Page 49 of Inferno

“When do you meet with the taskforce next?” Greyson asked.

“Lunchtime today.” Julio wasn’t entirely sure when he was supposed to sleep, but thankfully had at least four hours last night. It would do for now.

“Presume that might get shifted to include the FBI and more cops.”

“So this is serious,” Julio said. “What did the email say?” He didn’t want to jump to conclusions before he even knew how bad the situation was, but if the arsonist had written her a note, there was a reason why.

Greyson handed over a piece of paper.

Julio scanned the text, first frowning and then unable to keep his eyes from widening. “You maybelieveyou know who I am? What does that mean?” He didn’t expect Greyson to answer, just kept reading. “We will meet again.Oh, I don’t like the sound of that at all.”

“No one does.” Greyson sighed. “I’m pretty sure the police department and the arson taskforce are all in on making sure Samantha doesn’t wind up the target. Given how he’s wording things and rambling, we aren’t dealing with a stable person.” He lifted his hand, palm out. “Not that I’m an expert about mental conditions, but in my opinion, this is the writing of someone who’s unstable.”

“Agreed.” Julio wanted to crumple the paper in his hands and throw it, but what would that serve? This guy had fixated on Samantha. Or at least recognized her as the one he wanted to approach.

Why couldn’t he have chosen Julio?

That would absolutely have been his preference, not just to save the woman he cared about from being in the spotlight.Okay, fine. That might be pretty much the only reason. But who would blame him? No guy wanted to feel powerless while a possibly psychotic person was focused on the one they cared about more than anyone else.

Any guy worth his salt would gladly stand between her and the threat.

“My guess?” Greyson said. “The FBI’s behavioral analysis-profiler person, whatever you call it, will be at the meeting. They’ll add to the other information on our arsonist, which might give them a stronger impression of who this guy is. Maybe enough to identify him.”

Julio figured that might be wishful thinking. Still, in this he would much rather be wrong. “I hope so.” He put the paperfacedown on the desk and ran his hands down his face. “We need to figure out who this guy is before anyone else gets hurt.”

“I’d suggest you focus on keeping Samantha safe, but that leaves Tennet heading up the search for the arsonist.”

Julio nodded. Evidently, Greyson wasn’t going to say it out loud, but neither of them currently had much confidence in the captain over the arson investigation department.

He didn’t want Samantha to wind up like Mitchell, beat up and left for dead. She had already been attacked. What he needed to do was prevent anything worse from happening to her. He needed to keep her safe, and he wasn’t going to trust that duty to anyone else.

He’d do the job God had given him from the beginning.

Greyson eyed him. “Have you thought about applying to work in the arson department?”

Julio didn’t want to work under Tennet when they were the same rank. “Maybe someday, but not right now.”

“I don’t know how much more time Tennet has left in him. He jumped the gun with that press conference, labeling the arsonist a copycat.”

Julio nodded. “I figured we would be talking about that whole mess during today’s briefing.”

Even if he would much rather be on the street trying to figure out who this guy was. But what leads did they have? If Mitchell woke up, they could at least get an ID on the guy who had attacked him. Then there was the detail following the man who had attacked Samantha, then been arraigned and released pending his trial.

As far as he could see, they had a whole lot of nothing.

When were they going to get a break in this case?

“Stick with it for now,” Greyson said. “I can’t guarantee what’s gonna happen next. But focus on doing your job to the best of your ability—the way I know you will anyway. I get thateverything in you wants to be all about protecting Samantha, but finding this arsonist and putting him away has the same effect. And will speak volumes for your career.”

Julio nodded. “Thanks, Chief.”

He headed out of Greyson’s office, past his assistant, to the stairs. In his office, he grabbed his cell phone and called Samantha to see if she knew yet about the email the arsonist had sent to her. He listened to it ring, pacing the tiny office between the wall and the cot.

She never answered.

A few seconds later he got a text from her,

I’ll talk to you at the briefing.

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