Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(12)

A car door slammed. Two men strode toward the bar.

A woman eased out of the heavy doors.

“There’s something you should know…” Lora began, voice grim.

His brows raised.

“Carter and I—”

He waited, because he’d known this was coming. It was the way she said the guy’s name. The softness that whispered in her voice. It told him they’d been—

“We were involved.”

“Lovers.” His voice was flat.

Her eyes widened, reflecting the moonlight. “Yeah, yeah, we were.”

She’d buried her lover. Lost him to the fire.

And gone back to battle the flames.

“It’s been six months, and the guy hasn’t struck again. Could be he’s moved on or could be he’s lying low, waiting for his next strike.” Lora rocked forward on her heels. “But I was tired of waiting for this case to break. Carter needed justice.”

Carter? Or her? “What makes you so sure the fire on LeRoy wasn’t set by your guy?”

“At first, I thought it might be him, even though there was no 911 call. A liquid accelerant was used, and the vic was locked in the closet. But my guy—the guy we’re after—he doesn’t kill first. He lets the fire do the dirty work for him.”

Yeah, he’d been thinking about that, and he’d realized… “He’d kill if he wanted to make damn sure the victim didn’t survive.” Jerome had called the Bureau with a tip about an arson fire in Charlottesville. Jerome had lived near Charlie Skofield, and the guy had said he wanted to cash out on what he’d seen the night of that fire.

Jerome had been ready to cash out, all right; then the poor bastard had been trapped in a blaze.

Kenton didn’t believe in coincidences.

“Why? Why that guy?” Lora demanded. “I don’t—”

He wasn’t going to tell her. Not yet. Because while he needed her knowledge, he didn’t trust her.

Kenton trusted his team at the SSD. And no one else.

A loud burst of music broke the night. Hard-hitting rock. His eyes narrowed because the music was coming from Lora.

Lora yanked out her phone. “Spade.” Her breath sucked in. “Shit. Okay, I’m on my way.”

He caught the tremble of her fingers. “What’s going on?”

“Fire. Looks like our guy’s back in the game.”

Kenton wasn’t sure that he’d ever left. “How do you know it’s him? Fires do happen, you know. It doesn’t have to be—”

“The jerkoff called it in, said the chief had to hurry.” She was already whirling around to run away, but he easily heard her last words. “The bastard said to hurry because the vic didn’t have much time.”

Damn.

Kenton ran after her and caught her arm. “Sweetheart, no way in hell you’re leaving me behind.”

Partners. For now.


The building was still burning when Lora braked to a stop on Byron Street. Firefighters scrambled, some dragging the long hose toward the building. The cops were there, keeping the perimeter blocked, though no one stood in the street. No watchers this time.

Not in this neighborhood.

Lora jumped from her car, then slammed the door with a hard thud. “Chief!” Frank was there, close to the truck, with his head down. He started at her call and spun around.

“I don’t see the victim,” Kenton muttered from beside her.

The flames shot higher.

“Pull back!” Frank snarled into his radio. “Every damn one of you, pull back.”

The fire licked at the night sky. The yellow flames twisted and turned while the thick, black smoke billowed in the air.

“Gasoline,” she whispered. “This time, he used gasoline as the accelerant.”

“What?” Kenton asked immediately. “How do you know that?”

“The color of the smoke.” She pointed to the fire. “And the yellow flames. Those are two damn good indicators.” Firefighters learned early on to match up the smoke and fire color with the accelerants.

Two firefighters ran out of the building.

Sometimes they don’t make it out.

“Carter!” The echo of that scream was in her mind, and God, she’d screamed his name for so long. Screamed and begged, but he hadn’t moved. Hadn’t answered her.

“Lora, get him the f*ck back!” Frank’s snarl snapped her attention back to the present, and she grabbed Kenton’s expensive shirt.

“Not safe, GQ.” She yanked him with her. She shouldn’t have brought him inside the perimeter line, but dammit, she hadn’t been thinking. She’d jumped from the car, run for the chief—

And Kenton had been right beside her.

Lora licked her lips. “We’ve got to move!”

Those flames were rolling, tightening, and spreading too fast. She knew the signs; she knew what was coming even before she heard the loud groan as the roof gave way.

“Shit!” She shoved him, knocking him to the ground as debris shot into the air.

Even this far away, she could have sworn she felt the lick of that heat on her skin.

You never forgot the touch of fire.

Her hands slammed into the earth, and she raised up, trying to get a look at the agent. “You okay?”