by Desiree Holt
“I’ll take you up on,” Dan said. “My stomach’s been sending me signals. That diner right near the firehouse work for you?”
She nodded. “I eat there a lot. I think they have the best burgers in town.”
“Done.”
“Okay. Good.”
The drive to the station was a short one and they parked at the curb in front.
“I’ll run these up to the lab if you want,” Dan said, locking he car. “You can get us a table or a booth.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’d better hand carry these babies myself.” Every now and then Dan handed over evidence for her but she was so itchy and antsy about these fires she wasn’t letting anything out of her hands until they’d caught whoever was doing this.
“Are you saying you don’t trust me?” His tone of voice was only half joking.
“Not at all. But this is my job and I need to make sure I have total chain of custody.” She frowned at him. “You can understand that right? You have the same thing.”
“I do, and you’re right.” Any resentment or irritation disappeared form his face. “I’ll take care of the booth. Meet you in a few.”
Randi was very specific when she logged the nylon bags in with Tran.
“Run every test possible, to determine if any of the accelerants or ILS compounds are related/ If one could appear as another or mask another. I’ll be doing the burn patterns again in a little while.”
“Randi, you’re going to kill yourself,” he cautioned, “but I know you. You’ll run full out until you get this solved. That’s what makes you so good.”
“Thanks for that.” She paused. “When do you think you’ll have something for me?”
“The captain has said to make this a priority so tomorrow at the latest.”
“Good. And thanks. A lot. Really.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Tran assured her. “I want to get this bastards as much as you do.”
*****
“How goes it?”
Noah looked up from his cell hone as Jeff dropped into the seat across the table from him.
“Better than I figured, not as good as I’d like.” He gave his friend a rueful grin. “About the way it usually goes.”
The waitress came by to take Jeff’s drink order and leave them menus. Noah had chosen to meet at the River Walk, the number one tourist attraction in Texas and a place he had always loved. Paved walkways wound around on both sides of the narrow San Antonio River, lines with restaurants and shops and other business that were tourist-oriented. Casa Rio, where the two men were having lunch, was the first place he’d ever taken Randi. They had come back frequently and today he wanted to relive those memories as well as feel the connection. He had a lot of work to do to repair his relationship with her and he hoped this place would inspire him.
They made small talk while they studied the menus, then ordered lunch. The mechanics out of the way, Jeff leaned forward with questioning look on his face.
“Okay, give. I want a report.”
Noah set his cell phone down. “Sorry, just looking for a text. Well, not a whole lot to tell although I have what could turn out to be a very good lead if I could put the pieces together. I need to see a couple more people this afternoon.”
“That’s terrific, but I really want the dirt on you and Randi. That text last night that you were leaving and taking her home really ramped up my curiosity.”
Noah laughed. “What, are we in high school or something? I’m not into gossip.”
“I don’t want gossip.” Jeff’s face lost the smile, replaced by a sober expression. “I want to know if last night went well. If there’s a chance you can get your head out of your ass and get back together with her.”
“Oh. Well. That.” Noah leaned back and blew out a breath.
“Yeah, that. Give.”
Noah rubbed his jaw, trying to find the right words. “Let’s say I think it could be a good possibility.”
“Wow. That’s about as noncommittal an answer as I’ve ever heard.”
“That’s because I don’t have another one.” He swallowed some of his cold drink. “Last night was great, but I want more than one night for her. And I want her to know I’m there for her. That she’s very important to me.”
“And have you come to terms with where the two of you would live and what she’s chosen as a career?”
“Where we’d live is no longer a problem. I spoke to my assignment editor before I left New York. I’m solid enough at the news agency plus we’re such an electronic world that I can relocate if I want to. Once a month meetings in New York and that’s it.”
“And the other?” Jeff pushed.
Noah blew out a breath. “That’s all on me. If I want her—and I do—I have to figure out how to live with what she does for a living and not make her miserable over it.”
“At least she’s not running into active fires any more,” Jeff pointed out.
“But some of these firebugs are dangerous,” Noah objected. “I’ve heard stories, too, about investigators going into buildings and the arsonist setting another fire to get rid of them.”
“She could get killed in an auto accident just as easily,” Jeff told him. “Maybe if you talked to her about her job, got the particulars so you understood it better?”
Noah shrugged. “Maybe.” No maybe about it.
“So what’s up with your story?”
They paused while the waitress delivered their plates and they took a moment to sample a few bites of food.
Noah washed his food down with a swallow of iced tea and cleared his throat.
“I stumbled over something when I was at city hall trying to chase down who the owners of the various properties were and if there is any connection.”
“See there?” Jeff poked a tortilla chip loaded with guacamole at him. “Randi could have helped you there. She and Dan have been all over it. They got nada.”
“Ah, but they were looking for the wrong things.” He popped his own loaded chip in his mouth ad crunched thoughtfully, watching Jeff’s face.
