by Desiree Holt
Noah shrugged. “Just grabbing a quick cup of coffee with an old friend, in a place where the noise was under two hundred decibels.”
“Uh huh. Tell that to someone who might believe you.” He tapped his chest. “Top detective here, remember?”
“I don’t know what you think you saw. Randi and I were over a long time ago.”
“Not if the look on your face is any indication. Come on, tell papa.”
Noah shrugged. “Nothing to tell. We were done six years ago. Life goes on. End of story. That coffee was just to give us both some closure.”
“Closure? I thought that’s what you got six years ago.” He narrowed his eyes. “Or did you somehow fuck up back then and leave a mess.”
God, he hated thinking about what an ass he’d been. Such an egotistically confident jerk, so sure that he knew what was best for both of them. All he’d done was make a mess of everything, a painful fact he’d had to live with ever since then.
He rubbed the bottle back and forth in his palms. “I, uh, might have been a little heavy handed that last night we were together.”
“Heavy handed?” Jeff made a rude sound. “Let me guess. You were so full of yourself with this new job you told her how much she’d love New York, without even giving her a chance to say yes or no. Right”
“Worse.” Noah hated remembering every agonizing moment of his speech. “I told her that women shouldn’t be firefighters and that she should stay an EMT so I didn’t have to worry about her.”
Jeff’s jaw dropped. “Are you shitting me? You were actually stupid enough to say that out loud to her?”
“Yeah.” He took another hit of his beer.
“You’re lucky she didn’t cut off your dick and feed it to you in pieces. Damn, Noah. Don’t you know anything about women? Especially a smart cookie like Randi. Half the men in San Antonio would stand in line for her if they thought they had a chance.”
Noah wrinkled his forehead. “What do you mean? She dates, right?” Although the thought of it made him sick.
“If you want to call it that. She goes out now and then, but never more than a couple of times with any one guy. A lot of times she just comes to parties or get together with the guys from her firehouse. Now and then she shows up with Dan Kessler.”
“Who’s he?” Was this someone she had a relationship with? The thought of it made him physically ill.
“Detective on the arson squad. They’ve been sort of partners since she got her promotion.” He laughed at Noah. “You should see the look on your face. I should let you wallow in your misery but here’s the truth. Dan would be with her in a heartbeat but it’s strictly professional between them. She made that plain for the very beginning.”
He was just selfish enough to feel a wave of relief. Somehow he had to figure out how to turn things around with her, whatever he had to do. Because there was one fact staring him in the face. He wanted Randi Alexander in his life and he’d do whatever it took to get her there.
“I don’t know how, if we got back together, I could let her go to work every day knowing the dangers out there.”
Jeff laughed again. “First of all, my friend, if you want this thing to work again with the two of you, get it through your head you don’t let her do anything. She’s a smart, savvy intelligent woman and you should respect her for her choices. If you can do that, maybe you have half a chance.”
Noah raked his fingers through his hair. “That’s tough.”
“So is anything worth having.” Jeff took another swallow of beer. “Okay, how about telling me what’s brought you back to San Antonio? I can’t think of anything going on around here that would warrant national coverage. You’ve made quite a name for yourself with the big stories you covered. What on earth brought you back here?”
“Chasing a story. There seems to be a sudden rash of apartment complex fires in this city. Normally we would bounce this back as being too local to cover. However, two things. First, we got a tip that it’s more than just an insurance scam going on here. Something big is happening and this may just be the tip of he iceberg. My editor thought since this is really my home town I could dig around and see if this tipster is blowing smoke up our collective asses or there’s something really going on.”
Jeff’s jaw dropped. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“Not a bit. And you can’t say one damn word to anyone. Not yet.”
“But—“
Noah shook his head. “Not one word. Agreed?”
Jeff sighed and nodded. “Agreed. At least for the moment. Now spill it. At least you can pick my brain.”
Noah rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, I was hoping you’d say that. There’s just one problem.”
Jeff lifted an eyebrow. “And that would be?”
“I want you to see if you’ve got any influence in the fire department to get Randi pulled off her current investigation. I’m pretty damn sure the string of apartment complex fires she’s looking into are the work of my target. And he’s not ready to stop here. That means she could be in a lot more danger than just getting burned by a fire or hit by falling beams.”
Scot threw back his head and laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I don’t see what the fuck is so funny.” Noah was getting annoyed with his friend.
“Okay, for the moment we’ll leave out the fact you wanted her to pull up stakes and follow you to New York without even the prospect of a job.”
“But—“
Jeff held up his hand. “Not done. You just got through telling me that Randi kicked you to the curb because you were all macho about her becoming a firefighter and being in danger. If you ever have a hope of getting back together with her, getting her pulled off a case isn’t the route you want to take.” He studied Noah across the table. “You do want to get her back, right? Or am I misreading your body language?”
Noah shifted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable. He had buried the situation with Randi as deep in his mind as he could, not that it had done him much good. But seeing her brought all his feelings back again, his love for her and his deep-seated need to be with her. A need he’d fought for six years only to have it blossom to full strength the moment he laid eyes on her.
