"He's not your responsibility, Kate. You barely know him. Or have you gotten closer?" Emma asked.
There was a teasing light in Emma's eyes, but Kate didn't feel like talking about last night with anyone, not even her cousin. "I've gotten close enough to respect and admire his relentless devotion to find justice for his former partner."
"But you can't let this guy's mission become yours," Max put in. "I know what guilt feels like. Believe me, I've experienced guilt on a lot of levels over the years, but not all of it really belonged to me."
"I know you're both right. It's just difficult not to feel compassion when you can see how much pain someone is in."
"You don't sound like a hard-hearted FBI agent right now," Emma said with a smile.
"I'm still a work in progress," she admitted. "I know I have to get tougher."
"Don't get too tough," Max said. "Compassion and understanding can be good investigative tools." He got to his feet. "On that note, I actually have to go to work. I have another case to look into."
"Thanks again for your help, Max."
"Hey, whatever I can do, I'm happy to do." He gave Emma a kiss. "See you later, babe."
"Bye," Emma said.
As Emma's gaze followed her husband out the door, Kate smiled. "You are still so in love, you can't take your eyes off him. It's very cute."
Emma smiled back at her. "He's hot. I like to look at him."
"Well, he's all yours."
"I told him, Kate, about the miscarriage."
"I'm glad you're not carrying that burden alone."
"It did feel better. He was a little rattled, but Max is good at bouncing back. And he helped me bounce back, too. We're not going to give up."
"I'm glad to hear it. You have lots of time, too."
"I know. I think watching everyone else in the family get pregnant got me a little too focused on babies. I'm happy with my job, and it wouldn't hurt me to work on my career for a while. When kids come along, I'll be further ahead in my job and it will be easier to take time off."
"That sounds very logical."
"And very much like Max. Those were pretty much his words," Emma said with a laugh. "But he's right. He usually is, dammit. Anyway, thanks for giving me the kick in the butt to talk to him about it."
"I'm surprised Nicole or Shayla didn't do that. Your sisters don't usually hold back."
"I haven't told them. I didn't want to bum anyone out. No one else needs to know."
"Okay, my lips are sealed." She pushed back her chair and stood up. "I should get going. There's a lot to do. We need to figure out the next target, and I need to get this case wrapped up before Mia arrives and the wedding festivities begin."
"That's a lot of ticking clocks."
"Too many. I don't want to let Devin down, but I also cannot let Mia down. When my boss sent me out here, he told me to give Devin five days of my time, but how can I walk away now?"
"I don't think you can, and not just because of the case. Because of him." Emma met her gaze. "Just be careful, Kate, and I'm not just talking about fire danger; I'm talking about your heart. You're involved with him. I can see it on your face."
"My heart is fine," she said, hoping that was true. "And I can handle our … involvement."
"I hope so."
She hoped so, too, but she didn't have time to worry about that now. She was more concerned that time was running out, and she did not want to have to choose between Devin and her family.
* * *
Devin glanced at his watch, and then turned his attention back to his computer, annoyed that his thoughts kept drifting to Kate. It wasn't just that he wanted to know what she was finding out from Emma, but also because he couldn't stop thinking about her.
He couldn't remember the last time a woman had distracted him so much.
Kate was going to be hard to forget.
But he would have to forget her, because she would move on, and so would he.
Just not quite yet.
The front door opened, and his pulse jumped as he heard her come down the hall.
"Hey," she said, entering the room. She gave him a smile as she set her bag on the table and sat down across from him. "How's it going?"
"It's going," he said with a shrug. "No hits on the partial plate. I've managed to get one of my friends at SFPD to check traffic cameras along the route of my chase yesterday. Hoping the car and complete plate were captured."
"That would be a break."
"Did you learn anything from your cousin?"
"She said the fire was started like all the rest of them. There was no St. Christopher's medal, but she's going back to the scene later today. She'd like us to text her a list of potential targets for the third fire. Have you been working on that?"
He nodded. "I have. We can go over them. Did she say anything else?"
"Not really. But Emma got her husband Max involved. I told you he's a police detective. He decided to re-interview a former roommate of Baines's, Malcolm Homer."
"I remember Homer. He had nothing of interest to say. None of the roommates did."
"Well, Max asked him specifically about any contacts Baines might have mentioned from high school, following up on the St. Bernadette's connection. I guess that wasn't a question anyone asked before."
Devin frowned. "Probably not. We definitely weren't thinking about friendships going that far back."
"Mr. Homer said that Baines had mentioned running into a high school friend and that the friend had reminded him how much he'd wanted to be a firefighter. After they started talking again, Baines applied for the fire academy. Mr. Homer also said that Baines was in a good mood in the few weeks before he died, implying that this old friend had reinvigorated him in some way."
"I assume you didn't get a name of this friend."
"No. But Malcolm did say that Baines went to meet his friend at a bar called Rebel, Rebel in the Mission. I don't remember seeing that bar on the list of places visited during the initial investigation."
"First I've heard of it."
"I think we should go down there and show Baines's picture around and see if anyone remembers him and who he might have been with. I know there's a lot to do and maybe that's a wild-goose chase, but-"
"But it's worth a trip," he said with a nod. "Let's go now. We can look over the targets when we get back."
"I rented a car," she added. "So I can drive us."
"Great. I hadn't gotten around to that yet. You can expense it to the Bureau." He grinned. "Hal would love that."
"I'll figure it out later."
He felt better now that she was back, now that she was giving him ideas, and pepping him up with her positive attitude and energized smile.
He'd always been able to self-motivate, even through the long months when nothing had been going on. But lately, he'd been feeling the strain of fighting a solo battle, and it felt damn good to have her on his team, even if she was distracting him beyond belief. She still definitely brought more good than bad with her.
* * *
Rebel, Rebel was a hipster bar in the trendy part of town known as the Mission. During the day it was a bar and grill, serving lunch and early dinner. By nine at night the club turned into a music venue showing some of the hottest acts in town.
When they arrived, it was a little before four, and there were only about six patrons in the bar.
Devin was fine with the empty nature of the club. The young male bartender looked bored as he wiped down the counter.
"Hello," Kate said, giving the bartender a smile.
Devin couldn't help but notice how the man straightened and brightened as he took in just how pretty his new customer was.
"What can I get you?" the bartender asked.
"I'll take a beer. Devin?"
"Make that two." He slid onto the barstool next to her, giving her a subtle nod to take the lead. She had the bartender's attention, and there was no doubt in his mind that Kate could work this guy better than he could, so he was going to let her.
As the man set down two beer glasses, Kate said, "I was wondering if you might answer a few questions."
The bartender tensed. "About?"
"A customer. How long have you worked here?"
"Going on three years. Are you a cop?"
Kate pulled out her badge. "FBI."
"Whoa. I did not expect that," the bartender said. "I was almost going to card you."
"I'm definitely of age. The man's name was Rick Baines. He was killed in a fire eighteen months ago. We heard he used to come in here with some of his friends." She pulled out her phone and opened up a photo of Rick. "Do you recognize him?"
"Sure," the bartender said, barely glancing at the picture. "I knew Rick."
"Did you know any of his friends?" Kate asked.