Cavanaugh Reunion by Marie Ferrarella Page B

offensive. “You don’t really believe that.”
    “Actually,” he told her, “I do.” They went down another flight, moving even faster this time. “I just don’t know how long it’s going to take. The more fires there are, the more likely it is that he’s going to trip up, show his hand, have someone catch him in the act. Something, ” he underscored, “is going to go wrong for him—and right for us.”
    Reaching the first floor, Kansas hurried to the front entrance. Not waiting for the others, she pushed it open with the flat of her hand.
    “Meanwhile, the bastard’s turning Aurora into a pile of ashes.”
    “Not yet,” Ethan countered. They were outside, but she was still moving fast. Heading toward his car. He kept up with her. “I take it that you don’t want to wait for the others.”
    “They’ll meet us there,” she said, reaching his vehicle.
    His keys in his hand, he hit the remote button that disarmed the security device. Getting in, he shook his head. “Ever have a partner before?” he asked Kansas.
    She got in and buckled up, tension racing through her body. She was anxious to get to the site of the fire, as if her presence there would somehow curtail any further harm the fire might render.
    “I don’t have one now,” she pointed out glibly. As far as she was concerned, “temporary” didn’t count.
    The look Ethan gave her did something strange to her stomach. It felt as if she’d just endured an accelerated fifty-foot drop on a roller-coaster ride.
    “Yeah,” Ethan corrected, “you do. Better adjust,” he advised mildly.
    Mild or not, that got her back up. “And if I don’t?” she challenged, unconsciously raising her chin as if silently daring him to take a swing.
    “It’d just be easier on everyone all around if you did. We’re all after the same thing,” he reminded her not for the first time. “Nailing this creep’s hide to the wall.”
    She began to retort, then thought better of it. The man was right. This was her frustration talking, not her. Taking a deep breath, she forced out the words that needed to be said. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”
    He gave her a long glance. Had she just apologized to him? That wasn’t like her. “Don’t throw me a curve like that,” he told her, and she couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. “I’m liable to jump the divider and crash this beautiful car.”
    She noticed that he put the car first. The man reallywas enamored with this cream-colored machine, wasn’t he?
    “Very funny,” she cracked. “I admit I have a tendency to go off on my own, but it’s just that I’m so damn frustrated right now,” she told him. Then she elaborated: “We should have been able to find him by now. I should have been able to find him by now.”
    “No, you had it right the first time,” he said quietly. “ We should have been able to find this sicko by now.”
    She was out of ideas and her brain felt as dry as the Mojave Desert. “What are we doing wrong?”
    “I don’t know,” he admitted.
    There was a long moment of silence, and then he became aware of Kansas suddenly straightening in her seat. He was beginning to be able to read her. And she’d just thought of something. He’d bet money on it.
    “Talk,” he told her. “What just suddenly occurred to you?”
    So excited by what she was thinking, she could hardly sit still. But she answered Ethan’s question with one of her own. “Do we have any footage of the crowds that gathered around to see the outcome of these fires?”
    “ We don’t, but I’m sure the local news stations do. This is the kind of story that they live for.” With each fire, the coverage became that much more intense, lasting that much longer. He’d never known that so much could be said about any given topic. The media were in a class by themselves.
    She didn’t care about the press. Reporters who earned a living focusing on people in possibly the worst moments of their lives had always