25
THE ARREST
Carrera
The following evening, Carrera was determined to make progress finding the arsonist. The detective had contacted Elsa that afternoon with an update. The accelerant was a common mix of gas and kerosene dumped on the home before a match was lit. Beyond that, he had nothing.
“We got this,” Slash said after walking into his home office with two mugs of freshly brewed coffee. “Leaded.” She set his down, sat beside him.
He sipped the hot drink, pulled up the video where they left off the night before. After watching several minutes of five fox pups playing in a neighbor’s front yard, he wanted to put his fist through a damn wall.
She rubbed his back. “Wow, you are tight.” Standing behind him, she massaged his shoulders, running her knuckles along his knotted muscles. “Breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
She leaned around, kissed his cheek. “Breathe inslowly.”
Several minutes passed while she massaged away the tension.
“Feels great.”
“Tomorrow’s the big night,” she said. “We’re making arrests at Blue Suit.”
“If Greg’s your guy, you might be shutting him down too,” Carrera said. “He won’t have a readily-available group of women to go after and he might not feel confident outside his comfort zone.”
“I hope you’re right,” she said. “I’m so frustrated I can’t find him.”
“You will,” he said. “I know you. You’ll never stop searching for him.”
She finished massaging his shoulders and sat back down.
“Thank you, babe,” he said.
He felt like they were chasing their tails, the constant pressure a source of angst. Even so, he wasn’t giving up. He would always fight for his family, for those he loved. Whoever tried to kill his grandmother would regret the moment he lit that match.
He pulled up another video. This one was of a backyard filled with flashing fireflies. “Dammit. I don’t have the patience?—”
Just as he started to close the video, she said, “Wait, what’s that?”
They continued watching as movement emerged from the wooded area behind the house.
“That’s a person,” Slash said.
“That’s just some shadow,” he pushed back. “Looks like rustling leaves.”
“No, that’s someone walking from the woods into the yard,” she said. “They’re in black with a black ski mask.”
He paused the video, enlarged it, but still couldn’t see anyone in the shadows.
“Where’s that house?” she asked.
He checked the long and lat coordinates. “Two blocks from G-ma’s.” He opened another window, pulled up a map.
She leaned over him, her beautiful scent surrounded him, and he breathed her in. “I love how you smell.”
Soft fingers caressed the back of his neck. “Thank you, baby.”
He loved that she’d called him baby, loved that they were a couple. Now, his life had meaning beyond his work.
