Burn for You (34 page)

Chief Bines motioned for her to sit. “Russo, I’d like you to meet Detective McAvoy.”

The detective held out his hand and Victoria took it, noticing that he didn’t hold her eye contact long. What was making this Detective McAvoy so uncomfortable?

“I asked Detective McAvoy to look into some things, and I’d like you to feel free to answer his questions openly and honestly.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Good. I knew you would.” The chief got up from his chair and maneuvered his heavy frame around the desk. “All right. Then I guess I’ll leave you to it, Detective.”

Chief Bines made his exit while Victoria studied Detective McAvoy. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and ran a hand through his auburn hair.

“Can you tell me what this is about, Detective McAvoy?” she asked, growing more anxious with each passing second.

“Please, just call me Mac. And yes, I’d be happy to explain.” He looked anything but happy as he sat down in the chief’s desk chair and sighed heavily. “Chief Bines has been speaking with our police chief about conducting an internal investigation, and I’ve volunteered to do it.”

“An internal investigation? Who’re you investigating?” But even as she asked the question, she already knew the answer. There was only one police officer who she would have any information on.

“Jason Meadows.”

“And what exactly is he being investigated for?”

“It’s not clear yet.”

She laughed. “No disrespect, Detective, but that’s a load of bull. If it wasn’t clear, there’d be nothing to investigate. What is it that you think he’s done?”

“I don’t have an opinion on what he may or may not have done. My job is to collect the facts.”

“How can you not have an opinion? You visited him in the hospital. Aren’t you his friend? Or do you just like the hospital cafeteria food?”

“Look, I happen to like Jason—”

“Then why the hell are you investigating him?”

“I volunteered because I didn’t trust anyone else to do it
properly
.” He leaned over the desk and pointed to his notepad. “This investigation will be done by the book. No one will have any reason to doubt any of the conclusions drawn, and if Meadows is free and clear, that will come to light.”

“Free and clear of what? What are you talking about?”

“I just need to ask you a few questions.”

“Fine. What do you want to know?”

“Do you know where Jason is right now?”

“No, do you?” ’Cause she’d sure love to know.

“When was the last time you saw Jason?”

She shifted in her seat, crossing one leg over the other. There was only one reason for Mac to be so secretive about what he thought Jason had done. He didn’t want to give her an opportunity to make up an alibi for him. “Define
saw
.”

“You know what I mean by
saw
, Ms. Russo.”

“Well, the thing is…I slept over at his house, and we slept—literally slept—together, but when I woke up he was already gone.” Aaaand she’d just lied to a police officer. What the hell was she doing?

“You slept—literally slept—together?” Mac repeated.

“That’s what I said, yes.”

“That’s interesting.”

Annoyed, Victoria uncrossed her legs. “Why is that interesting?”

“Jason can’t sleep with someone else in the room. Ever. He was supposed to room with Daniels at the Police Academy but Daniels said Jason locked himself in the lounge and slept alone in a chair each night.”

She laughed, trying to appear as if he hadn’t just tilted her world on its side. Knowing what she did about Jason’s past, it made painfully perfect sense that he wouldn’t be able to relax enough to sleep if someone else was in the room. “Well, he doesn’t have a problem sleeping with me.” Sort of true. She’d stayed in the hospital with him and he’d slept there. Fitfully, yes, but he’d slept.

“I see. So, he was there when you went to bed?”

Technically, yes. She was
sitting
on the bed when Jason left, and other than a trip to the bathroom, she’d stayed there the rest of the night…so…“Yes, he was there when I went to bed. I have a vague memory of him leaving shortly before I had to get up.” One half-truth and one all-out lie. She may have to go to confession for this one.

“And what time was it when you woke up?”

Again, one had to sleep before one could wake up, but she could rephrase and still tell the truth. “I got out of bed just before six in the morning.”

Mac was silent for a moment, his dark eyes boring into her. “Ms. Russo, I’m sure you know that giving false information could lead to charges of obstruction.”

