by S. Y. Robins
“Hey.” Rob reached over to put one hand over hers. “The firemen are the ones who can put the fire out. So you just had less time to worry, right?”
Emma managed a watery laugh. “God, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” His eyes were very warm. “And this is minor. Just a minor setback.” As they turned the corner and saw the cluster of fire trucks, he gave a low whistle. “Well, I can’t see flames. That’s good, right?”
“That’s…uh, I suppose so.” Emma was out of the car almost before it stopped, running along the street. “Excuse me! Hi.”
“Hi.” One of the firemen waved her over. “Are you the owner?”
“Yes. What happened?”
“Someone poured some gasoline in the back and set it on fire, is what happened.”
“Oh, no….”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I promise.” He beckoned her over to look in the window. “See?”
“I don’t see anything.” Emma squinted at the leather chairs, the red walls, the mirrors. Nothing seemed damaged at all.
“Exactly. It got the back door and some of the tile in the little entry way back there, and it started to melt a desk, but that’s all. Once you get the smell out, everything will be fine.”
“Oh.” Her heart was still pounding. “Wow. I…well, when I heard there’d been a fire…”
“If it had been anywhere else, you’d probably have something a lot worse to deal with right now. But this is Main Street, so someone saw the smoke. But…”
“But?”
“Well, all I’m saying is, whoever did this knew their stuff. And they had a key, because the lock back there isn’t busted.” He shrugged, and walked off as one of the other firefighters called for help with the hose.
“What did he say?” Rob was at her side.
“He said the person who did this had a key.” Emma looked up at him. “A key.”
“And…”
“And only one person other than me has a key to this place.” Emma put her hands in her pockets.
“Oh, my God,” he said, when he realized.
“Exactly. If he couldn’t get me out one way…” She broke off as a police officer came up. “Hello. Ah, it looks like everything’s fine. But they said it was arson, so I’m not sure if I need to file a report, or…”
“Actually, I’m here to ask you about something else.” The policeman looked around himself, a bit uncertain with all the trucks and shouting.
“Oh?”
“Yes. Could you answer a few questions about the murder of Matthew Simons?”
Emma stared at him, mouth hanging open. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Matthew Simons was the man who owned this building.”
“I know that, he was my landlord. But you said…”
The policeman took in her incomprehension and his face grew gentle. “Ma’am, earlier today…Mr. Simons was found murdered.”
4
She was going to faint. The world slid sideways and Emma could only feel Rob’s arm around her and someone yelling to open the door to the salon. When she came to, she was on one of the leather chairs and Rob was cupping her face in his hands.
“Emma? Emma, are you all right?” He looked anguished. “Say something, please say something, baby.”
“They’re after me,” Emma told him.
She saw him cast a worried glance up at the police officer. “Who? Who’s after you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know! But first the woman in front of my apartment, Rob, and now this—“
“Shhh,” he said soothingly. “Shhh. Okay, listen to me. You were with me all day until about an hour ago, right? So we’ve got an alibi. And I was there at your place last night, so you’ve got an alibi for then, too. Em, I know this is scary, but they just need to ask some questions and they’ll figure out it wasn’t you, okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded jerkily and he helped her up, melting away while the officer cleared his throat nervously. This clearly wasn’t how he thought this would be going.
“I just have a few questions, ma’am.”
“Of course.” She was not going to faint again. She might, however, sink through the floor with shame that she’d fainted before. What was she, someone in a romance novel?
“When did you last see Mr. Simons?”
“Um…” Emma thought back. “Three days ago.”
“Really?” This seemed to interest him for some reason.
“Yes, he came here. To the salon. Rob was here with me, he can verify it.”
“I see.” Something in the policeman’s look said he’d be talking about this more later. “And what did you talk about?”
“He came to ask me again about giving up my lease.”
“You wanted to get out of your lease?” the policeman asked sharply.
Seeing him look around, taking in the fire damage at the back of the salon and the trucks still outside, Emma hastened to explain. “No! No. He wanted me to break the lease.”
“And when—wait, what?”
“Yes,” Emma explained earnestly. “About a week ago, he started asking me if I wouldn’t be happier moving the salon across town.”
“Huh.” The policeman scribbled something on the pad of paper. “I, uh…so you and Mr. Simons had been having bad feeling, then?”
“Well, not really.”
“Miss Thomas, why did he ask you to move the salon?”
“I don’t know,” Emma said, waving her hands. “He didn’t say. He never said.”
“Uh-huh.” The policeman’s tone said he clearly thought she was lying to him.
“I really don’t have any idea! Look, I thought he wanted me out because he’d gotten a better offer for the place, but I just said I wanted to be here. We had a lease, he couldn’t throw me out.”
“Hmm. Now, you said the last time you spoke to him was three days ago.”
“Yes.”
“But we show multiple calls between you two in the past three days.”
“Well, yes, but…” His eyes were fixed on her and she could hear how weak her words sounded. “But we didn’t see each other. We hardly even talked.”
“And what did you talk about?”
