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“If you’re so upset about being up, you could have stayed in bed.”
Though going by the sounds coming from the bedroom, she probably would have left the room anyway. She’d been vocal about how much she did not appreciate them interrupting her sleep with their disgusting human-copulating habits. Sebastian and Peyton had no issue finishing what they’d started. Quinn wished he could get back into bed with them. He was sure it wouldn’t be the last time his job interrupted his time with them.
He found Will in the kitchen with a Pop-Tart hanging out of his mouth, leaning his ass against the counter while he filled a travel mug with hot water. He mumbled something to Quinn that Quinn had no hope of understanding. Quinn broke off the end of the tart in Will’s mouth and popped it into his own, chewing absently on the blueberry sugar as he got the milk out and took over from Will.
Persephone sniffed her bowl and then pushed it with her nose. When Quinn didn’t do as he was told, she did it again with a small yip.
Quinn snorted. “If you’re looking for food, it iswaytoo early for dinner.” He was trying to establish an eating schedule, and she was doing her best to rout the system.
Will fed her a little of his Pop-Tart, and Quinn didn’t have the heart to tell him off for it, not with the way his eyes were twinkling as he smiled at Quinn.
Quinn sighed and gave him another kiss—because rewarding him for bad behaviour was obviously the way to go—before pushing him gently back towards the bedroom. Persephone hesitated and then trotted after him, glancing once behind herself at where Quinn was standing.
Quinn made sure not to forget his coffee as he scooped up his keys from the bench and headed out the door.
He called Grady on the way there and then promptly got stuck in roadworks.
BY THE TIME HEgot to the address that Riley had given, Grady was already waiting for him. His detective partner was leaning against his car, head tipped back as he chugged from his own travel mug. They’d both had the same idea. Coffee was the only thing that would keep them upright so early in the morning. Not to mention it meant it was going to be a long-ass day. There would be no going back to bed after this.
The area surrounding the four-storey apartment building was cordoned off with police tape, four patrol cars lined up around it. One fire truck was directly in front of the building, but there wasn’t much of a crowd hovering around. Perks of the early hour and the fact that whatever excitement had happened here was well and truly over. Based on the bustle, Quinn reckoned it had been a few hours since they had put the fire out. Possibly a few more before they went in and found any victims.
“You ready to go?” Quinn asked Grady.
Grady sighed. He leaned through the window in his car, putting the travel mug in the cup holder between the seats. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”
There were three firefighters close to the entrance. One of them turned as Quinn and Grady approached, and Quinn recognised him immediately.
“Lucas,” he said in greeting.
“Well, well,” Lucas said with a wide grin, “look who it is.”
Peyton’s older brother was in full firefighting gear, and he looked dirty and tired, with black smudged across his cheeks. His hair was flattened, and his glasses were sitting crooked on his face, a red mark on his nose where they must have been pushed into his face when he’d been wearing his SCBA mask. He had the same-coloured eyes as Peyton and Parker—the rest of the brothers had inherited their mother’s intense green eyes—but he was the only one of the three that wore glasses.
“Q-bean,” Lucas continued. “Always a pleasure.” He waved absently as the other two men left them, heading for one of the trucks. “I’ll be your escort this evening—morning? I feel like it’s early enough we can still use evening.”
“It’s too early for this,” Grady muttered.
“It’s toolatefor this,” Lucas corrected. “You know, it’s so rare we get to meet like this,” he mused.
“I’m not sorry that most of your arson cases aren’t considered murder,” Quinn replied. Victims of fire were an unfortunate reality and a tragedy that occurred far too often. That didn’t usually mean that there was anything sinister about them.
“Touché,” Lucas said with a lopsided grin. “Not your lucky day, then?”
“It never is.”
“So, body is on the third floor,” Lucas said as he led the way to the entrance. “We’ve made sure it’s structurally sound, but watch where you step.”
“What made you think this was a homicide?” Quinn asked as they bypassed the elevator and went to the emergency stairwell.
“Most burn victims don’t have throat wounds,” Lucas said.
“What kind of throat wounds?”
“I just work here, man. You tell me.” Lucas gripped the railing and half turned. “Allery said she estimates he was deadbeforethe fire started, but not long before.”
Tianna Allery was a technician that was efficient, no nonsense, and didn’t let Grady bully her; she was one of Quinn’s favourites to work with, and he trusted her expertise. Her estimates were spot-on more often than not.
“And the fire?” Quinn asked.
