Kate handed Lana the report and said, “Be careful. Dane will be livid when he finds out what you’re doing. Call me if you need anything else.”
Lana gave Kate a hug. “You’re the best.”
Lana emerged into the parking lot and came face to face with Dane Bryant.
“What are you doing here, Dempsey?”
Everything the man said had that undertone of a sneer. It immediately put Lana on edge. “Seeing a friend.”
His eyes narrowed at her. She chafed against the restraint of his rank. She wished she could tell him to go to hell, but her training won over her pique. She’d be damned if she let him rile her enough to give him a reason to slap an insubordination charge on her. She needed her record to be impeccable. They didn’t choose captains from hotheads and troublemakers.
Although this clandestine investigation could be considered troublemaking, but only if she got caught before she found the bad guy. Bryant, with all his posturing and bravado, wasn’t any closer to solving the arson than he was three weeks ago.
Bryant sneered at her, “Stay out of my way.” He pushed past her, and Lana watched him go. He might have been an excellent firefighter, but he wasn’t a very good arson investigator. She wondered how he’d gotten the job.
“That guy has it in for you.”
Lana turned at the sound of Sienna’s voice. “No kidding, but he doesn’t intimidate me. He’s a jerk.”
“And I can see that you would love to tell him that to his face.”
“Yep but can’t. Regulations on insubordination are pretty clear-cut.”
“I know all about that.”
“What were you two talking about?”
“We were discussing the arsonist that has struck two apartment houses. Dane thinks it might be an arson for hire.”
“He’s wrong.”
Sienna raised her brow. “You know that for a fact.”
“I found spalling in the basement of the second fire, Dane said that because the roof collapsed, it caused the basement fire. I say there was spalling because someone set a fire down there. I asked him to check it out by taking a sample of the soil.”
“But he dismissed you, so you, in your pit-bull way, asked Kate to do a sample for you on the sly.”
“Right.”
“Lana, Dane would love to discredit you and get you kicked off the force. You need to be careful.”
“He’s incompetent. His sexism is interfering with an investigation. I can’t sit by while he stumbles around in the dark and gets nowhere.”
“Be careful.” A gleam came into her eyes. “How goes it with Sean?”
Lana gave Sienna the same report she’d given Kate and Sienna has the same reaction.
“I’ll be careful. Look, I’ve got to go, but I’ll talk to you later.”
She parted with Sienna, trying to ignore the worried look on her friend’s face. It was hard to believe that only a year ago, she neither knew Sienna nor was likely to become friends with her. Then Paige got in trouble and both Kate and Sienna had come into her life. They had stood by her every step of the way, and together they had formed a bond that locked them together as close as sisters.
That was why it had been so easy to challenge her friends into a souvenir-gathering escapade. After Sienna suggested that Lana was afraid of Sean sexually, Lana had insisted on a contest. Sienna had ended up going after the sexy SEAL she’d been assigned to work with and now Sienna had an engagement ring on her finger. Lana didn’t have that expectation with Sean. This was just a fling for her and all this caution from her friends was overkill.
Sienna waved as Lana started up the car. She smiled and waved back. The worried look hadn’t disappeared, and Lana remembered all too well that Sienna had already experienced what it was like to go after a man who was a challenge. But was Sean someone who wouldn’t work in her life? Where did he fit? Lover? Friend? Squad member? Or all three?
Achieving balance was always topmost on Lana’s list of things that made her feel comfortable, but Sean didn’t fit into any easily defined holes, round or square.
All she knew was that he made her tingle. Her heart skipped a beat whenever she saw the familiar slope of his shoulders, that charismatic smile, or the sheen of his hair in the sun. His voice mesmerized her, a voice she could listen to for hours.