Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(51)

“I told you, I’m with the FBI, and you need to—”

The man just came at him again. His fist plowed into Kenton’s stomach.

“Screw this,” Kenton muttered. He grabbed the guy’s arms, spun him around, and slammed the man face-first into the doorframe. The man’s body sagged, and only Kenton’s hold seemed to keep him upright. “Asshole, come at me again, and it’ll be the last mistake you make.”

Lora’s breath rasped out. The violence had been fast and intense, and Kenton didn’t seem to have even broken a sweat.

But he had his gun out now, and they all heard the soft snick as he released the safety.

Lora realized her hands were balled into fists.

“Ease back, Lora,” Kenton ordered quietly.

Uh, right. She hurried back a few steps.

Kenton flipped the jerk around, and his gun stayed locked right on the guy’s chest. The man froze at the sight. Then, after a heartbeat of time, he started talking, fast, “Pl-please m-man… I just didn’t want to go back to jail…”

Kenton grunted. “And you thought swinging at an FBI agent was the way to stay on the streets? Wrong move, dumbass.”

“I just sold a l-little bit, okay? Just a couple of d-dime bags…”

The guy was a dealer? That was why he’d attacked?

“What’s your name?” Kenton asked.

“Q-Quint. Quint Harley.”

“Well, Quint, I wasn’t here because of the drugs.” Kenton wasn’t lowering his gun, and Lora thought that was a good choice. She didn’t trust the dealer not to slam into him again. “I wanted to ask you some questions about the Randalls.”

The dealer’s bulging eyes blinked a few times. “H-Hailey and that weird kid? They burned last night. Didn’t—didn’t you hear?”

“We heard,” Lora said flatly, crossing her hands over her chest.

Quint glanced her way, squinting against the sunlight.

“Before your ass gets hauled to jail,” Kenton said, “tell me who’s been visiting the Randalls.”

Quint shook his head. “N-no one. They weren’t real big on visitors.”

No, Hailey hadn’t exactly been the welcoming kind.

“You had to see somebody,” Kenton pressed. “I want physical descriptions, I want vehicle descriptions, I want—”

But Quint was still shaking his head. “I’m tellin’ you… they didn’t have company. Hell, the only cars I ever saw over there were black-and-whites. Cops were the only damn visitors they had.”

Kenton grunted. “So the boy kept causing trouble?”

“Nah, he was quiet once he came back. But Hailey screamed at him all the time. Heard her tell him that she’d be tossing his ass on the street soon.”

Only Hailey hadn’t tossed her son out. She’d burned instead.

So Michael had known that his mother was getting ready to dump him. Had that been what pushed him over the edge? Yeah, that could have broken the kid’s already damaged mind.

“Hey, man!” Harley’s brows rose, and a flash of hope had his lips curving. “Since I told you, does that mean you’ll let me go?”

“No, it means you’ll be heading to jail. You’re under arrest for assaulting a federal officer.”


Kenton was bone tired when he pulled up in front of Lora’s house that night. After he’d gotten a black-and-white cruiser to take Harley into the station, he’d interviewed the other neighbors. No one remembered any visitors at the Randall house. Most folks hadn’t seemed to care enough to ever bother glancing over that way. All the memories were of cop cars, nothing else.

After leaving the neighborhood, he’d verified Garrison’s story about the school and his whereabouts at the time of the Randall fire. A teacher remembered Garrison cutting out right after he’d gotten a page.

After he’d checked out Garrison, Kenton spent a few hours interviewing the pyros that Peter hauled into the station. He’d watched as Peter tossed the fire photos in front of them. No one’s reaction had raised his suspicions. Then, while Monica and Jon had checked out more firefighters in the area, Kenton had talked to the families of the victims and seen their grief. He and Monica had suspects. Oh, yeah, they had a whole shitload of them. But they didn’t have Phoenix.

All in all, it had been one real bitch of a day.

Sighing, Kenton shoved his SUV’s door open. He wanted to see Lora. His hand stretched back into the passenger seat and grabbed the roses that he’d picked up.

Because he didn’t just want hot sex with her. Well, he did. But tonight, he wanted more.

A date. It would be a new experience for him. Usually, he didn’t exactly stick around for date time.

As he turned his head and caught sight of the front porch, he saw her.

But Lora didn’t see him. She was too busy throwing her arms around some other *. Some tall, blond-headed ass who had his hands on her, his body pressed against hers.

The sound of her laughter reached his ears, light and warm.

She leaned up and kissed the man’s cheek.

What the f*ck.

She turned, and the guy slipped past her, heading right into her house.

“She’s using you, man. She’s done it before. You’re not him. She won’t—”