Free Cavanaugh Reunion by Marie Ferrarella

make the connection between the arson and the motive behind it.”
    Kansas supposed that O’Brien had a point. She wasn’t so married to her theory that she would stubbornly shut her eyes to exclude everything else.
    “Maybe we should check out whether anyone’s bought any of the properties previously destroyed by the fires,” she suggested.
    “Then you’re on board with this theory?” O’Brien asked. There was a touch of triumph in his voice that irritated her. It had her reverting to her original theory.
    “No, I just want to put it to rest once and for all.” Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she continued. “I’d stake my job that this isn’t a fire-for-hire situation.” She could feel it in her bones, but she wasn’t about to say that out loud. She didn’t know these people well enough to allow them to laugh at her, even good-naturedly. “It’s some pyromaniac getting his high out of watching everyone scramble, trying to keep the fire from destroying another piece of real estate. Another person’s hopes and dreams.”
    Dax was still open to all possibilities until something started to gel. “Okay, why don’t you and Youngman go check it out,” he instructed her. “Begin with the first fire on the list and work your way up.”
    But Youngman shook his head. “No can do, Dax. I’ve got that dental appointment to go to. Doc says it’s goingto take the better part of two hours to do the root canal.” He cupped his right cheek to underscore his situation. “I’d cancel, but I already did that once, and this thing is just killing me.”
    Dax nodded. Youngman had already told him about the appointment this morning. Things were getting so hectic, he’d just forgotten. “Go. Get it seen to.” Without missing a beat, Dax turned to his cousin. “Take his place, Ethan.”
    “In the dental chair?” Ethan asked hopefully.
    “Very funny. You, her, go,” Dax said, nodding toward the door. “See what you can come up with that might get your theory to float.”
    “An anchor comes to mind,” Kansas muttered under her breath.
    Grabbing his jacket and slipping it on, Ethan shot her an annoyed look. He was going to enjoy putting her in her place. And then, once the shrew was tamed, other possibilities might open up, he mused.
    “I’ll drive,” he announced as they left the squad room. He punched the down button for the elevator.
    The statement was met with a careless shrug. “If it’s that important to you, I wouldn’t dream of fighting with you about it,” she murmured.
    The elevator car arrived and she stepped in. He was quick to get in with her, then pressed the button for the first floor.
    “It’s not important to me,” he informed her, his irritation growing. Supposedly, the woman was agreeing with him. But it was the manner in which she was agreeing that he found annoying. “It’s just that—”
    She turned the most innocent expression he’d ever seen in his direction. “Yes?”
    The woman was playing him. The second the steel doors parted, he all but shot out of the elevator, heading for the precinct entrance. “Never mind,” he ground out. “You want to drive? Because if you do, we’ll take your car.”
    She preceded him outside. There was a soft spring breeze rustling through everything, quietly reminding them that at any moment, it could pick up and fan any flames it encountered.
    “You don’t trust me with your car?” she asked. Typical male , she thought.
    “I don’t trust anybody with my car,” he told her. “I spent too much time, effort and money restoring her to just hand the keys over to someone else.”
    Sounded like the man was obsessed with his car, she thought. The smile she raised to her lips was the embodiment of serenity. “You can drive,” she told him. “It’s okay.”
    She was yanking his chain—and a few other things, as well. He led the way to his car, parked over in the third row. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re laughing at