Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(76)
So Lora had already told him.
“But I don’t—” Seth broke off, looking at Sam. “Uh, is it okay to talk with—”
“This is Special Agent Samantha Kennedy,” Kenton said with a nod toward her. “From now on, she hears everything about the case. And, Sam, you’re looking at Seth MacIntyre, county arson investigator.”
Seth inclined his head toward her as he cleared his throat. “I just… the way this fire was set… I don’t think the guy was going for a kill.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “This perp knows his fire, knows which accelerants to use, knows how to set the scene for optimum heat burst and explosion. If he’d wanted to burn Lora’s house, he could have poured the gasoline to connect with her gas system or hooked it to spark with the electric line.”
“But he didn’t.” The fire had been circling her house.
“He made a path with the accelerant. One that would burn tight, but not explode.”
Lora had thought that the guy was just playing with her, and Seth was just confirming her theory. One deadly game.
“I’m sorry I don’t have more.” Seth’s shoulders dropped. “No sign of an incendiary device. I’d hoped like hell to find more at the scene.” His lips tightened.
Kenton had been hoping for a lot more, too.
“But—but one of the guys from my team said he read in the paper that you’ve got a witness, right?” Excitement flickered in Seth’s gaze. “Did someone come forward who saw him at one of the scenes? Tell me you’re about to take this bastard down.”
Not quite. “We’re following up on a few leads right now,” Kenton allowed carefully. “We’ve found a connection between the victims.” Kenton figured he could say that much. Now, where was Peter Malone? He needed to talk to the detective ASAP. An officer was supposed to be checking on him, but damn, how long did it take to find one cop?
“A connection?” Seth’s gaze darted between him and Sam. “What kind of connection? I never saw a link. I looked through the victims’ files—”
“This link was a bit harder to find.” But not impossible to discover. At least, not if you knew how to slide into prison files and arrest records on a cyber trail.
And, in the case of Jennifer Langley, not if you could find someone willing to talk about some dark deeds.
“Is Lora connected to them?” Seth ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe he went after one of our own!”
“He’s been going after firefighters for a while.” One of our own. The phrase stuck in his head. “Seth, what did you do before you became the arson investigator?”
He straightened a bit. “I was a firefighter at the station on Bringham.”
“With Lora?”
A ghost of a smile lifted his lips. “Uh, yeah. I worked there until I transferred to arson.”
Of course the guy had been a firefighter, but he hadn’t thought the man had worked with Garrison’s current crew. “Why’d you leave?”
The smile faded away. “I couldn’t do the job anymore.” Seth’s gaze fell, and so did Kenton’s.
The limp. Shit. Right.
“You were injured on the job?” The soft question was Sam’s.
Seth exhaled, hard, and the fingers of his right hand went to his long shirt sleeve. He rolled up the material with quick movements of his hand. “You could say that.”
The flesh was smooth, tanned at first. Then…
Rough. Red. Twisted and raised.
He rolled up the other sleeve. That arm was scarred the same way. Christ.
“Got caught in a building collapse. My leg was pinned, broken, the bone breaking out of the skin.” Seth shrugged his shoulders. “My arms really aren’t so bad. My back… it’s much worse.”
“How’d you get out?” Sam asked. She’d barely escaped death herself. Actually, she hadn’t escaped. For a few precious seconds, death had held her in his grasp.
Seth swallowed and looked away. He began to tug his left sleeve down, in hard, angry moves. “Carter Creed hauled me out. He found me and pulled me out of there when I figured I was as good as dead. I was screaming and choking on smoke and flames.”
Kenton glanced at Sam and saw her lips tremble.
Seth rolled his shoulders. “Two years later, I’m here, and he’s in the ground. Life can be a real bitch sometimes.” His eyes lifted. “I am working this case. Lora might not think I’m trying but I am. I got my whole department on board with me. We’re not stopping, not until this is over.”
The faint lines around Seth’s eyes tightened as he stared at Kenton. “I meant what I said last night. Carter Creed was a hero. He didn’t deserve to die in that fire, and if it’s the last thing I do, I’m gonna repay my debt to him.”
Carter. “So you’re a fan of his, but not hers.” Seth’s earlier words still rang in his ears. She’s using you, man… She’s done it before. You’re not him.
No, he wasn’t Carter.
“No, that’s not…” Seth shook his head fast. “I saw what she was like, after, and I know her.” His dark stare glittered. “You met her days ago, but I’ve known her for years.”