She followed him into the cabin, her nose wrinkling at the musty smell. A thick layer of dust covered everything. Newspapers were stacked high in corners and the kitchen was a mess of open cans and boxes and dirty plates. It was obvious that something wasn't right. How, she wondered, had Joseph's situation played into Logan's emotional state?
Joseph slid some dirty clothes off a beaten-up leather couch. He didn't seem to notice the mess. “You want a drink?”
She shook her head, idly wondering if alcoholism could be the problem. But she hadn't smelled anything on Joseph's breath, hadn't noticed beer cans and empty liquor bottles in the kitchen.
“No thanks.” She pulled a small notepad and pen out of her big bag. “I'd like to ask you some questions.”
He sank into an easy chair covered in shredding blue fabric. “Okay.”
“Logan moved in with you as teenager, is that correct?”
“He was seventeen. A hell of a kid. Still is.”
“Are you a blood relative?”
“No.”
“Why wasn't he living with his parents? Or with an aunt or uncle?”
Joseph's eyes were wary. He didn't want to say too much, knew better than to say too little. “His mother asked me to take him.”
This part of Logan's file hadn't added up. He'd moved from Boulder, Colorado, to California his junior year of high school. She wasn't going to leave Joseph's house until she found out why.
“Why you?”
“We dated.” His eyes lost focus. “A long time ago. Before she got married and had Logan. Before I met my wife.”
Maya didn't see any evidence of a wife, even though Joseph wore a dented gold wedding band. “I take it he was getting into trouble?”
Joseph's eyes were clear as they locked back onto hers. “He wasn't different from any other kid. He just didn't know what to do with all that energy.” He pinned her with a knowing glance. “All that passion.”
Fuck. She was blushing again. If they'd been talking about anyone else, any other man she'd made out with, she wouldn't have been the least bit bothered. But fifteen minutes in Logan's arms had been long enough to brand her. One taste of him was not enough, could never be enough.
Even though it had to be.
She cleared her throat, sweeping away the sensual images. “I'm not going to lie to you, Mr. Kellerman. The Forest Service has reason to suspect that Logan set the fire currently burning in Desolation Wilderness.”
Joseph sucked in a breath. “That's bullshit.”
It was never easy to hear that a loved one was potentially responsible for causing such widespread destruction. Arson tended to be a secret passion, something that usually flared up into the open when provoked by great emotions. Even then, many arsonists' first fires went undetected, staying just small enough to remain under the radar.
“Your reaction is understandable,” she said in a reasonable voice.
But rather than soothe Joseph, her words provoked him. He shot out of his chair and she had another glimpse of the strong man he used to be.
“Fuck understandable.”
Maya didn't move a muscle, barely blinked. When people grew agitated, they talked. And said things they would have otherwise kept hidden.
“That boy couldn't hurt a goddamned fly. Not even his shithead father, who deserves an ass kicking if anyone ever did. I don't care what Logan used to do when he was a kid, he'd never light a fire that could wipe out one of his crew. Never.”
He wobbled on his feet and Maya jumped up to steady him even as she wondered, What bad things had Logan done as a kid?
Joseph gave her a weak smile. “I haven't gotten my heart racing like that in a while.”
She helped him back into his chair. “I know I'm asking some hard questions, that they're difficult to deal with. But getting answers is the only way I can possibly clear Logan's name.”
“Or convict me.”
Logan's deep voice hummed up her spine, and her scalp tingled like she was a fourteen-year-old girl and the hot high school quarterback had finally noticed her.
She spun around. “I'm conducting a private interview. Please wait outside.”
One side of Logan's mouth quirked up. “Like hell if I'm going to wait out on the deck while you grill him.”
“Your girlfriend sure is pretty.”
Maya turned back to Joseph, utterly confused by his random statement. Why on earth would he say such a ridiculous thing when he knew exactly why she was here?
“I'm not his girlfriend,” Maya clarified.
Logan grabbed her elbow and hauled her into the kitchen. “Time to go.”
She wrenched her arm from his warm grasp. She hated men who thought they could push her around simply because they were bigger. Even more, she hated the way her ni**les immediately peaked beneath her bra at Logan's rough touch. “I'm not leaving until I'm finished with my questions.”
Joseph shook his head and smiled. “She's tougher than your usual girls, Logan. And smart too, you can see it in her eyes. I wouldn't piss her off if I were you. I don't want to see you let go of a good thing. Gonna have to think about weddings and babies one day.”
Joseph's eyes had become slightly unfocused and Maya shifted her gaze to Logan. She saw worry. Fear. And then she realized what was going on: Joseph was suffering from dementia. Or, worse, undiagnosed Alzheimer's.
Logan grabbed her briefcase, his voice low so only she could hear it. “There are plenty of other people you can grill about me. Guys on my crew. Old girlfriends. People whose lives I've saved. Not a tired old man who needs to rest.”
She hated the thought of walking out of Joseph's cabin without answers. But Logan was right. Joseph's health wasn't stable. She'd have to put this interview on the back burner until a time when he was, hopefully, in a more coherent state of mind.
“We're going to head out now, Joe,” Logan said, patting Joseph on the shoulder.
“This is your last chance, boy. You f**k up again and you're going to lose this pretty girl.” Joseph's shoulders sagged into his broad frame. “Hell, you throw a match in the wrong place and you're going to lose everything.”
Logan's hand pressed into the small of Maya's back, pushing her across the room. And she let him. Perhaps another investigator would have been tougher. Meaner. But Maya believed in playing fair, and right now wasn't the time to grill Joseph, even though his mental mean-derings might be full of revelations about her suspect's past and potential motivations for lighting a fast-moving wildfire.