"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."