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It explained a lot about Charlie. Even why Rocco was the closest person to her without the two of them actually being close.
“Something like that changes you forever. Leaves an indelible mark. I’ve never experienced anything of that magnitude. After I lost two teammates during a dangerous mission, I almost turned into a cynical, bitter wretch.” If he’d gone through what Charlie had endured, at seven, who knows what it would’ve done to him. As a grown man, there had been times where the darkness tugging at him had threatened to drag him under. But every day he woke up grateful, to be alive, for a chance to make a difference in the world. “Somehow, I force myself to still see the glass as half full. But it’s not always easy.”
He knew the situation for Charlie was far more complex.
“Enough of this pity party,” she said lightly, as though they’d been making small talk. “This isn’t why I’m here. Are you going to tell me what you learned? Unless you came up with nothing.”
He was fascinated by more than her beauty. It was the whole package. Her mind. Her heart. Her secrets.
Her scars.
“Earlier this morning, I spoke with the fire marshal.” Sawyer Powell had been helpful. “It was arson out at the Olsen house, which you already suspected. An accelerant was used. Smokeless gunpowder.”
“The type of accelerant a cop would use.”
She wasn’t wrong there. Someone knowledgeable about firearms would’ve chosen it. “That’s not evidence Seth was responsible for the fire. No evidence was found in Haley’s car. The canines went through the debris of the house. They didn’t find a body, but they did pick up some DNA. Traces of blood.”
Charlie stiffened, and he could feel the tension radiating off her. “Only traces? But I saw a lot. There was so much blood.”
Staring in her eyes, he believed her. “The fire destroyed quite a bit of evidence.”
“What about Detective Olsen? Has he been charged?”
Brian shook his head. “No. Haley is considered a missing person. Seth has an alibi for the time in question and has been put on administrative leave.”
Her brow furrowed. “What alibi?”
“Another detective who works with him.” Whether they were on duty at the time was unclear, but Brian would find out for certain.
“Are you kidding me?” The tone of her voice pulled at him. “One detective protecting another. Next, you’re going to say that neither of them would lie and that Seth isn’t capable of murder.”
People were capable of horrible things with proper motivation, under the right circumstances. Seth had worked Vice first and now Narcotics, but any smart cop would know how to get rid of a body, as well as evidence, and craft an alibi. Also, it didn’t give Brian a warm and fuzzy that Seth was pals with another detective who turned out to be his alibi. But he didn’t want to feed into Charlie’s mistrust. “There’s an experienced detective investigating. A good guy.”
Although he knew the cop assigned—and there were more pros than cons with Kramer on the case—the detective had some shortcomings that made Brian wonder if it might impact the investigation. While Brian had been at the station, he hadn’t been able to get the guy alone, but he needed to soon.
“Are you telling me that if Olsen is responsible, if he did something to Haley and blew up his own house to cover it up, that it’s impossible for him to get away with it?”
Brian had asked himself the same question while he’d nosed around the station earlier. There were potential cracks in the system. A lot of the cops on the force had been embedded for many years and had forged deep loyalties. At times even Brian was treated as an outsider and had to struggle to break in.
“Not impossible, but improbable.” He hoped.
“Are you going to wash your hands of this?” She fixed those green eyes on him. “Or are you going to look into it deeper? Will you help me?” she pleaded.
“I can’t investigate a possible homicide without someone in the department catching wind of it.”
“Thanks for dinner.” Tossing her napkin on the table, she stood.
He got to his feet and cupped her shoulder, stopping her. “You told me that we’d compare. What did you learn?”
Charlie frowned. “When Olsen left the police station, he paid a visit to the strip club on Raven. Stayed two hours.”
That wasn’t a crime. “Maybe he needed to blow off steam. Disconnect for a while.” Different strokes for different folks.
At the station, Seth had seemed bereft and bewildered. All the guys offered to donate clothes since he’d lost everything in the explosion, except for the things he kept in his locker at work.
“Then he went to a house on Mulberry.” She gave him the exact address. “He had a key and let himself in. Can you find out who owns the place?”
“Yeah, I can, but do you have any idea how dangerous it was to follow him?”
