Tender Is The Night (8 page)

"If the arsonist didn't die in the fire along with your partner, then how do you explain the man's presence at the scene?" Emma asked Devin. "It's my understanding that he was not the owner, nor a tenant, nor anyone who had any link to that house. So how did he get caught up in the fire?"

"I don't know yet," Devin said. "We talked to his coworkers, his friends, his neighbors, but no one could tell us why he was there. In fact, no one could tell us much of anything. Rick Baines was a twenty-six-year-old loner. He went to community college for a couple of years but never finished. He worked at a gym and lived in an apartment with four other guys who said they weren't friends; Rick had just answered an ad a few weeks earlier and moved in."

"He also wanted to be a firefighter. He'd applied and was rejected a few weeks before your partner was killed. Put that with everything else you just told me, and Rick Baines looks like the arsonist," Emma said.

Devin sighed. "Except he wasn't. That's exactly what Sam was trying to tell me. She said the profile was wrong. It wasn't what we thought. I don't know how or why Rick Baines was in that house, but I know he's not the one—or he's not the
only
one—who set that fire."

Kate looked at Devin in surprise. "You didn't say that before. You didn't say you thought Baines had a partner or that more than one person set the fire."

"I don't have evidence, just a gut instinct. Because as Emma pointed out, there has to be a reason why Baines was in that house with Sam. He's linked to the arsonist, but I don't know how."

"Or," Emma began, "it's possible that the fire at St. Bernadette's is a copycat crime. Not that I'm saying I don't still think it was vandals, but arsonists can sometimes have a mutual admiration society. They're fascinated with fire. They like each other's work. Sometimes they show up at fires to see what someone else did."

"That's creepy," Kate said. "You're telling me that arsonists have fans or groupies?"

Emma nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Some of them listen to scanners. They follow the police and fire trucks to the scene. I know there were some individuals who showed up at some of the fires Devin has been tracking, but none of them were proven to be guilty."

"They weren't proven to be innocent, either," Devin said.

"Well, whether St. Bernadette's is the work of Sam's killer or the work of a copycat, we still need to stop them from striking again. And we need to work together," Kate put in.

"Is the FBI officially involved?" Emma asked.

"I've been given limited participation," Kate said. "But I plan to speak with my boss to see if I can expand that. We're going to need your help, too."

Emma stared back at them for a long minute. "I'll think about how best to make that happen."

Kate was relieved by her answer. "Thank you." She gave Devin a smile. "I told you we could count on Emma."

He didn't look completely convinced, but he nodded. "I'm happy you brought us together."

"I told you I'd be helpful," she reminded him.

"Yes, you have—several times now," he said dryly. "It helps to have family connections."

She made a face at him. "It's not just my connections that will help you. It's this, too." She tapped her head. "I have a smart brain."

"And a smart mouth. I hope you don't let the Bureau drive that out of you." He put his napkin on the table and stood up. "I'll be back in a moment."

As Devin left, Emma gave her a speculative smile. "Let's get to the real question now, Kate."

"What's that?" she asked, sure she already knew.

"What's going on with you and the hot ex-FBI agent turned PI? The look he just gave you made my toes curl."

"Don't be silly. He didn't look at me in any particular way. In fact, he was annoyed if anything. He thinks I'm too unseasoned to help him. That's why I've been reminding him of how helpful I am."

Emma gave her a knowing smile. "You can tell yourself there's nothing going on, Kate, but I could feel the vibe between you. You like him. And why wouldn't you? He's not bad on the eyes. He might want to shave a little more often, maybe get a little more sleep now and then, but he's hot."

"He's attractive, yes. And when he gives me a rare smile, I find myself imagining how fun it would be to make out with him, but I can't. We're working together. I'm a professional. I don't do stupid things—at least not if I can help it. And good looks aside, Devin can also be annoying, cocky, opinionated, and it's not like I need more men like that in my life."

