SECTION II

I had hoped to plead with you face to face, but your recent furlough has made that impossible.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Haddie slipped past the reception desk in the waiting room while Toby made coffee in in the kitchen. From the scent of perfume, Andrea had already arrived. She’d closed her office door, but Haddie was only a minute late.

Grace looked up from her cubicle and nodded. Her lipstick matched her purple jacket perfectly. The monitor behind her flickered on. In the firm, she was the powerhouse that plowed through Andrea’s work.

Josh’s cubicle remained empty and the copy room still had the lights off. I’m not late at all. The room’s heat had been on for a while and the trip in the RAV4 had been warmer than she planned. Haddie took off her gray jacket and laid it over the side wall. Andrea had pressed two post-its to her keyboard.

Grace spoke as Haddie sat. “I’ve got two interviews processed that Andrea wants you to go over. They’re linked in the system. Josh —” she hung at his name, “will be late.”

Haddie smirked, powering up her computer. “Please, tell me you know the excuse.”

“He called me.” Grace took on a more conversational tone. The stress of the case had been getting to everyone. “Either a wolf, or a large cat, possibly a tiger, bit his tire. He has to get it replaced.”

Most of the time, Josh called in to Toby, who would relay the story over coffee. No one had been able to figure out if Josh actually believed, or expected anyone else to believe, his outlandish excuses. Andrea always said she didn’t care about why anyone was out nor bother to tell her, just when and for how long. Once he’d been gone three days to rescue an uncle from an abandoned mining city in Utah. When he was in, he did the mindless grunt work without complaint. Occasionally, Andrea sent him on higher functioning tasks.

Haddie placed the post-its on the edge of her monitor so she could log in. All five items related to Mel’s alibi. Depending on when the DA wrote up a warrant for Mel’s arrest, Haddie might be able to complete them before Andrea needed them. Then she could consider some of the ideas that burned in back of her mind.

She had two items on her list ticked off before her second coffee cooled and Josh strolled in.

Blond scraggly hair squirted out from under a knitted orange cap. He wore a thick red and black Mackinaw, yellow swim trunks, and flip-flops.

“Global warming, it’s reversing the poles. You’ll see. A hundred years from now Eugene will be the center of the Antarctic and we’ll have to live on the coast.” He went straight to Grace’s cubicle and leaned over as he spoke. “Of course, once we develop time travel, we can fix all this.”

“Shut up, Josh.” Grace didn’t stop typing.

“Love you too.” He didn’t leave, just unbuttoned the top button of his Mackinaw. “One hundred years. I’m looking at buying coastline now.”

Haddie chuckled. “We’ll be dead in a hundred years.”

Josh winked and headed for his cubicle, yelling over his shoulder, “Speak for yourself. Turmeric, Baby — Turmeric.”

Haddie picked up the company phone and began her third call to the bank, checking on the request for ATM footage. As the phone rang, her company email alerted her that she had a new message. She missed the name of the person picking up as she juggled the phone to open the email — from the bank. The requested video had been attached below a curt message.

She stumbled over her words instead of just hanging up. “Hey — this is Hadhira from Andrea Simmons Law Firm. Just wanted to thank you for sending over that footage. We’ll go over it now.” She imagined Grace’s expression on the other side of the cubicle wall. “So, thanks.” They’re going to think I’m an idiot.

The woman on the other end cleared her throat. “Yeah. Well — thanks.”

Haddie groaned after she hung up the phone. “Literally came in at the exact moment I called.” She waited as the file downloaded, but Grace ignored her, or at least, remained silent.

Her phone vibrated on the desk and Haddie flipped it over. Liz.

“You’re going to freak,” Liz texted. “The coroner says there’s damage to the DNA and other biomolecules that might be from a high-emission source of ionizing radiation. Todd says he found lingering radioactivity on the car.”

Haddie raised her eyebrows. “What does that even mean?”

“It doesn’t make sense unless the car and body were exposed to cosmic rays or high-energy gamma rays, like from a solar flare.”

How was that possible? Then, Haddie smiled. “A deadly sunburn? Is this something someone like me or Mel could do?”

