Fireproof

when the body raised an arm and they realized the person was alive. Still, Maggie could sense Racine’s frustration at not being able to help. Her impatience and tension radiated off her.
    “I dated one of Braxton’s firefighters a few years ago,” Racine added.
    Maggie recognized the idle chatter the detective resorted to when she hated waiting, when she felt sidelined.
    “She didn’t make it to Valentine’s Day either, huh?”
    Neither of them shifted or looked at each other.
    Racine said, “Nope.”
    But she could see the smile at the corners of Racine’s lips.
    Maggie felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket and she pulled it out. “This is Maggie O’Dell.”
    “Maggie, it’s Tully. I just heard about the fires. Do I need to be there?”
    “Not unless you want to stand around with Racine and me.”
    “How bad is it?”
    “Bad. We have casualties this time. There was a meeting in the basement of one of the churches.”
    “And it’s the middle of the day. He’s getting cocky.”
    “Or reckless.”
    Racine’s phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and walked away from Maggie as she answered.
    “The guy with the backpack,” Tully said. “He was there during the warehouse fires. The film footage shows him in the middle of the bystanders before the second building blast.”
    “Doesn’t mean he started the fires.”
    “No, but get this. Instead of just walking away? He disappears down a manhole.”
    “That’s weird. Are you sure?”
    “I went back to the site. Yeah, I’m sure. So why travel through the sewer system unless you have something to hide?”
    “Or maybe you don’t want to be seen. Any idea who he is?”
    “No. I don’t even know how to find him without staking out all the manholes in a ten-block radius.”
    “That’s not a bad idea.”
    “You’re joking, right?”
    “Not in a ten-block radius, but maybe around the fire site. He stuck around during the fire and then came back at least once. Maybe he was looking for something in that alley. Something he left behind. Something that could incriminate him.”
    “Good point.”
    He sounded tired. She wanted to ask if he was okay. If his shoulder was okay, but she knew he hated such questions as much as she did.
    “What time will you be finished with Dr. Kernan?”
    Kernan . She’d almost forgotten.
    Her grip tightened on her phone. She rubbed her eyes and let her fingers find the scar at her temple. She didn’t realize she’d taken too much time responding until Tully said, “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”
    She smiled, told him she would. Then she clicked off just as Racine finished her conversation. She didn’t look happy. She avoided Maggie’s eyes the whole time she came back, glancing at the fire, the ambulances, everywhere—except at Maggie.
    “They finally released the information on that breast implant,” she said, still not looking at Maggie. “The manufacturer has privacy rules. Said we needed to contact the surgeon.”
    “Was that the manufacturer?”
    “No. It was her surgeon. Our Jane Doe was Gloria Dobson, a breast cancer survivor. She’s a mother of three from Concordia, Missouri. She was supposed to be at a sales conference in Baltimore all this week.”
    Maggie noticed Racine’s eyes were still preoccupied. She held her jaw like she had something that tasted bad in her mouth. She was trying to keep her tough-guy exterior from revealing that this piece of news didn’t sit well.
    “Did you ever notice,” Racine said, “that it’s always women in Dumpsters? Men rarely end up in Dumpsters.”
    Maggie stayed quiet when she could have reminded Racine that Gloria Dobson was actually found beside the Dumpster, not inside. It was a detail that didn’t matter when struggling with the brutality of a senseless murder.
    “She survived cancer,” Racine continued, “just to end up in a fucking Dumpster.”

CHAPTER 46

    Sam noticed him first on the other side of the crime scene tape. When he saw her, his grin—all dimples and white teeth—made her insides flutter like an annoying teenage girl.
    What was wrong with her?
    She shot a quick glance at Jeffery to see if he’d noticed. Thankfully he was too busy being Jeffery Cole to notice anyone else. Which always seemed a bit odd to Sam. Weren’t investigative reporters supposed to be observant? Ever since they had heard there were people trapped in the church basement Jeffery had been transfixed on the side door he