CHAPTER Nine
Need a ride?”
Lora glanced up at the deep voice and found Kenton standing just past the hospital emergency room doors.
It had been one hell of a night. After getting the all-clear from the docs, she’d stayed around, hoping for good news on Wade.
Kenton stepped closer to her. “Lora?”
“A ride?” She cleared her throat. “Yeah, that’d be good, thanks.” It beat catching a cab.
They didn’t talk again until they were in his car. He cranked the engine, and it roared instantly to life, but then his fingers tightened around the steering wheel, knuckles flashing white.
“Uh, Kent? What’s—”
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “He went after you.”
“No.” It had to be some mistake. “It was the kid, I saw him.”
“It was Phoenix,” he said, and a shiver skated down her spine. “Michael Randall was in Meadows Rehab when the other fires were set. Phoenix used him. I don’t know how yet, but he set that boy up as—”
“Bait.” Her eyes drifted to the ambulance that had just raced past them.
“Yeah, fucking bait.” He shifted gears, and the SUV shot forward. “How’s your man?”
Lora took a deep breath. “He went into cardiac arrest about an hour ago.”
“Lora…”
She swallowed and tried to breathe nice and easy. Real hard to do. “He’s stable. For now.” She wasn’t sure how long that would last. The docs hadn’t looked or sounded hopeful. And Wade had a wife in there, pacing the sterile halls. Newlyweds. “He’s got burns—second and third degree—on his face and chest. Randall… he just went after him. Ripped at him as the fire burned.” I couldn’t get to him fast enough. Not with the flames and the walls falling.
“I’m sorry.”
So was she. Sorry she hadn’t moved faster. Sorry she hadn’t yelled out her warning sooner. “Randall had set an accelerant trail all over the house. He was just waiting for us to go in so he could light it.” And trap us inside. Because he’d wanted them all to die.
“I wanted Phoenix to come after me. Not you.” Kenton took two turns and then a hard left. Her house wasn’t far now. She wanted to shower, to wash away the grime and soot.
Laura’s hands pressed against her thighs. “How… how did he get the kid to kill himself?” An image flashed in her mind of another fire. Randall and that smile.
He’d fought her when she tried to pull him out of the flames. He’d screamed, “No, no, I want to see!”
This time, he’d seen everything.
“We’re gonna check to see if there’s any connection with Meadows Rehab. Maybe Phoenix met up with the kid there.” The rumble of his voice filled the car. “Sure seems like Randall was willing bait.”
Her head turned slowly as she leaned back against the seat. So tired.
Another trap. Only this time, the victim had wanted the flames.
“Using the boy was a mistake,” Kenton said. Another turn, then a couple more blocks, and she’d be home. “The boy is gonna lead us to Phoenix.”
Lora exhaled. “Phoenix is a sick freak. And the fires—they’re just getting worse.”
The SUV slowed down. She could see her house. Surrounded in dawn’s light, the white paint gleamed. Kenton braked, and her fingers reached for the door.
“Lora…”
She glanced back at him.
“I want to come in.” His voice was demanding, with an edge of—
Fear.
Lora understood. He’d been watching. While the fire burned and death came, he’d been outside.
Her head moved in a slow nod. She wanted him there with her.
Her steps were slow as she headed for the door. The keys in her hand trembled just a bit. Kenton followed her, close enough for her to feel his warmth.
Then they were inside, and she could finally breathe. She could draw in a deep breath and not taste her own fear.
“I—I’m going to take a shower.” First. Because she didn’t want to touch him like this. But she did want to touch him. She needed to push away the death and grab life.
He caught her hand. “Is there room for two?”
There was lust in his eyes. But need, a deeper, darker need, shone there, too. The same need she felt, coursing through her blood.
“Yes.” A simple answer that meant so much more.
Staring at her, he removed his weapon. He secured the gun by tucking it inside her desk drawer.
Then he followed her up the stairs, down the narrow hallway, and into the bathroom. He was silent while she twisted the faucet, then started the shower. Water thundered down in a hard blast.
She stripped without looking at him. Kicked off her shoes, tossed the socks, and dropped the borrowed scrubs.
Her fingers hesitated on her panties. Stupid. Why would she be nervous now?
