Page 8

Chapter 7

Burning problems require cool solutions

CHARLIE

“ M om, you haven’t talked much lately.”

Frowning, I reply, “What do you mean? I never stop talking.”

Luke snuggles into my side where we sit on pillows on the fire escape outside my living room window, a blanket wrapped around both of us, a bowl of popcorn between us.

We’re not supposed to use the fire escape for anything other than escaping fires, but I’ve known the landlord since I was five when I used to play with his granddaughters, so he lets me have my Friday night ritual.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Luke points out. “Normally you never shut up, but you haven’t been acting like yourself.”

I watch him as he shoves a handful of popcorn into his mouth, side-eyeing me while pretending to keep his gaze on the apartment opposite ours. Well, not really the apartment, but the massive TV currently playing a Transformers movie.

Yes, we have our own TV and yes, we could watch the movie from the comfort of our own apartment, but instead choose to sit on our fire escape sometimes and watch our neighbours TV. Rituals aren’t supposed to make sense.

“Oh sweetie, it’s just the case I’m working on,” I assure him. “It has me preoccupied.”

He’s been sensitive to my mood shifts since we lost his father. I struggled with depression when he needed me most and probably left him with my parents too often. I’m here now though and his worry tugs at my heart. I wrap my arm around him and hold him closer.

“Is it the shifter case?” he asks tentatively.

I don’t give him all the details of the cases I work on, but I do tell the cooler ones, like when my new partner is a wolf shifter. Nothing can pique a child’s interest more than a person who can turn into an animal. In fact, it piques my interest too.

“Yes, the shifter one.”

“Is it because you got hurt?” His voice is small.

I sigh and tug the blanket closer around our shoulders. “Not because I got hurt, but because other people did.” One person died in the blast and three were injured. Thankfully, the bar hadn’t been open for business yet and there were no customers inside.

Luke is thoughtful for a moment, then says, “You wish you got there earlier so you could’ve saved them.” He touches my face as I nod, gently brushing the bandage on my forehead. “But then you might have died.”

Tears fill my eyes and I hold him as tight as I can until he squirms against me. “I won’t die, sweetheart. I promise. I’m right here.”

He nods, his head settling under my chin. After a moment, I set him back on his pillow, rearrange the blanket and we finish Transformers, adding our own commentary to the blockbuster movie and laughing until our sides hurt.

The next morning, a knock on the apartment door has me juggling my tea and Luke’s lunch as I answer.

Tall, blond and wolfy is standing on the other side looking sexier than any man… or shifter… should. My heart pounds, my throat goes dry and my hands sweat.

Damn it, it’s annoying to be crushing on my police partner and having to be professional about it.

I invited him here rather than asking him to meet at one of our offices because it’s closer to 716 Olive, the bar that was blown up. The chief called this morning to tell me the building has been cleared for inspection.

“Come in,” I say, accidentally tipping my tea against my chest and gasping as hot liquid splashes me. “Ouch!”

“Good morning.” Lennox’s smooth, deep voice soothes as he extricates the cup from my hands, his knuckles brushing over the burn, which feels strangely better after his touch.

He pulls away, stepping back, and a sense of loss shudders through me. Like a magnet, I want to step with him, close the distance, press myself against him, soak in his warmth, feel his beating heart against my cheek.

“Are you my mom’s shifter partner?” Luke’s shout startles me out of my distraction and I wince.

We both look at Lennox who looks back at us seriously. “I am indeed her shifter partner.”

And, of course, the follow up question. “Can I see you shift?”

A slow smile spreads across Lennox’s face and everything inside me melts at the way he’s looking at my child, all soft and understanding. I could marry this man and I haven’t had that kind of thought since Ramón.

I mentally slap the shit out of myself. Good lord, these hormones!

“Of course he won’t shift on command,” I say, pressing Luke’s lunch into his arms and handing over his backpack. “There’s no time.”

Lennox looks relieved but also mildly confused as I whisk my teacup away from him, pour the contents into my go-mug and hustle Luke toward the door.

“Is it take-your-kid-to-work day?” Lennox asks gruffly, eyeing Luke. Standing next to each other, their size difference is so comical I laugh and cover it with a cough. Luke looks like a toy next to the huge man.

“No, we’re dropping him and the others off at school, then we’ll head to the blast scene.” I push them through the door and turn to lock it.

“Others?” Lennox inquires.

Luke skips down the stairs. “Cousins!”

I shrug sheepishly. “It’s my turn to carpool the kids to school. Thought since you’re a cop you’d make good backup.”

“You need backup for this sort of thing?”

Both Luke and I firmly say, “Yes!” before climbing into the van, Lennox sliding into the passenger seat next to me.

