Arson & Ache (Surrender to Them 8)

I bet Hannah and the new girl are losing their minds right now.

I continued working on my account until lunch time and decided to go check out my old stomping grounds at the top of Livingston Capital. I rode the elevator to the top floor and I was greeted by eerie silence. It was normally what I would hear when I first arrived in the morning, but I never heard that kind of pin-drop quietness in the middle of the day. Ms. Stone’s door was closed, the light was off, and both of the secretary desks were empty. As

I got closer, I saw that my old desk was redecorated by the new girl, and Hannah’s computer was on, but she was nowhere in sight. The silence was broken by the phone and hearing it interrupt the calm nearly startled me out of my shoes. A second later, Hannah came scurrying from the supply closet and grabbed the phone. She noticed me once she sat down and motioned me over as she took a message and told the caller that Ms. Stone was out of the office.

“Hey!” She hopped up and gave me a hug once the phone call was done. “What brings you to the penthouse suite?”

“I heard that Ms. Stone was out and honestly, I had to see it for myself.” I laughed as I hugged her. “Where’s the new girl?”

“Oh, I sent her to get us some food.” Hannah walked over and sat down behind her desk. “I don’t have the urge to get out of the office for my lunch break today for some reason.”

“I wonder why.” I chuckled and pulled a chair over to sit down. “Maybe you can actually catch up on some work today.”

“Yeah, I’ve done more work with Ms. Stone out of the office than I normally do when she’s here. It’s a lot easier when she’s not piling more on every few minutes.” Hannah nodded and leaned back in her chair. “So, tell me about the new job. Is it amazing?”

“I’ve barely got started, but it’s definitely better than getting yelled at all day. It is pretty nice to have a boss that takes the brunt of the wrath.” I smiled and chuckled.

“I don’t think you ever got the worst of Ms. Stone’s wrath. She seemed to like you a lot from the very beginning.” Hannah’s lips turned to a grin. “That’s why you got the big promotion.”

“She’d probably promote you too if you wanted to do more than answer the phones all day.” I shrugged and motioned towards her desk when the ringing started again.

“I’m happy doing this.” She turned towards the phone and picked it up.

I reached into my purse and pulled out my phone while Hannah tended to another one of Ms. Stone’s clients. Based on what I could overhear, they were less than pleased that Ms. Stone was out of the office. I started looking at the news and saw there was an article on Fireball—but it had a strange headline. It had to be an old one because it said that Fireball was back. Those days were over. I clicked on the headline and then my jaw fell open. It was a new letter from Fireball, and the story said that the police arrested the wrong man. My thoughts immediately went to Kincaid and Donovan. I waved goodbye to Hannah and walked towards the elevators. I didn’t want to create a panic at work, considering that the man who owned the company was one of Fireball’s targets, but I needed to talk to Kincaid or Donovan.

This can’t be real. Oh my god, they have to be losing their minds right now.

Kincaid

“Hello beautiful.” I forced a happy tone, even though there was none inside me when I saw Marissa’s number on the front of my phone.

“Kincaid, I just saw the news article. What is going on?” Marissa’s voice was stricken with panic.

“The article covered most of it.” I exhaled sharply. “The police arrested the wrong guy and Fireball responded. I’m trying to find something that can help at this point, but there’s just—nothing.”

I hate to have to admit to that to myself, much less her.

“Are you okay? Do you need me to bring you some lunch or anything?” I heard her voice get a little more frantic.

“No, we had something delivered. But you may want to call Donovan. Something happened with his father. He’s in surgery—or he might be out now. Donovan was supposed to call, but I haven’t heard from him.” I turned my wrist to look at my watch.

Yeah, he should be out by now. I should check in myself.

“Holy crap. Okay, yeah. I’ll give him a call. Please let me know if you need anything.” Marissa sighed, and I heard her swallow so hard it was audible over the phone. “And please be careful.”

“I won’t be rushing into any fires today, so I’ll be fine. If I figure out who this asshole is, I’ll let the police arrest him.” I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me.

At this point, I don’t even care who arrests him. I just don’t want him to get a chance to hurt anyone else.

I spent all morning digging through the database Detective Lewis provided me, and I had a few suspects picked out, but there was no way to interview them all—not before Fireball intended to do what he promised. What if I did land on the right one? The police wouldn’t be able to hold him. All I would do is tip him off that we were investigating him—that might heighten his desperation. No judge was going to sign off on an arrest warrant after the police slapped the cuffs on the wrong suspect the first time around. We would need evidence, and possibly a confession. Letting Fireball show his face might be the only way we were able to figure out who he was. The problem was that it might be too late by then. I stared at my computer screen and started to feel like a zombie. It seemed like every few clicks added another suspect to my list. If I hadn’t even finished building the list, then I was definitely not going to figure out Fireball’s identity before he did whatever he had planned.

“Any progress?” Chief Vance walked up to my desk—and he had visited me so many times at that point I had lost count.

“No.” I shook my head back and forth.

“Detective Lewis said he’s got every available officer on the case too, but they’re coming up empty.” Chief Vance sighed. “The mayor is threatening to have the lieutenant replaced and demote Detective Lewis.”

“Holy shit.” I blinked in surprise. “I figured he would be pissed off, but that’s taking things to the extreme.”