by Debra Cowan
“Don’t you kind of hate it when the ice melts? Right now everything is so pretty, with the sun shining through the icicles. See how the light glows on the branches? It’s clean looking, peaceful.”
He slid her a look. “Are you always this happy in the morning?” Until he had at least one cup of coffee, he wasn’t even civil. “That could really get on my nerves, Russell.”
She smiled. “I figure I’ve already got a head start on that.”
She was definitely getting under his skin, but probably not in the way she thought.
They took careful half steps all the way to the front glass door, and Collier held it open as she stepped inside ahead of him. Her spicy scent drifted on the cold air, balling a knot in his gut.
Several feet inside the door, they approached a long counter that resembled those used by bank tellers. Residents who didn’t like automated payments or complaints could come here to pay their bills or report a problem in person. Three women manned this customer-service area, and the space behind them was taken up with ten desks and clerks whose keyboards clicked nonstop.
Pennie Miles looked up. She smiled, reminding him why he’d thought about asking her out. “Hi, Collier.”
“Hey, Pennie.” He moved around Kiley and up to the counter where the petite brunette stood.
“I enjoyed our dance last night at the dedication,” she said quietly.
“So did I. Maybe we can do it again sometime.”
“Absolutely.”
He grinned, feeling the detective’s gaze boring into his back. “I’m here on business this morning. Need to see Alan Embry.”
“He’s in the call room giving his assignments for today.” A thirtyish woman with long, black hair answered as she stepped up beside Pennie and aimed a sultry smile Collier’s way. “It’s down the first hall you passed when you came in. You sure do look familiar.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” This from an attractive older woman with short graying hair who walked over to join them.
He smiled. “I think if we’d met before, I’d sure remember.”
“Sheesh, I feel like I’m at a bar,” Kiley muttered.
Before she could flash her badge, he asked the others, “Can you please point us in Embry’s direction?”
Pennie gestured to her right toward a corridor off the foyer. “That way.”
“Thanks. See y’all later.”
The brunette leaned over the counter. “The room is at the end of the hall. You can’t miss it.”
Collier lifted a hand as he and Kiley walked back toward the front of the building.
“I’d be more than happy to take you down there,” one of them called. “I don’t mind.”
“We’ve got it. Thanks.” The detective fell in behind him, saying under her breath, “Well, that only took three times longer than it should have.”
“On a schedule, Russell?”
“Obviously not the same one as you.”
He grinned. Several feet away from the door marked Call Room, he stopped. “Once we get him alone, how should we play this? You go first or me?”
She thought for a minute. “I’ve interviewed him before with Terra, and he didn’t take too well to either of us asking him questions. Maybe you should take the lead. That way you can ask him some of the same things I already have, and we can compare notes.”
“Okay. Since we don’t have any proof he murdered anyone, we’ve got a lot of territory to cover. Jump in if you think of any questions I’m missing.”
“Maybe he’ll slip up, give us something we can prove is a lie.”
He leaned around her to peer through the strip of glass in the heavy wooden door, his arm brushing her shoulder. She stepped back a fraction, just enough to let him know she didn’t want him in her space.
“He’s in there,” Collier said quietly.
“Good.”
They didn’t have to wait long. A few minutes later the door opened and more than a dozen men, all dressed in the gray coveralls that served as their uniform, ambled out.
Collier caught Embry’s eye, who paused and hung back as the other employees streamed around him. Collier hadn’t seen Alan since Lisa’s funeral last month. He’d shaved his head and gotten an earring. The thick arms and neck told Collier that the man still lifted weights.
The man shot an irritated look at Kiley before turning to Collier. “What are you doing here, McClain?”
“I’ve just transferred to the Fire Investigator’s Office.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder toward Kiley. “This is—”
“I know who she is.”
In his midforties, Embry’s face looked as flatly cold and threatening as some inmates Collier had seen. “We need to ask you a few questions.”
Kiley eased up beside him. “But first I need to read you your rights.”
Embry’s head jerked toward her. “Why?”
“Standard procedure.” Collier knew from his notes that Terra and Kiley had done the same thing before their previous interview. “We’re just asking questions, that’s all.”
Embry frowned as she began reciting the man his rights. Collier hoped this didn’t make Embry clam up, but Russell was smart to Mirandize the guy. They didn’t want any technicalities he could use to get off later if he turned out to be their arsonist and murderer.
“I’ve already answered a bunch of questions from her.” Embry stabbed a finger toward Kiley.
“This is regarding a different case.”
“This isn’t about Lisa’s murder?” he asked uneasily.
“Another firefighter was murdered on Friday night,” Kiley put in quietly.
“Yeah, Dan Lazano. I heard. What does that have to do with me?”
Aware of two co-workers talking down the hall, Collier pointed. “Would you like to go back into the call room?”
“Why?”
“Strictly for privacy. We have several questions.”