“Okay.” His friend made a ‘come on’ gesture with his hand. “Give.”
“Do you know those properties are all adjacent to areas that are about to be rezoned a combination of residential and commercial? The plan is for a combination of retail, offices , restaurants and condos. High end. If you look at a map you’ll see each complex is at the edge of an area being redeveloped.”
Jeff let out a slow whistle. “You’re shitting me.”
“Not even a little.” Noah took a bite of tamale, chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. “If a developer approached the owners of that land they’d get a hell of a lot more than they would by just rebuilding the apartments. Assuming they could, that is.”
Jeff frowned. “But the city or county or whoever has jurisdiction can’t just arbitrarily rezone parcels of land and tell people they have to get out, can they?”
“No.” Noah shook his head. “That’s true. First of all the rezoning request ahs to be consistent with the long range plans of the governing body, which in this case it would.”
A look of anger washed over Dan’s face. “But the owners can’t simply tell the tenants to get out, even if they tried to relocate them.”
Noah nodded. “Right. Besides which, it would cost money they don’t want to spend or maybe don’t have. They’ve already given relocation stipends to those tenants burned out by the fire. If they damage the complex sufficiently and the tenants are informed they don’t intend to rebuild…”
“And they don’t want to live in an unsafe place with the rubble from burned out buildings,” Dan went on for him, “they can move on their own, find other places. Cheaper for the owners to give everyone relocation money so they can move forward with their plans. And the owners are free to have the remaining units knocked down, the rubble cleared and sell the land for high dollars to the developers.”
“Got it in one.”
“Well, shit.�
�� He frowned. “Wait a minute. When were those apartments bought by the current owners? And wouldn’t they have to have had notice that this was happening?”
“They would,” Noah agreed. “This particular long range plan was adopted by the council three years ago.”
“Three years?” Dan almost shouted the words. “Three fucking years?”
Noah thought it was a damn good thing it was so noisy on the River Walk. Otherwise people would be staring at them and trying to overhear whatever conversation inspired such expletives.
“Keep it down, guy. We don’t want to broadcast this.”
“So here’s the thing. Did you find out who else knew about the plan, since it hasn’t been announced yet.”
“Of course not.” Noah flapped a hand at him. “If words gets out before they’re ready, property owners will jack the prices up higher than the Hemisphere Tower.”
The two men looked at each other for a long, heavy moment.
“Some people have been very clever here,” Dan said at last. “It burns my ass to think a cop is involved.”
“Here are some questions for you.” Noah pointed at him. “One. How did they find the right cop to tap for this? Two. How did they know about this long range plan? And three, who is going to do all the legal maneuvering necessary to cover their tracks and negotiate with the new developers?”
Jeff chewed thoughtfully on an enchilada, his forehead creased in thought.
“I hate to say this, but there is a cop or two that I know can be bought, although they’re so obvious you should probably write them off.”
“You’re right. It’s the ones who don’t come readily to mind I’m interested in. This is going to take a lot more digging because it’s obvious a great deal of planning and a lot of money went into this.”
“Watch yourself,” Jeff warned. “If these guys get wind you are on to them they’ll do anything to protect what they’ve got going on. Why don’t you let me nose around a little. Listen to cop shop talk.”
“You don’t expect them t discuss it where people can hear them, do you?” Noah wanted to know.
“Please. I didn’t make detective because I have no brains. Trust me. I’m a trained investigator. Let me investigate.”
“Okay,” Noah agreed at last. He paused and took a long swallow of his drink. “Here comes the hard part.”
“Uh oh. I have a feeling I’m not gonna like this.”
“You won’t, especially considering our earlier conversation.”
“Spill it.”
“I need to find a way to get Randi off this case. These people are dangerous and she could get hurt.”
“Jesus, guy, do you never learn?” Jeff raked his fingers through his short hair. “Enough already.”
“I can’t help it. I want to keep her safe from these people.”
“Did we not just have a discussion about this?” Jeff demanded. “Randi will be royally pissed if you try to talk her into stepping back. This is onetime you have to suck it up.”
“But these people are dangerous,” he reminded his friend. “With this much money involved anything goes.”
“She’s not going to put herself in a dangerous situation,” Jeff insisted. “The best thing you can do is figure out who this is as fast as you can so the danger goes away.” He signaled for the check. “Let’s keep in frequent contact. I want to make sure you don’t get screwed over.”
“My man, I could not have said it better myself.” He studied Noah across the table. “I’ll see what I can find out. You figure out how to cement your relationship with the beautiful Randi.”
*****
Noah would have been a lot more alarmed if he knew that another set of circumstances had led Randi to dig up the same information he had discovered. While the lab began new tests on the samples she took to them that morning she decided, before going back to diagraming, she would head to city hall. She had not said anything to Dan, wanting to look into this before she laid it out there, just in case she was chasing a wild hair. However, it had suddenly occurred to her that if she dug around in the zoning commission and the tax collectors office she might find another thread to pull in this situation that had her thoroughly stumped. And she did not like being stumped.
