Theirs to Keep

The voice came from Karissa, who looked like she’d been through a war. Head to toe she was covered in soot, her red dress gashed all the way open on one side. Her hair — which had been so pretty at the beginning of the night — was a particularly spectacular disaster.

“You look like hell,” Bryce joked.

“Thanks.”

“I mean your hair—”

“Wasn’t set up for a night of dancing and firefighting,” she growled dismissively. Turning again, her eyebrows narrowed as eyes locked on mine. “What did you mean by significant?”

I tried spitting out the taste of the flames, but eventually realized it was a futile effort. All of a sudden I wanted my toothbrush.

“I mean we got here just as the whole thing started,” I said. “And they didn’t light the house, so—”

“Thank God,” muttered Bryce.

I nodded my agreement before continuing. “So to me that means they weren’t trying to burn the place down.”

“Just the construction materials,” said Camden. “They were trying to stop us.”

“Or slow us down,” Bryce agreed.

I shrugged noncommittally. “Or maybe they were just trying to send us a message.”

Karissa seemed to consider all three possibilities before answering. “So what’s the message?”

“Fuck if I know.”

“Maybe the message itself is ‘fuck you?’” Bryce theorized cheerily. He continued smiling until Camden shot him a dirty look.

“So… got any enemies?” Karissa coughed.

She asked the question professionally, but with the slightest hint of something more. Almost exactly like Peter Falk, on the old television series Columbo.

“Not that we know of,” I replied.

“Not that you know of?” she repeated. “That sounds pretty specific.”

“Well if I didn’t know about them,” I snapped, “how I could I even tell you?”

She backed off, and I felt suddenly guilty. She was only trying to help.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “It’s just… well…”

“You’re on edge,” she finished for me. “Totally understandable.”

“What about cameras?” Bryce suddenly blurted. “Did we have any cameras on the worksite?

“No,” Karissa said sadly. “They weren’t in the budget.”

“Well they are now,” Camden sneered.

We stood in silence for a few moments, surveying the damage. The burned pallet would be unusable, but that was the least of our problems.

“Hey,” I asked abruptly, turning on Karissa. “Where the hell did you get that fire extinguisher?”

Her shoulders raised in a shrug. “The trunk of my car.”

Camden chuckled. Bryce swore something under his breath.