I give him a serious look. “As this is your first time, you should be warned.” I take a breath, wondering if it’s too soon for this. What if I lose him before ever really getting to know him? “This won’t be easy. In fact, you may wish you’d prepared better for what’s to come. The destruction is indescribable. The terror is real.”

“Super real,” Luke chimes in, giggles spilling from him.

I turn the key in the ignition. “Don’t make eye contact, don’t offer them candy, and whatever you do, if one latches on to you, it’s safer to lose the arm and run away so you can fight another day.”

He stares at me like I’ve gone off the deep end and I nod. Good, he’s taking me seriously. It’ll help him through what’s coming.

Who am I kidding? Nothing will help. The man is doomed. My crush will die and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Forty-seven minutes later, we pull up outside of what used to be 716 Olive. Lennox is shaking his head in shock. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“You did great, partner.” I pat his knee sympathetically and reach for the door handle. “You should have seen Catalina, Jorje’s girlfriend, after she helped with her first school drop-off. I thought then and there my brother was doomed to a life of celibacy.”

“Are they always like that?” he asks in disbelief. “I have to say, I survived the sinking of the Britannia, an assassination attempt, and the Western Front in France during the great war, and nothing has come closer to breaking me than those kids.”

I take a moment to appreciate the breadth of his experience before snickering at the awe in his tone. Big, fearsome wolf can’t handle a gaggle of schoolchildren. “You’re the one who finally gave in and shifted for them. They might have settled down if you hadn’t done that.”

“I couldn’t have known they’d ask for rides,” he argues, shaking his head.

I laugh at his consternation. “Which proves you probably don’t spend much time around children.”

He stops on the sidewalk outside the taped off bar. “You’re right, I haven’t, but I do have nieces and nephews.” He looks thoughtful, then adds, “Perhaps I should take the time to see them more often.”

“It’s easy to get caught up in work and not visit enough,” I say, holding up the police tape and ducking underneath. “I’m lucky. Practically my whole family lives within just a few city blocks of me.”

“You’re close with them.”

“Very,” I agree. “They helped me survive one of the darkest periods of my life, then enabled me to thrive. Without them, I’d be lost.”

We greet the manager of 716 Olive, Ian Richards, a man who looks like he’s been through the worst few days of his life. He sounds shell-shocked as we interview him, clearly devastated by the death of his employee. He has no information for us that we didn’t already know, and I wander away, leaving him in Lennox’s capable hands.

I watch them as I make my way through what used to be a thriving bar, piecing together the explosion.

There are so many fascinating facets of my police partner. He’s serious, his face creased with stern lines that enhance his appeal. Yet compassion leaks through everything he does. His hard-on for protecting people makes him impossible to resist.

An involuntary sigh leaves my lips as I watch Lennox pat Ian on the shoulder and assure him we’ll get to the bottom of the explosion that has devastated his staff.

“I have good and bad news about that,” I say, straightening. They look at me as I hold up the remnants of a device in my gloved hand. “I can confirm that your establishment was targeted. You couldn’t have prevented what happened here.”

Tears sparkle in his eyes and he nods, accepts Lennox’s business card, then walks away from the empty shell of a bar.

“It can be rebuilt,” I say.

Lennox watches Ian leave. “In my experience, that rarely happens. Tragedy like this is hard to come back from.”

We finish our search and I document the scene, consulting with the chief who was the first responder. As we walk away, I say to Lennox, “This device looks pretty close to the one we found in the warehouse. I think both places were targeted by the same people.”

“ASHRA,” Lennox says grimly.

Nodding, I add, “I’ll have to examine the device more closely in my lab before I can say for sure that they were built by the same person, but I think it’s highly likely.”

“You have a lab?”

“Yup. It’s called the fire house kitchen.” We stop next to my truck and I look up at Lennox. “Where to next?”

He looks thoughtful, then says, “There’s someone I need to talk to.” His gaze narrows on my face. “But I don’t think you should come.”

I snort. “Spill the goods, partner .” As if I’m going to sit out any part of this investigation.

He rubs a hand over his face, as though wiping away the weariness left behind by the wear and tear of hundreds of years. “Ian Richards told me 716 Olive is a subsidiary of a much larger corporation, Paddington Incorporated.”

“Who owns Paddington Inc.? I assume we’ll talk to them next?”

Lennox shakes his head. “It’s not easy to get an audience with the head of Paddington.”

“You know them?” I ask eagerly.

His jaw clenches but he nods. “I know them.”

“Then you can get us in.” I’m confused by his reluctance to pull in a connection, but that’s what we do in this city. We pull connections to get what we need to solve the crime. “Call them, get us an interview.”

“You don’t understand,” he says in a low voice, pulling his phone out and tapping out a message. “Paddington deals in favours. We talk to them and they give us anything, we’re in their pocket.”

I laugh. “That sounds so mafia.”

He doesn’t crack a smile as he opens my door, ushering me into the truck before striding around the other side.