The Winter Moon's Wolf Part 7

"This was a good idea. There's no telling if this will be able to hold up under ice now, or more snow."

Cade stood at his shoulder, the small camera in his hand.

"Let's go around back. I don't know if this door is safe. The rear one is gone." It had been kicked in by the firefighters when they were battling the waves of the fire.

Cade followed as Dean led the way around the square structure, stepping under the yellow caution tape that was strung around the perimeter outside. A small side storage unit was charred but for the most part, intact. Cade started taking photos.

"Watch for weak spots and don't push on anything," Dean warned leading them through the door. "This goes right into the storage room. Trucks unloaded back here, so stuff is going to be spilled, and there's lots of exploded gla.s.s." He'd already seen most of what they were walking through before he'd finally left that morning.

Blackened wood was burned almost all the way through around where the door had once stood. The alcohol had added to the fire. It broke his heart seeing all the damage in the full light of day.

"What a mess," Cade muttered, carefully following in Dean's footsteps.

"Remember, don't move anything from where it is."

"Not sure I want to."

Water dripped from the ceiling, melted snow and water from who knew where, leaking through the now destroyed roof. Cade shot angles of the entirety as they went under it.

"The worst of it is the bar itself. I'm positive whoever it was used something like gasoline to get it going hot and fast." He pointed to the scorch marks on the bar, then to the streaks along the floor and the ceiling. "Once it got that high, the ceiling went up in flames. All dry, old wood. By the time the fire department got here, this was engulfed." He motioned above and around. Not a single bottle remained standing on display. They'd all been displaced or exploded.

"Man, Dean. You'd only locked up a little before this happened, right?"

"Maybe twenty minutes. The New Year's Eve party took forever to close down. They'd stopped drinking but getting them out of here..." He laughed with tired ruefulness. "Could've really used my bouncer last night."

Cade's hand with the camera lowered. He swept a hard look around the interior. "What if you'd still been here? Were you the last one out?"

"I sent Garret home about ten minutes before myself. I was counting the night's receipts for the deposit. Then I locked up and went home. I had literally just crawled into bed when the alarm company bothered to call me."

The building creaked ominously as cold wind bursts and water combined to make damaged wood shake and rattle.

Cade stared upward with him. "I see what you mean. That roof isn't going to hold up under any snowfall." Cracked and split beams proved the fire had been intense. Gaping spots exposed wiring and nails. It looked naked.

Dean took a step forward. "Look straight up." Cade did, bending to gaze where Dean pointed from the bar's damaged flat surface. "That hole is why I think there was something used to speed it along. There was nothing here on its own that would cause a pocket like that."

Cade straightened and took pictures of the bar beneath it and the hole itself. "These marks look even too, almost a perfect circle of the deep char."

"I thought the same thing." He groaned with realization. "And I bet I know what it was. A pile of rags. I had cleaning rags in the store room. I didn't think of them until mentioning them, but I bet they're gone." Dean sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Tired?"

"Exhausted."

"Let me get some large view shots, and then we'll go."

"Sure," Dean replied, being careful to not touch anything. He was already coated in soot from walking around in it. A hot shower to warm up and get all this off his skin sounded pretty d.a.m.n fantastic.

Cade took slow, methodical steps around the bar, even taking a panorama of the serving trench and all the damage it had sustained. All the decorative gla.s.s on the walls was destroyed. Hanging racks were knocked loose or simply shattered, leaving gla.s.sware dangling precariously. There wasn't an inch of s.p.a.ce that hadn't been in flames, charred and burned to a crisp, sickening black. Dean's entire life, gone, in a matter of minutes.

Cade stopped in the middle of the floor. Tables were turned over with a few in pieces, chairs scattered around them, everything lying in puddles of water. He stepped over one, then stopped, twisting to focus on something.

"Did you hear that?"

Dean tipped his head. "What did you hear?" He didn't hear a thing. The wind. Dripping water, the little that there was. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Footsteps." Cade spun slowly, as though following the sound. "And a car." He was scowling.

"Probably the cops outside wondering who's here. Let me-" was as much as he could say because there was a wet squelch of tires followed by the thunderous crack of a stud being wrenched out of place.

Chapter Six.

Cade leaped across the interior, wrapping Dean into his body, taking them both to the damp ground with a crunching thud right as a huge chunk of the roof caved it. Dean gasped for breath, a low moan following. Cade covered as much as he could of the man beneath him, keeping him from being hit with falling shards and pieces of soggy insulation and debris.

Looking over a shoulder, heavy gray clouds now dominated the s.p.a.ce where the ceiling and a portion of the wall had stood. Barely two feet behind where Cade had been taking pictures. The squeal of wet rubber hitting pavement registered, then it was gone in the distance.