“We didn’t really, that’s the thing! He just asked if I wouldn’t consider leaving, and I said for the last time, no, I wouldn’t, and he called a few more times after that but I didn’t pick up.” Her voice was rising. “Officer, I swear I—“
“Is this really necessary?” Rob cut in. He was at Emma’s side, a comforting presence, his arm around her as he glared at the policeman.
“Sir…”
“Rob…” Emma bit her lip.
“I’m really sorry, officer, but I can vouch for her whereabouts this whole time, and I saw the conversation where he was asking her to go. She’s had a few shocks in the past few days, and I’m…well, she doesn’t need this right now.”
“And I am sorry, sir. And to you, ma’am. But the thing is…” The man swallowed. “We’ve had two murders here in a week. And unless we can find out who did this, we’re worried that things could go farther.”
“I know that,” Emma hastened to assure him. “And I’m sorry I don’t know anything more. I really am. But I just don’t know who might have done this.”
“All right. We’ll call you if we have any more questions.” He eased something out from a clipboard. “And, uh, this is the form for the arson claim.”
“Thanks.” Emma nodded, watching as he went away. She sighed. “I guess I should go check out the damage.”
“Or you could go home.”
“Rob…”
“Listen. You won’t be able to open tomorrow, anyway. Nine or ten o’clock is probably the earliest you can call any of the people to fix things, right? So just call the people who were scheduled tomorrow, and we’ll come in tomorrow and worry about it then.”
“I…” Emma wavered. He was right, though. “Yeah, okay.”
“Em, just one more thing…�
�
“Yeah?” She knew that look in his eyes. The look that said he was onto her.
“You went by Totally Nails, didn’t you?”
“…Maybe.”
“Em.”
“Okay, yes, I did! But think about it. This is bigger than me, all right? So maybe people think I’m crazy. But I’m learning things. Like, I thought I learned that Gina had nothing to do with the murder.”
“You…thought?” He sounded dubious. “Look, Emma, I haven’t known Gina as long as you, but I just can’t see her stabbing someone.”
“Neither can I! But then that woman died and now Matt’s dead and Rob, who else wants to sabotage all of this? Maybe he couldn’t rent to her because of me, so she killed him and tried to set fire to the studio.”
“She wouldn’t have had time to set fire to it if she was talking with you, right? And…didn’t you say whoever it was had a key?”
“Well, yes, but clearly Matt doesn’t have the key anymore.”
He was just opening his mouth to respond when they heard it: the sound of a key in the lock at the back of the building.
“This way!” Rob grabbed Emma’s hand and they piled into the corner, hiding as they heard the back door creak open. Emma saw the flash of fear in Rob’s eyes, but he held his body curled protectively around hers.
Despite herself, she wrapped her fingers in his coat and leaned her head against his chest. Some boyfriends might have told her she was crazy, or that she shouldn’t care about the murders at all, but he’d been here for her. And he was here now, protecting her.
The steps coming into the salon were tentative. Emma breathed in as quietly as she could, doing her best not to look. Rob leaned his head close to breathe in her ear.
“I think they’ll run away if we startle them.”
Emma nodded. Taking all of her courage, she drew a breath in. “Who’s there?”
The curse was so soft that she couldn’t tell if the voice was male or female. The figure turned and ran, and all Emma caught in the mirrors was the flash of a dark hoodie and jeans.
“Call the police,” she said urgently to Rob.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going after him.” She was wearing sneakers, and she’d been pretty good at sprinting in high school. She could totally do this.
“No way! Em, that’s the person who did this.”
“I know! That’s why we have to follow him. Come on!”
“This is crazy, I hope you know that.” But he was following her out the back of the building, and as they looked, they saw a figure in a hoodie duck around the building at the end of the block. Triumph flooding through her veins, Emma took off after him.
She wasn’t shocked or scared anymore. She was angry. This person had tried to screw her over and they might have killed two other people in the process. She was furious.
They were going to pay.
5
“Hello? Yes! This is Rob Tillman, I’m calling to report a break in at 128 Main Street.” Rob was pulling the cold air into his lungs with great effort, pounding after Emma in his dress shoes. “One person. We’re following them. Yes. We’re turning up James Street.”
“Tell them he had a key!” Emma called over her shoulder.
“He had a—sorry, I’m running—he had a key. Right.” He took the phone down. “Emma! Emma. They say they’ll get him.”
“He’s going to get away!” Emma skidded around the corner, one hand out to steady herself. She could see the person running ahead of them, clothes so bulky that she still couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. Could it be Gina? Would she ever wear something like that?
“Come on, Em! We shouldn’t, it’s dangerous.”
“We have to keep going!” Emma sprinted onwards, pushing herself as fast as she could. The light was fading, and she had to keep her eyes fixed on the figure ahead.
“This is crazy, we don’t know anything about this person, they could kill us!”
“Or they could get away and kill other people!” Emma called back. She reached for Rob’s hand and clutched onto it when he reached out. “Rob, don’t you see? This is bigger than us.”
