After Midnight (16 page)

“Isn’t that your apartment?”

Kate recognized the voice and didn’t even turn her head to look at Brian, who had walked over from the street. “Used to be,” she answered with a heavy sigh.

“I heard about the fire on my police scanner and thought I recognized the address,” Brian explained before she could ask. He took out his cell phone and took a few pictures. Returning the phone to his pocket, he took out a small spiral tablet and a pen. “Want to give me a quote for tomorrow’s edition?”

“Just that fireworks should be banned in the city limits.” She glanced over at him.

“They are,” he commented, then asked, “Is that what started it?”

“I assume it was. There was a pop and a bang, then everything caught on fire. I had to climb out the bathroom window.”

“Even cats have only nine lives.” Brian’s voice was light, but he was studying her face seriously.

“Don’t remind me.”

“Where are you going to stay tonight?”

Kate shrugged
noncommittally.
She didn’t want to discuss her relationship with Sam to anyone other than his family. It was still too fresh, too fragile, to share with a man who was barely a friend.

“Did you see the parade today?” he asked.

Her attention was still riveted to the building, but she shook her head. “No.”

“You weren’t there?” He seemed disappointed.

“I didn’t want to hassle with the crowds. It looked like a madhouse.”

“It was awesome.” Brian’s chest swelled with the memory. “I’ve met the mayor a couple of times, but to actually receive the key to the city from him…awesome,” he repeated.

“That’s nice.” But it was clear she was completely distracted.

The fire broke out two more windows in the adjoining apartment, sending a shower of glass raining down on the sidewalk. Brian gave Kate an annoyed look. “I’d better get back to work if I want to make deadline.” He started walking away and tossed as a parting comment over his shoulder, “My offer to take you to the airport still stands. Call me anytime.” Then he disappeared into the crowd of emergency workers and the growing mass of displaced residents and interested bystanders.

The building was old and improperly maintained, so the fire spread rapidly. Kate couldn’t remember seeing a sprinkler or even a smoke detector, and it occurred to her that she was very lucky not to have had something horrible happen before tonight. And she was even luckier that Sam had been with her.

Sam. Where was he? Why hadn’t he come back out? Kate’s attention was focused on the side door as she waiting anxiously for him. Firemen rushed in, and residents trickled out. Finally, she heaved a sigh of relief as Sam stumbled out, partially carrying, partially dragging, an elderly man. He took him to an ambulance, and the paramedics rushed to take over. One strapped an oxygen mask to the old man’s face and the other tried to treat Sam, but he waved the paramedic away. Instead, he looked over the crowd until he found her.

“I don’t think you’re going to get your deposit back,” he teased.

Kate looked at him with horror. “Are you okay?” His face was almost completely black, his hair was plastered to his head, and his clothes looked singed. Even with smoke, ashes, and pieces of burning plastic filling the air, she had been able to smell him while he was still several feet away. “It looks like you got pretty close to the fire.”

“Too close,” he agreed. He turned and looked at the fire and all the activity. “Rusty is going to be so pissed he missed this. I never could understand why firemen get so charged up about running into a burning building. Cops are usually smart enough to run in the opposite direction.”

“He probably doesn’t understand why you get so charged up about facing bad guys, either.”

He grinned. “You’re probably right. Give me a gun over a water hose any day.”

Suddenly, now that he was safe and the stark reality of her brush with death hit her, she shivered. The air that had seemed so comfortable before, now felt cool and damp as the powerful flow of water from the fire hoses sent a fine mist over everyone.

Sam must have noticed, because he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “Ready to go?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“Nah, they have things under control. My work here is done. I’ll give them a call tomorrow and file a report.”

“Fireworks, right?”

He hesitated. “Probably.” He retrieved a blanket from the trunk. “I don’t want to ruin my car,” he explained as he spread the blanket over both seats.

“It’ll take a year to get the smell out.” Kate rolled down her window after she got in, and Sam ran around and got behind the wheel. She flipped down the visor and looked at her own smoke-streaked face and wildly tousled hair. It was going to take a lot of shampoo and scrubbing to get the smell off of her, too.

He leaned over. “Don’t you want to give me a kiss?” he said, making smoochie noises with his mouth.

