CHAPTER TWO
Detective Emily Hunter was unlocking her front door when she felt the caress against her leg. The unexpected ambush from the shadows on her dark porch made her jump.
"Dammit. What are you doing here?"
Her admirer pressed against her.
"You need to stop. I'm not your midnight hookup."
A pair of piercing yellow eyes stared up at Emily, judging her for the late evening.
Emily pulled her key from the door and the black cat sashayed through the opening and trotted to the kitchen.
Emily followed, placing her purse on the kitchen table and kicking off her heels.
"What?"
The cat looked from Emily to a spot on the floor.
"You don't live here. You aren't my cat. Doesn't Mrs. Rose feed you?"
The black cat was well-fed, and Emily knew she used the neighborhood as a buffet, sampling the offerings from house to house.
"Fine."
Emily grabbed a bowl and a bag of dry cat food from under the counter. She kept the stash because she first thought the cat was a stray. Feeling sorry for the poor thing caught out in the rain, Emily brought her in, toweled her off, and now the cat rarely ventured far. Emily knew she was pegged as an easy mark for cat-extortion.
She placed the bowl of food in front of the cat, who shot Emily a look proclaiming, This is the best you've got? The neighbors gave me tuna.
"Eat up and be gone."
Emily took off her earrings and placed them on the counter. She closed her eyes and recounted the date she had this evening with Brian Conner. Brian was also an officer with the Sacramento Police Department, and they'd met six months ago at a crime scene. Yes, the height of romance.
They'd been having a good time until Brian got called in. She didn't get the details, but it sounded like another disturbance call—the type where they needed as many uniformed officers on duty as they could grab. Managing a social life as a cop was difficult, doubly so when both of them were a phone call away from another crime scene. This time it was Brian who needed to cut the date short. Which left Emily home alone with the cat.
Emily unpinned her shoulder-length brown hair and was about to change from the dress she'd chosen for her date, on one of the rare occasions she wore one, when her cell rang.
She hoped it was Brian calling to tell her he was on his way over, but it was the Watch Commander.
"Hunter."
"Hey there, Em, sorry to bust up your night," Lieutenant Terri Williams said.
"Nothing to bust up, Lieutenant. What you got for me?"
"Mass casualty event at a homeless camp off of North 7th."
"I know the one. It's a big camp on the river, right?"
"That's the one. Another fire tore through the place. That makes the third camp hit in two weeks. Needed a three-alarm response to put the place down."
"Mass casualty?" Emily said. Burn victims were among the worst crime scenes. Charred bodies found huddled in a closet—they were difficult to see and impossible to forget.
"That's the report from the Fire Battalion Commander on scene. Don't have any idea if we're talking homicide here or not."
"Simmons and Taylor have lead investigating the attacks on the homeless camps."
"This comes from the chief. He wants you out there."
"Let me guess, the chief is getting pressure from the mayor..."
"No wonder you're his favorite detective, Hunter."
"Doubtful, but I'm on my way."
