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"What do you need, Kane?"

He didn't answer. He was staring at his phone with his jaw tight.

"Sawyer."

"What is it with women? You do the right thing and you're still wrong."

"What did you do?"

"I told my best friend's sister her boyfriend is cheating on her and she told me to fuck off." He looked at me. "Isn't that the right thing to do?"

I leaned back in my chair. "Depends on how you told her."

"I told her straight. I saw the guy at the Christmas party with another woman. I told her what I saw."

"And she didn't want to hear it?"

"No. Seems like she'd rather be in denial."

"Sometimes people aren't ready to hear it, even when it's true."

He sat there for a second, staring at his phone. "Women."

The tones dropped.

Sawyer was out of the chair before the sound finished. Janine's voice came through dispatch. Rescue call, person trapped, address in Dorchester.

"Engine 19 responding," I said. "Copy the address."

"Copy, Engine 19."

We rolled. The building was a three-story walk-up on a dead-end street. No smoke, no crowd, no one standing outside waving us down.

"Engine 19 on scene," I said. "Three-story walk-up, nothing showing. Entering the structure."

"Copy, Engine 19."

"Doesn't feel right, Cap," Sawyer said, pulling his gloves on.

"We clear the building anyway."

I sent the crew in. Sawyer took point. Amos and Julio took the first floor. I followed Sawyer up the stairs to the second. The hallway was empty. Dust on the floor, no lights, no sound. We went room by room. Nothing. No victim, no debris, no collapsed stairway. The building was hollow.

"Second floor is clear. No victim, no hazard. Dispatch, there's nobody here."

"Copy, Engine 19. No victim found."

Janine's voice. The last thing I heard before the door closed behind us.

Footsteps echoed at the far end of the hallway.

Declan Gallagher was standing under the exit sign with his hands in his pockets.

CHAPTER 26

Emergency Traffic

JANINE