Every one of the owner reps she and Dan had questioned, either separately or together, had been polite and anxious to resolve the matter but there was something about their attitude. It seemed to be the same with everyone and she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what it was that bothered her. They did everything right. Maybe too right, she thought.
Funny, she thought, how some of the best pieces of information dropped into your life by the oddest set of circumstances. Luck certainly played a big part in life, she thought. After Dan dropped her back at the firehouse she left to do a couple of quick errands and stopped at a convenience store for gas and coffee. The man in front of her at the cash register looked familiar and it drove her nuts that she couldn’t remember who he was. Back in her car, driving on the Interstate, it finally clicked into place. She didn’t know his name but she recalled he was a city engineer.
A month ago she’d been at city hall, waiting for an elevator and he’d been standing there talking in low tones to another man. She was blessed with unusually acute hearing so pieces of their conversation had d rifted to her. He was telling the man he was with about a major redevelopment project already three years in the planning, and cautioning that person not to mention anything. It was all still ultra secret, until it was time for the initial announcement. Not, the man, said, until all the land had been acquired.
When she saw him today it had triggered the incident hidden deep in her memory bank until she was able to pull it out. She immediately hustled over to city hall and spent a couple of hours digging through information. Each fact she uncovered only angered and shocked her even more. She was appalled at how callous some people could be, and how totally devious. When she had as many of the facts together as she could she went back to her car and sat in the parking lot while she texted Noah. She wanted to run this past him before she tried to follow the trail. It was kind of lick one of his stories, and he’d have a better analysis of it than she would.
“Can u tlk?”
“Yes. What’s up?”
“I have new info on fires. Urgent. Meet?”
Instead of another text, her phone rang and his name came up on the screen.
“You could have just texted me,” she said, grinning, “I wanted to tell you—“
“Where are you right now?” When she told him he said, “Go home. I’ll meet you there.”
“But I have to—“
“Now,” he snapped, and disconnected the call.
Well, alrighty then, Mr. High Handed. It appeared Noah Cutler hadn’t changed that much at all. She cursed him steadily and colorfully as she headed toward her house. She debated telling Dan she’d be away from her office for a while. They had planned to meet there shortly. But Noah just sounded so, so, what? Well, whatever it was, she’d give him a damn piece of her mind.
He was waiting for her in his rental car when she pulled into her driveway and hit the garage door opener. She was barely out of her own car and heading toward the door to the house when he as right next to her, his hand at her elbow.
“Inside,” he said, his voice still gruff and sharp.
“Noah, what the hell?” She opened the door and then they were inside.
He urged her over to the couch. “Sit. We have to talk. I want you tell me whatever it is you found out and don’t leave out one single detail.”
She sat because it was easier than fighting with him ad stared at him. Tension lined his face, more than she’d ever seen before. “Noah, what is this all about? And why are you ordering me around? And why did we have to meet here? We could have gone for coffee and talked.”
“Because I don’t want to be overheard.”
He began pacing back and forth in front of her, rubbing his neck, a muscle twitch
ing in his jawline.
“Tell me everything,” he said. “And just this once, please do not give me a hard time.”
Now she was getting nervous. “Will you please tell me what the fuck is going on?”
“Okay, okay. Geez.” She took a deep breath and told him her story, including what had led her to it to begin with. “So that’s it,” she finished. “I know you do all these complicated exposure stories, so I thought I could bounce it off of you. Then you could tell me if I’m crazy or I should pursue it.”
“Do not pursue it. Period.” He blew out a long breath. “Do. Not.”
“Okay.” Now she was getting madder. “Are you going to tell me what’s got that bug up your ass and why you think you can dictate to me? This is my case. I only wanted to know if you think my idea is crazy or far out or whatever.”
“Fine. Okay.” He pulled himself together with obvious effort. “Let me have it.”
Irritated as she was, she still kept it together while she explained her findings and how she got there. She might be pissed off at him but the case still came first.
“You’re pretty damn sharp,” he said. “You know that?”
“You sound like you’re surprised.” She was getting angry again.
“Not at all.” He gave her a half-hearted grin. “I love your brains. And you really hit the nail on the head. Let me tell you what I’m working on and it fits right in with what you’ve got.”
She sat there and listened while he laid out his own research for her, and explained where the threads he’d tugged had led him.
“These people are dangerous, Randi,” he told her when he finished. “They don’t mind killing people to get what they want.”
“But no one died in the fires,” she reminded him.
“Because they chose empty buildings. None of these apartments complexes was fully leased.”
“There were people in the secondary buildings that partially burned,” she reminded him.
“An unfortunate situation,” he told her. “Luckily for them, they got out in time. But I don’t think these greedy bastards would have cared one way or another.”