Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(77)

Kenton knew her, too, inside and out, and he didn’t need this guy telling him about his lover.

He could feel Sam’s stare on him but he didn’t look her way. Not now. He kept Seth pinned with his gaze.

“Lora tries to forget sometimes.” Seth licked his lips. “She hasn’t learned yet that you can’t forget.”

Kenton remembered the first time that he’d had Lora in bed. Look at me. He’d never be a stand-in for a dead man.

No matter how much of a f*cking hero the guy was.

“This isn’t—I didn’t come here to—”

“Special Agent Lake!”

He turned at the call and found a nervous-looking cop shouldering across the bullpen.

“I found Detective Malone,” the cop called out. “He’s gone to the Bringham fire station to talk to Garrison.”

“We need to detain him, now.” Kenton’s phone rang, vibrating in his pocket. He yanked it out. “Lake.”

“I thought you’d want to know,” came Jon’s easy voice. “Lora’s on her way to the fire station. The captain called her, and she’s gonna fill in for someone with food poisoning.”

Lora was headed to the station. Malone was there. Shit. “Stay with her, and when you get there, don’t let Detective Malone out of your sight.”

Because all these puzzle pieces were lining up. And right in the middle, like a big giant X, was the fire station on Bringham.

“I’ll meet you in twenty, Jon,” Kenton told him. He spun away from Seth and Sam and hurried toward Captain Lawrence’s office. He knocked first, barely, then pushed inside. “I’m gonna need your personnel reports.”

The captain looked up at him. “The hell you—”

He’d left the door open because he didn’t care who overheard them. Twenty minutes. No time to waste. “You know how the Watchman case ended.” He shook his head. “You really want that same shit on your doorstep?” Kenton’s control was razor thin.

Silence filled the air behind him as those in the bullpen strained to hear.

The captain slowly stood up. “You’re sayin’ my men—”

“We’re checking the firefighters. We’re checking the cops.” Not all of them. But there were some right at the top of the SSD’s list. “And I want to start with Peter Malone.” The detective seemed like a good guy, but appearances could be deceiving.

He knew that too well.

“Starting with him, but there’ll be others.” There always were.

Lawrence gave a jerky nod and walked toward the door. “I—I’ll go to personnel.”

“We’ll go.” He followed right on the captain’s heels. “And we’ll f*cking hurry.”





CHAPTER Fifteen


Lora had just stepped into the fire station when she heard Kenton’s voice behind her. She turned around and saw him. The drumming of Lora’s heart echoed in her ears even as she shoved her way past the guys who wanted to make sure she was all right.

“Lora, damn, woman,” Garrison called out, “just slow—”

She almost slammed into Kenton.

He caught her, and his hands rose to lock around her arms. A furrow pulled down his brows. “Lora—”

“We need to talk.” Right then.

But he shook his head. “I’m here to see Malone.”

Malone? Pete?

“He’s not here,” Jon told him. “Garrison said the guy cut out before word came to detain him.”

Lora’s eyes widened. “Why do you want to detain Pete?”

Kenton leveled a stare at Jon. “Malone’s father was a firefighter.”

“Saul Malone wasn’t just a firefighter,” Lora said, blinking. “He was a damn great firefighter. He died in the line of duty while he was saving some kids back in the eighties.”

But Jon’s lips thinned, and his gaze didn’t stray from Kenton. “Was he now?”

“When you call the station, talk to Monica,” Kenton ordered. “Get her to bring you up to speed. And make sure the cops are searching this town for Detective Malone.”

Kenton pushed Lora into the conference room, then slammed the door behind her. The little speech she’d prepared for him flew right out of her mind. “Pete? Are you suggesting Pete had something to do with this? Because, Kent, you’re wrong. He—”

“How well do you know Peter Malone?”

Ah… she licked her lips and managed to hold his stare. “Well enough.”

His eyes bored into hers. The air got real thick. “Shit. You’ve slept with him.” His hand ran through his hair. “That was what Seth meant.”

Seth? Great, so he’d been spreading gossip, but so what? She had a past. Big deal. “Before us, yeah, I did. He’s a good guy.”

“Fuck! Now I understand why you weren’t worried about going over his head. You could do pretty much any damn thing, and he wouldn’t get mad, right?”

She pulled back, stumbling away from him. “Whatever happened between me and Pete, it’s over. I don’t need to explain this to you.”

“Oh, yeah, sweetheart, you do.” He stalked forward. The back of her thighs bumped into the conference table.