Page 35 of Spark
“Absolutely,” she said automatically, but then she bit her lip, backtracking.“I’m totally fine.I brought coffee and muffins.”
The buzzer sounded off loudly in response, allowing her entry to the building.Chloe arrived at Ryan and Addison’s apartment a minute later, the door swinging open before she could even knock.
“No offense, girly pop,” Addison said through a yawn, closing the door behind Chloe and flipping the deadbolt into place.Chloe had learned from the best.“But no one is ever ‘totally fine’ before seven a.m.”
Well, shit.“Technically, it’s seven-oh-two.”
Addison snorted.“People who try to skate by on technicalities?Also, never ‘totally fine’.”
“I’m not skating by on anything,” Chloe said, lightly so Addison wouldn’t call her on it.“But I’m sorry I woke you.I know you were up late.I should have called first.”
“Oh, sweetie, please.You had me at muffins.Come on in.”
A few minutes passed during which Chloe followed Addison to the breakfast nook in the kitchen, heating the muffins in the microwave and sipping from her own travel mug as her soon-to-be sister (none of that “in-law” crap for the Dempseys.Family was family, end of sentence) chugged down some coffee.
“These would be better if we warmed them up in the oven,” Chloe warned, but Addison extended a hand, her fingers waving in a firmgimmethat Chloe knew far better than to ignore.
“If something’s already perfect, you can’t make it better.”Addison took a bite of strawberry white chocolate chip muffin as she settled in beside Chloe on a bar stool.“You’ve been baking an awful lot lately, huh?”
From anyone else, it would have been a perfectly innocent observation.But that old saying about being able to take the cop out of the precinct but not the precinct out of the cop had Addison dead to rights, and shit.Shit.Chloe needed to proceed with extreme caution.
“It’s my job, Ad.I’m fine.”Because she knew she wouldn’t sell that completely after last night’s events, she added, “Just antsy about the fire.Any updates?”
Addison nodded, thankfully convinced.“Well, Tyler was right.This fire was pretty catastrophic.I did confirm that Navarro’s DNA kit was definitely being stored at that facility.Before you ask, there’s no news on which kits were damaged, or how badly, although, I texted Sinclair while you were on your way up, just to be sure.”
“Sinclair knows about the fire?”Chloe asked, and Addison took a long sip of coffee before confirming.
“I brought him up to speed last night before I crashed.Most of the unit is wrapping up an assault case this morning, but he’s going to pull Maxwell in so they can kick some rocks with the D.A.’s office and RFD brass.See what they can find out.”
“But it was definitely arson,” Chloe said, her pulse escalating.
Addison disguised her pause with a bite of her muffin.“You skipped some hurdles, there.”
“Oh, come on.”Chloe’s patience, already frayed, slipped further.“A ginormous fire breaks out at the facility where Leo Navarro’s DNA just so happens to be stored, creating a massive amount of damage, and you don’t think it was arson?”
“Is it possible?Yes, absolutely,” Addison said.“But it’s also possible that this fire was an accident.Or caused by negligence, or a faulty system of some kind.And even if itwasarson—which we don’t have any proof of yet—hundreds of DNA kits were stored at that facility, most of them associated with very bad individuals who wouldn’t be sad to see it destroyed.We can’t prove that Navarro had anything to do with the fire.”
Chloe knew Addison was making perfectly good sense.She trusted Addison, literally, with her life.
Yet, something deep in her belly made her balk.“Do you remember when Myles was stalking me?”
Addison’s blond brows winged upward.“Do you remember when you abruptly changed the subject in our conversation?What the heck doeshehave to do with any of this?”
“Just hear me out,” Chloe said, until finally, Addison responded.
“Yes.I remember when Myles was stalking you.”
Chloe’s throat tightened, but her words didn’t hitch.“I saw him following me.I couldn’t prove it for a long time, but Iknewhe was out there.It’s the exact same for Esme.She saw Navarro commit that murder, and even though she won’t admit it, she’s terrified.So, yes, maybe I’m jumping to the worst-case scenario, and yes, I get that there’s due diligence ahead.But my number one priority is this kid.If there’s a chance—even a microscopic one—that Navarro is ruthless enough to torch an entire building to destroy the evidence that he killed someone, I need to prepare for that so I can keep Esme safe.”
Addison looked at her for a long beat before finally saying, “Okay.”
“Really?”Relief splashed through Chloe’s chest.
“Yes, really,” Addison said, polishing off the last of her muffin with a smile.“You’ve got Esme’s back, and I’ve got yours.Plus, while I can’t prove it, obviously, I wouldn’t put it past Navarro to commit arson to destroy evidence.That guy”—she rolled her eyes—“is a complete douche burger.So, come on.Step one is investigating.Let’s go see what we can find out about this fire.”
Before either of them could move, Addison’s cell phone buzzed from the breakfast bar, sending Chloe’s heart into a sprint.
“Oh, God.Did the RFD find out about the DNA kits yet?”