“Let’s just say I made a big mistake six years ago and move on, okay?”
“We can move on, but I’m telling you this one thing. You can worry about her all you want to. That’s part of the deal. But you can’t control her. If you love and respect her you have to let her do her thing, just like you do with yours. That’s all the advice I’m giving you because other than that, I’m not touching the situation with Randi with a ten foot pole. Now. Tell me about this so-called theory.”
“You won’t like this, either.”
“I get there’s a lot today I won’t like. Now get to the point before I dump this beer on you.”
“Okay, okay.” He pulled out his cell and scrolled to the Notes app. “The source on this is very convoluted but it was passed along to New York because the snitch was afraid if it went to any media in San Antonio it would be swept under the table.”
“I don’t think I like where this was going,” Jeff told hm. “Why not just go to the SAPD if whoever this is has valid information?”
“You won’t like this either.”
“Spit out, Noah.” Jeff’s eyes flashed with controlled anger. “Did he say the cops are crooked? That maybe one of us is setting the fires? For what reason? What’s the point?”
“He says a cop has found them the arsonist to do it.” God, he hated even saying the words. “With a cop to manipulate the investigation the whole thing is a piece of cake.”
Jeff banged his fist on the table. When the waitress hurried over to see if anything was wrong he apologized and waved her off.
“Did this fine upstanding source of yours happen to say why?”
“Money. A lot of it.”
“There would have to be,” Jeff snapped. “I can’t see a cop going off the rails just for a c
ut of the insurance money.”
“So then what’s the purpose of these fires if not just for the insurance? Besides, if these complexes are all owned by one company isn’t that suspicious? Wouldn’t Randi and Dan get onto that immediately?”
Noah nodded. “That’s another wrinkle in the sheets. Each complex is owned by a separate corporation, with a separate board of directors and separate bank accounts. I need to dig into the money trail and also see if I can unravel the corporate structure. I did some preliminary research before I left New York. These companies are owned by other companies owned by other companies and…Well, you get the point.”
“Damn.” Jeff scrubbed his hand over his face. “It makes me sick to hear this. Bad enough that people were endangered by the fires but to think a cop is involved…” He shook his head. “So what do you think is the plan?”
“Don’t know. That’s one of the things I’ll be digging around for.”
Jeff was silent for a long time. “I can’t just sit still on this one, Noah. You can’t ask me to. I have an obligation as a cop.”
“Right now you don’t even know who you’d be investigating or have any evidence, right? And I don’t want to tip anyone off until I have more evidence.” Noah fiddled with his water glass. Here came the hard part. “I don’t want to go to Randi on this, for obvious reasons. But if you can get me copies of this Dan Kessler’s reports it would be a huge help. I still have sources here in the city.”
Jeff leaned forward on his elbows. “On one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“That you keep me in the loop. I understand where you’re coming from,” he added quickly as Noah opened his mouth to protest. “Much as I hate doing it this way, I will keep every bit of it to myself until we have concrete proof of who’s doing this. Just don’t get yourself killed doing something us cops are better suited for.”
“Unless it’s the cop who happens to be involved,” Noah pointed out.
They were both silent for long moments after that. Finally Jeff signaled the waitress to bring the check.
“By the way,” he said. “If you aren’t doing anything tonight, like hooking up with a hot date, I’m having a few people over to my townhouse to watch the Texans and the Cowboys. Want in?”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks for that. No hookup. I’d just be watching the game alone in my hotel room, or the bar. What can I bring?”
“We never seem to have enough beer. Game starts at seven but everyone usually stats straggling in around six thirty.”
Noah slid out of the booth. “See you then. And thanks for lunch.”
As he walked outside he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if Randi would be there. And he damn sure wasn’t going to ask Jeff.
Chapter 4
“I’m totally bumfuzzled,” Randi said, leaning her head back against the car seat. Her brain was whirling but it seemed to be in too many directions. “Not a condition I enjoy being in.”
“I have to say, I am, too,” Dan Kessler agreed with her. “If I didn’t know better I’d say we had an arson gang working here, each with their own recipe.”
“It seems that way, doesn’t it? So many different accelerants, each with different flashpoints.” She raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. “You’ve pulled in every arsonist you’ve got in your files and you said none of them even had a tiny bit of knowledge about it. Are you sure about that? Not even one of them made you suspicious of them?”
“I wish.”
“We’ve talked to all the owners, or at least their representatives. That got us no place fast.” She frowned at him. “Although, didn’t they all seem a little too practiced to you? Too rehearsed?”
“Sort of. Not enough to trip any warning signals, though.” He sighed. “Different corporations for each one, different corporate reps handling things.” He glanced over at her. “Maybe we’re just looking for shadows where there aren’t any. Maybe we’ve just got a new firebug in our city who’s thing is burning down apartment buildings.”
