“So?”
“If the buildings were abandoned, what’s all that office equipment doing in them?” She shrugged. “Looters are not picky and very thorough. They take everything that isn’t nailed down, but in half of those sites, there is forensic evidence suggesting things like cell phones and computers were in those buildings. Why?”
“Previous use. Recent abandonment.”
She shook her head. “The blaze I was in last November? There were old cubicles and office stuff on the first floor, granted. But when the collapse happened, I remember getting hit with a laptop from above—and it was MacBook. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I’m beginning to wonder, though, given what I observed yesterday—especially in light of the debris noted on those reports. What if someone’s using these fires as a way of disposing of the goods? Or the information in computers? Or for some other reason.”
Don shrugged. “You hear hooves, don’t think zebras. But keep digging.”
“I intend to.”
Her boss turned away. “Departmental meeting in an hour.”
Anne hustled around the desk. “Wait, I’m sorry, I have to be clear here. I’m not fired for bringing him in? I mean, Soot?”
“I just told you about a departmental meeting. You think I’d can you in front of the whole team?”
“Well, it might be a good way to reinforce—or establish—a no-dogs policy.”
Don looked over her shoulder, in Soot’s direction. “If it were a cat, it’d be different. I don’t like cats.”
“So . . . I can keep bringing him? During this adjustment period.”
“Do you always push the limits?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”
Don crossed his arms and stared off into the hall, his lips flattening, but not because he was angry. He was trying not to smile. “You are going to drive me nuts. But you stay on task, I’ll turn a blind eye on the damn dog, deal?”
Anne started to smile. “Have you ever watched The Office?”
“Why?”
“No reason.” She glanced at Soot and gave him a thumbs-up. “Thanks.”
chapter
18
On the way home from work, Anne stopped by Petco. She wanted to take Soot in with her, but she didn’t know how he would react to the stimulation and it was a very cool day, so she rolled the dice and left him alone in her car. Inside the store, she was quick as she could be, grabbing dog food, treats, a seat belt restraint for him, a dog bed and a second crate for her home. When she came out, she half expected to have a fire engine by her old Subaru, one of the teams breaking the windows of her Outback to free the dog as he went crazy and chewed everything to shreds.
Nope.
As she came up to the car, she found him curled in her seat, and he lifted his head and wagged at her. “Good boy!”
She picked up a salad on the way home, from the Greens-R-We drive-in, and she talked to Soot the whole time, telling him about the departmental meeting, her investigation, that cluster. The fact that her mother had called and left a message about something or another. Pulling into her driveway, she—
Slammed on the brakes. As Soot did a quick scramble so he didn’t hit the dash, she cursed. Danny Maguire was sitting on her front stoop, his black hair and his big body bathed in the setting sun’s orange rays and taking up every inch of concrete step there was. He was smoking, but he pinched the ash off the tip of the cigarette and put the butt into his jeans as he got to his feet.
“Shit,” she muttered as she put the car in park.
Getting out, she shut the door so Soot didn’t get any ideas about eating the guy.
“Hey.” Danny came across her lawn. “You need help carrying stuff in?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize. For last night.”
“Which part?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Apology accepted, now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go inside—”
“You got a dog?” As he leaned in, Soot sank back against the driver’s-side seat and Danny nodded. “He’s a rescue. Good deal. What’s his name?”
Anne looked away to the clear blue autumn sky. Him asking about her dog, carrying pet supplies in, walking through her house felt all wrong. Like they were entering a time warp with this day-to-day normalcy. A time warp that tried to pretend Everything Hadn’t Happened.
“Danny, we’re not doing this.”
“Let him out so we can be properly introduced.”
“He doesn’t like strangers. Especially men.”
“He’ll like me.”
“Your ego can be exhausting.” When Danny just stood there, like he was prepared to wait until Christmas, she shrugged. “Fine. He bites you, it’s on you.”
She opened the door and took the leash. “Come on, Soot. Let’s get you into the back so you can meet your yard.”
Anne gave a tug, and the dog resisted, his caramel eyes on Danny. “Don’t worry about him. He’s not going to hurt you. Come on.”
Soot’s head tilted to the side and then he skulked across the seat. As he jumped onto the ground, she turned to Danny and—
Danny wasn’t standing behind her. He was on the grass, flat on his back, his arms stretched out, his feet crossed at the ankles, his eyes closed.
“What are you doing?”
When he didn’t speak or move, Soot sniffed the air. Took a step forward. And another. Danny stayed perfectly still except for breathing, his big chest inhaling and exhaling slowly.
He stayed just like that as Soot closed in, the dog’s weight as far back into his butt as he could make it, his tail a flagpole of alarm.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Danny murmured with his lids still down. “Take your time.”
Soot sniffed a hand first. Reared back. Sniffed the arm. Sniffed the chest. Sniffed the face.
Danny slowly opened his eyes. “I’m a friend of your mom’s. It’s good to meet you.”
Soot and Danny stared at each other for what felt like an hour. And then the dog curled into a sit, his skinny body leaning against Danny’s torso. It was only then that a hand lifted and gently stroked the animal’s flank.
“See? I told you he’d like me.”
Anne crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the pair of them. She’d had to offer bribes of Fiber One, FFS. But for Danny? Soot gave it up for free.
Men.
“So,” Danny said, “you got any dinner plans?”
Anne opened her mouth. Closed it. And somehow ended up muttering, “Just leftover pizza and a salad.”
“Perfect. I’m starved.”
There was a long moment of quiet, and then somehow, for reasons she didn’t want to look too closely at, she took him into her house, into her kitchen, over to her table. And after she had reheated the pizza, she sat down across from Danny with her salad.
“So what are you working on?” Danny said between bites of the pepperoni-and-onion.
She tried out the salad and decided it tasted like cardboard. “You know what a fire investigator does.”
“How’s it going?”
“Okay.”
“Your salad good?”
She put her fork down. “Danny, this is—”
He wiped his mouth with a paper towel. “Look . . . I just wanted to see you when I was sober. Last night, I was outta my mind, and not making any sense. And I would have called first, but you’d’ve told me not to come over.”
“So you just showed up. Have you ever waited for an invitation in your life, Danny?”
“Not any more often than you have, Anne.”
“I hate when you smile like that,” she muttered as she poked at her lettuce some more. “And can we just stipulate that you’re sorry about trying to kiss me—”
“I’m not sorry about that.” When she looked up at him, his lids lowered. “I’d be lying if I told you otherwise.”
Instantly, she was back in that dark, messy apartment of his, standing face-to-face with him, her name a hoarse sound leaving his lips. And then his mouth was dropping toward hers.