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When she finished, I started to ask if she was hungry after her trip and suggest we go to get something to eat, but before I could, my phone rang. I glanced at the screen, then answered, walking back out of the room.
“Hey, Jordan,” I said. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just wanted to let you know what was happening. I’ve been following Danny around for the last few hours to see what he was up to,” Jordan said.
“Did you find out anything?” I asked.
“I just watched him meet up with some guy behind a building. They talked for a few seconds. They were too far away and were talking too quietly for me to hear what they were saying, but I saw Danny pay the guy a big wad of cash,” he said.
“Holy shit,” I said.
“I know,” Jordan replied.
“It can’t be a coincidence. He has to have had something to do with the bar. That’s what he was doing. Paying off the arsonist,” I said.
“I mean, that’s definitely what it looked like. We just have to figure out how to prove it. That’s the thing. We can’t just call the police and say we know it was this guy because he’s an asshole and we saw him give money to another guy. They’re not going to go for that,” Jordan said. “We have to find out something about him that will prove he was involved.”
“Let me look into it,” I said. “I’ll find out everything I can about him and let you know.”
I got off the phone and pulled out my computer. I spent the next hour digging into Danny and trying to find out anything I could about him. I was sure it would be easy to find some sort of dirt about the man.
From the very first time I met him, Danny had struck me as shady and not trustworthy. It wasn’t just that he was gruff and unpleasant. There were plenty of people like that. There was just something about him that put me on edge. I didn’t put it past him for a second to do anything he could to sabotage his competition.
But I couldn’t find anything. The full hour of scouring every corner of the internet I could think of still left me empty-handed. Finally, I forced myself to stop and push away from the computer. Rubbing my eyes with my fingertips, I turned to Amanda.
“I need a break,” I said. “I’m not really getting anywhere, and it’s just frustrating me. I’m going to go see what my brothers have found out and check on everybody. Would you want to come with me?”
“Sure,” Amanda said.
We went to Mason’s house, and he met us outside. As soon as I got out of the car, he came around to give me a hug. He smiled at Amanda.
“Hey, Amanda, good to see you,” he said.
They had met on a few occasions when Mason came out to San Francisco, but she hadn’t met Ava, yet. We went inside and found Ava in the living room sitting on the floor with baby Robert. He was changing so much it was amazing. He looked distinctly different than he did the last time I saw him just a few weeks before.
He was sitting up now, clapping his chubby hands and occasionally reaching for the stuffed animals sitting around him.
“Ava,” I said when we came into the room, “I want you to meet my secretary, and the savior of just about every element of my life on a regular basis, Amanda.”
Amanda scoffed and shook her head but reached out her hand toward Ava. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Ava said. “How long are you guys going to be in town?”
Amanda looked over at me, and I gave a noncommittal shrug.
“We don’t have a set timeline, yet. I’m here for as long as I need to be to handle everything. Amanda was good enough to agree to come and work remotely from here. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep her, but as long as she’ll stay, I’m happy to have her.”
I noticed a slight flush go across Amanda’s cheekbones.
“I can stay as long as he needs me,” I said. “I am without pets, roommates, or any other obligation. Which I realize now as I’m saying it out loud sounds sad and a little bit pathetic rather than carefree and rife with opportunity as I intended it to.”
Ava laughed. “Well, if you need any girl time while you’re out here, just let me know. We can hang out.”
Amanda laughed and nodded happily. “I will definitely take you up on that.”
“Tom, can we talk for a bit?” Mason asked. “Jesse and Jordan are on their way over here.”
“Sure,” I said. “Let’s go wait outside for them.”