The man’s hazel gaze sliced accusingly to Kiley. “I don’t need privacy. I haven’t done anything.”
“Okay.” Collier shrugged. “We heard you had a problem with Lazano, that you thought he was seeing your wife again.”
“She’s—she was my ex-wife. Lisa was involved with him before she and I met. She broke it off before then, too. You know that.”
“Just getting my ducks in a row.”
“If she and Lazano were seeing each other again, I didn’t know anything about it.”
Collier eyed the other man for a moment, keeping his tone easy. “We know that Lazano was one of the men in the group of those who paid you a visit about your harassing Lisa.”
“He wasn’t the only one.” Embry’s face hardened.
“The other two male firefighters who were killed were also part of that group,” Kiley said evenly.
“Are you saying I’m a suspect?” Alan snarled.
Collier agreed that Kiley’s call about him taking the interview was a good one. Embry probably would have already shut her down.
“Where were you just before midnight on Friday?” she asked.
The other man’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I was with my girlfriend.”
“What’s her name?”
“Angie Bearden.”
“So you’re not seeing—” Kiley glanced down at the notebook she held “—Neva Sasser anymore?”
“No.”
“What’s Angie’s address?” Collier asked. “Where does she work?”
Embry gave the information grudgingly, and Kiley jotted it down as Collier continued, “We’ve tried to get in touch with you a couple of times since the night Lazano was killed. Where have you been?”
“I took my kids to their grandparents for New Year’s Eve and we stayed a few days. In St. Louis. Today’s my first day back at work.”
“Was Angie Bearden with you?”
“Yes.”
Embry’s brief hesitation before answering had Collier deciding that this alibi would be one of the first things they checked. �
��Did you have problems with any of the other murdered firefighters?”
“What kind of problems?”
“Grudges, say maybe for the visit they paid you when you and Lisa were divorcing?”
“No.”
“None at all?” Kiley asked.
He glared at her. “Well, I didn’t like them butting in, but I moved on from it.”
“When was the last time you saw your ex?”
“I guess about two weeks before she died,” Embry said thinly. “The kids wanted to meet her at church so I drove them there.”
Collier watched the guy’s face. “Did you two argue about anything?”
“No, I didn’t even talk to her. Just let the kids off at the door.”
“When was the last time you did talk to her?”
“It was on the phone. Probably a couple of days later.”
Kiley seemed fine about Collier conducting the interview, so he continued, “How long have y’all been divorced?”
“Five or six months now.”
“How long were you married?”
“Four years,” Alan said impatiently. “You already know this, McClain.”
He shrugged. “I still need to ask.”
Kiley spoke from beside him. “Did Lisa ever mention being afraid of anyone? Any enemies she had? Threats she may have received?”
“No. What does this have to do with Lazano?”
“Just trying to see if there are any connections we need to check out.” Kiley gave Collier a look that seemed to be urging him to do something.
“Do you own any guns, Alan?”
“No. I told her that last time, too. What’s the deal? You have to go behind her and make sure she gets stuff right?”
Kiley’s face didn’t change, but Collier felt her stiffen and saw her nudge back her coat so the gun at her waist was visible. “No,” he said firmly. “This is a joint investigation. You know Presley’s FD and PD work together on cases when a victim dies at a fire scene.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know anything about guns?”
“Only which end fires the bullet.”
Collier nodded as he slid his notebook into the pocket of his camel cashmere overcoat. “Okay, that’s all for now. Stay available, all right?”
Embry didn’t answer, just gave them both a hard look as he shoved his way into the men’s room behind them.
Collier waited until he and Kiley were halfway down the corridor. “What do you think?”
“It should be easy enough to check his alibi with the girlfriend. We should also talk to his neighbors. See if they noticed when and if he was gone around New Year’s Eve.”
“We’ll check his phone records, too, and see if he talked to Lisa when he says he did. Did you get any kind of vibe from him?”
She moved ahead of him, glancing back. “Not really. I don’t like him much, but I think that’s more to do with his personality than my suspicions about him. He reminds me of—”
“Who?”
“Doesn’t matter.” She glanced at him. “He’s changed a lot of things about his appearance since Terra and I spoke to him after Lisa’s funeral.”
“You mean, like shaving his head?”
“And getting an earring. He’s lost weight, too. You can definitely tell he’s back in the dating scene. I’ve seen lots of men, married and single, who make drastic changes in their appearance like that because they’re with a new woman.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
“I’m betting the new girlfriend is twenty-two or twenty-three, blond and…blessed. We’ll both have a better feel for him after we talk to her.”
He nodded, rubbing his nape. The interview had gone better than he’d expected. When Russell suggested he take the lead, he’d anticipated that lasting all of two, maybe three questions. But she’d let him do most of it, speaking up only to ask the more pointed questions and making herself a target for more of Embry’s antagonism. Collier admired that.
