Earth 12

Cop Snart X Firefighter Lance

xXx

"So I talked to the arson investigator and according to her, it definitely looks like foul play, which corresponds with with what Dr. Snow found, or rather didn't find in the vic's lung tissue." Barry Allen, youngest forensic expert to ever work for the Central City Police Department, explained as he approached partner detectives Joe West and Leonard Snart.

"Which was?" Joe questioned.

"No smoke damage." Barry explained.

"Which means he was already dead when the fire was started." Leonard added.

"Exactly. She's on her way over now to deliver her findings."

"Wait she?" Leonard asked confused. "What happened to Mick?"

Mick Rory had been Leonard's best friend since grade school. It was rare to ever seen them out of each other's company growing up and even rarer to hear that one of them didn't know what was going on with the other. But, maybe Leonard should have seen it coming. About a year prior, Mick had been caught in a fire that left him badly burned on his arms and torso. He'd just recently returned to work, despite what the trauma psychologist told him.

"You haven't heard?" Joe asked just as confused. "I figured he would have called you as soon as he found out."

"Heard what?"

"They just got all the test results they sent out back on the fire that he was injured in. It was arson. Since he's the active arson investigator he can't be a part of the investigation." Joe explained.

"Who's the acting Investigator then?" he asked.

"Her name is Sara Lance, she's the former investigator from Star City. I don't really know all the details to be honest." Barry said.

Leonard nodded before turning to his computer and getting back to work. Thirty minutes later Barry came back, this time in the company of young blonde woman in Uniform. She was obviously Sara Lance.

"Guys this is Sara Lance, the new arson investigator." Barry began. "Sara, this is Detective Joe West and Detective Leonard Snart." he introduced.

Joe stood from his seat and held out a hand for her. She accepted. "It's nice to meet you." he told her.

"Likewise." she replied. Leonard greeted her the same way but a lot less enthusiastically.

"So, uh, Sara thinks she may have something more on this case." Barry told them.

"Really, what's that?" Joe asked.

"Well," she began handing over the file to him. "These fires all seemed familiar to me, so I dug around in my notes from Star City and it looks like the fires were set by the same person who set nearly half a dozen fires in Star City over the last two years. All of them were corporate holdings and all of them were unoccupied at the time."

"So what do you think, corporate espionage?" Leonard asked.

"It's possible, but to be honest I don't think there's only one reason. All the building were owned by different companies. One of which was going under and there were massive insurance policies on the building. Another was owned by a company whose CEOs were husband and wife and were going through a messy divorce. The husband had publicly stated that she would never get her hands on half of anything." she explained. "The two cases here are similar. One has a high insurance policy the other is under investigation for violating workers rights."

"Two cases?" Leonard asked. "You mean.."

"The one last year, yes. That building was under investigation for operating a sweat shop. And the one last week that killed the foreman was about to be foreclosed on."

"So what are we thinking here? The arsonist is setting the fire and the foreman comes in early for his rounds, catches the guy, tries to stop him and gets a lead pipe to the head for his trouble?" Joe asked.

"Sounds like it." Leonard replied. "The arsonist probably tried to cover up the murder by moving stuff around, make it seem like an accident caused by the fire."

After that, Sara handed Leonard her card and bid everyone a farewell, making it clear that if anything came up they shouldn't hesitate to call no matter what time it was.

When she was gone, Leonard returned to his files only to realized that he was being watched. He looked up to find Barry standing behind his father in law, both of them, as he'd suspected, watching him.

"What?" he questioned wary of the two men.

"I think she likes you." Joe grinned and Leonard rolled his eyes.

"How do you figure?"

"Well, she gave you her number." Barry replied.

"She was doing her job." he defended.

"Then why didn't she give it to Joe, he was certainly more hospitable than you."

Leonard sighed. "I don't know Barry maybe I was closer, or she just reacted. Does it matter?"

Neither of them stopped grinning at him, so Leonard stood from behind his desk and grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. "I'm going to grab lunch, do you want anything?" he asked making it clear they should drop their previous discussion. Both men declined and Leonard turned on his heels, walking away.

xXx

Mick opened the door to find the man he considered a brother on the other side, holding up a bag of his favorite fast food. He sighed, opening the door all the way and letting Leonard pass.

