Cavanaugh Reunion by Marie Ferrarella Page B

planting a quick kiss against her temple. “This is one of the reasons why I love you so much, Rose. You’re always one step ahead of me.”
    “Only to keep from being trampled by the Cavanaugh brothers,” she quipped just before she left the kitchen.
    Since Andrew had dropped this bombshell on his unsuspecting brother, he knew that his wife had made a graceful exit so the two could talk in private. However, he had no doubt that she would ask her own questions later.
     
    With almost five hours of sleep under her belt, Kansas was back at the shelter. Bypassing the yellow crime-scene tape that encircled the entire outer perimeter of what was left of the building, she made her way inside. Once there she began sifting through the rubble in an effort to piece together as much information as she could about what had gone on here less than a day ago.
    She’d managed to find the fire’s point of origin and also to rule out that the fire had been an accident. She discovered what was left of the incendiary device. It had a timer on it, which could only mean that the fire had been deliberately set, and whoever had done it had a definite time in mind. To kill someone specific? she wondered. If so, whoever had set it had miscalculated. No one had died last night.
    The device wasn’t a match for the MO of any of the known arsonists or pyromaniacs in the area. There was an outside chance that it could still be the work ofsomeone belonging to one group or the other, someone who had managed to go undetected. Until now.
    It was frustrating, she thought. There had to be some kind of a connection, no matter how minor, if she was to believe that these weren’t just random fires haphazardly set. But what connection? And why? Why these structures and not the ones down the block or somewhere else? What did these particular buildings that had been torched have in common—assuming, of course, that they actually had something in common?
    Rocking back on her heels, Kansas ran her hand through her hair and sighed. It was like banging her head against a concrete wall. There were no answers to be found here.
    “Penny for your thoughts.”
    Caught completely off guard, Kansas swallowed a gasp as she jumped to her feet. When she swung around, she found O’Brien watching her from a few feet away. She’s been so preoccupied, she hadn’t heard anyone come in. She was going to have to work on that, she told herself.
    “A penny?” Kansas hooted. “Is that all it’s worth to you? I take it I’m in the presence of the last of the big-time spenders.”
    “I don’t believe in throwing my money away,” he told her matter-of-factly. “I also didn’t expect to find you here.”
    “Oh?” She looked at him, perplexed. “Tell me, just where would you expect to find a fire investigator, Detective?”
    He shrugged, joining her. He looked down at therubble she’d been sifting through. “I just thought you’d gotten everything you needed last night.”
    Maybe he was a little slow on the uptake, she thought. The good-looking ones usually were.
    “If I had,” she pointed out patiently, crouching down again, “I’d know who did it. Or at least why. Right now, I’m still trying to find all the pieces of that puzzle,” she said under her breath.
    Crouching down beside her, Ethan looked at what she was doing with interest. “Find anything new?”
    Amusement curved her mouth as she glanced up for a moment. “Are you asking me to do your work for you, Detective?”
    “No, I’m asking you to share,” he corrected. He thought the point of all this was to find who was responsible, not participate in a competition. “We’re both part of the same team.” He couldn’t be that naive. “Detective, not even different divisions of the same department are on the same team, and in case you haven’t noticed, you’re with the police department and I belong to the fire department. Big difference,” she concluded.
    He followed her statement to its