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“Doesn’t mean you didn’t do shit.”
“Doesn’t mean I did.”
Harris slipped the badge back into her pocket, and Cassie breathed a little easier. The last thing they needed was to be caught with that thing. Was it still impersonating an officer when you were a suspended officer? Cassie had a feeling she’d get in even more trouble than Harris. Was aiding and abetting just for fugitives?
“You deal with a lot of insurance fraud, don’t you?” Harris inspected her fingernails. She was so calm and relaxed. Cassie was still shaking in the doorway. “In Savannah, too. Pretty interesting.”
“What can I say. I get around.”
Cassie felt the temperature rise again. Just a degree or two, but she felt it against her skin. On the back of her neck. Somewhere in the pit of her stomach. They were onto something with the insurance fraud. But how did it tie into everything else?
She decided to take a risk. One she hoped Harris would approve of. “What about the person you killed?” She took a step forward, and even Harris turned around to gape at her. The heat of the room pulsed, making her head swim. “Huh? Insurance fraud is one thing. Maybe you can cover that up with clever paperwork and a few friends down at the station, but what about murder? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? And probably more than one body.”
Reed froze, looking Cassie up and down like he was seeing her for the first time. Instead of answering, he swiped at a few folders and sent them to the floor, uncovering the desk phone. Picking it up, he held it to his ear, never breaking eye contact with Cassie. She started to sweat. And not just from the heat of the room.
“Get up here,” he said into the receiver. “Now.”
Less than fifteen seconds passed before they heard the creak of the floorboards in the hallway. When Cassie turned, she saw the janitor standing at the door, his beady black eyes trained on her face. A small smile played around on his lips, sending a cold shiver down her spine, wiping away the effects of the heat she’d been feeling.
“Escort these ladies out,” Reed said. “And make sure they don’t come back.”
“No need.” Harris’s voice dripped with false cheer. “We know the way. It was nice seeing you again, Donny. Chat soon.”
Harris placed a hand on Cassie’s back, steering her out of the room and past the janitor. Neither wasted time descending the stairs and exiting the building. But Harris didn’t turn in the direction of the car. Swinging left, she strolled down the sidewalk. When there was enough distance between them and the building. She turned to Cassie.
“What the hell was that?”
“What?” Cassie replied.
“Back there. Dead bodies? We didn’t talk about that.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly go in with a plan, either,” Cassie grumbled. Was Harris seriously pissed at her? “It just came to me.”
“Came to you?”
“Yeah, came to me.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you should be used to this by now.”
“I’m never going to be used to you.” Harris’ shoulders relaxed a little. “You think that’s what the shadow person is? A victim from one of those fires?”
“Every time we go into Reed’s office, it gets hot. He’s tied to it. But I still don’t know how.”
Harris nodded. “Then we have some more work to do.”
32
Detective Harris walked further from the building. Cassie hesitated for only a second or two before she jogged to catch up. She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “But the car is back that way.”
Harris spoke with the patience of a parent explaining something simple to their child. “We don’t want them to know where we parked.”
“You think they’ll follow us?”
“I guarantee it.”
Cassie bit back a groan of panic and looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, the janitor had emerged from the building and leaned against the wall. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, then took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. He didn’t look in their direction, but Cassie had a feeling he was still watching them.
She turned back around. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Is that a regular feeling or a special feeling?”
