Donuts and Handcuffs

“I’m sure they teach you to follow the money when you’re looking for answers. Whoever has the most to gain from that property likely set the fire.”

“Or had their minions do it,” Daniel said, then his jaw clenched. “Like the hardware store fire several years ago.”

“That was before I moved here,” I said, then quickly remembered I never wanted to talk about me moving. “What hardware store?”

“It was a little family shop that had been in the neighborhood forever. Business wasn’t great anymore since the bigger chains were moving into this little nook. So the family took out a ton of insurance. On Christmas Day, if you can believe it, the son and two of his friends went to burn it down, risking the whole neighborhood. The son was injured, and one of his friends was killed.”

“Good grief,” I said. “What the hell?”

“Yeah. And the same family still owns the condos that were built on that spot four years ago. It was actually the first new housing project in this area. They named the building after the mother, Carmeletta.”

“Well, she sure raised some evil people, didn’t she?”

Daniel looked down suddenly. “People don’t always take after their families,” he said quietly.

“I agree with that a thousand percent. But in that case...” I shook my head while rolling my eyes, then quickly poured his coffee. “Snacks today?”

“Nah, the whole station is in a lousy mood.”

“Wouldn’t food help?”

His thick eyebrows raised. “Miss Bailey, are you up-selling your customer?”

I choked back a laugh. “I’d like to think I was that clever, but no. I was honestly just thinking of cheering people up.”

Glancing out the window, I saw thick, heavy clouds headed our way. “It’s the air pressure,” I said. “As soon as the rain hits, watch the mood of the room. Everyone will brighten up a bit.”

The shop was still empty, so I didn’t mind when Daniel came over to kiss my temple. “You truly are clever, Bailey.”

I wrapped an arm around his waist in a little half hug. “I just read a lot.”

His lips nuzzled my ear. “You smell so sweet.”

“Cookies.”

“You’re very sexy, do you know that?”

As my lungs seemed to forget their rather important job for a moment, I haltingly whispered, “I know nothing of the sort.”

He kissed me for a split second before straightening up, trailing his fingers down my back. “I’ll refrain from telling you how sexy you are in front of the unicorn and that weird frog lamp, but next time we hang out, it might come up.”

Daniel flashed me a grin as he left, leaving me with a racing heart, and tingling skin. He really wanted me. I wanted him so badly I couldn’t think straight. But I was going to have to think straight as an arrow if I was going to sort out this neighborhood arsonist before they struck again.

CHAPTER EIGHT

It took me a few minutes for my rampant sexual desire to calm down. It was almost painful to admit how much I needed to be closer to Daniel. But after a few minutes of slow breathing, my adrenaline rush turned to fear for my new neighborhood.

Grabbing my phone, I searched for details. It didn’t take long for me to discover that the owners of the Armstrong apartment building were also the owners of the Carter building. That was just a bit too much of a coincidence.

As much as I loved this city, there seemed to be far too many ways for building owners to change the rules. If there were bylaws in place that prevented anything from being built higher than ten stories, they would simply apply for a twenty-story building. Then they would wheel and deal until the fourteen-story building they really wanted was approved.

Heritage buildings were often burned to the ground or declared structurally unsafe so that tearing them down and rebuilding new condos seemed like the only logical option.

And kicking out long-term tenants because of “smoke damage” or “electrical issues” was used to jack up rents with new tenants all the time.

It was positively disgusting. Yet there was nothing that the authorities could do because the people who really pulled the strings were usually drinking buddies with the evildoers.

There was no way for anyone to complain. Anyone who went to the media was either laughed at or ignored.