The unexpected acknowledgment caught Lena off guard. She'd expected more criticism, not professional respect. "Your fire science analysis was crucial. I wouldn't have understood the technical aspects without your expertise."
Another silence, but this one felt less brittle. Lena found herself studying Erin's expression, trying to read what was behind the sudden civility. Was this genuine recognition, or just exhaustion making them both more diplomatic?
"This case is terrifying," Erin said, staring into her coffee. "Someone could have died tonight."
"Someone still might, if we don't catch them." The thought made Lena's chest tighten. She'd seen too many cases where the violence had escalated. "The professional equipment shows these are pre-meditated attacks."
"Which makes it worse somehow." Erin looked up, and Lena could see the same fear she felt reflected there. "Randomviolence you can't predict. But pre-meditated? That means they're planning something bigger."
They fell into silence again. Lena found herself thinking about how different this conversation was from their earlier arguments. Erin seemed less defensive, almost more human.
"Those teenagers in the study rooms tonight," Lena said finally. "They use that library because it's supposed to be safe."
"Places like that matter," Erin agreed, and something in her voice suggested personal understanding.
"We're just both trying to keep people safe," Lena said.
"Maybe that's why we can work together, even when we're arguing," Erin said.
Lena considered the confession. Despite their conflicts, they had worked effectively together tonight when it mattered. Maybe Julia was right about needing different perspectives.
She took a sip of her coffee, now lukewarm, and watched Erin gather her jacket from the back of her chair. The fire marshal moved with the same deliberate efficiency she'd shown at the crime scene—everything purposeful, nothing wasted.
The evening had been a disaster professionally, but sitting here now, Lena had to admit she understood Erin's approach better. The woman wasn't just being obstinate about safety protocols. She genuinely saw prevention as protection. It was different from Lena's method of catching criminals after they'd acted, but it wasn’t wrong.
Lena drained the last of her coffee and set the mug down. Tomorrow they'd both face questions about their public conflicts. But maybe tomorrow they could also prove they could work together without turning it into a spectacle.
"Fresh start tomorrow?" Erin asked as they prepared to leave.
"Fresh start," Lena agreed.
4
The coffee burned Erin's tongue, but she drank it anyway, standing at her office window and watching the morning shift check equipment in the bay below. She'd been awake since five, had arrived at the station before sunrise, and was now on her third cup of coffee.
Sleep had been impossible. Every time she'd closed her eyes, she'd replayed the evening's disasters—the public arguments, the press asking questions about interdepartmental coordination, the conversations with supervisors that were bound to happen today. She kept thinking about what Detective Soto had said about the teenagers using the library as a safe place and about how close people had come to dying.
Fresh start, they'd agreed.
Erin picked up her pen and immediately set it down again, her fingers drumming against the desk's surface. The fire station hummed with morning activity below, and through her office window, salt air drifted in from the harbor, but it did nothing to settle her restless energy.
She forced herself to focus on the papers in front of her. There were four fire scenes, each with detailed measurementsand burn pattern analysis. Each showed the same intentional placement of accelerants and the same understanding of how flames would spread through different building types. Someone had studied these buildings, but there had to be a connection she was missing.
"Marshal Vance?"
Erin looked up to find Fire Chief McKenna Adams standing in her doorway, coffee mug in hand and an expression that suggested that this wasn't a social visit. Even three months into the job, McKenna still carried herself with the strategic intensity that had made her such an effective fire marshal before her promotion to chief.
"Chief Adams." Erin straightened in her chair, her defensive walls snapping into place. "What can I do for you?"
"Got a minute?" McKenna stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. "I heard about last night's scene coordination at the library."
Heat crept up Erin's neck. She'd known this conversation was coming and had been dreading it since she'd watched other firefighters exchange glances when she and Detective Soto had argued in front of both departments.
"My analysis was thorough and my findings were accurate," Erin said, keeping her voice level. "If Detective Soto disagreed with my safety protocols?—"
"This isn't about your technical work." McKenna settled into the chair across from Erin's desk, her expression remaining neutral but concerned. "Your fire science analysis was excellent, as always. But Marshal Vance, you and Detective Soto turned a crime scene into a public debate."
Erin's hands clenched tighter around her coffee mug. "We had different approaches to evidence preservation versus scene safety. That's not unusual in joint operations."
