I don’t think so, but I can’t get close enough to tell for sure. If you’re at the house, you’re less than ten minutes away. Anson sent him the address.

Josiah replied, On my way.

The sky had started to lighten with predawn when he arrived at the strip mall. This time there were far fewer gawkers, just a few cars pulled to the opposite side of the road. He caught a glimpse of Anson’s rugged profile in one of the cars, but he didn’t greet him or acknowledge his presence.

There was no sign of magic here either, and the fire had been smaller. It was already out but still smoldering. He went through the same round of introductions as he had at the previous scene, spending a few minutes talking with each professional before handing over his card.

This scene didn’t have an ME van, so he climbed into the ambulance to get a look at the unidentified male. He uncovered the head and gazed down at Austin Sullivan’s handsome, still features.

By that point he wasn’t surprised, but for the benefit of the EMT and a uniformed policeman looking on, he said, “Well, damn. I know this man.”

“You do?” The uniform pulled out a notepad. “Who is it?”

“Another lawyer. Austin Sullivan. He was a partner at Sherman & Associates. I went to a dinner party at his house last month.” He let the sheet fall back over Sullivan’s lifeless face and asked the EMT, “Any idea about the cause of death?”

“You need an autopsy to be sure, but the back of his mouth looks reddened like he might have suffered some airway burns,” the EMT told him. “He’s pretty banged up, but they found him under some rubble in a collapsed doorway, so that might explain it. It’s possible he got knocked out and smoke inhalation killed him, but what he was doing in there in the middle of a Saturday night is anybody’s guess.”

Josiah thought he had a pretty good idea what had happened to Sullivan, but he kept to his role. “What a mess. I’ll be reading the reports on this personally.”

With that, he took his leave. The space where Anson had been parked was empty, so he texted the other man the news, then added, I think we’ve learned everything we can for the night. Looks like we’re going to have a long week. You should get some rest.

You too, if you can.

But Josiah had no intention of resting. Instead, he stopped at a twenty-four-hour grocery store to pick up various items—ready-made deli sandwiches, fruit, cheese, milk, peanut butter, bread, more coffee. A quart of milk. He was in and out in twenty minutes.

Still, it was well past dawn by the time he finally started back to the safe house.