Victoria stayed silent and returned Mac’s assessing gaze.

He sighed. “All right. Just one more question. How would you describe Jason’s mood the last time you saw him?”

“I don’t see how this is relevant.”

“Was he upset about anything? Had the two of you had an argument?”

A horrible thought occurred to her and her stomach floated up to her throat. “Are you asking this because…Did you find….Is he okay?”

“I’m sorry.” Mac gentled his tone. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I don’t have any reason to think he’s hurt, but to be honest, I haven’t been able to locate him, and I really need to talk to him.”

“Can you please tell me what’s going on?” she asked, her voice raw.

Mac nodded. “There was another fire early this morning.”

“What? Where?”

“Not far from Jason’s townhome. And there are some concerns—”

“What happened? How bad was it?”

“It was a small fire, easily put out. It happened at a Catholic church.”

“A small fire? It could’ve been an accident—a candle. These types of things happen all the time. You can’t possibly think Jason was involved.”

“There are concerns,” Mac said again. “Did you know that Jason wasn’t particularly interested in this arson investigator position? He took it because he was told it was an opportunity for him to prove himself.”

“So?”

“So, he’s had an unusually large number of opportunities to prove himself. More serious arsons in three months than we usually see.”

“And you think he’s behind the fires? So that he can look good?”

“
I
don’t think that, but that is a concern some people have.”

“Which people? Because, honestly, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. He hasn’t closed any of those three cases. If he was trying to make himself look good, he’s not doing a stellar job.”

“That’s a good point.”

“Hmph.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she watched Mac jot some notes on his pad.

He clicked his pen, returned it to his pocket, and met Victoria’s gaze. “I appreciate your time, Ms. Russo. And I hope you’ll feel free to contact me if you recall anything that might be important.”

Victoria nodded once and then rose to leave.

“And you’ll let me know if you see him, won’t you?” Mac asked.

“Sure.” Although, it seemed unlikely at this point that Jason wanted to be seen by her. “I’ll let you know if you let me know.”

The detective offered his hand and nodded, his smile sympathetic. “That’s a deal.”

* * *

The coffee at the PD sucked. The kind of bitter swill that could tear a stomach up. Not that Jason’s stomach was in the greatest condition to start with.

He wasn’t supposed to be back at work yet because of his hand, but they couldn’t keep him from doing a little light duty, and he was desperate for something to do. Today he was running criminal history checks on every parent who had a kid at the daycare center. It was scraping the bottom of the barrel, but at least it’d keep his mind off other things.

“Would it fucking kill you to answer your phone?” Mac strode into the break room, looking as tense as if he’d had a rod securely wedged up his ass.

“Sorry, I didn’t have my phone with me last night.”

“Well, that’s—” Mac glanced down at Jason’s bandaged hand. “How’s your hand?”

“Hurts like a son of a bitch but they tell me that means it’s healing.”

“That’s good.”

“So, what are you all bent out of shape about? Why were you trying to call me?”

“There was a fire at about five-thirty this morning.”

“What? How bad? Where was it?”

“Not terrible. It was St. Athanasius church. The building is going to need a lot of cleanup but it’s not a total loss.”

“But this is too early. This doesn’t fit the pattern.”

“Probably not related to your serial arsonist.”

“Shit.” Jason dumped his empty Styrofoam cup in the trash. “Give me ten minutes to get my gear.”

“Don’t bother.”

“What?”

“You didn’t answer your phone, man. Why didn’t you answer your damn phone?”

“What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that you seem to have made some enemies in the fire department, and they’re talking to the chief.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Apparently, an unnamed firefighter went to Chief Bines with concerns about the uptick in serious arson cases since you’ve taken over as arson investigator.”

“Son of a bitch. I bet I know exactly who said that. Fucking piece of shit Flaherty.”

“What’s Flaherty got against you?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Well, I’m going to need to hear it.”

“It’s none of your goddamn business, Mac.”

“Chief Bines made it my business. He’s asked for an internal investigation.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No, he went to the police chief yesterday with his concerns, and in an epically bad coincidence, you picked today to be MIA during a fucking fire.”

