kris might just be the one he needed.