Dawn Stewardson - Unexpected Outcome

And I know who set the warehouse fire.

Possibly. But if true, why hadn’t this person told the fire marshal? And why tell her?

It was Noah Haine. Noah Haine, the first Four Corners person on the scene after the fire.

But what about before it?

She exhaled slowly. If she was going to figure out any answers to her questions, she had to think calmly and logically.

The arson had been an inside job, the arsonist someone with a key to the warehouse.

Or someone with a master key, her internal voice of reason pointed out.

She’d asked Robert about master keys, so she knew a single one opened both this building’s doors and the warehouse’s. And the three people with masters were Robert, Larry and Noah.

Robert and Larry, who had hired a P.I. Noah, who’d had no part in the decision—who didn’t even know she was an investigator. But it was a huge leap from that to the possibility he was the arsonist.

The question of the moment was how huge?

He’d said he’d been home when the service called him. That, however, left some vital information missing.

How long between when the fire was started and when the security guard discovered it? How long after that before he called the service? Then before it called Noah?

More than enough time for him to get from the warehouse to Murray Hill, she’d bet.

Lord, when she’d told herself those missing invoices meant she couldn’t rule him out too fast she’d only been about three percent serious. Now, though…

Yet what did she really have?

She stared at the note again, aware it was most likely the work of…

Never mind someone a tad on the weird side, it could be the work of a total nutcase. Could have absolutely no basis in reality. Probably had absolutely no basis in reality.

But what if it did?

Doing her best to ignore the dull buzz that had started in her head, she began cobbling together some of the pieces that might be relevant.

If she assumed that the theory Robert favored was right, that the problems were all part of a plan to drive down the company’s share price, then whoever was behind it would have to be both smart and circumspect. Stock manipulation was illegal.

So who would know how to pull off that sort of thing with minimum risk of ending up in jail?

There was an only too obvious answer. The man who’d been brought into Four Corners specifically to help take it public—because he knew all the ins and outs of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE Dana’s first scheduled “touching base” meeting with Robert Haine, she hit the print key on her computer.

While the notes she’d just finished were turning into hard copy, she dug her cellular from her briefcase and used it to check her Dana Morancy, P.I., voice mail.

Getting that note was going to make her even more careful than usual. And careful included not using a Four Corners phone to call her real self.

For all she knew, her note writer had a quick and easy way of checking the company’s phone records.

There were a few messages for her, all business related except for a friend suggesting they get tickets to a new off-Broadway show. None was from anyone in urgent need of an investigator.

That, however, was just as well.

She’d never been desperate for clients, not even in the beginning. But she was rarely awash with them. So she didn’t like having to turn any away. And if today was a good indicator, this job could take a while.

After making the one return call she couldn’t leave for later, she stuck the freshly printed notes, along with the ones she’d put together at lunchtime, into a file folder—thinking she’d better try to get Robert more interested in hearing about her morning than her afternoon. It was basically a blur.

As promised, Noah had introduced her to some of the head office employees. But she’d done a poor job of concentrating on what they’d said to her. Her attention had been constantly wandering.

Every few seconds she’d caught herself watching Noah out of the corner of her eye, as if she’d actually believed she might see something that would tell her whether or not he was the arsonist.

What had she figured? That he’d set a desk on fire?

Hardly a realistic scenario.

Shaking her head, she silently admitted her behavior this afternoon had not been rational. Especially not considering that by the time…

Well, the arson note had really gotten her mind spinning, and at first she’d been seriously wondering if Noah was the one.

But by the time he’d taken her around, she’d had long enough to have given the situation a lot more thought. And she’d reached the conclusion that, despite the things that seemingly pointed in the direction of his guilt, he really wasn’t a very likely suspect.

She absently tapped her finger against the folder, still convinced she’d ultimately arrived at the right conclusion.

After all, nobody with half a brain would give much credence to an anonymous note accompanied by a pair of latex gloves. So she’d be awfully naive to believe Noah was the arsonist just because the writer said so.

In addition, Noah was far from the only person in New York who could be working a stock manipulation scheme. For that matter, there might not even be one. Until someone proved it true, a theory was nothing more than a theory.

Then there was the fact that Noah was Robert’s nephew. Plus, he had a terrific job here and…

But what if he wanted more than that? What if he wanted to make a truckload of easy money? Retire to some tropical island by the time he hit forty.

No. She sincerely didn’t think that was the case. She was a good judge of character and she simply couldn’t see…Of course, she barely knew him. And her judgment wasn’t infallible.

She mentally shook her head, aware she’d feel far better if she was certain he couldn’t have started that fire.

Conceivably, though, he could have. “Home alone” wasn’t much of an alibi.

Of course, maybe he hadn’t been alone. There might have been someone with him.

A woman.

As those words whispered in her mind she felt a twinge of… She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but if anyone had been with him that would be good. Then she could be certain he was innocent. So it was too bad that just coming straight out and asking him wasn’t an option.

But he’d know that real OD consultants didn’t try to identify arsonists on the side, and she didn’t want to blow her cover—the way she’d almost done this morning.

After she’d said she’d been in burned-out buildings he’d clearly been curious about the circumstances. And if she hadn’t caught herself before saying it was back when she’d been on the job…

Well, actually, avoiding telling people she was an ex-cop was more a habit than a question of catching herself.

Oh, she routinely told prospective clients. She figured it gave her more credibility. But when it came to other people she tended to keep quiet.

Too often, if she didn’t, it led to questions about why she’d left the force. And in this case, it would really have led to questions.

Noah would have thought that cop to OD consultant was a very strange career path.

Telling herself to stop thinking about Noah Haine, she rose and picked up the file folder. Then she double-checked that the desk drawers were locked.

Until she decided what, if anything, to do about the arson note, she didn’t want anyone seeing it. And nobody would with it hidden at the bottom of her briefcase and locked up tight.

WHEN DANA PAUSED in Robert’s office doorway, he rose from his desk and motioned her toward the conversation area in the corner, saying, “How did your day go?”

She manufactured a smile. “If you mean have I figured out who your saboteur is, the answer’s no.”