Lora shoved them down, then she twisted a bit as she unhooked her bra. The fabric fell, and she didn’t glance back as she stepped into the hot stream of water.
Blindly, she reached for the soap and started scrubbing hard. Almost scratching her flesh.
Wade hadn’t been moving. She hadn’t gotten to him fast enough. She’d been too far away.
Like Carter. Oh, Jesus, like Carter…
“Let me.” His hands covered hers and took the soap. Smoothed where she’d scratched. Lathered over her arms, down her back, and over the scars that another blaze had left.
Her eyes closed, and the water pelted her. Washing away the fire. Washing it all away.
“You scared the shit out of me,” Kenton said gruffly, and she almost smiled.
“You do this every day, though, don’t you? Even without Phoenix…” His soapy hands slid around her waist and began to move up to cup her breasts. “You do this every day.”
She inhaled on a deep breath. “Uh, not every day… most days it’s just life at the station when I’m on… ah… shift.” His hands were on her breasts now, fingers rubbing the soap over her nipples.
Her sex tightened. I need this. Need him.
“Lean against me,” he said.
She let her body slide back. The water washed away the soap, but his fingers stayed on her skin, stroking her nipples. Squeezing and caressing them.
Then his right hand moved down, even as he reached for the soap once more with his left.
She tensed when his fingers pushed between her thighs. Wet, slick with soap, his broad fingers parted her folds with deft skill. Lora rose onto her toes, arching toward the spray of water.
His fingers slid against her sex, found her clit, and pressed.
Lora’s breath hissed out as her palms slapped against the tiled shower wall.
“Good.” A hard whisper in her ear. “Stay like that.” Kenton’s fingers thrust inside and stretched. Her eyes squeezed shut as the water plummeted down on her.
His mouth brushed over her shoulder. Kenton kissed her skin and moved slowly up to the curve of her neck. Licked. Bit. Not enough to hurt, oh, no, just enough to make her want.
And those fingers, damn, they were sliding in and out. Rubbing over her clit, stroking her core faster and faster. The shower wall was cold, the water was hot, and his hands—
Her hips arched back against him. Not enough. “Kent!” She needed more right then. So much more.
“You’ve got a fucking gorgeous ass.” His cock pressed against her. Long and eager.
That was what she wanted. When his hand eased back, Lora spun around, sending droplets of water flying. Her fingers curled over his chest, looking for balance. Her head tipped back, so she could see his eyes, glinting down at her. Lust flared from his eyes, etched in the hard lines of his face.
Lora stood on her toes, caught his mouth, and kissed him with her lips open, her tongue thrusting. She savored him.
More.
Her fingers slid down his chest, muscled and hard. Down, down his narrow waist, to the cock that bobbed toward her. Thick, with veins on the side, a dark head. Long and wide.
She wrapped her hands around him and pumped. Base to tip, again. Again.
Not nearly enough.
Kenton’s lips pressed harder against hers and a growl built in his throat.
She wanted more than a growl. She wanted his control to break. Lora wanted him weak, wild, desperate—
Like me.
“Out.” Guttural. He twisted, shutting off the water with a swipe of his hands. “In you…”
They stumbled from the shower and didn’t bother drying. Hands and mouths were greedy. Taking, touching, claiming.
They fell on the bed, and the mattress squeaked. She slithered down his body and eased between his legs. She took his cock in her hand and opened her lips. Finally tasted.
My turn.
“Oh, fuck!” She glanced up in time to see his eyes widen. “Lora…”
Her lips tightened around him. Her tongue slid over his skin, licking, sampling, and he tasted salty on her tongue. Not bitter, but—
His fingers clamped in her wet hair. “Lora.”
She wanted him to come. Wanted to keep licking and sucking until she broke him.
Until there wasn’t any fire. Any death. Wasn’t anything but… them.
Pleasure. Life. Release.
She took him deeper and heard the rasp of his breath. Her sex quivered, and she worked him faster, wrapping her fingers around the base of his erection as she tasted him.
“No more.” Kenton’s voice was guttural.
Then she was on her back. Kenton loomed over her, face flushed, pupils so wide that his eyes looked black. His broad shoulders blocked the light. She licked her lips, still tasting him.
