His name slipped easily over her lips. “It was an accident. Accidents happen. I should know. I’m in the insurance business.”
He chuckled, the deep sound moving through her. “Well, it’s not fine, but I’m glad you’re doing okay. Were you able to sleep last night?”
“I propped my arm on a pillow next to me after taking a pain pill. Then, I slept like the dead.” He chuckled again, and she closed her eyes. God, I’d love to hear that sound all the time. “It was a little achy this morning, but with some ibuprofen, I’m good to go.”
“Don’t you think you should take the prescription medicine?”
“I can’t drive if I take it.”
“You don’t need to drive. You should just rest.”
“Sean, I’m at work right now.”
“Work?”
His voice held incredulity and it was her turn to smile. “Yes, work. It was a hairline fracture, nothing more. I confess the pain was awful yesterday, but today it’s splinted, and I took ibuprofen. I’m fine.” The airwaves were silent for a moment. “Um… thank you for your concern. It’s really nice of you to check on me, but I don’t want you to feel indebted.”
“I don’t feel indebted,” he refuted, his voice sounding grouchy again. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Are you sure you shouldn’t take the day off?”
“If I don’t feel well later in the day my boss will have no problem if I go home early.”
“Well, okay,” he finally conceded. “I’ll let you get back to work. Um... goodbye.”
Before she had a chance to respond, he had disconnected. Her hand holding the phone dropped down to her side, and her head banged back against the wall. Wow, what the hell was that? Hello, I’m concerned. Oh, you’re at work, goodbye.
Giving her head a little shake, she walked back into the office area, marching directly to her cubicle. Determined to focus on her job and not the irritating detective, she opened her laptop and continued her report on the latest case.
7
“Fuckin’ hell,” Sean cursed, leaning back in his seat. Frustrated with the arsonist cases, he could not help but think about his short phone call with Harper. She had not left his thoughts all evening. He replayed their meeting over and over in his mind, hating that his shout had caused her to fall.
She was beautiful, but there was a spark in her, something he had not found in the recent women he had dated. He assumed she would be at home resting, and it threw him to find out she was at work. Then, when he could not think of anything else to say, he simply told her goodbye and hung up. Smooth, McBride. Real smooth.
Jonas looked over at him, lifting an eyebrow. “Giving up?”
He shot him a glare, both men knowing full well that Sean did not give up. “Shit, I must be out of practice. Maybe I should get pointers from Rory.”
“Hell, you don’t need him. Just ask me.”
“Yeah, like the king of ‘just tonight, ma’am’ can give me pointers.”
Jonas barked out a laugh, but Sean did not want to discuss Harper, so he forced his mind back to the case. “It’s bad enough that the typical firebug can get his hands on accelerants just by looking underneath his kitchen sink or in his garage. But this asshole? He’s purposely taunting us.”
Nodding, Jonas agreed. Leaning forward in his seat, he placed his forearms on his desk. “What have you been able to dig up on the carbon disulfide besides the rotten-egg smell after it’s burned?” Jonas’ nose wrinkled slightly.
“It’s in liquid form and has to be contained in clear glass. It’s used for solvents, usually on an industrial level. It can also be used as a fumigant or raw material in manufacturing. It’s got a shelf life of two years, so our arsonist can get his hands on it and hang onto it for a while.”
“We don’t see it much, but it’s fuckin’ volatile, isn’t it?” Jonas tapped on the keyboard of his laptop.
“Yeah, and highly toxic. I can’t believe how easy it is to get.” Picking up some papers from his file, he waved them in his hand. “There are chemical companies that sell it, and while it’s not common, there are enough companies that make it nearly impossible to contact to see if there’s a local individual buying it.”
“I’ve been poring over the list of former firefighters and wannabe firefighters to see if we can narrow that field down, but so far, I’ve got