Beguile her: Laws of Seduction Book 2 (14 page)

The fire marshal clasps his hands together on the table in front of him. “So you cannot think of any enemies. Let’s go through the people you work closest with or are friends with at the firm.”

I list Alex, who I note is a friend from law school, Nora and Patti, and Elizabeth, who had been my supervisor. I think about mentioning James, but decide to lump him in with the Rothschild team. “I’ve only been working here a few weeks.” I remind them. “I haven’t had time to develop that many relationships, working or otherwise.”

Jotting down a few notes, the fire marshal nods. “Then let’s move on to your personal life.”

I interrupt. “Why does this have to be about me? Couldn’t it have been random vandalism?”

“Yes, that is of course a possibility, but it is also quite possible that the arson was directed at you.”

I sit back in my chair feeling defeated. 

“Can you think of anyone in your personal life who might mean you harm?” He pauses waiting for my response before prompting, “Disgruntled boyfriend… jealous girlfriend?”

My eyes are firmly fixed on the fire marshal, but I sense James tensing beside me. “No, no one.”

The fire marshal and Mills look at me
 
as if waiting for me to make some grand revelation. I gaze back at them blandly. The idea that someone from my personal life would do something like this is so abhorrent that I refuse to give it the least bit of credence.

James, who has been silent up until this point, addresses the fire marshal. “If Ms. Hart thinks of anyone, she will be sure to notify you. Now, if that is all…”

The fire marshal continues to stare at me. “We will still need you to substantiate your whereabouts last night.”

James cuts in. “During what period of time are we talking about?”

“We don’t have a definite time when the fire started yet. At this point the time period would be from early yesterday evening until this morning.”

James turns his head in my direction and looks at me. “Ms. Hart?”

I don’t understand the look that James is giving me. Does he want me to tell them I was with him? “Like I told you… I spent the weekend in the Hamptons with a friend, and we drove back yesterday evening. I got home around ten pm.”

“Can your friend corroborate if necessary?”

“Yes, if necessary.”

“What about after ten? Can anyone attest to your whereabouts?”

“No, my roommate wasn’t at home.” Then I remember my phone call with Jett. “Wait, I did speak on the phone with my brother. I’m not exactly sure of the time, but it will be on my phone.” I am not sure what James will think of me talking to Jett, but I don’t look at him.

The fire marshal seems satisfied for the moment. “We may need to get the name of your friend to verify, and if you don’t mind, I’ll have a look at your phone.”

I look over at James, who gives a nod, and I slide my phone over to the fire marshal after typing in the security code. The fire marshal checks some different screens and takes some notes before sliding the phone back to me. 

The meeting finally comes to an end, and Mills walks the fire marshal out. I sit as if rooted to my seat. My office is now a blackened hole, and I’m not sure where I should go. I wonder if my old desk next to Patti and Nora is still available. 

“Lainey,” I look numbly over at James who repeats my name. “Lainey, you should go home.”

“What? I can’t just go home. I have work to do.”

“Lainey,” he says gently. “You are not going to be able to get any work done with the state your office is in. Not to mention that you have suffered a shock.”

“You saw it?” I ask referring to my office.

“Yes….” He stops as if unsure of what to say next. “Come on. You can come back to my office for now.”

“Don’t you have to work? Meet with clients?” I trail off uncertainly.

“I had Melanie rearrange my morning. It will be fine.” Melanie is the assistant that he shares with Dennis Belinsky.  James touches my elbow and I stand a bit unsteadily. “You haven’t even taken off your coat.” 

I feel like a wet, bedraggled cat next to James, who looks razor sharp in a navy blue suit that fits him to perfection. He is wearing a silver tie, and I find that the combination particularly suits him. We move down the hall to his office, and he leads me to his desk chair. Confused, I look at him in question. “It’s the most comfortable chair. Sit down. I’ll go get us some coffee. You look like you can use some.”

I couldn’t disagree with this statement. “Okay. Thanks.” I watch James’s long masculine strides as he leaves his office and closes the door behind him. At that exact moment I hear a cell phone and realize it is not my ring tone. I glance over at James’s desk and see that he has left his phone. Picking it up, I think I might be able to catch him when I notice that the caller is Elizabeth. Why would she be calling him on this phone? She must be calling him about a case they are working on together I reassure myself. I am still holding the phone in my hand as it stops ringing. I can’t resist looking down at the screen and see he has several missed calls. Feeling slightly guilty, I swipe my thumb across the screen. Most of the calls appear to be from Elizabeth. I know I ought to put the phone back down because I do not want to be the snooping girlfriend, but my curiosity gets the better of me. I want to see if Elizabeth has been texting him as well. Opening the text message screen, I am shocked to see how many messages he has from Elizabeth. Why hasn’t he said anything? Going to the most recent I read the opening lines.

After 10 pm is fine. I’ll tell the doorman to let you up. xx

Hastily, I set the phone back down on the desk and consider what I have just read. Did James go to see Elizabeth last night after dropping me off? I try to think back to last night when we had said our goodbyes. We had both been tired, but other than that nothing jumps out at me. Everything had seemed pretty normal. Could James be stringing both Elizabeth and me along? I only had James’s word that he and Elizabeth are not an item as she so obviously believes. I shake my head in denial unable to accept that James could be seeing both of us. That would mean that I was playing right into his hands by insisting that we keep our relationship a secret at the office. I couldn’t even ask him if he had seen Elizabeth last night without admitting that I had been snooping around on his phone. Way to go Lainey. Could this feeling of affinity that I felt with James be one sided and all in my head. I have never felt so intensely about someone before. What if I am imagining things that aren’t even there? I think of Jett’s phone call last night. Was James a master manipulator? Doubt begins to creep over me. 

If James saw Elizabeth last night, does that mean she has an alibi for the fire, and if so, why hadn’t James said anything unless he was trying to keep his meeting with Elizabeth a secret from me? What if they had set my office on fire together? My mind shied away from this scenario. Now I am thinking crazy, right? What reason would they have to do something like that? I couldn’t believe that I was even letting myself think this way. The office door opens and James walks in as gloriously handsome as ever carrying two cups of coffee and a paper bag from the deli next door. As he sets the coffees down on the desk, my phone rings. I fish it out of my bag and see that it is a call from Jett. Looking into James’s beautiful blue eyes, I slide my thumb over my phone to accept the call.

Dear Readers,

I hope you enjoyed reading James and Lainey’s tumultuous love story. Follow this link for the third installment, Dazzle her.