Tender Is The Night (6 page)

"It's the second time in a year. I'm beginning to think my body is not made for having children."

"What does the doctor say?"

Emma shrugged. "Everything looks fine to her. She doesn't see why I can't have a healthy pregnancy, but so far I can't. I didn't even tell Max this time. He was so sad after the first miscarriage; I couldn't bring myself to tell him about this one."

"Em, you have to tell him. You can't carry the grief alone. He wouldn't want you to do that."

"I think it will be easier if I just don't say anything. Why should both of us be unhappy?"

"It won't be easier; it will be harder. You should tell your family, too—at least your mom or your sisters. You need support."

"They won't know what to say, and they'll just feel bad. Plus, with Ria and Sara nursing along pregnancies, I don't want to throw shade over their happy time."

She could understand where Emma was coming from, but she still thought the secrecy was a bad thing. "Then just talk to Max. He deserves to know. It was his child, too." She paused. "He's probably going to think something else is terribly wrong if you don't say anything, because you're not really hiding your emotions."

"I know. You're right. I will talk to him tonight. In the meantime, is there anything I can do for you? I thought you were living in DC."

"I am, but I came back for the wedding."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Ten days early? What else is going on? Why do I have the feeling this is not just a personal call?"

"Because it isn't. I hate to bother you with this now, but it is important."

"Please, I could use a distraction. I feel stupid for getting so emotional at work. I usually manage to keep my tears out of the workplace. It's difficult enough being a woman in this job, without crying in front of anyone."

"I can totally relate, and I think I'm the only one who saw you wipe a tear from your eyes," she said, as they exchanged a commiserating look. "You shouldn't feel bad or guilty. You're human. Bad things happen and people cry. It's not a crime."

"I know, but crying doesn't get you anywhere. Anyway, talk. Tell me what's going on."

"I'm working on a case that involves a series of fires here in the city."

Emma's gaze narrowed. "Is this about the agent who was killed in a fire last year?"

"Yes. I'm working with Devin Scott, a former agent. He's convinced that his partner, Agent Samantha Parker, was not killed by the man who died beside her."

"Mr. Scott has already talked to my boss about all this, Kate. There's no evidence to support his theory."

"Are you sure? Devin said there was a fire at a Catholic high school on Monday. He believes it's the beginning of another string of fires."

"I know that he's been calling the department about that, but he hasn't brought us anything in the way of new evidence. And there have been several fires at schools in the city in the past few years that were the work of disgruntled students. It's very likely that the fire at St. Bernadette's falls into that category."

"Likely doesn't sound like certainty. Devin is not a crackpot, Emma. He's a former FBI agent who is trying to get justice for the death of his partner. He has a lot of information that he's put together over the past year and a half. I think you should at least hear him out."

"I'm sorry, Kate. I can't help you. My boss instructed me not to take his calls. They had some altercation last year, and until we have more than Mr. Scott's gut instinct, we're not talking to him."

"Emma, I've seen the case files. And I've looked at the pattern of fires. If Devin is right, then more fires are coming. I know you don't want that."

"I told you; I can't talk to him."

"What about me? If you wanted to have lunch with me, and we happened to run into Devin, would that be your fault?"

Emma stared back at her and then let out a breath. "You've always been able to find the angle, Kate."

"Is that a yes to lunch? I know you, Emma. You follow your gut, and so do I. So does Devin."

"We have limited resources, Kate. And arson is one of the most unsolvable crimes there is. We have to go with evidence."

"But this wasn't just arson; it was murder."

"And it was investigated," Emma said. "Not just by us but also by the FBI. They took over the case. You should be talking to your superiors."

"I have all the information that the FBI has on the case, and I'm going through Devin's files as well, but it appears to me that the case was closed a little too quickly. I think you should hear Devin out. You should talk to him about the most recent school fire, because if the arsonist is getting back into business, you're going to want to know."

Emma thought about her words. "If I talk to Devin, it has to be off the record."

"It will be. Where shall we meet?"

"Not anywhere near here."

"How about the Wild Garden on Union Street in the Marina?" she suggested.

"That sounds fine. None of the other investigators in this office would be caught dead in a vegetarian restaurant."

"Great. Is noon okay?"

"Let's make it one."

"Done." She felt a wave of relief that Emma had agreed to talk to Devin. If she'd had to go back and say she couldn't even convince her cousin to help, she'd feel like a complete failure and as green and unseasoned as Devin thought she was. "Thanks, Em. I owe you one."

"Don't expect too much, Kate. I really don't think your guy is operating on anything more than guilt and grief."

"Hear him out. Then decide." As she got to her feet, she added, "And if you don't mind, I'd prefer if you didn't tell anyone in the family you saw me today."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I'm not supposed to be getting into town until next Wednesday, and I need to keep the family out of my business until then."

"Good luck. A lot of people in this town know you or one of our relatives. I'm not sure you can get out of this building without running into someone you know."

"I'm going to give it a shot. See you in a couple of hours."

"I'll be there, and just so you know, Kate, you're buying."

"Of course." She opened the door, then looked back at her cousin. "It's going to happen for you, Em—having a baby. I know it. And when it does, you'll make an amazing mother."

"Thanks, Kate. I really hope you're right."

"I usually am. No one ever seems to realize that, but it's true."

Emma laughed. "I often feel the same way."

Five

"We have lunch with Emma," Kate said, as she walked into Devin's office thirty minutes later. "You can say thank-you." She sat down in the chair in front of his desk with a satisfied, smug smile. "It was not easy to get her to say yes. Apparently, you're on everyone's blacklist, but I convinced her you were worth a meet. I can be very persuasive."

