Chapter 16 - Fire in the Records Room
Flames climbed the Birch Twelve office building like they had been waiting behind the walls.
Roman arrived to find firefighters stretching hoses across the street. A third-floor window exploded outward, showering glass over two parked cars.
“Where's Mara?” he asked an officer.
“Inside with two investigators. They went up before the fire was reported.”
Roman started toward the entrance. A fire captain caught his shoulder.
“No.”
“My people know that building.”
“Then tell me what I need to know from out here.”
Roman forced himself to think. Birch Twelve had rented the third floor of an old printing warehouse. The stairwell on the east side had been sealed during renovations, but a freight elevator shaft connected the lower floors.
“There's a service stair behind the loading bay,” he said. “It's not on the new plans. It exits near the roof.”
The captain passed the information to a rescue team. Roman waited under the harsh white lights of an emergency truck, every minute stretching until it hurt.
His phone buzzed. Elena.
“Are you at the fire?”
“Yes.”
“You aren't going inside, are you?”
“I tried.”
“Roman.”
“The captain said no.”
“Good. For once, listen to someone who doesn't work for you.”
He let out a breath that almost became a laugh.
Then her voice softened. “Maisie asked me something. She wanted to know why you helped us when everyone says you're a bad man.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I said grown-ups aren't one thing forever. They're the things they choose, especially when choosing costs them.”
A firefighter emerged carrying an injured investigator. Another followed with Mara, soot on her face and an evidence bag tucked under her coat.
Roman ran to meet them but stopped when the medics began their work.
Mara pulled off her oxygen mask long enough to speak.
“The servers are gone. Somebody poured accelerant through the copy room.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Something better than the servers. A signed bank instruction. Victor was draining disaster-repair funds into an account he could access after the company collapsed.”
She coughed and gripped his sleeve.
“And Roman? There was another name on the authorization.”
“Who?”
May you like
Mara held his eyes.
“Anika Shah.”
