Page 9 of Shadow

He nodded and pulled the door open. Her stomach lurched as she surveyed the damage. The front of the bar where customers sat was waterlogged from the hoses, even though they hadn’t caught fire. The entire place reeked of smoke, and that was a hard smell to get out. But the real damage started on the wall behind the bar where flames had obviously reached. The mirror was cracked, bottles were strewn all over the place, and there was a hole in the wall that showed her a glimpse of the back room.

“There are still going to be pockets of steam so be careful where you step. The fire originated from over there by the door. Is there a chance you left it unlocked at any point?”

She closed her eyes. “We had just received a beer shipment and were putting it away when Niki said she needed me in the front. It’s possible that nobody came along after me and locked it. I don’t think I ever made it back.”

The door opened, and the captain turned to object but stopped when he saw it was Peter and Ripley.

“Mercer. It’s been awhile.”

Of course, Peter knew the captain. He knew everyone in this town. Especially if they had anything to do with law enforcement or public safety.

“I do security for Ms. Harrigan, and I brought you a flash drive with the security footage. I did a quick scan and there seems to be a few minutes missing, but I’ve got my tech guys working to recover it. There’s no way they erased it completely, without leaving some kind of trace.”

The captain took the drive and tucked it into his pocket. “Appreciate this. I was showing Ms. Harrigan the damage.”

Peter came up and slipped an arm around her. “You doing OK?”

“I’ve been better. You didn’t have to come. I told Darci I needed you to call me back.”

He chuckled and kissed her temple. “You know better than that. Carrie is out front, waiting to see you.”

Olivia laid her head on his shoulder. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You OK with Ripley being here?”

She raised an eyebrow, surprised by the question. “I’m not sure I have much choice.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here. If you really want me to go, I will. Now that I’m sure you’re safe. Truck checked out, by the way.”

“You can stay. I’m sure Peter will want to hear your perspective on all this, anyway.”

“Smart girl.”

The captain cleared his throat, and Olivia stepped away from Peter. “Sorry about that, Captain. Continue.”

“We’ll be able to tell you more once the arson investigators are done, but if I had to guess, he slipped in long enough to set the fire. Poured a little fuel, lit it, and walked away.”

Peter pulled his phone out and lifted it to his ear. “Savko, go through the footage for the bank down the street, and see if anyone walked that way. And check to see if we have any clients with surveillance cameras in the other direction. We’re looking for someone walking by around ten-forty-five tonight.”

The captain raised an eyebrow. “It’s like you don’t even need me here.”

Olivia put a hand on his arm. “Forgive my overprotective friends.”

He smiled. “It’s all good. I didn’t recognize Boomer until just now. You’ve got some of the best in the world being protective of you. I’d say that’s a good thing.”

“Oh, come on, Fred. I just got people to quit calling me that,” Ripley whined.

“No, you didn’t,” Peter snorted. “You convinced my wife and your girlfriend not to call you that. Everyone else still calls you Boomer.”

Olivia chuckled, and her heart swelled. In the years that she’d been seeing Ripley on and off, she’d never really gotten to see him be playful with his friends. He was playful with her in private, but any time she’d seen him with others the situation was tense, and he was in all work mode.

“I’m not his girlfriend,” she felt the need to correct. It didn’t matter how much she enjoyed seeing him like this, they were not getting back together.

Ripley didn’t respond, and the captain went back to showing her the damage to the bar. When they were done, they moved out to the parking lot where Olivia was immediately assaulted with hugs from Carrie.

“I’m so glad to see you and so glad you’re OK. This is so scary. Do they know who did it? Or why they did it?”

Olivia laughed. “Slow down, woman. One question at a time, but the answer to both is no clue.”

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