Page 78 of Hot Zone

“Is there a problem?”

“No, he just looks really familiar to me, and I’m trying to place him, but I don’t want to make it awkward if I have him mixed up with someone else.”

“Ah, I see.” The way he said that, I was betting he thought the kid had been a hook-up whose name I couldn’t remember, but if it got me the answers I needed, I didn’t really care what he thought. “Which one are we talking about?”

“Don.”

“Don? Really?”

“Yeah, what’s his last name? And do you know if he ever went to the fire academy?”

“Not that I know of. He did mention that his dad was a firefighter, though, so I guess it’s possible.”

My breath caught in my chest. This had to be him. “And his last name?”

“Masters, I think. No, that’s not right, Michaels. It’s Michaels.”

“Donovan Michaels? Do you know if he was working the day the Majestic burned? It’s important.”

A dish hit the floor with a loud crash. Bill and I both turned to see Don standing in the doorway. Our eyes met, and he dropped the tray with the rest of the dishes and ran.

“Don, stop!” I yelled and turned to go after him.

“What’s going on here?” Bill called after me, but I didn’t have time to explain.

Don must’ve heard enough of our conversation to know I suspected him, and now he’d made a run for it. I rushed after him, but I wasn’t quick enough, and by the time I made it to the back door, he was gone.

Fox must have heard the commotion and followed me. “What was all that about?”

“It hit me that ever since the first time I’d seen Don, I kept thinking I knew him from somewhere, but I couldn’t figure out where. Anyway, I thought I would just pop in and ask Bill what his last name was on the off chance that he was our guy.”

“Don?” Fox paused for a second, thinking about that possibility. “I guess if you added thirty or so pounds and a pair of glasses, it could be him.”

“Right, but I didn’t want to tip him off that I was on to him by asking him what his name was, so I went into the kitchen to ask Bill.”

“And he overheard?”

“Yep. Turns out, not only is his last name Michaels, but his dad was a firefighter. It’s him, Fox.”

“Okay, at least we know who we’re looking for. I’m going to talk to Bill and get his address. Then I’ll call Judge Chu and get a warrant for his residence.”

I was kicking myself for tipping Don off. It was going to make everything much more difficult for them to catch him, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

“Okay, I’ll go back to the station, I guess.”

“Or you could go home. My guess is, he’ll take off. But I don’t know that for sure, so it might not be a bad thing for you to lay low.”

“I’ll be fine at the station. I have some evaluations I need to get done by the end of the month.”

When I got back to the station, I got myself a bowl of Keith’s chili and then shut myself in my office, but I didn’t get right to work. First, I called Hawk and updated him on the situation. He said he would get one of his guys on the CCTV cameras around townto see if he could figure out where he went. He also promised to contact the guy he had on the shop and let him know just in case Don’s next move was to try and attack Mars.

When I was done talking to him, I took a minute and sent a text to Mars to make sure he was doing okay.

Me:Hey, Kitten. How are things?

Mars:Fine here. Just getting everything ready for holiday shoppers.

Me:It’s getting to be that time.

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