She dressed with some difficulty, applied her makeup one-handed, then stared at her hair in distress. Finally, after running a brush through the thick tresses, she managed to twist it at the back of her head, securing it with a large clip. Totally messy but effective.
Making sure Smokey had food and water in his dishes, she then stroked him before sliding her arms into her coat, grabbing her purse and keys, and walking out the door. Daniel was just coming out of his apartment, a plumber’s wrench in his hand.
A knowing giggle erupted as her eyebrows lifted. “Let me guess… Mrs. Scarsdale?”
Huffing, Daniel shook his head as he closed the door behind him. “I don’t know how many times I’ve told her to use a drain trap when she’s washing those long-haired dogs of hers. I’ve even bought them for her. But no, no... she never remembers. Then calls me like clockwork to complain about her drain being clogged.”
Stepping closer, she patted his arm. “You’re a good man, Daniel. You take care of everybody.”
He shook his head slowly, rubbing the whiskers on his chin. “You’re sweet to say so, Harper, but I’m afraid cleaning drains doesn’t make a hero. It’s true that I feel sorry for Mrs. Scarsdale. I know when her husband was living he took care of everything for her, so if I can help, I do.” His gaze dropped from her face down to her arm. “How about you? How’re you feeling today?”
“It hurts a bit,” she admitted. “But I’ve taken some ibuprofen and really want to save up my sick days in case something major happens. So, I’ll work today.”
“Well, I hope it’s not a busy day for you.” His gaze was full of concern.
“It shouldn’t be busy. I have no investigations that I know of. It can just be a day in the office where I check with the lab and write up a couple of reports.”
“Good, good.” They fell into step together walking toward the elevator. He got off on the second floor, and she remained until being let off on the first.
Once outside, a blast of cold wind hit her, and she knew that winter was definitely here. She looked upward as light snow began to fall and sighed, thinking about her job. Cold weather always makes things worse. Many people, especially those in subpar housing, rely heavily on portable heaters, whether powered by electricity or fuel. The incidences of house fires increase significantly as heaters tip over or are not properly ventilated. Too often they are placed near flammable objects such as furniture, bedding, curtains. Or children pull on their cords. A shudder passed over her. Trying to shake those morose thoughts from her mind, she drove to work in the early morning traffic.
Once there, she prayed that her words to Daniel were correct and that she would have an easy day. At her desk, she fired up her computer and began working on several reports, but her mind drifted to Sean. Something about him is familiar. Glancing around to make sure none of her coworkers who had also come to work early could see what she was doing, she Googled his name.
His social media presence was minimal, but she found an online article from the Hope City Journal where he volunteered his time to teach fire safety to children in schools. Fascinated, she kept reading and discovered another article where he had taught a class in fire evidence collection several years ago. That’s it! He had been at the IAAI class when I was working on my certification. She remembered a few fantasy daydreams centering on him before pushing him out of her mind. Now that she had met him again and was not in pain or foggy-minded with drugs, the fantasy sex daydream came slamming back in full force.
Snorting indelicately, she quickly looked up to see a few coworkers glancing over at her.
“Are you okay?” Casey asked. “Does your arm hurt?”
“I’m fine, just moved my arm wrong.” Lying was not her habit but was better than admitting she was drooling over a hot arson detective even as the heat of blush hit her face.
Peter said, “If you need to go home, I can certainly take over any cases for you.”
Forcing a wide smile onto her face, she shook her head. “No, as I said, I’m fine.” Peter was a newer hire in the office and was working on his fire evidence certification. It