She surprised him by giving him a solid kiss. Not just a peck, but a full-on kiss. “I was so worried about you.”

He shrugged. “Just doing my job.”

“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there to talk me out of that window.” She shivered again at the terror of sitting on that ledge. “And I’m sorry about your shoulder. I couldn’t think of any other way to get you to wake up.”

He automatically flexed his shoulder. “I’ll live.”

“Yeah, me, too, thanks to you. You saved my life.”

“Now we’re even.” His expression sobered. “I’m not sure if you’re the luckiest woman in the world or the unluckiest.”

Sam sat across the desk from Jim and sipped a cup of coffee. “I’m disappointed, but not surprised. It was a long shot to pick up some prints on that envelope.”

Jim’s chair creaked in protest as he leaned back and propped his feet up on the desk. “There were plenty of prints. But most were Jameel’s. The others were too smudged to pull.”

“Did you hear about the fire at Kate’s apartment building last night?”

“Coincidence?”

“I don’t believe in coincidence.”

“I read in this morning’s paper that it was suspected to be caused by fireworks.” Jim studied his friend’s skeptical expression. “But that’s not what you think, is it?”

“I was there, inside the apartment. I didn’t get a good look at it, but it didn’t act like a fireworks explosion. It was more like a smoke bomb. Rusty’s going to check with the arson investigator today.”

“Arson, not accident?”

Sam raked his fingers through his dark hair and shook his head. “This whole thing just doesn’t smell right.”

“You think someone’s trying to kill her?”

“Either that or to scare the hell out of her.”

“But why?”

“That’s what I can’t figure out. Why her? She’s estranged from her family. She has only a few friends and acquaintances. She’s not rich enough or successful enough in her career for jealousy. There aren’t any jilted lovers or jealous spouses. It just doesn’t make sense. But my gut feeling is that it’s all connected.”

Jim frowned. “Connected with the shooting?”

“Maybe. Or Jameel. He could have been into something and she just happened to be seen with him. Or even her boss, Mr. Jacobi. From what I can tell, he’s a slumlord who might be involved with some shady characters. He seems harmless enough, but who knows?”

“Think he could have torched his own building?” Jim dropped his feet off the desk and sat forward. He took out a legal pad and made some notes. “I’ll check him out—see if his insurance coverage is unreasonably high. He could have thought she had already cleaned out the apartment and it was empty.”

“And it’s not like the residents were high society. Any one of them could have been involved in a drug deal gone bad or some sort of vendetta.”

Jim added another note to his pad, then leveled a concerned look at Sam. “Hey, that was some story about Larry. Who knew?”

“No one except Coral Marcus, apparently.”

“Do you think Jameel knew Larry was going to show up that night?”

Sam considered the question for a moment, then shook his head. “How could he? And I remember how the whole tone changed in an instant when Larry rolled up. Up until then, the kid was mouthy, but I didn’t sense the danger or I’d have been all over him from the get-go.” He replayed those first few moments in his mind. “No, there was nothing there to make me believe Jameel even had a gun, much less was going to use it.”

“Which sort of goes along with the theory that Jameel thought he was being filmed and when he saw Larry, he had some sort of flashback.”

“That still leaves us with the mystery of who hired Jameel and Kate to stand on the street. Have you had any luck with production companies?”

“Nothing. I’ve checked all the legitimate facilities and even the local colleges and schools. No one was aware of any filming going on on Colfax that night.”

“But then, that’s what they’d say to save their own butts if they hadn’t gotten permits.”

Jim shrugged. “That’s true. It wouldn’t be the first time. Anyone with a digital camera and a computer can make a film now. I’ve been checking YouTube, but nothing has shown up there, either.”

“Yeah, so have I.”

“Did you see the video about the drunken squirrel?”

They spent a few minutes comparing YouTube favorites, which progressed to a discussion about sports and exasperation about the Rockies.

“I’ve got tickets for the game Sunday afternoon. Want to go with me?” Jim offered. “First-base line.”

“Tempting, but until you guys get off your lazy asses and find Kate’s car, I’m her only
transportation.”

Jim was clearly amused. “So how’s that turning out for you?”

