Page 77 of Love Again

Kevin’s attention flits to the tooth in front of him.

“Well, that’s fucking creepy.” He starts to laugh, a raspy, hacking laugh that instantly irritates. He doesn’t ask to pick it up, doesn’t really focus on it again, and only glances fleetingly at the bottle one more time.

“It belongs to Jimmy Whitehead. Your friend,” says Carlson, entering the room on cue.

“He’s not my friend.”

“He was up at the Pratchetts’ with you, and you guys hang out at Beenies downtown.”

Kevin scowls. “If he had something to do with these fires, I don’t know about it.”

“We’ll be bringing him in next,” says Carlson. “First thing tomorrow.”

“Can I go?”

“We’ve got a few more questions.”

΅

“What’s your take?” asks Mateus. He’s honestly looking for my opinion, but I’m a fire guy—I read fires, not people. Then I realize he’s not trying to catch me up, he’s legitimately asking.

“He’s guilty of something. He never asked why we weren’t talking to his father. He also didn’t threaten us with him. It’s like he didn’t want us to contact him, so he wasn’t even going to go there.”

“What about the pipe?” says Devon, arms folded as she looks at Kevin Barr, her small face as impassive as Mateus’s. Man, I wouldn’t want to play poker with either of them.

Finn is not happy. “What pipe?”

Devon shifts on her feet. “When I broke into Carlson’s place, someone had shoved a pipe in the door handle so he couldn’t get out.

Carlson uncrosses his arms. “That’s privileged info, so that stays with us. There is no paper trial on that piece of evidence. The chain of custody is me and Audrey Pratchett. The pipe isn’t even in evidence.”

“We’re talking attempted murder—of a detective.” Finn looks grim.

Mateus glances up. “Where is it? The pipe?”

“Under my desk.”

“You didn’t want the attention, then.” Nic’s comment is a statement.

Carlson strokes his chin. “Correct. It would have opened up a lot of cans of worms I need to be closed. There’d be an internal investigation, a detail put on me and my house. The attempted murder of a detective? Shit, that would have kept whomever it is underground for a long time.” He pauses. “I didn’t want that.”

Jack Carlson is fast turning into an enigma. He turns to Devon. “You ready to play your part?”

She’s pale but determined. In front of everyone, she reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze, stands on her tiptoes, and kisses me on the cheek. The last thing I want is to let go of her hand.

But I do. With a click and swish, the door opens and closes, and she’s in the room alone with Kevin Barr.

He instantly puts his arms behind his head and grins at her. He removes the toothpick.

“I haven’t seen you up close in a long time, Russo. You sure got pretty.”

“What’s your relationship with Jim Whitehead?”

“Me? What about you, Russo?”

I realize I’m holding my breath when I turn to Carlson and speak. “What does he mean? What’s she doing in there? She’s not trained for this.”

Carlson keeps watching the two on the other side of the glass. “Something important.”