Swan wasn't kidding about the danger.
"Get those people back!" she shouted at her father from her side of the "Caution" tape line.
Killian approached one of the failing firemen and helped him support the hose. He earned a smile and a short nod. Someone had started a forest fire in the tree line on the eastern side of Storybrook. He was already three days into his new job, and so far he'd investigated a burglary, rescued the baby of a furry scavenging mammal, and broke up a bar fight.
Clearly, a law deputy in Storybrook served a variety of functions.
David finally succeeded in removing the campers from the fire site. Killian and Swan stayed with the firemen until the flames died. They removed their equipment within twenty minutes, leaving the three lawmen in the ashes.
Emma crouched in front of a charred stump and motioned for Killian to join her. Ever since he started, she had been explaining the basics of how to be a lawman, since he'd no experience at such things. She called it "on the job training. He liked it because it gave him an opportunity to see how her mind worked.
"Normally," Emma said as she shifted through the dirt, "a city will have a professional investigator trained to determine the cause of a fire. They decide if a given situation was an accident or if it was intentional. If it's intentional, the fire becomes a crime—called arson—and the police have to find the person responsible."
Killian looked around. "I assume Storybrook has no such professional."
Emma shook her head. "So it's up to us to determine the cause of the fire."
They investigated the scene. Emma said she felt out of her element—burn patterns had never been part of her training as a bail bondsmen, whatever that was—but it didn't take expert training to stop them in their tracks when they found the center of the fire.
David's exact words were: "Whoa."
A large black impact mark on the forest floor stretched several feet wide in the center of the fire's damage. Emma said something about it sharing resemblance with a bomb blast. Of primary interest was the small circle of green grass in the middle of the impact zone. Just big enough for a pair of feet.
"I'm neither an expert in fire nor magic," Killian said, "but is it safe to assume the perpetrator stood there?"
The question didn't need answering.
"Do you think it was magic?" David said to Emma.
She could only shrug. "I'm not an expert, either. I guess it's possible. Magic or not, there was definitely an explosive element here."
"Does that mean the fire was intentional?" Killian said.
"Not necessarily," she said. "It could have been accident. It does mean that someone was doing something they shouldn't have been."
As if she could read his mind, Emma looked over at him and said, "No, Killian, we cannot assume that Gold was involved."
He didn't see why not, but Emma probably understood these things best. Rumpelstiltskin would remain at the top of his private suspect list.
The scene yielded little more. Emma spent some time bent over wet dirt, searching for footprints, while he and David looked for any evidence caught on branches. When Emma received a phone call, they ceased their searching.
Killian studied the smile on her face as she ended her conversation. She looked positively impish.
"Can you take Killian back to the station?" she said to her father. "We have an errand to run this afternoon, but I have to get something first."
Killian caught her arm with a frown. "Errand? What variety of errand?"
The impish smile grew. "You'll see. Wait for me at the station. I'll be back in a few minutes."