Emma laughed. "You remind me of myself when I first met Max. We were working on an arson-homicide case, too. He was the police detective and I was the fire investigator. We both wanted to solve the crime, and we were pretty territorial about our roles. He rubbed me the wrong way a lot of the time, but I think that was mostly because I really wanted him to rub me the right way," she said with a wicked sparkle in her eye.

"You are bad."

"So are you, Kate," Emma said with a laugh. "Or you used to be. I remember when you brought that guy with all the tattoos and piercings to Grandma's birthday party. I thought my dad and your dad and Grandpa were going to take him in the back and beat the crap out of him."

"He wasn't that bad. He was seventeen and upset about his parents' divorce. His rebellion was just grief. He was a lost soul."

"And you wanted to save him, to fix him." Emma paused. "Is that what you're doing with Devin?"

"No. No," she added for emphasis. "I was assigned to come and work with Devin. I didn't seek him out. It's a job. And when it's over, it's over."

"When will it be over? Are you going to stay in San Francisco past the wedding?"

"Right now, my boss just asked me to give Devin my help until next Wednesday when I'm taking time off for the wedding. I guess we'll see what happens before then." She paused, turning more serious. "I was skeptical at first. My boss told me he thought Devin was on a wild-goose chase, but after talking to Devin, after looking at the map, I think he might be right, Emma. And if there's a chance he is…"

"I know. I agree."

"Do you think your boss will agree?"

"He'll need more persuasion. I'm going to do some digging on my own, and if I can pull it all together in a way that makes sense, I'll bring my boss in. But doing it prematurely isn't going to help anyone. Devin probably has one shot left. Actually, he probably has no shots left. He's gotten into some loud and messy conflicts with several people in the fire department. He's kind of like a bull in a china shop."

"I think some of his initial anger and frustration has passed. He's still intense, but he's working the case in a smarter way now."

"I hope so."

Kate sat back as Devin returned to the table.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked.

"Just girl talk," Emma told him.

He sighed as he looked over at Kate. "How did I fare?"

"Probably not as bad as you think."

"Okay, not the best compliment, but not the worst by a long shot. I'll take it."

He gave her that smile that she'd told Emma about, the one that made her want to grab his face with both hands and plant a hot kiss on his lips.

"Everything okay?" Devin asked, his look turning quizzical.

"Yes, I just need some water," she said, reaching for her glass. "It really is hot today."

"For some people," Emma murmured.

She shot her cousin a dark, pointed look, but thankfully Emma had no chance to say anything more provocative. Lunch had arrived—not a moment too soon.

Six

Lunch was actually entertaining, Devin thought, as he reached for the bill while Emma and Kate talked about some family member who had dyed her hair purple. He'd expected another tense conversation with a member of the fire department, but while Emma had given him somewhat of the party line, she'd also been open-minded enough not to dismiss his ideas out of hand.

He probably had Kate to thank for that. She'd smoothed the way, and her confidence in his theories had persuaded Emma to take another look at the evidence.

So he might have been a little wrong about Kate's ability to help him. So far she'd made herself useful.

He'd thought Hal was giving him lip service by sending him the newest agent he had, but Kate's connections were proving valuable.

Her personality was a nice change, too. Kate was bold and blunt, smart and funny, beautiful and sexy…He cleared his throat, reminding himself she was his partner, and a temporary one at that. And he was probably reacting to her in such a strong way because he'd been so isolated the past year and a half. He hadn't realized how small and narrow his life had gotten since Sam's death.

He'd almost forgotten how to relax, how to just be in the moment, but Kate's arrival had changed that. She was pulling him back into the world.

As Kate threw back her head and laughed at something Emma said, he couldn't help but smile. Kate had a lot of life in her, and she wasn't good at hiding her feelings. When she was happy, she showed it. When she was pissed off, she showed that, too. At some point, her job would turn her into an unemotional, cold agent. At least, that's what had happened to him.

Turning his attention back to the bill, he signed the receipt and returned the card to his wallet.

"I'm happy to pay my share," Emma said.

"It's on me. And it's not a bribe," he added quickly. "I'm just buying lunch for Kate's cousin."