The typing took a moment before Liz replied, “Someone piss you off? j/k Not without major equipment and know how. Even then I’m not sure to replicate the results.”

Proving that Mel couldn’t be capable of causing the fire hadn’t come up. It didn’t fit Andrea’s alibi pursuit, but she couldn’t ignore it. Unable to commit a murder had been used as an alibi defense before. First, Haddie had to understand this enough to explain the defense to her boss. Then they would need to verify with experts.

“Can you call me at lunch? Explain like I’m an idiot?”

Liz sent a laughing emoji and a thumbs-up.

Something like this couldn’t be common. Terry would love this. She texted Terry the details, copying the terminology from Liz’s texts.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

His response came immediately. “Don’t play me. This is near impossible and way too cool.” Terry included a string of emoji that made no sense except for the three fires interspersed with suns.

“Something like this would show up in an internet search, right?” she asked.

His response came in a flash. “If they even found it. Can I see the report?”

“Not until we subpoena.” If they subpoenaed. First, she had to get Andrea to check into it. “Check around if you can.”

“Yaass!”

After a frustrating night, it was gratifying to see some hope. Haddie took a deep breath as she returned to the interviews, marking up discrepancies for Andrea. If the unusual fire proved useful, then they might get Mel off the charges. Would that be enough for Haddie to let this go? Yes, but she’d follow the case.

Josh began singing in the copy room and Haddie considered her empty coffee mug. The tension had killed some of her exhaustion. Coffee could wait a few minutes. She needed to knock the rest of the items off her list and get ready for Liz’s call at noon. Then, approach Andrea.

A half an hour later when Mel walked in, Haddie could hear the sniffling and Toby getting their client settled into the conference room. This wasn’t a good sign.

“Coffee?” Haddie asked Grace.

Smiling, Grace handed off her empty mug. “Getting close to done?”

“Yes, but is it ever done?” Haddie strode out to the hall that led past Andrea’s office and behind Toby’s desk.

Andrea glanced up from her monitor but said nothing. The office had been cleaned up, but her satchel lay on the credenza, ready.

“Coffee?” Haddie asked.

Shaking her head, Andrea turned back to her screen; two olive green hairsticks seemed to look over the top her head. Her lips were tight and tense. Hopefully, it helped that she didn’t have to re-focus Haddie. The woman put in unbelievable hours, but that was the job. Her half-finished mug of black coffee sat at the corner of the desk.

Haddie peeked in on Mel at the conference room door. The blonde bob of her head lay on the table and she could have been asleep for all she moved. A large blue-patterned purse lay on the floor beside her chair. She wore pants.

Returning from the kitchen with a cup of light coffee, Toby paused beside Haddie in the hall. “How are you doing?”

“About as good as anyone else. I—” Haddie stopped as the front door to the firm rang. Odd. The office wasn’t locked at this time of the morning.

Toby swore under her breath as she moved toward the doorway of the waiting room. Andrea strode out of her office and followed behind. Haddie backtracked to Toby’s desk.

They let Detective Cooper inside along with two officers. A stiff cool breeze brought in the scents of the city and exhaust. Andrea had intentionally locked the door and the detective looked annoyed with a scowl on his face and sharp movements. He caught sight of Haddie gawking with the two empty mugs and managed to furrow his eyebrows deeper into his face.

“Is she here?” he asked.

Andrea tilted her head and nodded wordlessly. She reached out for warrant and he gave it to her with a huff. She took long enough to read it that Haddie considered continuing on to the kitchen just to avoid the awkward tension. Toby scurried off to the conference room at a nod from Andrea.

“The name of the witness?” Andrea’s voice was calm, as if requesting a table at the window.

Detective Cooper looked aside. “Get with the DA on that.”

“You likely took the statement.” Andrea did not raise her voice. The red bun tilted as her chin rose.

He pressed his mustache down, two fingers down one side and his index finger down the other. His face still scowled, but his eyes avoided her. “You will have to get that from the DA.”

They had a witness. It seemed the DA intended to draw out and delay the information, not the detective. Haddie jumped at the wail from the conference room. She placed her empty mugs on Toby’s desk and went in to help with Mel.

