Page 120 of Shadow

“The night of the fire. He was in the bar all night long. Right until the fire broke out.”

“You hearing this, Lance?”

“Yep. I’m on it. His name is Nolan Davidson. Looks like he’s worked closely with both Corbit Upwood, and Brian Doran.”

On a hunch, Ripley asked, “The second one, can you put him in Liv’s Place the night of the fire?”

“That will take me a little more time to dig up. I haven’t got a clear view of his face, so I don’t even have a name yet. What are you thinking?”

He squeezed Olivia’s hand. “I’m thinking they were each camped out at one of Liv’s bars because that’s where they thought I would go first. They were hoping to confront me.”

“What about the fire?” Olivia whispered.

“When I didn’t show at either place, they kicked things up a notch and set the fire at Olivia’s. My guess would be they called Liv’s Place, threatened Fiona, and that’s when she left with a migraine. But instead of going home, she headed for Olivia’s and started the fire at someone’s direction. Whoever talked her into doing it would have been the one to erase the cameras.”

“This is seriously fucked up,” Olivia muttered. Then she sat up straighter and put a hand over her mouth.

“What is it, baby?”

“That guy. He pulled a laptop out maybe an hour before the fire started. I remember because he yelled at one of my bartenders for almost spilling something on it.”

“That’s good information, baby girl. Good job.”

She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

“Who are you calling?” Ripley hissed.

“It’s not even nine in D.C. I want to ask Jack something. He’s got an excellent memory.”

Ripley nodded and returned to his call with Lance. “Call me when you have something, and I’ll do the same.”

Lance agreed, and Ripley tucked his phone into his shirt pocket while Olivia waited for someone to answer her call.

“Jack, I’m glad you’re the one who answered.”

She pulled the phone away and tapped the speaker button, so Jack’s voice filled the car.

“Thanks for calling me back.”

Olivia frowned. “I didn’t know you tried to call me. I’m sorry. What’s up?”

“Fiona quit. Right in the middle of her shift.”

Olivia’s mouth fell open.

“I actually called to talk about her. I have a weird question. The night of the tenth—the night Olivia’s caught fire—did anything weird happen at Liv’s Place? You said Fiona left sick, but what else happened?”

“Nothing that I can think of, boss.” He paused. “Wait. Not long before Fiona left, there was this guy in here and he got really agitated with her. At one point, he was making her really uncomfortable, and they walked outside together to talk. He didn’t come back in with her, but she left less than fifteen minutes later.”

Olivia blew out a breath.

“Thanks, Jack. That’s really helpful.”

“You’re welcome. And Jade is fine, by the way. I think she might even like me now.”

“Hey now. If she ends up liking you more than me, you know I have to fire you, right?”

Jack laughed, and they said goodnight after Olivia promised to call again to discuss what to do about Fiona quitting.

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