“Could be why Kunze has his panties in a twist.”
“It’s taken you both this long to figure that out.”
Assistant Director Raymond Kunze stood in the doorway of the conference room. Tully sat up in his chair, a flush of red running up his neck. Maggie dropped her hands into her lap and restrained a smile. Kunze looked like a linebacker but dressed like a nightclub bouncer. The blazer he wore was probably a rust color, but under the fluorescent lights it looked orange.
“I’ve got one senator and the director of HUD kicking my ass until you two catch this frickin’ firefly.” He started into the room but stopped halfway. “Tully, you look like crap. And O’Dell”—he sniffed the air—“you stink.”
If Maggie didn’t know better she’d guess Kunze was finally joking with them like they were part of a team. It certainly was the first time he’d admitted to the politics of his actions.
He threw what looked like a faxed document on the table. The pages were the old flimsy paper of antiquated fax machines that curled.
“I just received the ATF’s report on the church fires.” He sat at the head of the table, tapping the top of the papers he’d thrown down. “Gasoline was poured at the threshold of the door to the basement. Not only did this bastard know there was a meeting being held down there, he was hell-bent on killing someone. Tonight he finally did. He murdered an entire family by setting fire to—of all things—the fire escape and the back door, their only other way out.”
Maggie hadn’t known about the back door. She watched Kunze. She was used to seeing him angry, but there was something different tonight, emotion she didn’t recognize. He appeared shaken by these latest deaths.
“There was an eighteen-month-old child,” Kunze said quietly. “My ass is so going to get kicked when this hits the news.” He looked up at the two of them. “And so are both of yours if you don’t catch this bastard.”
CHAPTER 65
In the security camera outside her front door Maggie watched the woman fidgeting on the portico. Her first reaction was that at least this time Samantha Ramirez had decided to come to the front of the house instead of the back.
“I know I should have called first, but I didn’t think you’d agree to see me.” Ramirez blurted it so quickly a slight Spanish accent slipped out.
“What makes you think I will now?” Maggie blocked the open doorway while Ramirez continued to shift from one foot to the other.
“Because I have something I think you’ll want to see.” She opened the flap of her shoulder bag to show Maggie the camera inside. “I need to run the footage for you to take a look. It’s from the warehouse fires.”
“What’s going on?” Patrick asked from behind Maggie.
At the sound of his voice she noticed Ramirez’s demeanor changed. At first Maggie thought the woman was disappointed she didn’t catch Maggie alone. But at second glance she saw that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t disappointment that had suddenly struck Ramirez and dismantled her composure, but rather what plainly looked like a physical attraction to Patrick—an attraction that caught Ramirez off guard so much she hadn’t been able to control her reaction.
Maggie glanced back at Patrick. His hair was dripping. He must have jumped out of the shower to come to her defense. All he had on was a towel around his waist. She tamped down the urge to roll her eyes, but couldn’t stop a smile. No wonder Ramirez was blushing.
“Everything’s fine,” Maggie told him. “Ms. Ramirez has something she needs to show me at eight o’clock on a Sunday morning.”
“Actually Patrick may want to see this, too.”
Maggie stepped aside and waved Ramirez inside, enjoying her obvious discomfort as she passed by Patrick.
“Let me grab some clothes.” And he disappeared down the hallway.
“I thought Agent Tully already went over the footage from the warehouse fires?”
“We stopped when he found the man with the red backpack.”
Without waiting for permission, Ramirez started unloading the camera, adapter, cords, and cables.
“Agent Tully didn’t ask to see any more after that. But I noticed something.”
She stopped herself. Looked up at Maggie. Her eyes flicked to Patrick, who had returned, now wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt. She quickly looked back to Maggie.
“Actually I noticed someone in the crowd. He wasn’t there until after the second blast.”
She pointed at Maggie’s television. “If I can plug it into your TV we’ll have a much better and bigger view.”
“Here, I can help you with that.” Patrick slipped past Maggie and held out a hand for the cable.