Perfect Alibi. Melody Carlson

he said in a flat tone.

      “And you know for sure that she’s really the Myers’s daughter? I mean, isn’t Deputy Myers on vacation? What’s this chick doing out here all by herself while her daddy’s gone? Sounds a little fishy, if you ask me.”

      “I know she’s Deputy Myers’s daughter because I went to school with her,” he said wryly. “She was a couple years behind me.”

      “Fine. But how do you know she’s not a suspect?” Winnie persisted. “This girl could be angry at her parents...maybe she gets even by torching their place while they’re gone. Most violent crimes are committed by people known to the victims. Suspects are usually family or friends...”

      “Been watching CSI again?”

      “Just reruns.” She smiled slyly. “A girl’s gotta do something on a lonely night.”

      “Well, I’m relatively certain that Mallory Myers had nothing to do with this fire,” he assured her. “As a matter of fact, she was the one to call 911, and when I tackled her she was actually just trying to hose down a spot fire to protect her dad’s shop. Does that sound like a crazed arsonist to you?”

      “You never know.” She frowned. “What about that getup she had on? I saw her. Looked like she was trying to disguise herself as a kid. Maybe to make it appear this was part of the teen group you’ve been tracking. Suspicious.”

      He shrugged as he turned a shovelful of dirt over. He knew this was nonsense, but didn’t want to argue the point. “Maybe you’re in the wrong line of work,” he said. “Instead of being a firefighter, you should be working for the sheriff’s department.” He chuckled, but he wasn’t really kidding. Everyone knew that Winnie loved putting her nose in everyone else’s business.

      “I’m just saying it’s curious how this woman’s out here by herself while her parents are off on vacation,” she continued. “Just because you went to school with her doesn’t mean she had nothing to do with this fire. And everyone knows we haven’t had lightning in weeks. So you know it’s gotta be human caused.”

      “Yes, I’m well aware of that, Winnie.” He decided to insert some cool authority into his tone. Time for her to back off and focus on her work. Without engaging further, Logan set his shovel back in his truck then went over to give TJ a hand with unloading another hose from the water truck.

      “What happened to that kid you stopped?” TJ asked as they maneuvered the hose toward the south side of the fire line, generously soaking the smoldering embers.

      For the second time tonight Logan explained the little mix-up. But he didn’t mind telling TJ. Besides the fact that TJ was his best friend, they’d gone to school together and Logan was pretty sure TJ would remember Mallory, too.

      “No kidding? That was Mallory Myers?”

      “Yep.”

      TJ laughed. “How’d she take that?”

      “Pretty furious.”

      “Yeah, but as I recall Mallory was always a good sport.” TJ chuckled.

      “Hopefully she still is.” Logan hefted the hose closer to the fire. The truth was, he’d always liked Mallory. More than once he’d considered asking her out. But something...or someone...always seemed to get in the way.

      He wondered if that would still be the situation. Was Mallory in some kind of committed relationship? And even if she wasn’t, what would be the point in pursuing her now? She lived in the city, he lived here. Besides that, something about her wasn’t sitting right with him. The girl had troubles. He could almost smell it.

      Logan worked with TJ for nearly an hour, but it was obvious that the fire was well under control and there was little need for Logan to remain on the line. Except that he was still mulling over some things.

      “Is Mallory still good-looking?” TJ suddenly asked Logan.

      “Kind of hard to tell with all that mud on her face.” Logan chuckled as he leaned his shovel against a tree. No way was he going to tell TJ that she was even more beautiful now than he remembered her being back in high school.

      “Never really told anyone, but I used to kind of have a thing for her,” TJ admitted.

      “Really?” Logan felt a small pang of jealous concern. “I never knew that.”

      “Well, I didn’t go around advertising it.” TJ grinned. “And you remember how shy I was in high school. Could barely speak to a girl.” He punched Logan in the arm. “Not like you, Romeo. You always had girls hanging all over you.” TJ nodded over to where Winnie was still shoveling. “Which reminds me. Winnie’s been asking around about whether you’re mad at her about something. Saw you two talking just now. Everything okay?”

      Logan blew out a slow breath. “Yeah, sure.”

      “I know she rubs you the wrong way, but she’s really not so bad. Once you get to know her better.”

      “I think you’re the one who needs to get to know Winnie better,” Logan teased.

      TJ’s grin faded and Logan waved a hand. “Better get your mind off the women and back on your work, TJ.”

      TJ gave him a mock salute. “Yeah, boss.”

      Logan saluted back as he informed TJ that he was going to check the line. It wasn’t that he was mad at TJ, but he didn’t appreciate his friend’s “helpful advice.” It was clear that TJ was using Winnie as a smoke screen, probably a distraction from Mallory. Like TJ thought Logan was about to sweep Mallory off her feet. Although he had just knocked her off her feet. But seriously, neither of them would have a chance with Mallory Myers.

      Besides having grown into her good looks, Mallory was a big-city girl now—a successful news writer for the Channel Six News, no less. Logan had heard Deputy Myers bragging about how his little girl had gone from being an intern to becoming the youngest journalist, at the age of twenty-three, for the prestigious Portland news show. And hadn’t she been dating someone of influence, too? Clear signs she was out of their league.

      As Logan walked, he considered his own limited history with Mallory. She’d been a year behind him in school, but he’d always thought she seemed like a sweet girl. Very pretty, with her shiny dark hair and big brown eyes. And smart, too. She was in his history class and outshone most of the seniors. Maybe that’s why she’d caught his eye during his last year of high school. And during the following summer, when she coached his kid sister’s lacrosse team, Logan went out of his way to be friendly to her every time he picked up Selma. But Mallory just blew him off. And Logan wasn’t used to having a girl treat him like that. Eventually he’d just given up. It wasn’t meant to be.

      Ironically, he’d probably had his longest conversation with her tonight—after he’d tackled her. Maybe he needed to change his routine—some guys knocked ’em over with their charm, he could just knock them down. He chuckled as he kicked into a smoldering pile of dirt, pausing to give it some turns with his shovel. Not that he’d been looking for girlfriends much this past year. Getting appointed to chief had seemed to put the kibosh on his personal life.

      But something about Mallory had really caught him off guard tonight. And it wasn’t just because he felt guilty for knocking her down. No, there was something in her eyes that suggested all was not well. Something in her demeanor had reeled him in. So much so that he felt like stepping up to protect her. But protect her from what? The fire would be out before long, and he didn’t really think her troubles were related to that anyway. At least, he hoped they weren’t. Surely she wasn’t an arsonist, as Winnie had suggested, here to sabotage her parents in their absence. That was just plain dumb. And yet he had to admit that Mallory’s responses to his questions about the fire had sounded a bit like doubletalk. That wasn’t good.

      But it did give him a legitimate excuse to resume his conversation with her. After all, it was his job to collect information