But his inattention was about to end. Lily was almost back to the table, Kate following a few feet behind.
Kate met his gaze, tipped her head and walked toward the door. He followed her out of the club and across the street to the car.
"So, I might be able to help you," Kate said, giving him a proud smile as he got into the car and closed the door.
"How's that? Did you hear something?"
"Yes. Lily had a conversation in the hallway outside the ladies' room. She said she had a deal and that by the end of the week there would be no more competition and that Brenda Walton was done. Maybe there's more information on her phone." Kate pulled out a phone and put it on the console between them. "I accidentally bumped into her on my way out of the ladies' room."
He raised an eyebrow. "You stole her phone? You think the Bureau would approve of that?"
"I don't know about the Bureau but you said we were operating under your rules tonight, so I didn't think you'd care."
"I don't." He put Russell's phone down next to hers. "I got his, too."
Kate stared back at him in surprise, then smiled. "Well, how about that? We might make a good team after all."
"Don't get carried away."
"Hey, I just broke a law to help you. At least, you can say thank-you."
"We may not be able to get into her phone."
"Well, in addition to getting the phone, I also just told you what she said, that she and Russell are conspiring to destroy Brenda. That's more than you got by just grabbing Russell's phone."
"Fine. I can say this: You might not be the worst person Hal could have sent to help me."
She laughed. "Well, I can say this: You are definitely the worst person Hal could have sent me to help. You have been nothing but rude and ungrateful since I walked into your office."
"If your skin is that thin—"
"It's not. But that doesn't mean I can't call out bad behavior."
"Look, if you want someone to throw you a parade when you do something right—that's not me. But…"
She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
"Was it really that difficult to say? And why did you take Russell's phone if you don't have a way to get into it?"
"Brenda gave me Russell's password just in case."
"Oh, well, that's a little too easy."
"It doesn't always need to be difficult."
He ran through Russell's texts. There were numerous messages between him and Lily, and it quickly became clear that Russell was sabotaging his wife's business. "Damn," he muttered. "They are trying to destroy Brenda's business."
"I told you they weren't having an affair."
"But he is definitely cheating on her," Devin replied. "He's selling his twenty-five percent of his wife's company to Lily Bright Beauty Products. In return, Lily is going to bring her multi-million dollar advertising budget to his agency."
"I guess we know why Russell and Lily were meeting in secret."
"And why Brenda knew that Russell was up to something," he said. "She was just wrong about what that something was."
"What a douche bag. He's selling his wife out for his own personal gain."
"He justifies it," Devin said, glancing down at the latest texts. "He sent a text to his lawyer saying that with the advertising revenue, he and Brenda will be better off in the long run. That giving up twenty-five percent of her company is nothing compared to what will be gained."
"I doubt Brenda will feel the same way. It's her company, not his. I can't believe he even has the right to do that without her consent."
"She obviously put too much trust in him."
"I'll say. And he doesn't care at all about his wife's business; it's all about him." Kate paused, frowning. "He literally tore her down to put himself up. What is wrong with him?"
"Probably more than this one act of greed. I've seen enough."
"What are you going to do?"
"Hand Brenda her husband's phone."
"Maybe we can give her Lily's phone, too," Kate said with a smile. "Even if she can't get into it, it will piss Lily off."
"Good idea." He started the car and pulled away from the bar, wanting to put some distance between themselves and the club before Lily and Russell both realized their phones were missing.
"That was actually kind of fun," Kate said. "And hopefully with this information, Brenda will be able to stop Russell from selling his shares."
"Maybe, but Russell and Lily seemed celebratory. It could be too late."
"I hope not."
He shot her a look. "Don't get too invested in this. There's a good chance that Brenda will do nothing but cry and tell her husband she forgives him as long as he promises not to ever do it again."
"She wouldn't do that. This isn't about sex; it's about betrayal."
"You'd be surprised what people do when they're in love."
"That's not love; that's stupidity," Kate declared.
He smiled. "For once, I agree with you."
She met his gaze. "If you keep an open mind, you might find yourself agreeing with me more than you think."
"We'll see."
Three
They met Brenda Walton in the parking lot outside her Pilates class. Kate waited in the car while Devin got into Brenda's Mercedes for a private conversation.
She couldn't see much, but after a moment the woman appeared to break down in tears. She was angry, too, slamming her hand against the steering wheel a few times.
She felt sorry for Brenda. The woman had worked hard to build a business for herself and to have her husband go behind her back and show so little respect for her feelings or her hard work had to be incredibly painful. It probably would have been easier for Brenda to hear that her husband was having an affair.
Kate sighed, thinking that men might be more trouble than they were worth when her phone rang. She was thrilled to see her twin sister Mia's name flash across the screen. "Hey bride-to-be," she said. "How are you doing?"
"It's getting a little crazy," Mia said with a laugh. "It's not easy planning a wedding in San Francisco when I'm hundreds of miles away."