“If only.” She was silent for a moment, letting the day’s results process in her brain. “Dan, there’s something here that doesn’t pass the smell test, and I’m not talking about the debris at the burn sites. I gave the lab all the new samples we collected the other day and asked them to do another full analysis. I took more pictures with my cell, too.”
“You went back there without me?” He gave her a disapproving look. “We’re partners, Randi. We do things together.”
“You were busy and I wanted to get this done. No biggie.”
“What if the arsonist saw you and decided you were too big a risk to him? That you were getting too nosy? That he needed to do something about you?”
“Aren’t you being a little melodramatic?” she asked. “All anyone would see is me doing my job.”
“Maybe a little too thoroughly,” he pointed out.
She flapped a hand at him. “I was very careful and paid attention to my surroundings, Anyway, I haven’t had a chance to download those pictures yet. Tonight when I get home I’m going to print them out on my laptop and set up a new diagram board.”
“Don’t you think you ought it give it a rest tonight? You’ve had a hard day after a hard week. Give yourself a break. We could turn out to get really lucky here and it’s all a big coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidence much. We’ll see.”
“Truth to tell, I’m about ready to leave it an open file for the moment. We don’t have a trace of the arsonist and the chemicals are a mishmash. We’ll never get whoever this is.”
“Yes, we will.” She folded her arms and jutted her chin. “I never give yup.”
“You may have to this time. We’ll see. But we’ve been over this stuff so often I can see it in my sleep.”
“That’s when you know it’s time to take a step back.” Dan pulled into the curb and turned off the engine. “Sure you’re up for a party?”
“I really ought to just go home and tuck myself into bed with a glass of wine and a good book.” Randi climbed out of Dan’s car and blew out a breath. “I’m exhausted and I think I smell like every kind of accelerant made.”
Dan laughed and took her elbow, steering her across the sidewalk to the door of Jeff Nagle’s townhouse.
“Wouldn’t you feel a lot better if you jumped into bed with a hot hunk?” he teased.
“Are you applying for the job?” she joked back.
“I would if I thought I had a chance of being accepted.” He stopped on the sidewalk and turned her to face him, the look he had totally serious. “I think we’d be good together, Randi. I have plans for the future and I’d love it if they could include you.”
She sighed and fond a smile somewhere inside. “We’ve been over this before, Dan. We make a great professional team. I’d hate to ruin that with meaningless sex.”
His laughed was slightly tinged with sarcasm. “I’d like to think sex with me is never meaningless.”
She jabbed him in the ribs. “You now what I mean. We’re good friends and partners, Dan. I’d drive you crazy if we got together personally.” She wrinkled her forehead. “What plans?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said you have big plans.”
He shrugged. “You know. The usual. Marriage. Two point five kids.” He grinned. “Typical ten thousand square foot house.”
“Now I know you’re kidding. Come on. Let’s go inside.”
They walked up the two steps to the little stoop and she rang the bell. The door opened and she came face to face with Noah. It was hard to say which of them was more stunned.
Of course. The perfect end to the perfect day.
She wasn’t aware they were just standing there, staring at each other, until Dan nudged her forward.
“Think it’s okay for us to go in?” he joked. “Or you can just let me by and go back to gawking at each other. Or ogling. Or whatever the hell you two were doing.”
The edge in
Dan’s voice pierced Randi’s consciousness and she took a step forward. Noah moved back just enough for Dan to get by her, then closed the door but didn’t move away.
“Jeff didn’t mention you’d be here,” he said in a raspy voice.
“He didn’t tell me about you, either.”
“Fool me once, shame on me.” She was only partially joking. “Fool me twice, shame on me.”
She should move, but her feet seemed glued to the floor and her gaze locked with Noah’s.
“I’m not fooling, Randi. Not a bit.”
She had no idea how long they would have stood there like that except Dan returned carrying two bottles of beer. He nudged her and held one out to her.
“Jeff said it’s okay for you to come in and play with the rest of the kids,” he joked. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Randi?” His voice had a tiny edge to it that puzzled her. “I assume he is a friend?”
Noah held out his hand. “Noah Cutler. And you would be?”
“Dan Kessler. Randi’s…partner.”
Randi thought she might choke from all the testosterone floating around her. And what was with that little emphasis Dan put on the word partner? That’s what they were. It was all they were. She thought she’d made they clear enough and that Dan was fine with that. She grabbed the bottle Dan held out to her. Yup, she really needed a drink. Lifting the beer she took a long swallow. Then she looked at Noah and Dan, glaring at each other.
Okay, enough of that.
“I’m going to say hello to Jeff,” she told them, “and ask him why he keeps secrets from me. Play nice in the sandbox, you two.”
She found Jeff out on the patio in the middle of a group of people.
“Hey!” He grinned when he saw her. “Glad you made it.”
She gave him a one-armed hug and whispered in his ear, “Did you deliberately not tell me someone in particular was coming?”
He lowered his voice and put his mouth close to her ear. “Would you have come if I told you?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, then. Maybe it’s time the two of you talked over old times.”