Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(62)

Jon nodded and immediately headed to guard the door.

Kenton didn’t speak again and didn’t answer Lawrence’s blustering questions until they were back in the captain’s office. Monica shut the door behind them. Very, very quietly.

“What the hell is your problem?” Lawrence demanded, his hawkish face tight. “You don’t interrupt me when—”

“Who the hell gave you permission to discuss the witness with the press?” Kenton cut right through his words.

The guy’s mouth hung open. Then closed. Then opened. Fish-style. But then the captain’s hand slapped against the desk. “I don’t need permission. This is my PD, and I can—”

Kenton clenched his fists. “Listen up, Captain. Listen real good. This isn’t your case. I told you that already. The SSD is in charge of the Phoenix investigation now.”

“This is my city—”

“And this is my killer,” Kenton tossed right back. “And we don’t need some piss-for-brains cop screwing up our investigation.”

Lawrence went red. “You can’t—”

“We can,” Monica told him quietly. “We have the authority here.”

Lawrence’s shoulders hunched. “Just… an interview… little one for the press… knew f-folks would want to know—”

About the witness.

“Tell me, Captain,” Kenton said, “do you know what happened to the last man who tried to give us a description of Phoenix?”

The cop’s eyes widened.

“Larry Powell,” Kenton supplied. “He was here, right in this damn station, and he saw Phoenix, too.”

Monica stepped back and let him close in for the kill.

“Now he’s in the morgue,” Kenton told him, jaw tight. “Or what’s left of his burnt and charred body is.”

“Phoenix doesn’t seem to like leaving witnesses alive,” Monica added.

The captain’s face bleached of that fiery red. “I-I d-didn’t…”

“You didn’t read the report that Dr. Jennings sent to you?” Kenton’s voice snapped.

Lawrence flinched.

The captain had just put a target on Bob. And all because Lawrence had wanted his own face splashed on the news.

“What do you think Phoenix will do when he sees this piece on the news?” Monica asked softly.

Fury heated Kenton’s blood. “Who do you think will be next on the guy’s list?”

Lawrence sagged against the front of his desk. The hair he’d slicked back on the sides glinted in the light. “I-I just didn’t—”

Think. Yeah, they knew that.

“You’re giving Bob Kyle protection,” Kenton ordered. “Twenty-four-seven protection, you understand?”

Because he was not going to let another witness die. Powell already haunted him.

“They won’t run the story, right?” Lawrence asked, swiping a hand over his forehead. “You told them… they won’t run the story.”

Kenton sighed. The cop really didn’t understand this game. “If they don’t, we’ll be damn lucky.” And he’d never counted on luck.


Lora’s lights were out.

He inched along the edge of her property, keeping to the shadows near the tree line.

The cop and his partner were taking six minutes to circle.

Six minutes.

So much could happen in six minutes.

Fire. Death.

He smiled. Six minutes. So much time.

His fingers tightened around the can of gasoline. Then he tipped the can over and started to pour.





CHAPTER Twelve


Lora rolled over and slammed her fist into the pillow once more. She couldn’t get to sleep. She could only close her eyes and lie there.

But she couldn’t turn her mind off.

Phoenix. He was out there, somewhere, planning his next attack. And Kenton—Kenton was stirring him up and painting a giant bull’s-eye on his back.

What do I do? If he comes after Kenton, what am I supposed to do?

She exhaled. Dammit, she needed to see him.

The smell hit her, acrid and harsh, filling her nostrils. A smell she knew all too well.

Lora jumped from her bed in an instant and ran to the window. Her fingers fumbled as she struggled to open the lock, then she shoved up the glass pane.

Smoke and fire surrounded her house. A line of flames circled the house and licked at the wood, rising quickly up the side.

How much heat can you handle?

He’d come after her.

She whirled away, grabbed the thick covers off her bed, and ran for the stairs.


When he left the station, Kenton knew exactly where he was headed, and he couldn’t get there fast enough.

He wanted Lora. He wanted to see her and touch her. He wanted her in his bed.

After Phoenix’s threat—and dealing with the captain’s bullshit—Kenton needed to see her, just to make certain she was all right, because there was a knot in his gut, had been all night.

He’d just take a quick look. Just go by her house to make sure she was safe.

Hell, I’m worse than a kid. Some lovesick, desperate teenager.

But he was still going by her house.

He turned the corner leading to the white house at 209 Maple, and his heart stopped.