She lifted a shoulder but didn’t meet his eyes now that they were talking about her. “I don’t know. It’s closed in here. Crowded. It’s not the same.”

Well, there was a news bulletin.

She turned and faced him. “Uncle Bill wants to get my mother and Tina into the warehouse to see the damage but they’re still being held out.”

“I can get them in but after they look around, the scene will be sealed again. It’s a safety issue.”

She sank back to the chair. “And?”

“And…what?”

“There’s an investigation.”

“There usually is.”

“Yes, but do you think it’s arson?”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Why not?”

“These things take time,” he said. “You know we found an accelerant.”

“Gasoline. Which is crazy.”

“Exactly. That’s what makes it suspicious.”

That was clearly not the answer she’d expected. Again she got to her feet. “What reason would there be for arson?”

“Insurance fraud, revenge, blackmail—” He broke off at her wide-eyed look of horror.

“You think that my mom and aunt—”

“No, I don’t think,” he said. “I don’t think anything until the evidence tells me what happened. There could be any number of possibilities, accidental or otherwise. Employees, acquaintances, the vagrant…” She still looked horrified. “Summer, it’s nothing yet. Okay?”

“Okay.”

She turned to look at the plaques and pictures he had scattered around, stopping at the corner wall behind the door to look at one in particular. It was a shot of him and his squad, drenched, filthy, and dirty, arms slung around each other as they celebrated the end of the horrifying and tragic San Diego County fires two years ago.

“You asked me why I’m not happy to be here,” she said, staring at the picture. “But you are. You’re happy here.”

When he didn’t say anything, didn’t know what to say, she turned and looked at him. “I always wanted you to be.”

He absorbed that for a moment, but before he could respond, the door to his office opened again. Cindy, dressed to kill in a siren red business suit, still wearing her name tag from her position at an executive headhunter agency in town, came in and smiled at him, clearly not seeing Summer behind the door. “Since you don’t have time to come to me, I’ve come to you,” she said. “I’ve brought the lunch special. It’s called Sex On Your Desk.” She shut the door behind her, put her fingers to the buttons on her blazer, then executed a comical double take when she saw Summer standing there. “Oops.”

Summer lifted her hands. “Oh, no, that’s okay. I, um…” She glanced at Joe with an indescribable look on her face. “Gotta go.”