As they reached the front door, she stopped so suddenly that he nearly stumbled over her. “Hey! What gives?”
She turned with a huge grin on her face, eyes dancing as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Nice shot.”
His gaze went to the door and he growled, “Who put that up?”
This year’s firefighter calendar was taped to the door, open to the month of July and him, shirtless in boots and bunker pants with his suspenders dangling.
“We couldn’t resist, Collier,” Pennie called as she leaned over the counter to see him. “It’s not every day we get a bonafide calendar boy in here.”
He gave them a mock glare and pushed open the door. “Don’t y’all have any work to do?”
They laughed in answer. Shaking his head, he stepped outside, a cold wetness burning his cheeks. It was sleeting again.
Kiley eased up next to him. “I thought you looked familiar,” she mimicked the words of the older woman inside.
He threw her a look. “Don’t start.”
She grinned. “I’m sure you got plenty of grief from the hose draggers who didn’t participate.”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t have agreed if it weren’t for charity. I had to look at that picture for a solid month plastered on the front of everyone’s lockers and in the shower.”
She laughed, the smoky sound grabbing him right in the gut just like it had the first time he’d heard it at the Christmas party. “Hmm, there’s an idea.”
“Don’t even think about it, Russell. I guarantee payback and it will not be pretty.”
She whipped a pen out of her coat pocket and waggled it under his nose. “Can I get your autograph, Mr. July?”
“Sure.” He plucked the pen from her. “Where would you like it?”
“Have you done this before?” she asked in amazement.
“A few times. Women seem to like it if I sign their—” his gaze dropped to her breasts, lingered before returning to her face “—underwear.”
She laughed. “In your dreams.”
He couldn’t help a grin. “Since you’re shy, it doesn’t have to be there.” He took her hand, turning her palm up and signing his name with a flourish.
“Hey!” She tugged at his hold, slipping on the ice and sliding into him.
“Whoa.” He grabbed her shoulders, but she’d already knocked him off balance. He couldn’t stop her fall. Or his.
They hit the icy asphalt hard, and he grunted from the impact. They spun toward the curb. Kiley landed on top of him and rolled off, skidding another few feet. He ended up on his back and she on her stomach.
She squealed. “This is freezing!”
He tried to stand, but his feet kept going out from under him. By the time he scooted over to the curb and managed to plant himself on the frozen grass, he was laughing. So was she. She got to her hands and knees, making it about a foot in his direction before she sprawled facedown on the ice. She muttered something, then went completely still.
Concern streaked through him. “Hey, you all right?”
“Yes,” she said in a strangled voice.
“You sure? You look funny, like—”
“I just ripped my pants, okay!”
“Are you kidding?”
“No.”
He tried, but he couldn’t hold back a laugh. She glared. “How about giving me a hand, calendar boy, instead of cracking up over there?”
“That offer to autograph your underwear still stands. This could be fate.”
“I don’t think so!” Her lips twitched.
He stretched out a hand to her. She couldn’t quite reach so she pushed herself to her knees and skimmed across the slick surface toward him. “My coat is going to be ruined.”
She was laughing as he grabbed her hand. Her momentum plus the glass-slick asphalt spun her around, and he lost his hold on her. He snagged an ankle, feeling something bulky and hard as he pulled her the rest of the way to him.
“You wearing a gun under those pants?”
“Hmm, I was wondering how to get you in this position, Kiley Russell.”
“Shut up and help me.”
He got a firm hold high on her arm and tugged. She scrambled over his thigh and plopped down beside him, breathing hard.
Sudden images popped into his head of her breathing hard against him for a completely different reason.
“Unbelievable.” Her smile was warm and open, and her eyes sparkled with energy.
He grinned, reaching out to touch a kinky strand of fiery hair that had come loose. “Your hair’s messed up.”
“Just like the rest of me,” she panted, pushing tendrils out of her face. “I can’t believe these slacks are torn.” She laughed. “I hope no one saw that fall. It really hurts my image as an officer of the law.”
Collier looked around. “I think your tough-chick reputation is safe. You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.”
She was still breathing hard, and Collier found his attention fixed on her mouth. Sleet drizzled over them. His backside was freezing, his face chilled, but none of that did anything to cool his blood. All his senses were focused on her spicy scent mixing with the wintry air, the pale gloss of color on her lips. He wanted to taste her. Had wanted to since dancing with her at that Christmas party. Had wanted to last night, he admitted.
She looked at him then and went very still. She had to be able to read the want on his face. It thundered through him, growing more reckless and demanding by the second. Somehow he managed to rein in the wild hammering of his blood. When he touched her, all he did was graze a finger across her chin.
She drew back, giving a nervous laugh. “Wh-what are you doing?”
“It’s a little red, probably from when you fell.”
“Oh.” She reached up and touched the spot, her gaze locked on his as if it were impossible for her to look away.