“You don’t really think I’d ask you to take me back to the spot where you found them to look for more evidence if I did, do you?” Moreno asked archly, and damn, she was tough.
Too bad for her, so was he. “Let me get this straight. You want me to take you back to a house the fire marshal has almost certainly condemned, without the permission or knowledge of your sergeant or my captain, just because you have a gut feeling that can’t be substantiated by any evidence found at the scene?”
“Give the firefighter a gold star. That’s exactly what I want.”
Kellan took it back. Jupiter wasn’t big enough for the stones on this woman. “Give me one good reason why I should put my ass on the line for you.”
Before he could move or blink or even breathe, Isabella had stepped toward him, so up close and personal that he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face as she said, “Because I don’t want you to put your ass on the line for me at all. I want you to do it for those women. You and I seem to be the only people who think this case is worth pursuing right now, and I can’t change that without more evidence, which I can’t get if you don’t help me. So are you in or not?”
Fuck. Rock. Hard place. Rock. Hard place. Rock…
“Fine,” Kellan said, hearing his acquiescence only after his mouth had let it loose. “One quick look, and that’s it. But I’m stopping on the way for coffee.”
“Already done. No cream, two sugars.” Moreno passed over the cardboard cup in her hand, and he realized just a beat too late that she hadn’t taken a sip from the thing the entire time they’d been standing there.
Kellan stared at her. Tried to keep his surprise in check. Failed spectacularly. “You remember how I take my coffee?”
She pointed to the front of the navy blue sweater peeking out from behind her jacket. “Detective, remember?”
A bitter taste filled his mouth. Yeah, he remembered. “Right. I’ll drive.”
“Sounds great.”
Flipping his keys in his free hand, he unlocked the passenger door, popping the thing open so Moreno could get in. A few more minutes had him buckled into the driver’s seat beside her, Station Seventeen firmly in the Camaro’s rearview as he angled the car toward North Point.
“So freelancing on a case like this is a little ballsy, isn’t it?” Kellan asked. As a firefighter, bucking the chain of command was a surefire ticket to censure. Not to mention stupidly dangerous.
Isabella’s expression said she disagreed. “I’d hardly call this freelancing,” she said, twirling her index finger to connect the two of them in an imaginary circle. “We’re just going for a ride.”
“A ride your sergeant and your partner know nothing about.” He couldn’t even imagine trying to pull something like that off with Bridges, Gamble, Shae, or even Slater, and the kid had been a firefighter for all of five minutes. But they were still a team, a unit. They trusted each other for backup, even on the small stuff.
“I just want to give the place another look to see if I can find enough evidence to make an official case. That’s all,” Moreno said, and God, he should’ve known she’d be fine with breaking the rules.
“If you say so. But this little tour is a one-time deal, so whatever you need, you’d better get it while you can.”
“Believe me, I don’t like this any more than you do. After today, I’ll be out of your hair.”
After a minute of silence that lasted for roughly a decade, Moreno took out her cell phone, bringing the screen to life with a flick of her thumb. “So was there anything unusual about the nine-one-one call for this house fire?”
“No,” Kellan said, focusing his gaze through the windshield. If something had been sideways about the call-in, he’d have mentioned it to her sergeant days ago.
Her lips pressed into a flat line. “Okay. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you arrived at the scene?”
“No.”
“Any onlookers acting suspicious or anyone who might not have belonged?”
“No and no.” Little wonder she didn’t have much of a case. He’d already answered every last one of these questions, for fuck’s sake.
Isabella let out a sharp exhale, and whoa, how come she was mad at him? “Look, you hate me for what happened with your sister, and I get that, okay? I trusted Collins without vetting his team, and one of his guys was dirty. But you found the pictures of those girls, and you’re the only link I have to this scene, so how about you set your dick aside for just a couple minutes so I can do my job and get somewhere with this case, huh?”
For a split second, Kellan sat completely stunned in the driver’s seat, but his irritation didn’t leave him speechless for long. “I might be a little more willing to help if you’d do your job without wasting both of our time. I already told you this stuff the other day.”