One of his hands clamped over her hip while the other shot across her, digging into her nightstand drawer, fumbling for a condom.
Four seconds later, he was ready.
She was past ready.
Her legs parted for him, so eager. Maybe too eager, but screw that. She needed him.
He thrust inside in a long, smooth glide that stole her breath. Her sex clamped around him and held tight.
His hands caught hers as he thrust, deep and strong. Lora arched up against him. The drumming of her heartbeat filled her ears and she wanted more.
She wanted to go as far over the edge as she could get. She wanted him.
Kenton. Alive. Strong. Fierce.
His fingers tightened around her, and his hips slammed against her. Her legs rose, wrapping tightly around him, and her heels dug into his flesh.
Harder.
He kissed her with the swipe of his tongue and the crush of his lips. His cock slid over her clit, and she moaned into his mouth. Shaking, twisting now as she fought for her release. A release that was so close. So damn close—
Her right hand tugged free of his grip and caught his shoulder. Her nails dug into him. More.
His hips slammed down. In, out, deep, deep.
His fingers snaked between them and found her clit. His thumb pushed against her even as his cock shoved inside in a thrust that had her gasping.
“Come for me.” His whisper.
Her eyes opened. When had she closed them? Lora met his stare. “Make me.” A taunt. One she’d never given a man before. What the hell was her problem? What was she—
He pulled on her clit. Thumb and forefinger, tugging, then pressing, pushing down with just the right force as his cock thrust into her, again and again.
His hips bucked. Then his eyes went wild, and he came.
So did she. Gasping his name, she climaxed. Lora rode the wave of pleasure until her breath was gone, until the pounding of her heart filled her ears, until she couldn’t think, could only feel—
Kent.
He kissed her again. Softer now.
Kent.
His head lifted. His breath came hard, just like hers, and his hair was still damp.
They stared at each other. Silent.
Then he shifted his weight and eased out of her. A slow glide of still-erect flesh.
Still?
He went to the bathroom and didn’t say a word. Right then, she couldn’t speak. Her legs shifted on the bed. Her muscles were lax, her body sated, but…
He came back and went straight to the nightstand.
Her gaze fell on his cock. Definitely still erect. Lora licked her lips, swallowed a few times, and eventually managed, “Kent?”
He reached into the drawer and snagged a packet. Oh, they were going to need more soon. A twist of his fingers and it was open.
He rolled the condom on, and she couldn’t look away. Because… damn. Her sex quivered a bit with an aftershock of pleasure.
And with need. Because she wanted more.
It sure looked like more would be exactly what she got.
His hand came down on her thigh and squeezed. “I’m not finished.”
Oh, wow. His hand slid down and caught her leg to pull her toward him.
Her legs now dangled over the bed and parted for him. He stepped closer, coming right to the edge of the mattress.
Lora stared up at him.
His jaw clenched when he thrust into her. No preliminaries this time. No caresses, no strokes. Just a hard thrust, one she met with an eager lift of her hips.
She was more than ready, still slick, her skin sensitive from her orgasm. She shoved her feet against the bed’s sideboard, bracing herself to meet those deep drives of his hips. She lifted toward him, arching her hips, and took everything he had to give.
His thrusts were hard, deep, so intense that she was shuddering beneath him. His eyes stayed on her. Dark, so dark now.
A quick retreat of his flesh was followed by a quick drive in, one that sent his cock sliding over her clit.
She bit her lip to hold back the scream building in her throat. This, this was what she needed.
“Fucking… beautiful…” The first words he’d spoken since he’d plunged into her.
Lora shuddered beneath him and came.
He kept thrusting even as her sex spasmed around him. Her hands reached up and curled around his arms so she could pull him toward her.
Her lips opened against his neck, and she licked the skin. Then Lora bit him because the pleasure was that good.
His cock jerked, his body stiffened, and she held him tighter because she knew he was coming.
And because that had been one hell of a wild ride.
She’d pulled down her shades to kill the light as best she could. Now Lora lay in the four-poster bed, naked, her soft skin beneath his fingertips.
Kenton turned to look at her. Her lashes were lowering, and she was nearly asleep. After their night, she needed her sleep.
