Tender Is The Night(34)

"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.