Page 28 of Inferno

At least for a while.

After that, the case would be closed, and all bets would be off. If Samantha thought before that she understood his point loud and clear, she would definitely not mistake his intentions then.

He wanted her back in his life.

ELEVEN

Samantha knew exactly what Julio was doing. There was never anything about him that she wasn’t aware of, simply because they had known each other for so long. Sure, it might have been a while since they hung out with any regularity, but Julio was the epitome of all those metaphors about oak trees that withstood the test of time.

She’d clung to him for so long that once she became untethered, she’d been forced to find a new anchor.

Her job.

Now it seemed as though he wanted to participate in that with her. And the moment the case was done, she knew he would be full throttle about getting back together with her.

She walked down the hallway of the prison, following one of the uniformed officers. Julio behind her. Samantha didn’t dare glance back. If she did, she would only be reminded of exactly how enticing he had always been to her.

The man was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome.

Or, as Bristol put it,fiiiiine. That long drawn-out sign she had made up, mixing the sign for Julio’s name with that word. Giving him a designation that was all his own.

Pure Julio.

He was the reason her sister had a complex about romance, waiting for the day she would be swept off her feet. But not by Romeo Alvarez. At least as far as Samantha could make sure that never happened.

Samantha had given up romantic dreams a long time ago.

They were hardly necessary when her job brought her up against the worst of the worst in Benson, crimes that most people wouldn’t even be able to handle knowing about. And small dingy interview rooms in jails. Currently occupied by a single table, two chairs, and an older man chained to the floor wearing an orange jumpsuit.

The officer said, “I’ll stay out here.”

“Thanks.” She eased into the room with Julio behind her, wearing his firefighter uniform of thick blue cargoes and a light-blue polo shirt, his radio across from one shoulder to his hip. The bars of his captain rank on his shoulders. Meanwhile, she had on her every day nothing special uniform of suit pants and a blouse.

Her badge on her belt.

Her gun safely locked away with the officer on the front desk, along with her electronics.

She tugged out the chair and sat, while Julio folded his arms and leaned against the wall. “I’m Detective Jesse. This is Captain Espinoza-Vasquez from the fire department.”

How would Richard Sylvana react to hearing about a spate of fires recently, deaths and mayhem committed by one person?

Maybe she needed to gently break the news of his mother’s passing. Or his lawyer.

“I don’t care about fires anymore,” he muttered. His saggy cheeks shifted when he spoke, his jowls hanging down on the sides of his face. “I’ve been receiving treatment, and now I’m cured of my obsession with heat and flames.” His flat eyes didn’t betray anything other than truth in the words he spoke.

“Your mother’s name is Eva, is that correct?”

He flinched, and a little of the façade cracked.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you, but she passed away recently.”

“She was old. We all go some point.”

Julio said, “Most of us aren’t the victims of a fire that’s the result of arson.”

She studied Richard’s response to that, watching for indications he might know something. When she couldn’t discern anything specific, she said, “I also have to tell you, unfortunately, that the lawyer who represented you in your trial all those years ago was also the victim of a different fire. But also arson. We believe the two are connected.”

Richard looked at Julio, then back at her. “Insulation in the ducting where it shouldn’t be? HVAC blockages so that the smoke has nowhere to go?”

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