His fingers trailed up her chest and felt the steady beat of her heart. He glanced up and caught the slow smile that curved her lips.
Beautiful.
“You can stay, you know,” she murmured, her voice husky with sex. Christ, how could he still want her? But his cock was up, twitching, because he saw her mouth, red and swollen, and remembered those lips around him.
Made for sex. The woman really was. Ah, damn.
Kenton cleared his throat but couldn’t get his fingers to move away from her. “I’ve got to—I’m meeting Monica. We’re going to talk to Seth and look through his files.” They should have done that yesterday, but Phoenix had screwed up those plans.
Before he’d picked up Lora, he’d spent more time interviewing firefighters—her friends. She didn’t need to know that now, though. Some had been able to provide clear alibis. Some, like Garrison, were still on the suspect list.
Her fingers rose and caught his. “If you need me, call. I want to keep working on these cases.”
But he wanted her the hell away from the fire. Right. Like that was going to happen. Her life was fire.
And his was death.
They were some pair.
“Kenton, it’s not someone at my station. You saw how we all fought today… it’s not one of us.”
He knew how badly she wanted to believe that. His lips brushed over hers. “Get some sleep.”
A moan rumbled in her throat. Come on. Was the woman trying to break him?
“I will,” she promised, and her voice was slurring, her eyes closing.
Kenton eased out of the bed and stared at her a moment. She was rolling, turning onto her side and away from the light. Curling up her hand, curling her body. So beautiful. And in sleep, so fragile.
When she was awake, the woman radiated energy and strength. Nothing she couldn’t handle—nothing.
But in sleep, he realized her bones were small, so very breakable. Her skin delicate.
And she was one person he never wanted to see broken.
He found the clothes that he’d torn off earlier. But dressing took a while because he kept looking at her. The long lines of her body, the sweet curve of her hip.
“I’ll be back tonight,” he told her, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. But she didn’t hear him. Lora was out.
Kenton left her, but made damn sure to lock the door behind him. The lock seemed like such weak protection. Locks wouldn’t stop someone like Phoenix.
I’ll stop him.
Kenton went to the hospital first. He wanted to check on the firefighter and see for himself how Wade Copeland was doing. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and the guy’s wife kept crying the whole time he was there.
By the time he left, his shoulders were stiff and a dull throb pounded behind his right eye. Kenton headed for the parking garage and froze when he saw Frank Garrison.
It’s not one of us.
Garrison was walking toward the hospital with his head down. Kenton shifted and blocked his path.
Garrison looked up, and a frown flickered over his face. “Special Agent? What are you—”
“I just stopped by to see Copeland.” His gaze swept Garrison’s face. The chief looked haggard, with deep shadows lining his eyes. Kenton hesitated. Hell, Lora would be pissed at this, but he had to do his job. “When we were at the station before, where’d you go?”
Garrison blinked at that.
“When the call came in about the Randall fire, you weren’t there.” Kenton lifted a brow. “But you sure did make it to that crime scene fast.” Fast enough to beat him.
Garrison’s jaw locked. “I was scheduled to do a safety program for some elementary kids. The school was a few blocks away from Randall’s place, Agent Lake. I was with the kids when I got the call—and that’s why I was able to get to the scene so fast.”
Garrison shoved by him.
“Lora respects you,” Kenton said the words quietly.
The chief halted. “I respect her. The woman isn’t scared of anything.” He paused. “She’s smart, and she’s strong, and I don’t know why the hell she’d waste her time with you.”
Kenton took the hit because he figured the chief was entitled to his anger. He watched Garrison hurry toward the wide hospital doors.
Garrison’s story would be easy enough to check out. And if he found out that Garrison was lying…
Then the next time he questioned the chief, he’d do it at the police station.
Thirty minutes later, Kenton walked into Seth MacIntyre’s office and stopped dead. His eyes locked on the bulletin board hanging on the right wall. The one lined with pictures of burnt bodies and flames.
Monica rammed into him. “Kenton, what are you—”
He stepped to the side and heard her quick intake of breath.
“They’re his.” Seth rose from his desk and jerked his thumb toward the photos. “I–I’ve been going back over all the cases, trying to find a link.”