"You okay?" Cade asked, listening, but hearing nothing else beyond the newer sounds of broken wood settling.

Dean coughed. "Yeah." He trembled beneath Cade, shook up regardless of if he was going to admit it.

Cautiously, Cade searched the room, then stood, offering a hand to Dean. "Better call your Sheriff friend."

Rough hacks were eventually followed by calmer breathing. "Are you okay? You were closer to the wall."

"I'm fine." p.i.s.sed, but fine.

When Dean pulled out his phone, Cade saw how much his hand trembled. "Let's get outside. No telling if anything will stay upright now." He'd feel a lot better if Dean wasn't standing in the middle of all that damage.

They walked around outside the opposite side of where the corner stud had been pulled. Cade spotted truck tire welts in the mud, along with the snapped stud and a length of shredded rope that had been left behind.

Dean spoke to the personnel on the other end of the phone, answering questions.

Cade slowly swiped a hand down his body, clearing bits that clung to his coat. Nearing Dean, he did the same. Brushing his back, soot smeared. "d.a.m.n."

Dean glanced at Cade when he raised a filthy hand.

"It'll wash." He turned off his phone screen. "Thank you." Confusion lay heavy between them.

"Any ideas on what is going on?"

Dean faced the broken stud. "Now? Not one." His chest rocked with a shuddering breath. "That was f.u.c.king intentional to the extreme. I have no idea."

A few minutes later, two county cruisers pulled in next to their cars.

"Dean."

"Sheriff Archer." Dean made introductions for Cade. "This is a friend of mine. We were inside taking the photo catalogue of damage I called about earlier when that happened." He motioned toward the pulled wood. "He heard somebody and we both heard the vehicle accelerate."

The Sheriff started writing. "Saucedo, go take a look at the tracks. See if we can get a good visual for make and model." The other officer went into his car and grabbed a camera of his own to take photos.

"How long have you been here?"

Dean glanced at Cade. "I really don't know. Less than an hour." Sheriff Archer was taking down notes.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the fire?" he asked Dean.

He looked over his shoulder at the quickly deteriorating building. "I'd have to think so. I don't know if the intent was to catch us inside or not, but I believe it was."

All three walked around the side to examine the view inward. The gaping hole displayed a huge portion of the interior now. "That's a support brace." The Sheriff scribbled some more notes. "If there had been enough weight above it, the whole roof would have come down. How close were you?"

Dean pointed. "I was there, about three feet in front of the bar. Cade was closer to the collapse, almost standing right where the fallout range is, there."

"d.a.m.n close," the Sheriff muttered.

Cade had to agree.

The Sheriff eyed Dean. "Who'd you p.i.s.s off?"

"I have no idea." He sighed, discouraged.

Cade knew the man was exhausted. He shoulders slumped.

Officer Saucedo joined them with the rope bagged. "Is there anything for evidence inside?"

"No. The building was gone through this morning, after the fire department cleared it," Dean explained.

"Doubt we'll get much if anything but any little bit helps." Officer Saucedo gave Dean a sympathetic shrug.

"I'm going home. I need some sleep. If you hear of anything, let me know. I'll do the same."

They traded information then shook hands and the officers left.

Dean's phone jingled at him and he winced. "s.h.i.t. Hold on. I have to take this." He fished his phone out and answered. "Hi, Mom."

Cade smirked, hearing the absolute lack of desire in his voice to have to take that particular call.

"Happy New Year to you. No. I was at a friend's for breakfast." He scrubbed stiff fingers into shadowed eyeb.a.l.l.s. "Gemini's burned down last night." He held the phone away from his ear as a loud, maternal squawking filled the air. "Are you done?" he griped. "I haven't been home to to talk to you, so no, I haven't had time to call and tell you." He groaned. "Don't. I'm fine. You and Dad stay up there, okay? I'll call after I've gotten some sleep and tell you what I know. No, not much." talk to you, so no, I haven't had time to call and tell you." He groaned. "Don't. I'm fine. You and Dad stay up there, okay? I'll call after I've gotten some sleep and tell you what I know. No, not much."

Cade zoned out as Dean gave a lackl.u.s.ter report. Even Cade knew he'd never get off the phone with that kind of a non-answer. He walked over to the tire tracks, crouching down to study them. Wide surface tires. Definitely for a pickup truck. Probably four-wheel drive. He examined the angle and the fall of the wood. Tracks of mud vanished into the distance on the asphalt, where the driver had simply kept going. He'd watched Officer Archer drive in that direction when he'd left, possibly hoping to follow the mud trail. Cade had his doubts it would be that easy.