“What are you saying? That they’re looking at me for this now?”

“Specifically,
I’m
looking at you. I’ve been assigned to the investigation.”

“An internal investigation? This is fucking bullshit.”

“I know. But Jason, you know the only way to prove your innocence is for me to do a thorough, by-the-book investigation. And that means I need to ask you a few questions.”

“Prove my innocence? What the hell happened to innocent until proven guilty?”

“Welcome to the real world, my friend.”

Jason sighed and took a seat, resting his injured hand on the break room table. At least if Mac was the one asking the questions, he could feel confident that he’d get a fair shake. Mac was smart, meticulous in his investigations, and known for his honest integrity. “Fine. Let’s do this.”

Mac turned a chair backwards and straddled it across the table from Jason. “First of all, why didn’t you have your phone last night, and where were you?”

“I left my house in a bit of a rush. I forgot to grab my phone.”

Mac grabbed a notepad and pencil from the edge of the table and started writing. “And where did you go?”

“To a friend’s house.”

“Which friend?”

The only one he had. “Preston St. James. He lives in Lincoln Park.”

“You drove there?”

“Yes.”

Mac looked up from his notes. “So, you remembered your keys but not your phone?”

“I told you, I left in a hurry.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Mac shook his head and signaled Jason to keep talking.

“Look, man. I honestly don’t fucking know. I was…I was talking to Victoria…and…”

“You had a fight?”

“Yes. No. It wasn’t a fight. Look, it’s complicated. And personal. It’s not relevant.”

“It is if it affected your emotional state. It’s relevant if it could’ve given you a motive to do something destructive.”

He’d done something destructive all right. He’d walked out on the best thing to ever happen to him, and he still didn’t completely understand why. How could he explain to Mac or to Victoria—or to anyone for that matter—the panic he’d felt when he left his house last night?

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know what to say, man. I just had to get out of there. I needed space.”

Mac nodded and waited another beat. Jason was sure he wanted to press the issue, but he didn’t have anything more to say.

After Jason’s silence, Mac asked, “So, you left and went to this Preston’s house?”

“Yes.”

“And what time was that?”

“I don’t know. Around sunset, I guess.”

“And was Victoria already asleep when you left?”

“No, why?”

“How long were you at Preston’s house?”

“Not long. He kicked me out shortly after I got there.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t care for my ‘accusatory tone’ and I believe he called me an ‘emotionally stunted fool’.”

“So, you argued with Preston as well?”

“It was an all-around shitty night.”

“And where did you go after Preston kicked you out?”

“Nowhere. I slept in my car on the street in front of his house until I came into work.”

“Would Preston be able to corroborate this?”

“I’m not sure, but his office window overlooks the street. It’s possible he knew I was out there.”

Mac nodded, still writing on his pad.

“I didn’t set a fire at any church last night, Mac. And you know that. The longer I have to sit here answering your questions, the less time I can spend finding the person who did. Or the person behind these other incidents.”

“That’s all I’ve got for now. Until further notice, I’m investigating this morning’s fire. Just so there’s no conflict of interest—”

“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m the arson investigator—”

“And you have bigger fish to fry. Focus your energy where it’s needed. September twenty-seventh will be here before we know it.”

“Oh, really? They’re not sidelining me from that case too? I’m shocked.”

“They’re not. Yet. So, play nice.” Flipping his notebook shut, Mac got up from the table but hesitated by the door. “Look, Meadows. I know it’s not my business, but I think you should know…Victoria…”

“Yes?” Was she okay? Had Mac talked to her?

“I questioned her this morning after Chief Bines told me she’d been seeing you.”

“And?”

“She gave you an alibi.”

Slowly, Jason stood up from the table. “She did what?”

* * *

In the elevator on the way up to her apartment after her twenty-four hour shift, Victoria thumbed through the text messages on her phone. One from her mother, asking how Jason was recovering. Another from Camille, also asking how Jason was doing.