"I wouldn't think your cousin would be the toughest target, but okay," he said dryly. He actually was a little impressed, but he wasn't going to tell her that, if only for the fun of seeing the angry, irritated blue fire fill her eyes. Kate definitely wore her emotions on her face. If she wanted to be a good agent, she'd have to learn how to put on a better mask.

"Emma might be my cousin, but she's putting her job on the line for this. She's been ordered not to talk to you. She said you got into an altercation with her boss."

He shrugged. "It was a discussion; that's all."

"I have a feeling he doesn't remember it that way. Anyway, lunch is at one o'clock at the Wild Garden down the street."

He groaned. "Vegetarian? Is she one of those?"

"Actually, no, Emma is not a vegetarian, but it's a good restaurant. It has excellent reviews, and I suspect you could use a few vegetables in your diet." She picked up the empty bag of chips on the top of his desk. "Breakfast of champions?"

He took the bag out of her hand and tossed it in the trash. "I've been working. I didn't have time to make breakfast."

"What have you been working on? PI stuff or the fires?"

"Both. I spoke to Brenda earlier."

"Did she have it out with her husband?"

"She did but not until she spoke to her lawyer. Because we gave her a heads-up, she was able to prevent Russell from selling his stake in the company to Lily Holbright. After she informed him of that fact, she threw him out of the house, and said she was filing for divorce."

Kate nodded approvingly. "Good. I'm glad she stayed strong. So are you done with that case now?"

"I am."

"What about other cases?"

"I've been working for a couple of law firms. They keep me busy, but I also have the ability to turn down jobs, which I did as soon as I heard about the fire at St. Bernadette's."

"Emma said you're going to need more than gut instinct to convince anyone the serial arsonist is back. They've had other school fires that were set by students."

"St. Bernadette's fits the pattern. Let's go in the back and look at the map again." He got to his feet. If he was going to convince Emma Callaway to help him, he needed to convince Kate first.

He led the way down the hall to the wall map. "The green thumbtacks are school fires started at Catholic schools in the past five years. There have been five, not counting St. Bernadette's." He pointed out the tacks. "They form three-quarters of a circle."

"That's true," she murmured, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she studied the map.

"The blue thumbtacks represent the community or recreation center fires. There have been five of those as well. All of the fires took place within three miles of a school fire—basically within the same community. They form a
V
in the middle of the almost complete circle."

"I can see that. And the historical structures go in a straight line or relatively straight. Line to the bottom of the
V
. Nothing is exact, though."

"But close enough that you can see the pattern." He pointed to the one yellow thumbtack. "That's St. Bernadette's. Do you see where it falls? Do you see how it's following the arc of the circle?"

"I do," she said, tilting her head to the right as if to get a different angle. "Devin."

"Yes?" he asked, seeing a light in her eyes as she turned her gaze on him.

"You know what this is, right?"

"I have an idea. What do you think it is?" he asked.

"I think the arsonist is making a huge peace sign."

As her gaze met his, he felt in sync with someone for the first time in a very long time. "So do I."

"I didn't see anything about this pattern in the files Hal gave me." She paused, frowning. "There was a map, but it didn't look exactly like this." She turned back to the wall. "What's different about yours?"

"There were a few other fires on the Bureau's map. Sam and I were looking at some additional fires that I now don't believe were part of the pattern. They had similar characteristics, which led us to put them on the list. But during the past year, I've been able to eliminate a couple of them. So this map looks different than the one in the old files."

"Have you shown it to anyone but me?"

He sighed. "I sent a picture to Hal, but he wasn't convinced."

"What about the local fire department?"

"They don't agree that all of these fires are part of a pattern. There are at least three or four they would dispute."

She sent him a speculative look. "There was a fire about eight months ago that you thought was the work of the arsonist, right?"

He really hated to admit that he'd been wrong, but there was no way around it. "Yes, but a suspect was caught and confessed to the arson. His story was irrefutable." He paused and placed his finger on the map where there was a small
X
. "That fire was here. It didn't quite fit the pattern, but it was close enough to make me concerned."

"So you were wrong, and now no one will listen to you," she said bluntly.

"That about sums it up. But just because I was wrong then doesn't mean I'm wrong now."

"It doesn't mean you're right, either." She looked back at the map. "This pattern means something, but what?"

"I've been asking myself that question for a long time. What does the peace sign mean to the arsonist?"

"Maybe he's looking for peace."

"It's as good an answer as any. The most important part of this pattern is not necessarily answering the question of
why
but rather
where
. I haven't had a chance to show anyone in the fire department how St. Bernadette's fits into the pattern."

"We should show Emma." She grabbed her phone and took several photos of the map.

"I believe the next fire has to be within this area." He moved his finger around the uncompleted portion of the circle.

"How many miles does that cover?"

"About five miles. But San Francisco is a dense city with blocks of buildings that share common walls."

"So there are only about a thousand targets," she said with a sigh.

"For houses, yes; for community centers, no." He moved over to his computer that was open on the kitchen table. "I've made a list of potential targets."

She walked up next to him to peer over his shoulder. For a moment, he was distracted by her scent, by her closeness. In fact, his body had an instantly appreciative reaction to her hips as they came into contact with his.

"It looks like you've expanded beyond community centers," she said.

"What?" he asked, his brain taking a second to refocus on the computer screen.

"What is Delores Hall?"

"That's a senior citizen center," he said, clearing his throat and moving far enough away from her that they weren't touching. "Raymond Street Rec is an after-school program at Raymond Park. It's mostly outdoor activities, but there is a small one-room building on the property where the smaller kids do art projects. Payton Community Center runs a complete program of activities for toddlers to seniors. Bayside Neighborhood Club is a teen program run out of a Victorian house."

"That sounds like it fits two criteria—community center and possibly a historic building."

"It's not on the register, but that could be just because no one tried to put it on there," he said.