Within a short amount of time, he had located the fire chief on site and introduced himself again. Together they stood watching the firefighters work. “It always saddens me when a house goes down, and this one was a beauty.” The chief gave him a sidelong look. “Kinda late for most people to be out and about.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Josiah said. “When I heard there’ve been two fires in one night, I thought I’d drive over and take a look.”

“You don’t know? There’s three now.” The chief was a fit man in his fifties with short gray hair, sharp eyes, and a hangdog expression. “You must have been on your way here. I got word less than ten minutes ago that a law office in a strip mall was firebombed.”

Josiah held himself still. “Where?”

“Over in Piedmont Heights. Still no word on if there are any casualties, but it’s three fucking thirty on a Sunday morning, so we can hope not.” The chief gave him a sympathetic look. “You’ve only been at your new job for a few months, and the city’s going up in flames tonight.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be a busy week.” His phone buzzed again. Pulling it out, he glanced at several texts from Anson and took in the phrase: Office of Nina Rodriguez Atty at Law has been firebombed.

Gently he tucked the phone back in his pocket. “Do we know what caused this fire?”

The chief shook his head. “We won’t get a good look inside until everything has had a chance to cool down.”

“Give me your best guess.”

“Unofficially?” The other man snorted. “Your ordinary, garden-variety house fire doesn’t burn in such a thorough, even pattern as this one has. When we got here, it was engulfed from end to end. I’d say somebody really wanted this house destroyed.”

“That would be my take too, but I wanted to get your thoughts. How soon can we get an arson investigator in there?”

“Tomorrow’s Monday. The house should be cool enough to get someone in first thing.”

He handed the chief one of his cards. “Keep me updated.”

“You bet.” The chief pocketed his card. “And congrats on winning the election.”

“Thanks.”

He spent ten more minutes at the scene, introducing himself to the other responders on site and taking a quick look at the victim in the body bag awaiting transport in the medical examiner’s van. The woman was burned badly, but her features were still recognizable. Tightening his jaw at the scent, he snapped a few photos, then exited to inhale a deep lungful of the fresh air outside.

His phone buzzed again.

Anson: Responders just pulled a body out of the law office. An unidentified male, Caucasian, tall, dark hair, midthirties to fifty. I’m at the scene now.

Reeaally. He asked, Any magic involved?