"You could have gotten married in Angel's Bay," she reminded her.
"It would have been incredibly difficult to get the entire family down the coast. Ria is eight months pregnant and Sara is having a ton of morning sickness with the start of her second pregnancy."
Kate smiled to herself. Her cousins and their wives were definitely adding to the family tree. "There must be something in the water with all these pregnancies. What about you? Are you planning to have kids right away?"
"No. Jeremy and I want Ashlyn to feel a part of our marriage, our family, before we add any more children into the mix. I also love my work at the art gallery here, and there's so much to do. I have free rein with the exhibits, so I'm enjoying my job again."
"That's great. How does Jeremy like being a police officer?"
"He likes it more than he thought he would. It's not a fast pace, but after his years in special ops, I think he was ready for a break. At least for now it's good. If that changes, we'll adapt. As long as I'm with Jeremy and Ashlyn, I don't really care where I live."
She could hear the contentment in her sister's voice, and she felt both happy for her and a little envious. "You've got it all, Mia. You're going to be a wife to a great guy and a stepmother to an adorable little girl."
"I do have it all, and it scares me a little. I don't want to jinx it."
"You can't jinx it. You and Jeremy are perfect for each other."
"Who would have thought I'd be the first to get married?"
Since Mia was a few minutes younger than Kate, Mia was officially the youngest of the six siblings. "I'm actually not that surprised. You've always been the one most interested in building a nest."
"That's true. Probably because I spent a lot of time in the nest that Mom and Dad created. All those years I was sick and fragile, home was my safe place. I want to give Ashlyn tha
t same safe place, not just with a house, but with a family, with parents who love her and who love each other. Anyway, here I am rambling on…how are you, Kate?"
"I'm great."
"You're going to make the wedding, right? No last-minute assignments?"
"I'll be there."
"By Wednesday," Mia said. "I want you and Annie and me to have dinner together before all the events start on Friday."
"Don't worry. I have the schedule."
"Yes, but I know how you are with schedules and how assignments suddenly take you to the other side of the world."
Which was one reason why she'd agreed to help Devin. This assignment would take her right up to the wedding festivities. "That's not going to happen."
"Okay, good. I can't get married without you, Kate. You're not just my sister; you're my twin. For these big life events, we both have to be there. We're connected in a way that no one else can understand."
"I know." She and Mia were very different in personality, but their twin bond could never be broken. She heard Mia blow out a breath. "What is wrong, Mia? Why all the anxiety?"
"I had a bad dream. You were in danger. You were running and then you disappeared into this really bright light, and I couldn't see you anymore, but I could hear you screaming. I woke up in a sweat. It felt so real."
She shivered a little at her sister's words. "That sounds awful, but I haven't seen any bright lights."
"You're not in danger?"
"Not at the moment. I'm sitting in a car."
"Doing what?"
"Waiting for a guy."
"A hot guy?"
"Good body but bad attitude."
Mia laughed. "He sounds like every guy you dated in high school."
"I'm not in high school anymore."
"But you're attracted, aren't you?"
"It's not a date. We're just working together on something. And even if I were interested, he's not. He doesn't like me much at all."
"I can't believe that's true."
"Trust me, it is. He's been trying to get rid of me since I got here."
"Got where?"
She hesitated. She really didn't want to alert her family to her presence in the city just yet. "I can't say."
"You and your classified secrets."
"It's part of the job. I have to go, Mia. Stop worrying. This is a happy time."
Mia laughed. "You're right. Go back to your hot guy. We'll talk soon."
Kate ended the call just as Devin returned to the car.
As he slid behind the wheel and turned to look at her, her chest tightened and a little flutter ran through her stomach. Damn Mia for making her look at Devin as a man and not as an assignment. And damn her stupid body for responding to him in any way.
As she'd told her sister, she wasn't in high school anymore. She wasn't a teenager who let her hormones take her across lines she shouldn't cross. She was a federal agent and she was not going to forget that, not where Devin was concerned.
"What?" he asked, a quizzical look in his eyes.
She realized she was staring at him. "Nothing. Just wondering how it went with Brenda."
"Not great. She got worked up. I really don't like it when women cry. I am not good with tears. Thankfully, she got angry, too. When I got out of the car, she was on the phone to her lawyer. Russell is going to get a big surprise when he returns home."
"Good. So now we get to work on the real case?"
He nodded. "We'll go back to my office."
Her stomach rumbled. "Any chance there's a pizza place on the way? I haven't eaten since early this morning."
"Gianni's is down the block from my apartment. Why don't you order, and we'll pick it up on our way in?"
She looked up the number for Gianni's on her phone. "What do you like?"
"Anything and everything. I'm not picky."
"Not with pizza—only with partners?"
He smiled but ignored her question. "Make sure you get an extra-large. I'm hungry, too."
