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“What? No, he…” She shakes her head. “He’s nice. Completely normal. That’s why I asked him to escort me last night.”
“Well, that’s two fires in one day.” I press a finger beneath her chin and lift her eyes. “One in a lifetime is a lot. Two in twenty-four hours means someone wants to teach him a lesson… or kill him. So I’m gonna need you to have a think. What do you know about him? What do you know about his people? Because I’m not cool with you being in danger because you know him.”
“I’m not…” She battles her racing brain and searches for a clue. “I don’t think he’s a bad person, Axel. He’s… ordinary. He goes to work, he goes home. He has a nice family, and a little niece, just like you do. He volunteers at charity things around town, and he’s pretty friendly with Viv. I asked him out because he’s so utterly unremarkable.”
“Ouch.” I choke out a laugh and release her face when I feel the hall fill. “I appreciate the reassurance. But don’t tell him that. You’ll hurt his feelings.”
“Axel.” Lieutenant Rosa’s—ChiefRosa’s—deep rumble brings me around so I come to a stop and stand beside Hannah. I don’t hold her hand. I don’t touch her. “Police Chief Turner would like to speak to you.” Then he looks to Hannah. “Both of you. He needs to get a clearer picture on all the players in this situation, and unfortunately, you’rebothsitting pretty high on that list.”
“I don’t mind.” Hannah steps forward until she’s just a couple of feet from Chief Alex Turner and his second, Oscar ‘Oz’ Franks. “I want to help,” she murmurs. “I want to make sure this doesn’t keep happening to him.”
“Let’s take this in a waiting room.” Alex gently wraps a hand around Hannah’s bicep and leads her one way, while Oz steps forward and gestures me another.
“We have history,” Oz murmurs, a pen and pad of paper in his hands. “This town is too small for me not to know this had nothing to do with you. But the job is the job.”
“It’s fine.”
I follow him along the hall, but I glance over my shoulder to Hannah and watch as she’s led out of sight. As her eyes cling to mine and worry with every step she takes.
When she’s gone, escorted away to be questioned by a cop I know and trust, I follow Oz into our meeting room—and swallow down my nerves when Nix follows us in. We’re family, and he’ll be damned if he just tosses me to the cops and leaves me hanging.
“Alright.” Oz takes a seat and clicks his pen. “How do you know the victim?”
“Met him last night at my sister’s birthday thing.” I sit down across from him and rest my elbows on my knees. “Same party you attended.”
“Right.” He flicks his tongue and writes that down. “Never met him before that?”
“Nope. He seems nice enough, I suppose. And Hannah Sullivan seems to think he’s a pussycat. He have a record?”
Losing a little of his composure, Oz chuckles. “You don’t ask the questions, bud. Where were you this morning when his truck caught fire?”
“Sitting in my chief’s office, discussing the direction of my career. I arrived at the station at about six o’clock.”
He writes those details down. “And before that?”
When I say nothing, he brings his dark eyes up and pauses on mine. “Axel?”
“I slept at Hannah’s last night.” I cast a timid look back to Nix, silently asking for his discretion. “We’re friends. We ended up sleeping in the same house last night.”
“Even though she arrived at the party with a different date?” Oz challenges. “That date being the victim we’re discussing.”
“It wasn’t like that.” I sit tall and drag air deep into my lungs. “He was her date, but they’re not romantic or anything. Hannah and I are working through some stuff, and she wanted someone else on her arm for the party. She introduced us. He seems decent, and before the party ended, he was called away by what we now know was the fire at his sister’s home.”
“And where were you when that fire started?”
“At the same damn party you were at!” I throw my hand up in frustration. “The entire hotel is wrapped in surveillance, Oz. Request the footage, watch it. I didn’t leave the hotel until a few minutes after Hannah did. Which means I was nowhere near the vic’s home, his truck, or his sister’s house, and especially not at the time of the fire. I left the party, went to Hannah’s place. Then I went to mine this morning, showered, and turned up at the firehouse. Every time this dude has been hit, I was somewhere easily verifiable.”
“Alright.” Like he wants to calm shit down, Oz slowly nods and writes notes in his little book. “Fine. So you’re alibied up for both instances, and it can be verified by countless credible witnesses.”
“Yes. Including you, your chief, and most of the firefighters in this town. So now that we’ve cleared that up, talk to me about the dude.” I sit forward in my chair. “Who has he pissed off? Who’s coming for him? And by knowing him, is Hannah in danger?”
“We don’t know yet.” Sliding his pen into his left breast pocket, Oz pushes up to stand and slips the notebook into his back pocket. “It could be entirely coincidental.”
I scoff. “Bullshit.”
“Or it could be over. Whoever is targeting him has crossed a line and turned what was first considered an accidental fire into arson. Two incidents in a short period. That means more eyes on the vic. More patrols keeping watch around town. No fatalities at either scene, which means the perp was looking to spook, not kill. Now they’ve triggered a response they never expected. So maybe they’re gonna bounce away before they get caught.”
“That’s a big maybe, Deputy.” I stand as well and extend my hand for him to shake. “I don’t care much about the dude I met one time for two minutes, even if he seems nice. If he has enemies, that’s on him. But I care about Hannah Sullivan. I care that she’s not caught up in someone else’s mess. So I’m hoping to sort this out and tie it up real fast.”