"So you met Sara, huh?" he said, returning to his seat on the couch. "She's good at what she does. Good eyes, better instincts."

"Good to know." Leonard replied. "Of course I'm curious as to why you didn't say anything before."

"Because I know you well enough to know you'd get all upset on my behalf and I don't need you to do that. I'm not off the job I just can't investigate until this guy's caught."

"I get that, but still, you could have told me. Regardless of how I reacted. You're my brother man, I'm allowed to worry about you."

Mick snorted. "Yeah, yeah. So what'd ya think of her?"

Leonard shrugged. "Seems nice enough. Competent, which is always a good thing."

Mick nodded. "I called her for some fresh eyes on the arson last week, that's when she put the case together with the others."

"Do you know her?" Leonard asked. "Personally?'

"Nah, we've worked together enough times now, that I trust her though. Like I said, she's good at what she does. Star City was loath to lose her."

"Why did she leave, do you know?"

"From what I understand it was a bunch of little things." Mick replied. "Mostly personal, so she didn't talk about them with me. The last time I was in Star City though, her people mentioned something about a fiance, but she moved out here alone so I would assume that's over."

Leonard nodded as he finished his lunch. He stood from his seat and turned to Mick. "I have to get back to work. Let me know if you need anything."

"Don't worry about me Len, I'm fine."

"Yeah, that's what you said before you jumped off the pier when we were ten and broke your arm in three places."

xXx

Leonard had trouble sleeping, he always had, ever since his father had come home from prison the first time. He was told as a teenager that it was a symptom of Mild PTSD brought on by his father's abusive tendencies. So it really wasn't a surprise that he was sitting at his desk at four in the morning going over case files and trying to break the case that landed his best friend, his brother in a fight for his life.

The breakthrough came with his third cup of coffee. If there were cases in both Star City and Central City, it was a sure bet the arsonist set fires in other cities as well. Without thinking Leonard picked up his phone and dialed the number on Sara's Card.

She picked up after two rings, out of breath. "Lance?" she answered.

"Lieutenant Lance? It's Detective Snart. Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all, what's up?" she asked still out of breath.

"I think I might have an idea about these arsons, is there any chance you can come to the precinct?"

"Yeah sure, I'm about a block away I'll be right there."

With that she hung up, leaving Leonard a little slack jawed.

A few minutes later he heard the elevator open and close before Sara came around the corner. Leonard looked away quickly, practically gulping as he considered what she was wearing. She stopped beside his desk, catching her breath quickly. She noticed he was trying not to look at her, and she looked down at herself. Lime green running shorts and matching sports bra. "Sorry, you caught me on my run." she told him.

Leonard looked up feigning confusion and still trying not to look at her bare legs or very toned...everything. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry for interrupting."

"It's okay." she replied a little smirk on her face. "So, what did you have in mind?" she continued taking the chair next to his desk.

Leonard snapped out of it as she brought up work. "Well, I was thinking, if this guy is for has set all these fires for the reasons we think, he's probably for hire and if that's the case he's most likely set other fires in other cities, maybe even more here or in Star City that we've missed."

"That's very possible. And if there are other cases those other precincts might have suspects we can cross reference." Sara added.

"Exactly."

"Well, I have connections with Fire Marshals in Metropolis, Keystone, and Coast city. The Marshal from Gotham is a misogynistic pig so you should probably call him and the Bludhaven Marshal works out of the Gotham firehouse."

"Is it too early to call them now?"

"Its definitely too early to call Coast City, but Gotham, Metropolis and Bludhaven are an hour ahead of us so it's a least.." Sara looked at her watch. "Six AM there."

"Alright, I'll call Gotham and Metropolis, you call Keystone and then Coast later?"

Sara agreed and they set to wor. When Sara was done with her calls she told Leonard she was going home to shower and change and would be back to finish the calls and go through the files when they came in.

And he did not, Repeat, not, watch her walk away, because he was a gentleman and that would be wrong.