A gleam of approval ran through Emma's eyes. "I like the way you think. You know, you're not as bad as I've heard."

"And you're not as bad as I thought you would be," he said.

She laughed. "You are direct."

"So are you. So is Kate. It must be a Callaway trait."

"It is," Kate said. "When you're one of many siblings, many cousins, you learn the importance of speaking up for yourself, or you get run over."

"Which helps both of us now," Emma added. "It's easy to get run over in the fields we're in. There are a lot of men who think they know far more than they do."

"I agree," Kate said. "Present company excluded."

He smiled at that. "Thanks for throwing me that crumb. You two must be hell on your brothers."

"They're hell on us," Kate corrected.

"She's right. And any man who comes into the family has to be able to hold his own," Emma said. "My brothers were very tough on my boyfriends."

"What about you?" he asked Kate. "Did your brothers scare anyone off?"

"Only one, and the fact that he got scared off just told me how wrong he was for me," Kate replied. "So they did me a favor."

"I doubt you saw it that way at the time."

She met his gaze. "No, I didn't. I was furious. I took Dylan's precious car to the beach and dumped sand all over the inside."

"Ouch," he said with a wince. "You messed with your brother's car?"

"I was sixteen," she said defensively. "He deserved it."

"But his car? A man's car is sacred, especially when he's young."

"Oh, whatever," Kate said with an uncaring wave of her hand. "It was a fifteen-year-old car with dents and stains on the upholstery. It wasn't a Corvette."

"Still…"

She shrugged. "He shouldn't have screwed with my relationship. Dylan is my oldest brother, and sometimes he thinks he's like a second dad to the rest of us. But we have a father, and we don't need another one."

"Burke is the same way." Emma looked at Devin. "Burke is my oldest brother. I'm one of eight."

"And I thought Kate's family was big."

"My family is more of a yours, mine, and ours scenario," Emma explained. "My mom had my sister Nicole and me. She divorced my dad and married Jack Callaway, who was a widower with four boys. We were all really small when it happened, so it wasn’t that difficult to merge the families. Then my mom and Jack sealed the deal with the birth of twins."

"More twins?" He looked back at Kate. "They obviously run in the family."

"Yeah, and somehow they come at the end, which my mom always says is a good thing, because if she'd had twins first, she might not have had so many other children," Kate said. "Oh, and when she says that, she is definitely talking about me being the handful, not Mia. She was the perfect child."

"Not perfect, but quieter," Emma put in.

"True. My sister was sick a lot when she was really young. She had severe asthma and other respiratory problems. If she caught a cold, she'd end up in the hospital. Eventually, she got better, and her immune system got stronger. But for a lot of years she was pretty frail. We all watched over her, worried about her. She kind of hated that. Now, she's as strong and independent as the rest of us."

"Is she the first to get married?"

Kate nodded. "Yes, she is. The youngest goes first, which takes the heat off my older siblings, especially since Mia is bringing a stepchild into the family. My mom is thrilled to have a grandchild."

"The first of many, I'm sure," Emma said.

"Not like your family," Kate said. "There's a baby boom going on."

As Kate and Emma talked more about the pregnant women in the family, he couldn't help but think how normal their conversation was. He couldn't remember the last time he'd talked about anything that didn't have to do with fire or historic buildings or arsonists.

But it wasn't just the hunt for Sam's killer that had kept him from those kinds of conversations; he didn't have the extended family Kate had. And his friends were scattered around the country. His job had been his life for almost a decade.

He hadn't been wrong when he'd told Kate the Bureau would change her. She might think she could juggle everything, but he doubted she could. He certainly hadn't been able to. Then again, maybe she could do it. Maybe she could keep her job and not lose herself.

Emma pushed back her chair. "I need to get back to work. Thanks for lunch, Devin. I will look into everything we talked about, and I'll be in touch."

"I appreciate your help," he said.

"Well, I haven't helped yet, so save your thanks."

"Just hearing me out was a welcome change."

She nodded, then gave Kate a quick hug.

"Remember, Em, don't tell anyone in the family I'm in town yet," Kate said.