“I was just wondering what time it was when you were made aware of the fire,” she said with a smile as she placed the glass in front of Sam and took her seat. Corporate America is all about politics. She knew the senior manager was probably intimidated sitting with, and being questioned by, someone who reported only to the Chief Executive Officer. Basically, in corporate terms, that made her next to God. She sipped from her glass of Diet Dr. Pepper, and did her best to put the poor man at ease.
“I received the phone call from Paulson just after four o’clock this afternoon. He said he’d seen it just as he was making his first round in the parking garage. He also told me the fire was contained to just one vehicle. I understand it was your car, Mrs. Parker. I’m really sorry.”
Lane smiled. “It wasn’t your fault, Sam. Tell me, did you phone 9-1-1, or did you call the fire department directly?”
“Well, Paulson had already notified the fire department. I understand the fire was out when the fire truck arrived.
Hmm, that was odd; Kyle had specifically told Lane that Property Management had notified the authorities. Perhaps Kyle was just confused by the question, or maybe to Kyle the fire department wasn’t the authorities.
“Sam, did you examine the scene yourself?”
“Yes Ma’am. The damage was contained to a red BMW convertible. It appeared that the driver’s seat somehow caught fire. The interior was shot, but that’s the only damage I saw. I’m sure the fire inspector will have more information.”
Lane glanced toward Mick and Ben to see if they had questions for Sam. Both men made gestures telling her they didn’t. She thanked Sam for his time and his concern and then praised him for the good job he’d done before she dismissed him and walked him to the door. She told Paulson that she’d need just a minute as she closed the conference room door.
Mick was the first to speak. “Interesting, you told us that Paulson said Property Management called the authorities. Yet Holt said Paulson called. If the notification was made via 9-1-1, it will be easy enough to check the tapes.”
Ben added, “True enough, although I have to wonder why someone would lie about reporting a fire.”
Lane opened the door and invited Kyle Paulson into the room. Again, she introduced Mick and Ben as friends. She asked Kyle to sit, and offered him a drink. He asked for iced tea, which he accepted from her as he sat down.
“Kyle, first I want to thank you for your time. Tell me how did you come on the fire?”
Kyle removed a small note book from his pocket, opened it, and began reading. “At 4:00 p.m. I began my normal rounds of the parking garage. At 4:10 p.m. I noticed smoke coming from a red BMW convertible. I grabbed the fire extinguisher I keep in my truck and went to the car. There were flames shooting from under the driver’s seat and the seat itself appeared just to be smoldering. I dialed 9-1-1 and then doused the seat with the fire extinguisher.”
When he finished talking, Kyle took a lengthy swallow of iced tea.
Meg tapped on the door and opened it. “Captain Burke from the Overland Park Fire Department is here and would like a word with you.”
“Thanks, Meg. Well, Kyle I guess that’s all then. Thank-you so much for saving my car from further damage.” She stood and motioned Kyle toward the door. At the door, she shook his hand and thanked him again.
Seated in her waiting area she could see the fire captain. She smiled at him and asked him to give her just a minute. Once again, she closed the door and looked toward the table.
“There’s just something about that guy I don’t like,” Ben said as he looked at Mick.
Lane smiled. “Could it be his military hair cut or the fact that he acts like he thinks he’s a cop when he isn’t? Could it be the way he looks through you when he talks to you?”
“Well, I’d say it’s that and perhaps more. I, for one, am glad he left us a little sample of DNA and his fingerprints when he left,” Ben said carefully sliding the iced tea glass Paulson had left behind toward Mick.
Lane opened the door and invited the fire captain into the conference room. She extended her hand, and she and the fireman did introductions.
“Captain Burke, my friends Ben Bellini and Mick McGuire.”
Mick smiled as he extended his hand. “Colin, I wondered if we’d be seeing you.”
“Lane, meet another member of our basketball team,” Ben said as he shook hands with Colin.
Lane watched as Colin Burke took a seat. He was over six feet tall and had raven black hair. He looked vaguely familiar, but Lane couldn’t quite place him.
Either it really is a very small world or there’s some sort of basketball conspiracy afoot here. Lane thought. She’d known Ben had been playing basketball with the same group of guys for a long time and she’d known Ben for three years. In all the time she’d known Ben, she’d never met even one of the guys and suddenly it was raining tall handsome basketball players.
“I sure hadn’t expected to see the two of you here. Here’s the scoop; my preliminary assessment is arson. We’ll need to take the car in; to do some additional investigation and testing but it appears that someone purposely set the driver’s seat on fire. The interior has a lot of damage from the fire and the fire extinguisher. Whoever put it out wasn’t very careful.”
As Mick and Ben began explaining the events of the past several days to Colin, Lane excused herself and stepped into her office. She opened her desk and pulled out the box of BC powders, the green box, of arthritis strength powders with extra everything. She carefully opened the small envelope and poured the white powder onto her tongue chasing it with a healthy drink of her Diet Dr. Pepper. She knew it was really too soon, and she just didn’t care.
She smiled as she remembered Mick’s worry about her headaches. They were stress induced, nothing else. What she knew was that she had to get this whole mess resolved before Jake, Jess, and Jamie descended on her in another three days.
“So, what you’re telling me is that someone has it out for Mrs. Parker.” Colin grinned. He’d known both of these guys for years and clearly both of these guys had it bad for the red head. He was sure they were over reacting to the whole thing. He scanned the room and spotted the huge bouquet of roses; yep, at least one of these guys had fallen really hard.
“You guys going to make round ball tonight? Maybe you can lay things out for someone from Overland Park. In the meantime, I’ll have her car towed to the police lot.”
Lane turned back toward the conference room as Captain Burke stood. She really wished that she could figure out why he seemed so familiar. She placed him at early to mid-thirties. He was slightly shorter than Ben; she’d say six feet two inches tall. He had sleek black hair and blue eyes. She shook her head; figuring out this mystery was the least of her worries right now. She shook his hand, and thanked him for coming to investigate the fire.
Chapter 9
Stay with me
Meg escorted the Fire Captain to the elevators and returned to help Lane pack up her laptop. While she hated what was happening to Lane this week, it was certainly doing a lot to improve the scenery. Tall, dark, and handsome men were almost coming out of the woodwork.
Ben and Mick were still in Lane’s conference room talking in hushed tones. Meg leaned close to Lane and said, “All this time I’ve been calling Detective McGuire tall dark and handsome, and you didn’t bother to tell me that Ben was tall, dark, and oh my God so damn gorgeous.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Lane laughed which prompted the men to come into her office and ask what she could possibly find funny in all of this.
Lane smiled. “You two are such mother hens. Meg and I were just having a little girl talk.”
Mick watched as Lane reached up and touched Ben’s cheek. “Stop worrying. I’m okay. Really,” she told him.