Christ, that shit was bad. And during his time on the force and then in the Bureau, he’d sure seen his share of horrific crimes. But…
Kenton forced his eyes away from the photos. “Did you find a link?” Lora’s ex-lover was up there. Damn good thing he hadn’t brought her with him. He didn’t want her seeing that.
But she’d been there that night. She’d seen him like that, up close and personal.
Then the woman had gone right back out and walked into the flames again.
“Actually…” Seth licked his lips. “I did find something.”
Monica brushed by him. “Then don’t keep us waiting, MacIntyre.” While Monica pretended to be all icy and controlled, deep inside, she was just human. And he’d seen the brief flinch from the corner of his eye when she’d caught a glimpse of those photos.
Her shell had cracked, just a bit.
Seth rummaged through the mountain of files on his desk. “The station logs…”
Kenton’s brows rose.
“I’ve been—I’ve been going back over every detail of these fires.”
“You know there was another arson last night.” Monica’s voice was smoother now. Her control was coming back. “Wade Copeland was injured. He’s in the burn unit at Memorial Infirmary.”
His face paled even as he gave a quick nod. “I–I know. I’ve got men working the scene right now.” He lifted a file, and his fingers trembled. “I’m heading down to the scene next, but I wanted to talk to you first.” He offered the file to Kenton. “Might be nothin’…”
That was what they had so far.
Kenton took the file and flipped through the pages. Monica sidled up next to him for a better look. Seth had circled a name, a firefighter who’d been present at the first three Phoenix fires.
Lora Spade. Yeah, they already knew about her, but—
“Frank—he rotates his teams,” Seth said. “But Lora, even with the rotation, she was on the scene for Langley, Hatchen, and Skofield’s deaths.”
Kenton lifted his gaze. “And you think this is important to the killer?” Having Lora there? Coincidence, nothing more. Not like the guy knew when she’d be on duty.
He stiffened.
Watching.
Sonofabitch.
Seth’s chin lifted. “I think it’s a link.” His voice came stronger now. The guy wasn’t backing down or getting intimidated. Good for him. “The only one I’ve found so far.”
“The victims are the link.” Kenton knew that. He closed the file but didn’t hand it back to Seth. “And we’re ripping their lives apart to find out why. Their deaths weren’t nice and neat, and I’m betting their lives weren’t either.”
Seth’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “I think the killer’s watching the station,” Seth said, his voice firmer. “Lora Spade, Rick Suvalis, and Max Quint are the three most decorated firefighters at that station. They’ve been profiled in the papers.” His hands shoved back down and pulled up another file, one overflowing with computer-printed stories from newspapers. He shoved this file at Kenton, too. “They’re the ones people know. Hell, they even go to all the schools and talk to the kids. They’re the ones people see.”
Kenton glanced down at the file. Had they been the ones the killer saw?
“He uses liquid accelerants—gas, turpentine, alcohol… He soaks the fire zone, and then he traps the victims inside the fire—”
“Michael Randall wasn’t trapped,” Monica broke through Seth’s words. “He could have left on his own, gotten out any time.”
And not tried to take a firefighter down with him.
“Randall was trapped.” Seth’s hands hit the pile on his desk and sent papers flying. “I knew that kid. Hell, I worked with him.” His emotion broke through the surface and choked his words. “The minute the fire started, he wouldn’t have been able to leave. It was a compulsion for him; he had to watch the flames.”
“He didn’t just watch.” Kenton’s grip on the files tightened. “He lit himself on fire and went after Wade.”
Seth swallowed, the soft click audible.
“You worked with him?” Kenton asked carefully.
“Yeah. Garrison and me—we visited with him. Malone said his therapists thought talking with us might help him.”
Guess that didn’t work so well.
“How many more?” Monica asked.
The arson investigator blinked. “Uh, what? I’m not sure I understand—”
“The PD is pulling arson files to make sure no other firestarters are on the streets that we don’t know about but…” Her head cocked to the right. “You work these cases day in and day out. You know the arsonists, don’t you?”
A grim nod.
“How many more are living in the area?”
His eyes darted between them. “Uh, n-none that fit the MO here—”
“How many,” Kenton demanded.
“Three, that I know of.” Seth’s shoulders straightened. “A woman, Margie Dawson. She got out last May. But she’s—she was hurt real bad in the last fire. She can’t get around so good anymore.”
