“Remember you did not cause this,” Noah said quietly. “She doesn’t need your guilt. She needs your strength.”

Olivia nodded unsteadily and took a few steps toward them. “Jennie.”

Kane’s wife stumbled into Olivia’s arms. She held Jennie, rocking her where they stood. “Kane saved a boy’s life tonight,” Olivia said helplessly.

“I know,” Jennie cried. “Bruce told me. I can’t believe this.”

“I know,” Olivia whispered. “I’m sorry.” Jennie nodded against her and for a long, long moment they stood that way, until Olivia sighed. “He’s in there. I can go with you.”

Jennie pulled away, still crying but standing on her own feet. “No. I need to be alone for a while.” She took Olivia’s hand, patted it. “He thought the world of you.”

Olivia could only nod. No words would come. She stood, frozen, while Jennie walked around her, through the door to where Kane lay. Abbott squeezed her shoulder.

“Go home, Olivia. We’ll get through the night. That’s all we have to do right now.”

She searched his face, saw he’d been crying. Abbott and Kane had known each other a lot longer than she had. “I need a ride back to the school to get my car.”

“I’ll take her,” Noah said. “We’ll be in at oh-eight.”

Abbott’s nod was heavy. “And we’ll catch this bastard. I gave Jennie my word.”

“Come on, Liv,” Noah said, taking her arm. “Let’s go.” He led her to his car, put her in and got behind the wheel. “Where to?” he asked.

“Back to the school.”

His brows lifted. “For your car?”

“After. First, I talk to Kenny.”

“What about an interpreter?”

“There will be somebody there who can interpret, but if not, I don’t care.” Her jaw clenched. “If I have to use a stone tablet and a chisel, that boy’s gonna talk to me.”

“Okay.”

Olivia stared out the window as Noah drove, seeing nothing of the road that flashed by. She could only see Kane’s body lying on the ground. “What am I going to do, Noah?” The whispered question was out before she knew it was coming.

“What Bruce said. You’re going to get through tonight. Then tomorrow. And you’re going to find the guy who shot your partner and turn him into fucking hamburger.”

She turned to face her friend and saw his cheeks were wet. She reached out, grabbed his hand and hung on. He squeezed tightly and then she understood he needed her, too. She’d pushed Noah away over the last seven months, along with the rest of her friends. “I need to make some calls, tell folks I’m okay.”

Wednesday, September 22, 2:20 a.m.

David walked away from the wreckage, so tired he could barely move his feet. Rotating their manpower, his and the other firehouses had gotten everyone out. They hoped. David hated to think of anyone still inside. The fire was largely knocked down, but in some areas it continued to flare and would for several more hours.

Beyond the woman’s husband the paramedics had rushed to the hospital, they had four human fatalities-an elderly woman and an asthmatic child who’d died of smoke inhalation in the apartment blaze and two people known to have been in one of the houses when it exploded. He hadn’t heard anything about the other exploded house.

They’d seen dozens of injuries. Jeff had been the worst firefighter injury. David still hadn’t heard anything about his partner’s condition. He was trying hard not to worry.

Trying harder to contain his rage. Sonsofbitches. Why? What could they possibly hope to gain? How many lives had been devastated tonight? And for what?

“You okay, Dave?”

Their shift engineer was shaking a bottle of water, an empty packet of electrolyte mix in his other hand. He held it out and it was all David could do to lift his arm to grab it. He guzzled it down and held the bottle out for more.

“Just tired. Any news on Zell?”

“Not yet. Red Cross is set up over there. Go take a rest.”

He nodded and pushed away from the truck to trudge toward the Red Cross area. Thoughts of Olivia fluttered through his mind and he let himself steep there, pushing away all the rage, the devastation all around him. He let himself imagine her warm and soft in his bed, hoping he’d be able to get back to her before she left for work. He needed her, needed to hold her after a night like this.

The sex… He drew a breath. Had been unforgettable. You could have been having sex like that for the last two and a half years if you hadn’t been such an idiot. He let out the breath in a sigh. He could have had much more than sex. He could have had her. In his arms. In his house. Someone to come home to. Someone just for me.

His feet stopped moving when he saw Barlow and Captain Casey standing off to the side, deep in conversation. Even from twenty feet away he could sense tension. And pain. Barlow looked like he’d taken a blow.

The two looked up, saw him and exchanged a glance. David got a queasy feeling in his gut. “What’s happened?” David asked. “I need to know. How’s Zell?”

Casey looked old. “I don’t know. I’m waiting to hear. David, there was a shooting tonight. At that residential school.”

The queasiness turned to ice. Oh God. Please. Not her. “Who?”

“Kane,” Barlow said quietly. “He’s dead.”

David felt his knees go weak. “Oh no. How?”

“You know that hearing aid you found in the condo debris? Olivia and Kane were trying to track its owner, looking for an eyewitness at the deaf school. They found a kid who knew something. Somebody tried to snatch the kid tonight.”

“The bomb scare was a fake?”

Barlow nodded. “They did a full sweep and didn’t find anything, but it got the kids evacuated. Kane got there as the kid was being shoved into a van. He saved the kid, but there was a struggle and…” He trailed off. “Poor Liv.”

David fought back panic. “Was she there?”

“No. She got there about ten minutes later. Kane was already gone.”

Sadness settled on his shoulders, even as his body shuddered in relief that she hadn’t been nearby, in danger. Kane had been more than Olivia’s partner. He’d been her friend and, if David’s instincts were right, a father figure as well. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Barlow said. “I’d heard there was an officer down. I didn’t know it was Kane until a little while ago. She might still be at the hospital with Kane’s family, but knowing Liv, she’s gone back to the scene.”

Doing her job. As will I. He wanted to ask Casey for a few hours to go see Olivia, to see Jeff, but there was still hours of work to be done here. And then I’m on shift for the next twenty-four. “I’ll call her.” But what could he say?

“I heard about your partner, Zell,” Barlow said. “I’m sorry.”

Fear, worry, and guilt rushed his mind, and he quickly turned it back. He couldn’t let himself think about Zell now. He shouldn’t let himself think about Olivia either, but that was impossible. She was there, in his mind. She was hurting, and he hurt, too.

“Thanks.” David surveyed the wreckage. “Which house was the arson target?”

“Second from the left,” Barlow said. “No glass ball that we’ve been able to find.”

“Was the gas tank targeted?”

“Doesn’t appear to have been. Folks are just turning on their heat at night. They probably had a leak and didn’t know it. The fire spread from one house to another and… boom.” The last word was said very wearily. “We know two people were home in one of the houses, but the other house was for sale. Neighbors say it was unoccupied.”

“The condo was supposed to have been, too,” David said.

Barlow shrugged. “I know. I thought of that already. I’ve called for a cadaver dog and they’re supposed to be here soon. Then we’ll start searching for remains.”

It was a grim prospect, but part of the job. “They didn’t leave a glass ball. Are we talking the same arsonists?” David asked and Barlow’s eyes narrowed.

“House belonged to Barney Tomlinson’s mistress. What do you think?”