* * *
Devin's office was in the living room of his one-bedroom apartment, which filled the second floor of an old Victorian house in the Marina. The first floor was a boutique vintage clothing shop.
When Kate had first arrived, she'd been more interested in making contact with Devin than taking note of her surroundings.
The office was sparsely decorated with only a desk, two chairs and the usual computer and printer setup. But at the back of the flat was a den with comfortable leather couches, a big recliner and an even bigger television screen. There was a guitar resting against one wall, an exercise bike in the corner and a bookcase filled with books.
The most interesting item in the room, however, was on the wall. It was a large blown-up map of San Francisco with colored thumbtacks creating an interesting pattern.
"Are these spots where the fires occurred?" she asked as Devin came out of the kitchen with plates and napkins and set them on the rectangular wooden table next to the extra-large pizza box.
"Yes," he said, walking over to the map to join her. "Green signifies the school fires, blue the community centers, and red the historical structures."
She studied the pattern, thinking there was something about it that felt familiar, but she couldn't say exactly what. "And you're positive that all these fires are related?"
"The SFFD wouldn't agree with me, but I believe they are. There have been sixteen fires set in the last five years. It's possible that there were fires before that, but if there were, there was a gap in time of at least several years."
"What theories have you drawn regarding the significance of the locations?"
"If the arsonist is fueled by revenge, then it seems that the places being burned are some sort of a sore spot. The person could have been bullied at school."
"As well as at a community center," she mused. "Both places are where people go to learn or get help."
"And where people can feel marginalized," Devin added.
"What about the houses?"
"That's where the revenge theory gets hazy and turns to something else. The fact that all the houses are listed on the historic register is obviously important to the arsonist, but I haven't been able to figure out how or why."
"Maybe something bad happened in an old house," she suggested.
He nodded. "Or revenge isn't the motive at all. It could be about thrill-seeking, which is common for arsonists. Schools and community centers by nature involve lots of people, whether they're all present or not. The historic structures might also feel more important to the fire starter. He's not just burning a house but a structure that's valuable to history, to the city. And as you know, two of the houses were on federal land, which is also why the Bureau was brought into the case."
"In the Presidio, right?"
"Yes. The houses were originally part of the Army base there."
"Interesting." She wanted to know more, but the aroma of garlic and onions was calling to her. She sat down at the table and opened the box, pulling out a large slice of pizza loaded with vegetables and sausage.
Her first bite tasted like heaven, and she finished off the slice in record time, digging in for a second one while Devin was still working on his first. He raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged. "Second youngest of six kids. You learn to eat fast."
"You can have half the pizza, even if you slow down," he said dryly.
"Three slices is my limit. It should probably be two since I have to fit into a bridesmaid's dress next week. But I'm really hungry, so maybe three, and I'll just run a little farther tomorrow."
"Do you like to run or do you just do it because it's part of the training?"
"I like to run. I ran cross-country in high school. Running gives me time to think and burns off the extra energy I always seem to have. What about you?"
He tipped his head. "Same."
"Really? Something else we have in common. Hard to believe."
"Not so difficult. We both do the same job, or used to,
" he corrected.
"Are you really happy being a private investigator, Devin? Chasing down cheating husbands? You obviously could do so much more."
"I like my freedom, and right now it works for me."
"What about after you get justice for Sam? Will you go back to the Bureau?"
"I doubt they'd have me. I burned some bridges there. But if they did—I'd have to think about it."
"Because you lost your faith when they closed Sam's case?"
"I did. Although, to be honest, I lost a little faith before then. I don't like bureaucracy and politics. You think you joined an agency that will fight for truth and freedom, but within that agency there's not always truth or freedom."
"I don't believe that."
"I didn't believe it when I was your age, either."
She frowned. "Exactly how old are you, Devin?"
"Thirty-four."
"So not exactly ancient," she said dryly. "I'm twenty-seven, so you've only got seven years of wisdom on me."
"In the world we work in, seven years is a lot."
She finished off her slice and took a sip from the bottle of water he'd given her. Then she reached for her last slice. "You can have the rest."
"So you said your sister is getting married?"
"A week from Saturday. She's my twin sister, so I'm the maid of honor."
"Is she also in law enforcement?"
"No, she's an artist. She runs an art gallery in a small town down the coast called Angel's Bay."
"I've been there," he said with a nod. "Charming town."
"Very. Beautiful, quaint, and small. Everyone knows their neighbor. My aunt lived there for a long time. After she died, Mia—that's my sister—went down there to clean out my aunt's house and wound up falling in love with the guy next door. He's a single dad and has a daughter, Ashlyn. Mia is going to make a great mother. She's very patient and nurturing. And Ashlyn is going to be my parents' first grandchild, so she's already being spoiled."
"Your voice softens when you talk about your sister," he commented.
"I love her, and I miss her, but our lives are probably going to be in very different places for a long time."
Tender Is The Night (Callaways Book 10) Page 3