Whoever had done this knew the piece they were pulling could bring down the roof. Someone who was familiar with the building, or at the least, had been inside. He watched a frustrated Dean verbally battle a now clearly harried parent. Getting a closer look at the tracks on the ground, he hunted for footprints. Finding those, he followed them from where he guessed the truck had sat waiting to the rear of the bar.

Cade's hackles rose. The person who'd tried to take down the bar had most definitely had one plan in mind. They'd snuck to the rear, deeper imprints showing where they'd stood in the mud and slush to either listen or to make sure there were people inside. The prints were clearer in the back. Boots. Smooth, like western cowboy boots. The slap of feet Cade had heard had been the driver being less cautious, knowing he had to hurry to catch his quarry - them - inside. He'd almost succeeded, on all counts.

Retracing his own steps, he waved over Dean.

"Mom. I have to go. I will will call. I promise." He sighed, the sound of utter defeat. "Please. Let me find out before you spend the money to fly down here, okay? Okay. Thank you. Love you, too. Bye." He hung up the phone and shook his head. "All h.e.l.l is about to break loose. I should warn Kelly my mother and father are flying in. They'll never get a moment's rest until this is figured out." call. I promise." He sighed, the sound of utter defeat. "Please. Let me find out before you spend the money to fly down here, okay? Okay. Thank you. Love you, too. Bye." He hung up the phone and shook his head. "All h.e.l.l is about to break loose. I should warn Kelly my mother and father are flying in. They'll never get a moment's rest until this is figured out."

Cade put a hand on his shoulder. "Be thankful you still have yours, annoying as they are. They care enough to be here for you. That says a lot."

"Yeah, I know. I'm exhausted and my brain departed about twenty minutes ago." Relaxing by force, he put his phone away. "What did you want to show me?"

Cade walked with him from the start of the footprints. "Do you see this any differently?" he asked, after giving his own interpretation.

"Actually, no. But do you have any idea how many guys wearing s.h.i.t kickers come here?"

"I know. The whole lot was pickup trucks the night I was here." He wasn't about to admit that was partially why he'd chosen to stop. He knew knew the crowd dynamics and hadn't been disappointed. Only now, Dean was paying for something, with everything. the crowd dynamics and hadn't been disappointed. Only now, Dean was paying for something, with everything.

Cade saw him rub at his eyes again. "Is there anything else we can do?"

Dean shook his head. "Not right this minute." Sorrow radiated off him in waves as he took in the destruction. "Daniel and I had worked so hard on Gemini's. It really hurts to see it gone now, too."

"What happened to your brother?" he asked gently.

"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tried to break up a fight and was shot."

"s.h.i.t," Cade managed, almost choking on the deep gasp.

"It's why I'm still here and didn't go home to Michigan. Mom really wanted me to when that happened, and now? She's going to do everything short of blackmail. We pooled our resources after college to go into business for ourselves. I know. Why a bar?" He slid his hands into his coat pockets, taking his time to circle to the front of the building. "Believe it or not, neither of us really drink, or got drunk. Even in school. But it's one of the few recession proof businesses out there. There's always money for liquor. We had plans to buy this, and trade up when we had some financial stability. Then he died." Dean stared outward, though Cade could tell his thoughts were deep inside. "I couldn't bring myself to sell. This was ours. And it's all I really have - had - left."

Cade swept an arm around his waist and gave him a supportive hug. "I'm sorry."

"It still hurts, but I had something of his, of ours, in Gemini's."

Cade spotted the tear that slipped from Dean's lower lashes. Surprisingly, Dean didn't try to sweep it away, or hide it. A man not scared to show his feelings. That told him a lot about the man on the inside. And the depth of affection he still felt for his brother could be heard in every word.

"If he was your twin in every way, then I know he was an amazing person."

Dean rested his head on Cade's shoulder, leaning for support. Cade doubted he realized he was doing it.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. He's gone. Gemini's is gone."

Cade knew he was emotionally wrecked and exhausted on top of it. The day was catching up to him. "Let me drive you home. You shouldn't be behind the wheel this tired."

"Sure. I can get a neighbor to help me get my car in a few hours."

They made sure Dean's car was locked, then he poured Dean into his truck. "Just tell me where I'm going."

Dean navigated them into Ca.s.san and down a side street. Ca.s.san didn't look much larger than Silo. A town that was more community than bustling metropolis. Pavement turned into dirt road as he followed directions. Divided lots with grounded trailers appeared. Mostly single-wides with a few doubles tossed into the mix. Short fences or chain link separated yards. Yards filled with snowmen. It made him smile to see them all. He could imagine the kids and the havoc they would cause to make those stacks of snow.

Pulling into a driveway, he waited for Dean to make the next move. The house wasn't the cream of the crop on the street, but it wasn't in bad shape by any means. "Not what I pictured."

Dean snorted. "Why spend huge bucks on a house, when all I really need is a roof?"