“I know Joe suspects arson,” Camille said. “But there was nothing in that warehouse that couldn’t be replaced. There’s no one else on any of the papers except Tina and me. No one but us would gain from an insurance payoff.”

“It doesn’t have to be insurance fraud. Maybe you made someone mad. A boyfriend?”

Camille adamantly shook her head. “No.”

“The vagrant?”

“No. He’s a very nice man. Just homeless. He’s very careful.”

“Another family member then? Diana? Madeline? Just kidding,” she said when Camille eyed her acerbically. “I’m just thinking a little juvy hall wouldn’t hurt their attitude.”

Camille actually let out a laugh. Socks came into the room and wound himself around her ankles. She scooped him up and buried her face in his neck. “It’s not arson.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Summer said slowly, not wanting to argue.

Camille closed her eyes. “And at least this time, thank God, no one—”

She didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t have to. Because they both knew.

At least this time, no one had died.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

For three days, Joe worked around the clock. He had inspections, plan development meetings at town hall, fires to investigate and reports to write, and now he sat at dinner with Cindy, nodding as she talked about her day, forcing himself to sit straight up for fear he’d fall asleep and land face-first into his meal.

The fact was, he’d wanted to stay home, maybe barbeque, definitely rest his weary body. But Cindy had wanted to take advantage of his rare night off, so here they sat, at an expensive steak house with a waiter hovering and Joe with a headache brewing.

“It’s a great neighborhood to raise kids,” Cindy was saying while he cut into his steak and unintentionally tuned her out. He figured if he could just get to bed early, he’d wake up refreshed and get to his reports. Yeah, that was it. He’d—

“Joe? Are you listening to me?”

He would be if she’d just rest her tongue for even a second. The thought made him feel like a jerk. It wasn’t her fault he was exhausted, heading into a coma. “I’m sorry.” He tried to put his mind back into her one-sided conversation, but while he watched her lips move, thoughts of work invaded.

The city was trying to rush him through one of the inspections for a large commercial complex, and yet the plans hadn’t matched the actual work done. Now he had several city officials riding his ass for slowing them down. And then there were several fires disturbing him, not the least of which was the Creative Interiors warehouse fire.