“Who else?”
“Sean Kennedy. Fifty-five, um, he likes to burn rental houses. He’s a scammer people try to use for insurance fraud. Sean likes the fires as well as the money, though.”
Kenton saw Monica’s brows rise. “And the last one?”
“Howard Tate. He’s into electrical fires. Rigging them, then watching the houses blow.”
Great. Just fucking great. These perps were out there, and Lora was walking right into their fires.
“We want all of your files,” Monica told him.
Seth glanced down at the chaos that was his desk. “Help yourself.” He grabbed his bag. “I got a scene to work.” Seth walked around the desk, his limp slowing him just a bit.
Kenton stepped in front of him. “I think I’ll come along.” So his last trip to an arson scene had ended with him on the ground and a roof nearly smashing his head in. This time, he’d stay on guard.
Every single minute.
The loud ringing of the phone woke her. Lora rolled over, tossed out her hand, and snagged the receiver. “Hello?”
“He’s awake, Lora.”
Frank’s voice.
She shot up in bed. “Wade? Wade’s up?” Her heart jumped in her chest.
“Yeah. Hot damn, he’s talking.” Excitement had his voice breaking. “You saved him! Docs say he’ll pull through! He’ll need some grafts, some therapy, but he’ll make it!”
There were voices in the background, laughing and talking. Their volume rising fast.
“We ain’t losing him, not like—” Frank broke off.
And right then, the silence was defeaning.
Like Carter.
She licked lips that felt numb. “I’m glad. Tell Sherri”—Wade’s wife of two months—“I’m glad he’s gonna make it.” Thank you, God.
Because she hadn’t wanted to bury another friend, hadn’t wanted to see the dark casket slide into the ground. All the damn flowers surrounding the giant hole in the ground, their scent choking her.
“I’ll tell her.” Silence, then, “Lora? Lora, you still there?”
“I’m here.”
“You did damn good, you hear me? You got him out. You did damn good.”
“Thanks, Chief.” She hung up the phone. Lora stared down at her hands and saw the splatter of teardrops hit her fingers.
“Heard you and Lora are getting… close.”
Seth’s words froze Kenton right in front of the hollowed-out shell of the Randalls’ house on Millway. “And where the hell did you hear that?”
Seth glanced back, his eyes narrowed. “I used to work in that station. I got friends there, and station gossip travels fast.”
And Lora had bold-as-you-please announced to her chief that they were sleeping together. Kenton grunted. “Don’t really see how this is any of your business.”
Two men came out. They pushed a gurney, one carrying a zipped-up black bag. Randall.
That bag sure didn’t look very big.
“Lora and I don’t always see eye to eye.”
Kenton glanced back at him.
“But I respect her, and I respected Carter. I was there that night. When Carter got caught in the flames, I saw her—” His lips pressed into a thin line. “Lora needs to heal. She hasn’t had time to—”
Fuck this. Kenton stepped close to him, toe-to-toe. “Work the case and let me fucking worry about Lora.” Because the last thing he needed was this prick telling him how to handle his woman.
Oh, Christ.
The thought registered two seconds too late.
His.
But she was. Because even in the midst of this hell, he could smell her. Her scent was on him, pushing back the smoke. He could taste her, feel her against him.
“She’s using you, man.” Seth’s hands formed tight fists. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I know her, and I’m trying to help you.”
Like he needed this shit.
“She’s done it before, Lake. You’re not him. She won’t—”
What the hell? “Work the damn case,” he ordered. Because this guy was pushing, and in another three seconds, Kenton was gonna push back.
Seth whirled around and almost slammed into the guys hauling out a second gurney, one carrying another black bag.
Two? “No one told me there was another body inside.” Monica hadn’t known either. This changed things. Shit.
Seth tossed a fast glance over his shoulder. “Michael Randall started playing with fire when he was six years old, right around the time his mother started burning him with her cigarettes.” Seth’s eyes glittered at him. “Hailey… had a bad problem with booze.”
The gurney rolled past them, the wheels grinding.
“To a screwed-up kid, fire became love.” Seth shook his head. “This time, he showed his mother one hell of a lot of love.”
