Tender Is The Night(30)

He frowned. "I'm not that old."

"Really? Because you like to tell me how old you are quite often."

"Only when it comes to being an agent, not the rest of life."

"I'm glad you're able to see the difference, because you do have a lot  of living still to do, and I hope once we put Sam's killer away, you can  start doing that again."

He tapped his fingers restlessly on the steering wheel. "Believe it or  not, I want that, too. It's been a long year and a half. That's why it's  so important that I catch this guy now, within the next few weeks. If  he lights two more fires and then heads back underground, it could be  another year before he comes up again."

"I know. I understand that the stakes are high. I wish we had an entire  team of people to put at every potential target, but we don't, and I  also understand that, too. There are a lot of cases the Bureau is  working on that need manpower and resources, but we're both good, right?  We can figure this out, and we will catch this guy."         

     



 

"We have to. There's no other alternative."

Her gaze narrowed as she saw flashes of light on the other side of the park. "Devin, do you see that?"

He turned his head. "What?"

"Looks like a flashlight, moving through the trees."

"Stay here."

"No way," she said, reaching for her door handle. As she got out of the  car, she smelled smoke. On the street on the other side of the building,  she heard a car engine start up and saw headlights come on.

Devin swore. "That's him," he said jumping back into the car.

"Go after him," she said. "I'll call 9-1-1."

Devin slammed the door, raced down the street and around the corner.

When he disappeared from sight, she headed into the park. She'd gone  only ten feet when an explosion lit up the air. She was knocked back on  her ass by the force of the blast. She was a hundred yards away from the  building that was now ablaze with fire. She stumbled to her feet and  pulled out her phone to report the fire.

The operator told her the fire department was on the way. Several  neighbors had also called it in. She asked if there was anyone inside  the building. Kate said she didn't know, but the building had been  completely dark before the blast, and there were no cars in the parking  lot.

As she ended the call, she saw neighbors rushing out to the street from  the nearby houses. As the crowd got bigger, she wondered about the  arsonist. Was the person who'd set the fire the one Devin was chasing,  or was he somewhere in this milling crowd, admiring his handiwork?



* * *



Devin smashed the gas pedal to the floor as he tried to catch up with  the fast-moving sedan. This could be his guy, the one he'd been chasing  for a year and a half. He could not lose him now.

The sedan was very aware of his tail, speeding through red lights and up  and down the narrow, twisting, steep hills of San Francisco.

Devin spun around corners and weaved between slower-moving cars. At one  point, he caught a glimpse of the license plate but only registered two  letters before the car sped around a corner.

He couldn't get a good look at the driver, either. He registered some  type of ball cap on the head of the dark figure behind the wheel, but  that was it. He wished he could call in the cops, block some  intersections, do something more than just follow, but right now that's  all he could do.

Two-way streets turned into one-way streets, and as the SUV cut through  an alley and onto another street, Devin found himself going in the wrong  direction.

He swerved to avoid an oncoming car and ran up over the sidewalk,  smashing into a parking meter. The car came to an abrupt stop, and the  air bag deployed, punching him in the chest. His head hit the side of  the door, and all he could see were stars exploding in the black night.

The car had vanished. The arsonist had gotten away-again.





Fourteen


As the fire department arrived at the park, Kate looked for some  familiar faces, but none of her family members were on the call. With  the focus on putting out the fire, there was no time to speak to any of  the firefighters, so she walked around the perimeter of the park,  looking for anyone who stood out in the crowd.

Most of the neighbors were in pajamas and bathrobes, and it appeared  that they'd all come out of their homes. She was looking for someone who  didn't belong, who might not have been woken up in the middle of the  night and come running into the park to see what had happened.

Maybe one of the suspects on Devin's list: the author Dillingsworth, the  wanna-be-firefighter, Price, the ex-firefighter and ex-husband Brad  Connors. She'd mentally committed their images to her brain when she'd  gone through the files, but no one in this crowd bore a resemblance to  any of those men.

There were other suspects, too, that she didn't have an image in her  head for: Baines's friend Alan Jenkins and the girls he'd gone to high  school with.

And then there were any other number of people who might have never made the list who could be involved in this.

Frowning, she wondered why the hell she'd felt optimistic before. They really were still at the bottom of a very large mountain.

Working her way back to the line of firefighters, she saw Emma crossing  the street. She was in uniform, so she'd obviously been on call tonight.  Kate hurried over, wanting to catch her before she talked to the  battalion chief.

"Kate," Emma said grimly. "Don't tell me this fire-"

"Was probably started by the arsonist Devin has been chasing," she  finished. "We were staking out the park, because the recreation center  was on Devin's list of potential targets. We were in a car on that  street, and we saw a car take off on the other street," she said, using  her hand to designate their positions. "Devin went after him. I was  headed into the park when the building exploded."         

     



 

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No, I don't believe anyone was inside. I was probably the closest to  the blast." She shivered, remembering the heat of that explosion.

"Thank God you weren't any closer," Emma said.

"I don't know why it exploded."

"Probably accelerant inside the building. I looked up the building and  programs on the way over here. They hold a lot of painting classes here.  That means turpentine and other combustibles probably acted as fuel."  She paused. "Did you get a look at the car? Did you talk to the police?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, I didn't have much information to give. I didn't  see the person or the car. I've tried calling Devin, but he isn't  answering. It's been almost an hour." Her stomach twisted with worry at  the reminder of how much time had passed.

"If he hasn't come back empty-handed, that's a good thing."

"I hope that's true. I was going to call you, but I didn't want to wake you in the middle of the night until I knew more."

"I'm on call tonight. I need to get over there and do my job."

"You'll keep me posted?"

"I will."

As Emma walked away, Kate's phone buzzed. It was Devin. Thank God! "Where are you?" she demanded.

"Westside Medical Center."

"What? Are you hurt? What happened? Did you catch him?"

"No, he got away from me. I got a partial plate. That's it."

She could hear the anger in his voice. "Why are you at the hospital?"

"I wrecked the car. I'm fine, though. What's happening where you are?"

"The fire is almost out. It was big, Devin. There was an explosion. Apparently, there were paint supplies inside the building."

"Are you all right, Kate? I shouldn't have left you there."

"I'm fine. I wasn't that close when the explosion occurred. I just  talked to Emma. She's here. She's investigating, and she'll keep us  apprised. I'm going to get a cab and come and get you."

"I can just meet you tomorrow, Kate. It's the middle of the night. Nothing else can be done now."

His voice was too fuzzy for her to agree to that. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Just stay put, okay?"

"I'll be here." He paused and let out a long sigh. "I lost him, Kate. He was right there, and I couldn't catch him."

The despair in his voice made her heart go out to him. There were a  million things she wanted to say, but she knew there was no way she  could talk him out of the negative reaction he was having, and he was  entitled to feel bad. She would, if their positions were reversed. And  she wouldn't want someone telling her everything would be okay when  there was no guarantee of that.

"We'll regroup and figure out our next move," she said. "We're going to  get another chance. And maybe the partial license plate will help. It  might match one of our suspects."

"That would be a miracle."

"Well, maybe you're due. We'll make a plan. The one thing I know for sure is that we're not done yet."



* * *



It was almost four in the morning when Kate and Devin got back from the  hospital. Devin hadn't said much on the ride home. He had some bruising  on his face, but apparently they'd ruled out a concussion and internal  injuries. He hadn't told her much about the accident beyond the fact  that the chase had led him down the wrong way of a one-way street, and  he'd smashed the car into a parking meter and lost the suspect.