Setting his elbow on the window ledge, Jim rested his head in his hand and sighed. “He wasn’t wrong when he said she’d changed. There’s no easy way to say this…”
“So just say it.”
“She was…seeing a few men at the same time.”
Darcy’s grip tightened on the wheel. It was painful realizing there’d been a widening gap between her and Dani, and she hadn’t realized it. “Go on.”
“One of the guys was Mitch.”
“What?” But the moment she asked the question, she knew it wasn’t so surprising after all. Mitch was the sort of hardworking, good-humored type Dani had been drawn to. “Okay.”
“When he caught on to her having other interests…it hit him hard. She was special to him and he hadn’t realized that feeling wasn’t mutual. So I went to see her, talk to her, try to get her to let him off the hook easy. Turned out she was upset because he’d been following her. Angling to catch her in the act, I suppose. She told me she’d been trying to cut him off for weeks and if I was really worried about him, I’d tell him to knock it off or she’d have Miller arrest him.”
She felt him look at her, his gaze heavy on the side of her face. “Darcy…I bluffed when I said she told me about her and Miller. There was just something in her voice. I wondered. When he showed up at your place so upset about tying the arsons in with the murder—I took a shot in the dark.”
Pulling up in front of his house, she parked and twisted to face him. She thought of Jared asking her about Mitch that morning and wondered what had drawn his attention in that direction. “Do you think Mitch killed my sister?”
“No! Hell, no.” He shook his head violently. “If I even suspected that, I would’ve driven him to the sheriff’s office myself. Danielle was driving into Seattle a lot. I figure that’s where she met the guy, whoever he is.”
She shoved the door open and got out, needing to stand and suck in air to get past her sudden nausea. “I really need that walk.”
“THAT WAS A real dumb move, Mitch.” Trish circled his seat at a metal interrogation table in the sheriff’s department. “Running from a marathon man like Deputy Cameron.”
Through the two-way mirror, Jared watched Mitch Quinn sprawl insolently in his chair and shake his head. “I wasn’t running from the deputy. I left some ice cream in the truck.”
“Um, ice cream. What flavor?”
“Vanilla.”
“Ah, too bad. I like chocolate myself.” She settled in the seat across from him. “So, let’s talk about some of the packages that have been shipped to the station to your attention.”
Quinn met her gaze directly. “All packages coming into the station are addressed to me. Stuff was getting lost before. I keep things organized.”
“You’re meticulous, aren’t you, Mitch?”
“I am, yes.”
Trish nodded. “I bet building a precision incendiary device would be child’s play for a dedicated, meticulous, organized fireman such as yourself.”
He bolted upright. “Now, wait a minute! You’re not pinning the arsons on me. I fight fires, I don’t start them.”
“But in a town of this size, there’s no budget to take on more permanent firefighters, is there? Unless there was suddenly a rash of fires in the area. An arsonist setting up shop here would be almost a blessing for a long-suffering volunteer.”
“That’s sick.”
“I agree. The supply room here in the sheriff’s office is missing a can of tear gas. Did you know tear gas was used in the motel fire last night? Our arsonist didn’t mind charbroiling me and Deputy Cameron, but he wanted to get the other guests out. You were in the supply room yesterday, Mitch. What for?”
“Because there was a note on the dry erase board in the station telling me to grab a box labeled LBFD—Lion’s Bay Fire Department, if you couldn’t figure it out.”
“Who left the note?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t recognize the handwriting? A meticulous guy like you?”
Quinn’s gaze was icy. “I didn’t look at it that closely.”
“All right.” She pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll text Deputy Cameron to snap a picture of it and bring it over.”