“Speak to you?”
“Um... yeah.” She licked her lips, then lifted her gaze to meet his. “Each fire tells a story. I let the remains talk to me.”
Yeah, me too. Fascinated, he stepped closer. “So, what did you determine?”
She sucked in her lips, rubbing them together as her gaze roved over the charred wall. “The burn pattern seems greatest in three different places along the back wall. Fire spreads vertically under normal circumstances, but since there is such a wide spread of fire markings, I would assume the person put accelerant over there,” she pointed toward the right, “then over there,” pointing to the left, “and then centered it right at the window in front of us.”
“What makes you think it’s that order?”
“The charring is worse on the right, a bit less on the left, and even less in the middle.”
Nodding, he was impressed. “Any idea what kind of accelerant was used?”
“No, not until I have a chance to check the evidence.”
She turned and faced him, and he noted that the top of her head came to his chin, so her head was leaned back as she held his gaze. Inside the building, her hair appeared dark, but in the sunlight, it held shades of auburn that glistened. It was thick but sleek, not curly. He wanted to reach out and touch it, just to see if it was as silky as it appeared.
They stared for a moment, neither speaking, and he jolted, blinking out of his musings about her hair. Jesus, I need more than coffee… I need a fuckin’ day off... or a woman... or both.
Clearing his throat, his voice was rough as he ordered, “Go ahead and get what other samples you need.”
Her face hardened as she pinched her lips. “I don’t need you babysitting me. I’m a professional and know what I’m doing.”
“Maybe I just want to protect the scene.” He grimaced. Why the fuck am I being so snarky? Something about her unbalanced him, pulling him out of his ordered existence.
She jerked back. “You haven’t finished collecting all the evidence you need?” She shook her head, adding, “I would never have interrupted the police in their collection.”
He hung his head and slowly shook it back and forth. “Yeah, I had collected. I came back to gather more in different containers, but we had technically finished last night.”
“So, you’re just being contrary.” Before he had a chance to say anything else, she turned and walked over to the wall, kneeling carefully among the charred remnants. Irritated with himself but still willing to blame her for his lack of concentration, he watched her collect, begrudgingly noting that she used the right containers. With her wrist splinted, she fumbled several times but did not ask for help, and he did not offer it. Yeah, I’m a royal prick.
She replaced her evidence containers in her bag and stood, wobbling slightly. Lifting her gaze to him, she said, “All done. You can officially consider your babysitting job to be over.”
They walked away from the site, side-by-side, neither speaking. He held the yellow tape up so that she could duck under, then he followed her to their cars. She placed her evidence bag on the passenger seat, then walked around, hesitating as he stood next to her driver’s door.
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Are you sure you feel well enough to drive? I know we haven’t exactly gotten off on the right foot, but I do feel really bad about you being injured.”
She held his gaze, his one-eighty mood swings hitting her. Sucking in a huge breath, she let it out slowly. “Detective McBride, I’m sorry, too. You’re right. We’ve been at odds since we first met. We both have a job to do, and it seems like we could work best together, not against each other. My company has a right to find out the cause of the fire in this building before they agree to pay out a significant amount of money to the city.”
Her words hit him like a punch in the gut as he recognized the olive branch she was offering. “You’re right.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. Pulling a pen out as well, he scribbled onto the back before handing it to her. “Here’s my card with my contact information. I’ve included my personal cell phone number on there. I’d appreciate any information you find out, and I agree to share my findings with you. And please, call me