“Oh, okay.” Brooklyn’s disappointment knew no bounds, and she was unable to hide it from her expression.
Sierra took a step closer. “You’re welcome to join me in the lab when I do open it.”
She spun to look at Colin. “Can we go there?”
“Maybe. If at the time we think it’s a safe thing to do. Then I don’t see why not.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him hard. She hadn’t considered her actions, especially in light of his confession earlier that she meant something to him, but now she did and clung longer than needed. He didn’t push her away, but suddenly cleared his throat.
She let go, but had to admit to herself that it was with great reluctance.
“We should go now.” He stepped back and pointed at the narrow area ahead of him.
She caught sight of the knowing look Dev cast at his brother, but ignored it for now to step gingerly through the newly piled debris and not make a further disturbance. Thankfully, Sierra hadn’t read her the riot act for messing up her crime scene. True, firefighters would’ve brought the ceiling down later, but maybe they had a way of doing so that wouldn’t have created such a mess. They would surely have done it without injuring anyone.
They reached the hallway, or what once was a hallway, then stepped into the foyer area. The smell of gasoline hit her, and she stopped to look at Sierra.
“Did you actually recover gasoline?” she called out. “Know that it was used as the accelerant or is it still iffy?”
Sierra stepped down to them. “Nothing is concrete.”
“But we can all smell it,” Brooklyn said.
Sierra nodded. “And the downward burning is producing a telltale signature of gasoline, too, but lab tests are needed to confirm. I took samples of the burned floor areaandthe undamaged flooring for comparison. Those plus additional material that appears to have absorbed gasoline at the edge of the burn pattern. All will be used in analysis back at my lab. I’ll treat the sample with a strong acid that destroys everything except the heavier metals I would expect to find in gasoline.”
“So these samples have to go back to the lab, too, then,” Brooklyn stated as she hoped she’d misunderstood, and Sierra could test it here.
“Yes, I need to use the equipment like my gas chromatograph to extract the results,” she said. “But my assistants and lab techs can process these samples. I’m kind of a control freak and would like to do them myself, but since you all want information fast, I’ll let them handle the floor samples while I process prints.”
“Thank you,” Brooklyn said. “I really will get out of your hair now.”
“No worries. I like it when people are interested.” Sierra’s expression softened.
Brooklyn left Sierra and stepped into the foyer area. She kept her gaze pinned away from the burned body, and the moment she hit the ground, Dev and Colin flanked her to the SUV like a protective sandwich.
She liked Colin’s protection but didn’t like the feeling of being smothered by it, but it could have saved her life a moment ago. And, after seeing what happened to the man in the house, she finally had to accept the fact that Kane might’ve ended someone’s life and probably had no qualms about murdering her too.
In his cabin, Colin rested on the arm of an overstuffed leather chair as Barbie got up from the sofa, leaving his mother and Brooklyn behind. Nick had remained at the crime scene with his partners to help them out so they could get back to Portland faster, but he would still monitor the internet and dark web.
Barbie’s long, granny-type dress—much like she must’ve worn in the hippie days of the sixties—whooshed as she passedColin to head for the front door. She left a lingering scent of honey and vanilla. He often imagined the crazy life she’d lived in a commune back in the day, but she never shared much about those times, and he would never pry.
He glanced at his mom, whose dark circles under her eyes spoke to her exhaustion, then looked at Barbie. “Did Mom behave? Get some rest?”
“Hey,” his mother protested. “I’m not a kid who needs babysitting and reports at the end of shift.”
Barbie tsked and flipped her long braid over her shoulder. “In either event, I wouldn’t tell, so you’re safe with me, Sandy.”
“Thank goodness,” his mother said. “Someone he can’t pressure into reporting in like he and his brother do with each other.”
Heat of a blush rose up Colin’s neck. “I only mean to be helpful.”
“I know, son, but there’s helpful and then there’shelpful,in the Gladys Miller kind of way.” His mother chuckled over her reference to the town’s local gossip and all around busybody. “And you’re approaching full-on Gladys mode.”
“I concur, and your mom is too sweet to really call you out,” Barbie said, “I would’ve read my boys the riot act if they tried to baby me like you’ve been doing.”
“And they would’ve given it right back to you,” Colin said.
“No doubt.” Barbie chuckled. “But it wouldn’t stop me from trying. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have survived raising three boys. I gave birth to them, and I’m still the boss. End of story.”
