these magazine pages.”
Thomas scrunched his forehead and squatted lower to look at the handfuls of wadded-up fashion magazine pages. “What the...” He reached for one, but stopped and looked up at the inspector. “I need to have these scanned for fingerprints, don’t I?”
The inspector nodded. “That’s what I would do, too.”
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic bag with a zipped fastener. He knelt in front of the papers and scooped them into the bag before sealing it. “I’ll take this to the police lab, if you’d like.”
“Yes, thank you.” Thomas folded his arms. “Is that all you found?” He motioned to the ground. “Did you see the imprint of the woman’s high-heeled shoe?”
“Yes. It looks like the size my wife wears – a size seven.”
Thomas’ thoughts were all over the place. What woman would be back here wearing heels... and tearing up magazine pages? And what kind of idiot would want to hurt his father or burn a vineyard?
He thanked the fire inspector one last time before returning to his office and sitting behind his desk. He still couldn’t understand why someone would want to start a fire using magazine pages. Unless... they watered the vines frequently, so starting a fire would be harder. Unfortunately, because of the heat, the vines also dried up quickly. Maybe the arsonist thought they needed help with the fire – like building it campfire style.
Frowning, he relaxed back in his chair and continued to glance at the security cameras he’d been studying all day, especially the ones he’d sent to Morgan. Why had she wanted these in particular?
One of the security cameras had captured most of the employees as they had left after the fire had been put out, and moved back into the building. One of the women standing by Tasha caught his attention, and he zoomed in, learning forward on the desk to see better.
Kitty, the receptionist, was walking alongside Tasha, and in the receptionist’s hands were...
He swore under his breath and quickly pressed the intercom button on his office phone.
“Yes, Mr. Powers?” Tasha’s sweet voice asked.
“I need to talk to Kitty. Now!”
“Yes, sir. I’ll have her come up—”
“No, Tasha. I want you to physically bring her to me.”
“Of course, sir. What reason should I give her?”
He paused as several ideas came to mind – attempted murder, arson, stealing the company’s magazines... “Tell her I want to discuss a possible promotion.”
“Yes, sir. Give me a few minutes.”
He pushed away from his desk and paced the floor. Kitty was the pretty bombshell that Darion hired to work the front desk. In Thomas’ opinion, the girl wasn’t very smart, but she was friendly – especially with the men. He’d tried to get her fired a few times, but Darion wasn’t the type of guy who just fired someone for being ditzy and overly flirty.
Of course, now Thomas might have a really good reason for giving the girl a boot out the door.
Five minutes passed, but it seemed longer. Soon, he could see out the office, two women walking toward him. Kitty’s face was aglow and she appeared to be yacking Tasha’s ear off. His father’s secretary looked like her smile was fake. He shouldn’t have put Tasha in that predicament, but then it was better that she fetch the receptionist instead of him.
Tasha knocked on the door.
“Come in,” he called, trying to keep himself calm even if his head was pounding with unanswered questions.
Kitty walked in first, and Tasha turned to leave but he knew both women needed to be in on this meeting. “Tasha, I need you in here, too.”
She nodded and walked in, closing the door behind her before taking a seat near the door while Kitty moved right up to sit by his desk. Thomas couldn’t sit. Not yet.
“Both of you know me well enough by now that I like to get right to the point.”
The women nodded.
“So, let’s get down to business.” He stopped in front of Kitty, leaning his hands on the chair’s armrests, as he scowled. She gasped and pulled back into the chair, but of course, didn’t have anywhere to go. “Kitty, I want to know why you were out by the fire yesterday, holding a bunch of magazines.”
Her eyes widened and her face lost color.
“Usually,” he continued, “when someone hears that their place of employment is on fire, they drop everything and rush out to help, feeling panicked, I might add.” He arched an eyebrow. “And yet, you took the time