Free Gold Fire by Starr Ambrose Page A

company they’d started years ago. “I did the snowboard redesign.”
    “And I think it’s gonna do well. But we need more to go with it.”
    That was the problem with owning a business—it needed to make money. It was probably a good thing Brandon cared about that, because ambition was something Jase avoided.
    “I’ll think about it,” he said. “Later.”
    •  •  •
    Brandon dropped Jase at Cliff’s Auto Center where he picked up his newly repaired truck and drove to the Rusty Wire. The charred smell hit him even before he saw the fire truck in the parking lot. From behind the saloon, an acrid, gray cloud sent a lazy column of smoke into the sky. He hit the gas, speeding around the building just as a long tongue of flames leapt skyward through the smoke.
    The Rusty Wire was on fire.

Chapter
Five
    J ase screeched to a stop near the fire truck, taking in the scene as he jumped out. A shed at the back of the saloon was engulfed in flames, and the fire had taken a strong foothold on the back entrance.
    Adrenaline seized him. He’d run past two firemen before a third grabbed his arm and yanked him back. “You can’t go in there.” The tone was firm, from someone used to giving orders.
    “I’m the owner!” To his right, a jet of water burst from the thick fire hose and began doing battle with the flames. He struggled against the man’s grip on his arm. “Let me go! Someone might be in there!”
    “No one’s inside. There were only two employees. They’re both standing over there.”
    Jase followed his nod and saw Jennifer and Billy behind their cars, frightened gazes fixed on the saloon. He yelled Jennifer’s name, but the sound was lost in a sudden bang as a window burst. Jase ducked. The fireman let go, racing to help with the hose.
    Fresh flames poured from the broken window.Russ’s office, he realized, automatically tabulating the amount of flammable items inside. A lot. The arc of water moved over it, drowning the flames at the window and soaking the roof above.
    Jase watched for what might have been seconds or minutes. The fire department must have arrived quickly, but the flames had taken a firm hold, and were seeringly bright. Hundred-year-old wood, he thought, watching the vigorous blaze. And all those files in the back office. When he finally turned away, his eyes stung, as if he’d been looking directly into the sun.
    Feeling numb and useless, Jase walked over to Jennifer and Billy. Billy blinked at him, as if in a stupor. Jennifer was more collected and stoic. She pressed her mouth into a tight line, and shook her head as she anticipated his question. “I don’t know what happened. I smelled smoke and opened the back door, and the shed was on fire. It had already spread to the saloon’s roof. I yelled for Billy, we got out, and I called the fire department.”
    He touched her shoulder, realizing as he did it that he’d avoided touching her for years, as if she embodied some sacred essence of her dead husband. He cringed inwardly, hoping she didn’t resent him for it. “Thanks, Jen, you did the right thing. I’m just glad you’re both safe.”
    He looked at the shed, already burned to a blackened, smoking ruin. It was more accurately a lean-to, butting up against the back wall of the saloon. The structure was as old as the main building, probably built to store cords of firewood when woodstoves had been the only source of heat. Jase used it to store extratables and chairs. There’d been no gasoline cans or piles of dirty rags that might easily combust, although the shed itself was probably a tinderbox. Decades of paint hadn’t kept the wood from drying and cracking. It wouldn’t have taken much to send those boards up in flames.
    Still, wood didn’t catch fire by itself. A hard lump formed in his gut. “Jennifer, did you see anyone hanging around before you smelled smoke?”
    “That Larkin woman stopped by to see you, but I told her you weren’t here.”
    He tensed at the