Hell. “You knew about the second body? Why didn’t you tell us?”
Seth held up his phone. “Got the call on the way here. Haven’t ID’d her yet, won’t, until the dental records come back, but I know Hailey was here. This was her place. Techs say her booze started the fire.”
No, that would have been her son.
Right around the time his mother started burning him with cigarettes. Fuck. Didn’t people understand? Didn’t they get it? Half the bastards he chased, they weren’t evil because of some chemical imbalance. They were twisted because they’d been taught to act that way.
A victim one day, a killer the next. It was the way nature worked.
Kenton felt the same disgust that he saw in Seth’s eyes as they watched the two bags get loaded into the van. Two lives gone. Hauled away like garbage.
“Come on, Special Agent,” Seth said as he grabbed some airtight containers from the back of the vehicle. Evidence collection. “Let’s go work the fucking case.”
Kenton stepped forward, but then the purr of a car’s engine froze him. He glanced up and saw Lora driving up to the scene.
Seth spun away and headed for the house.
Kenton stalked toward Lora. When she parked, he pulled open the car door. “You’re supposed to be resting.”
Her face looked pale and a bit strained. “I need to keep working this case with you.”
He forced his teeth to unlock. He was worried about her, but the damn truth was that he could use her eyes. MacIntyre had missed evidence before. Kenton didn’t want to risk another mistake.
So he stepped back and let Lora exit the car. They walked together toward the blackened entrance of the house. She hesitated near the steps for a long moment. Kenton was reminded of her stumbling out of the burning house again, her hands locked on Wade.
She straightened her shoulders and went inside.
“There are multiple points of origin on this one,” Seth called out.
“There had to be,” Lora said as her gaze drifted around the shell of the house. “When Randall came out, he had lighters in both hands. Liquid accelerant was everywhere, and he was lighting the place up as fast as he could.”
Kenton brushed his fingers down her arm and saw the slight shiver that shook her body. “You okay?”
Her eyes found his. “He almost took out one of my team members last night. Hell, no, I’m not okay.” Her shoulders straightened. “But I’m not broken either.”
No, she wasn’t.
“Got something back here!” Seth’s voice had Kenton tensing. Carefully, they made their way through the small house. Seth was in the back room, crouched low. The room was blackened, charred far worse than many of the other areas.
Seth glanced back at them and grunted. “Another point of origin.” He gestured before him. “The female victim’s remains were found here. Based on the placement, the techs think she was sleeping when the fire started.”
“Any signs she was restrained?” Kenton asked, but the room had been burned to hell and back, so he doubted that any evidence had been left behind.
Seth exhaled on a hard sigh as he sealed one of the containers that he’d carried into the room. “Hailey loved her booze. Odds are good the woman was passed out. If she didn’t try to escape, I doubt she even realized the fire was around her.”
Dead to the world.
“Broken bottles were all around the interior of the house,” Lora said, and her voice was far more subdued than normal. Right, because she’d almost died there the night before. “Looks like Hailey’s alcohol was the accelerant.”
Seth lifted the container. “Yeah, we’ll officially confirm that real soon.”
Beneath the scent of soot and ash, Kenton could still smell the odor of whiskey and tequila. He had no doubt what the accelerant had been. And if the guy had used the booze…
“He brings the accelerant when he knows there isn’t anything on site.” Excitement had his heart thumping faster.
Seth and Lora both turned to him.
“He knew there were accelerants he could use at Hatchen’s garage.” Motor oil and gas. “So he used what was on scene.” And that had thrown off the arson investigators. “This time, he knew there’d be plenty of alcohol to use.” No need to bring another accelerant, not when the place was ready to blow on its own.
“He would’ve had to know the Randalls,” Seth said, “if he came in—”
“He came in knowing he’d set this place ablaze,” Kenton broke over the arson investigator’s words. “And he came in knowing that he didn’t have to bring a damn thing to start the job.” Because everything he needed had been right there.
So easy to slip in when the scene is already set for you.
“He’d been here before,” Kenton said as he surveyed the soggy, black remains of the house. “The bastard was here.” There one day to visit, there the next to kill.
One cold sonofabitch.
A calculating killer who’d taken the time to get to know his prey.