“Yeah, but you’re the one who might get hurt! I’ve had training, Em, and even I don’t want to see if this guy is dangerous. The police have guns. They’re trained to work as a team.”
“But there are tons of places he could go.” Emma tracked the figure as it ducked down an alleyway. “There, come on. Listen, Rob, maybe this is all just a coincidence, right? Maybe it is. But maybe it’s not. And it’s really beginning to feel like that, like it’s more than just a coincidence.” She could hardly breathe for the cold air. “And I’m scared, but I’m angrier than I am scared. I’m angry that he’s doing this to people and I want to know it—”
And then they came around the corner and the man was waiting for them, sinking into a crouch, hands outstretched.
Emma didn’t pause to think. If she had, she was sure later, she would have done something quite different. As it was, she had no time to think about anything. She just did what her brothers had taught her to do, and she dropped her shoulder and sprinted, knocking into the man’s thighs and bowling him over. She went over onto the pavement with him and rolled, fetching up against the wall of a nearby garage. Nowhere to run.
“Hey!” Rob’s roar filled the space, and their attacker looked around just in time to get a fist to the face.
Emma scrambled away as the two men grappled, dialing her phone with shaking fingers.
“911 emergency response.”
“Hello, yes, I’m in the alley between Point Street and Western Ave, just off of James Street. We caught the intruder we told you about, please come qui—”
A shape hit her from behind and the man tackled her, snarling. Rob hauled him away and Emma stumbled back. She wanted to help. She didn’t want Rob taking the blows that were meant for her. But she didn’t know how to get into the fray without hurting Rob as well as this unknown person.
“Emma, run!”
Like hell. Emma looked around for her phone, and could not spot it in the gathering gloom. With a curse, she tried to find something to serve as a makeshift weapon. She didn’t have time. The man drew a knife and as Rob ducked into a crouch, Emma swung her purse as hard as she could. The man went down like a sack of bricks and Emma kicked the knife away from him.
“Here!” She unwound her scarf hastily and Rob set about tying the man’s hands behind his back.
“What did you have in there?”
“About twenty bottles of nail polish, what else?”
And then he was laughing and she was laughing, too, because this was just too ridiculous, them chasing down an assailant and her hitting him with her purse. They doubled over, clutching their stomachs, and only stopped laughing when the man stirred and lifted his head to glare at them.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you.” Rob had picked up his knife.
Sirens sounded in the distance and the man flinched.
“Who are you?” Emma demanded. “Why were you breaking in?”
The man turned his head away.
“Oh, come on.”
Silence. Emma considered her options.
“Look, I have to know, all right? You murdered that woman, right? And Matt. And tried to burn my shop down. But I don’t know you. So what is it? Why do you hate me?”
Nothing.
“Fine, I’ll call them off if you tell me.”
“Emma!” Rob seemed horrified.
“I have to know,” Emma told him. She crouched down. “You did it all, didn’t you? Why?”
The man stared at her, narrowing his eyes. Finally he shrugged.
“We needed the insurance money from the building. No one was going to buy it. Matt owed too much. I had to show the rest of them I’d do what I needed to do.”
“So you killed him? Wait…” Emma frowned. “Owed too much for what.”
“Matt was part of our ring.” He rolled his
eyes when she didn’t understand. “Coke, all right? He got in over his head and he was pulling me down, too. We needed the money, but he kept insisting you had to get out of the building before we burned it down.”
“That’s why he kept asking me to leave?” That was oddly chivalrous of him.
“Remember why he was in too deep,” Rob advised Emma. “And I wouldn’t take anything this guy says at face value.”
“She said she wanted to know. You think the police are going to let me go? No. So yeah, I’m going to tell her.”
“Then why did you kill the woman outside my apartment?” Emma asked quietly.
For a moment, she thought he was going to deny it. She saw the idea go across his face. If he didn’t admit to it, if she told the police the same story he told… He might get away with one murder charge instead of two. And at that, seeing him not even care about the life he had taken, Emma felt a wave of fury so fierce that she thought she might throw up.
“You tell me the truth,” she said fiercely. The sirens were getting closer. “Or I’ll turn you in, I swear I will.”
“I knew some stuff about you from Matt, that’s all!” The guy was trying to stand. “I thought I’d get you out of the way since he wasn’t going to do it. That’s all, lady. It was just a mistake. I didn’t even know I’d made a mistake until a couple of days later.”
“And?” Emma demanded.
“And what?”
“Aren’t you sorry? Aren’t you at all upset that you killed an innocent woman?” Blood was beating in her ears and she wanted to reach out and shake the man until his teeth rattled. It was cold and her boots were soaking wet, every sensation in eerie clarity, and something like guilt was making her want to cry. “It wouldn’t even have made sense to kill me. If you were so determined to get the insurance money, why wait for me to get out? Why go straight to murder?”
“Because you were going to want to rebuild, weren’t you?” he demanded. “I have to go. You said you’d let me go.”
Emma stood slowly. She looked down at him, there in the mud, and she shook her head.
“No.”
“No? Listen, you—”