Sam hesitated. He knew he was opening himself up to God knows how much ridicule, so he decided to play it cool. “She’s a nice girl. I’m just helping her out.”

“
Helping her out?
I’d believe helping her out of her clothes.”

“Give it a rest. This is different.”

“Wooo, sounds like Sam Wilson is in trouble.”

“I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Right now, I’m just trying to keep her alive.” He stood and tossed his coffee cup toward the garbage can. Wide right.

“You need to work on those jump shots.”

Sam flexed his shoulder, silently cursing that it was still stiff and painful. That morning’s PT had been particularly hard. And it didn’t appear to be doing much good.

“Bite me.” He left, leaving the cup for Jim to pick up.

His next stop was at the smoldering ruins of the hotel and bookstore. He was hoping to find the arson investigator on-site, and he wasn’t disappointed.

Sam hadn’t worked many arson cases, so he wasn’t acquainted with the young Hispanic man wearing a black vest with “DFD” printed in large yellow letters on the back who was gingerly searching the ashes for clues. Sam parked well out of the way and pulled his badge out of his pocket.

He waited until the young man returned to his van before approaching him. Holding out his badge, Sam introduced himself and explained that he had been in the building when the fire started.

“Finding anything interesting?” he asked the man, who had introduced himself as Raymond Pacheco.

Officer Pacheco reached into the back of the van and pulled out a plastic bag containing a twisted and split piece of three-inch cast-iron pipe about a foot long. “Look familiar?”

“Was that in the front apartment, second floor?”

Raymond waved toward the front corner of the building. “It had fallen through to the bookstore. But it’s clear it started up there.”

“Looks pretty dangerous.”

“Fucking amateur. I’m surprised I didn’t find his hand blown off in the street.”

Sam digested that information. “So, someone threw it through the front window from the street. Is that possible?”

“Someone with a strong arm and good aim.” Raymond shrugged and added, “Or a ladder, but you would probably have noticed that.”

“Any chance we’ll be able to pull any prints?”

“Probably not, but I’m going to turn it over to the crime lab as soon as I leave here.” Raymond placed the bag back on the shelf of his van. “Everyone in that building was damn lucky. If that little bomb had worked like it was meant to, this parking lot would be full of body bags.”

That was one tidbit Sam definitely wasn’t going to share with Kate anytime soon. Before leaving, he walked around to the front of the hotel and tried to visualize someone throwing the pipe bomb up two stories and through a window. Obviously, it was doable because it had happened. Sam was sure that he, with a healthy right arm, could do it. But he felt it cast doubt on Mr. Jacobi. It just didn’t seem possible that someone of his age and physical condition would be able to manage it. However, if it was insurance fraud, it wouldn’t be out of the question that he had hired someone to do it.

And then there was the possibility that someone had been aiming for a different window and missed. Or someone had gotten confused about which apartment they were targeting. Or someone had meant to kill Kate. His gut clenched. Never in his career had he felt as frightened and as frustrated as he did at this moment. What kind of shitty cop was he that he couldn’t figure this out in time to save the woman he was beginning to care about very deeply?

Sam peered in the smoke-blackened front windows of the bookstore. It was relatively undamaged by the actual fire, but the water and smoke had effectively ruined everything. Books and magazines had tumbled off the shelves and now floated in soggy masses in puddles. Water still dripped from the ceiling, or what was left of the ceiling. In one part of the store, the drywall and frame had come down completely, spilling charred beams, a refrigerator, and what had been Kate’s small sofa into the front part of the store.

It would be months before it reopened, if ever. It would have to be determined if it was more feasible to raze the building or try to fix it. The fire had completely destroyed the upper floors of the southwest end of the structure. Sam’s uneducated guess would be that it didn’t appear salvageable. He hoped, as a resident of Denver and because this was his district, that Mr. Jacobi didn’t just board it up and let it sit. The last thing Colfax needed was another dead building.

He knew he’d have to tell Kate everything he’d learned today—well, almost
everything—sooner
or later. She had a show tonight, so it definitely wouldn’t be before that. Besides, he still didn’t have any answers or any suspects or even any motive. All he knew was that Kate was in danger.