Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(23)

Lora caught Seth nodding. Right, figured he’d be totally on board now. Like he hadn’t been dodging her calls for weeks. But there he stood, to the far right of Kenton, acting like he was part of their team. All ready to catch a killer.

“This man doesn’t have a distinct signature. Not the same accelerant, not the same victim type.” Davenport glanced at the victims’ board.

Lora glanced at the floor.

“But the trap—that’s his mark. And I’m thinking there have been other cases. Maybe it wasn’t so obvious that the victim was trapped. Perhaps he started the game by staging the scenes as accidents—”

“Because he wanted to see if he could get away with murder,” Kenton broke in.

Lora’s gaze flew up. “So far, he has.” Okay, that pissy snap was hers. Lora couldn’t help it. The words just slipped out. Control hadn’t really ever been her strong suit.

Kenton shifted, and his gaze zeroed in on her. “So far. Not forever.” Of course, he’d heard her. His stare held hers, bright and hot, then drifted to her cheek. His lips tightened.

“Uh… excuse me.” Seth stepped up, brushing just past Pete. Not surprising that Seth had aligned with the cops instead of the firefighters. These days, he spent more time with the cops. Besides, he and Pete were friends. Had been, for years. Those two guys usually agreed on things, but not this case.

Seth cleared his throat. “If he was getting away with the crimes, then why’d the perpetrator start calling 911 and telling the dispatcher about the fires? If he hadn’t called in with Hatchen and Skofield, there wouldn’t have been any link—”

“Attention.” Davenport’s flat answer. “The guy is good, and he wanted some recognition for his talent.”

“Good?” Okay, that one broke free, too, and now she had Monica’s eerie blue eyes focusing on her. Lora squared her shoulders. “He’s not good. He’s a twisted freak who gets off on starting fires and killing people.”

“Yes.” A quick nod. That gaze was way too assessing. “I do believe he gets off on the flames, and the death, and I think he probably watches, very, very closely to see what happens at all of his scenes.”

“So from now on, you’re to watch the crowds.” Kenton’s stare tracked back across the room. “Note the faces. The body language. If he lights a place, our guy is there. We’ll be doing searches of surrounding buildings. We’ll write down car tag numbers. We will find this guy.”

“Before he kills someone else?” Ah, now Pete was speaking up. He’d been scribbling down notes during the briefing, but now his pen was poised in the air. “Sounds to me like you’re already factoring in his next hit. We search the crowd after the fire. We canvass the area after. What are we gonna do before he strikes?” His eyes narrowed, and his handsome face hardened. “What are we gonna do so that we don’t have to ID another poor bastard by using his dental records?”

Now this was why she and Pete had dated once upon a time. He went after the bad guys. And he tried to keep the victims safe. The guy wasn’t perfect, but he was a good cop. One who’d just been thwarted by his boss.

No one ever wanted to admit the problem was too big. The brass at the Charlottesville PD sure hadn’t wanted to admit they might have a serial on their hands. Better to bury their heads, bury the dead, and hope the guy left town.

Stupid.

“We’ve got members of the SSD cross-referencing fires that resulted in fatalities in the area.” A muscle flexed along Kenton’s jaw. “We’re going to review the files in the county arson investigator’s office and see what connections we find.”

“The key in cases like this,” Davenport added in her smooth voice, “is finding an early crime. You need to see what set off the serial. What drove him to cross the line that first time. Finding an earlier case could lead us right to our killer’s identity.”

Now that would be something.

“And we’re working on victims.” Kenton pointed at Pete. “Malone, I want you manning a team and ripping through the lives of the vics. There’s a reason he picked those people. They weren’t random—”

“They rarely are,” Davenport agreed.

“When we find the connection between them, we’ve got another piece of the puzzle. Another clue to finding him.”

Sounded better than just sitting on their asses.

“But if there is another fire…” Kenton began.

“He means when,” Max said. Lora drove her elbow into his side. Straight into solid muscle.

“Then you need to be on your guard.” Kenton paused. “Because I think he likes playing with you.” He meant the firefighters, all of them, right? But he was looking only at her. “He’s getting personal. He took one of yours down. You have to stay on guard because he’s drawing you into his game.”

His sick, twisted game. “All right.” Kenton clapped his hands together. “Team leaders will stay to get their orders. Stay sharp, people. There’s a perp out there, playing in your town, and you’ve got to be ready for him. Twenty-four seven, be ready.”

“You heard the man!” Police Captain Jason Lawrence finally stepped up. Jerk. He should have stepped up long ago. He should have been the one to call the SSD. “We’re hunting this perp—we’re stopping him.” The perp he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. But now, his beady eyes were bright with excitement, even if his forehead was showing more than a trickle of sweat.