The woman wore dark blue sweat pants and a matching top. Her yellow bob still had not been brushed out. With hands pressed to face, tears smeared wet across her cheeks.

Haddie felt her heart drop and her chest felt empty. She knew that Mel would have to go with the police, but it hurt.

Toby had her arm around the back of Mel and whispered in her ear. Haddie took the opposite side. Mel didn’t resist; in fact, she seemed so loose that she would fall to the floor.

“C’mon, Hon. Andrea will meet you there. You won’t be alone.” Toby’s voice remained calm and soothing.

Together they got Mel to take a step, but she kept her face in her hands and tears left dark drops down her sleeves and the front of her sweatshirt.

The police moved, gratefully gently, across the room as Toby and Haddie led Mel into the waiting room where Detective Cooper waited by the door. The older officer, graying at the temples, read Mel her rights as he slowly pulled her arms down for the handcuffs.

Andrea positioned herself in front of Mel. “I’ll be right behind you. Again, speak to no one until I’m there with you.” She brushed by Haddie as the officers led a stumbling Mel past Detective Cooper. “Finish your work. I’ll need everything sent to my drive until I know when they’ve scheduled the arraignment. After that, it does me no good.”

Haddie raced to the back with a glance at Andrea collecting her satchel and purse. Grace glanced up and pursed her lips, turning back to her monitor without a word. The room smelled of paper and electricity. Haddie had begun sweating.

A witness. Of what? They would know when Andrea told them, or the DA sent over files. Until then she had one job, secure Mel’s alibi. She wanted to bring up the unusual aspect of the fire. Surely that would make a difference. But she had to talk with Liz first, then approach Andrea. That could be difficult, depending on when they set the arraignment and if they continued questioning Mel. For now, Haddie intended to wipe everything off her list. She had an hour and a quarter before Liz took her lunch.

She would have finished if, during her search for the last file, she hadn’t spotted that Josh had scanned Mark Colman’s financial records. Promising to only take a quick glance, Haddie soon had a slew of windows open. The man had another business, in Portland. He lived in a house far beyond what little his mortgage company could pay for. She ached to know if Mrs. Colman’s records would be coming soon. Had the wife carried the household? He surely didn’t. Neither the Portland import business nor the mortgage brokering seemed to do much more than break even. If the wife didn’t have any money, then Mark Colman had something shady going on.

Liz called at noon. “How’s it going? Getting everything done?”

Haddie felt her cheeks warm. “Almost. So, we can prove radiation caused the deaths?”

“Yes. When they were trying to determine the source, the lack pointed to solar radiation, which is impossible.”

“Impossible?” Haddie took a deep breath. Juries and judges did not trust proof that pointed toward impossibilities. They just ignored it.

“Yes, under circumstances that did not ignite the city as well.”

Haddie closed her eyes. She’d hoped for something that would point to a technical expertise beyond Mel’s capability. Maybe Terry would have a different viewpoint. She sighed. It would be tough to get Andrea to look at anything bizarre at this point.

“Then I need to focus on the first victim, go through his finances. I’ve already started, and some things look wonkier than I’d imagined. I need to figure out what he was into.”

“Other than the girlfriend.” Liz giggled.

“Yeah.” Haddie couldn’t shake her last moments with Mel. It was heartbreaking. She found herself dragging another document up.

Liz coughed on the other end of the phone. “How about the wife? Maybe she had a lover — gone bad. Lover kills the hubby, then they fight.”

It was a possibility. The wife likely knew about the affair. “Maybe. I can talk Andrea into getting her phone records. I’ll get the police interview with her as well. I wish we’d had time to get a deposition on her, before —”

“Seance?”

Haddie smiled, but she found it hard to get a solid breath. “Getting goofy. Not helping.”

“Just trying to keep it light. You’ve got schoolwork to think of as well. Balance.”

That was going to be difficult. First, she needed to finish Andrea’s list, then dig into Mark Colman’s other business. Someone other than Mel killed the man and his wife; she had to find out who.