Jinx blew out a breath. “Well, that sucks.”
“She’s got a great way of putting things.” Fred patted her shoulder.
“He’s like an annoying puppy you really want to take back to the original owner, but you can’t because they moved states.” Jinx crossed her arms over her chest.
“Ouch, that was rude. Have you ever had a pet?” Fred asked.
“No, because they’re like living things you have to take care of. I am smart enough to know when you decide to take on that sort of responsibility, you need to be prepared to be all in. Unlike some people we know.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke, knowing they both were aware of his roommate’s penchant to take in strays and then fob them off on others. They’d tried to get her to adopt several times.
“That must be your dad heading this way. Thank fuck most of the looky-loos decided to head home or whatever. I can’t believe they allowed everyone and their brothers to trample all over the lot beforegathering evidence.” Viking still sounded disgusted by the situation. She was glad he’d been with her.
The older man wore a thick coat and gloves, but his face appeared red from exposure. His gaze locked on Jinx’s. His steps faltered slightly, and then he veered toward them.
“Here comes daddy,” Fred muttered.
“Dear God. Don’t say it like that,” Jinx said, looking over her shoulder at her crazy friend.
“Ew, you nasty.” Fred swatted at her head.
She rolled her window down, waiting for the older man to walk across the parking lot to where they were parked. Viking turned the heat up. His hand slid over hers, giving Jinx a reassuring pat.
Frank stopped next to Viking’s truck, his dark eyes scanning Jinx for injuries.
Chapter Seventeen
The older man took measured steps toward his truck, keeping his eyes glued on Jinx. Viking watched the way he walked, not missing the slight limp as he moved. Frank appeared to be in his early seventies, with salt-and-pepper hair. Other than the limp, he didn’t look as if he needed to retire for any reason other than choice. He stood tall, shoulders back. His face, while it had a few lines from age, didn’t have the look of someone who’d suffered a lot, as you’d see in some. Frank reminded him of his own father. A man who worked because he wanted to and rested when he was forced to do so.
If the fire had been an arson attack aimed at him, he wasn’t showing any indication that he was aware.
“Jinx, I’m so happy to see you weren’t here when the fire started. When I got the call and then saw your truck, my god,” he whispered. His hand raised to his face. The tremor was visible to Viking across the truck's interior.
“I didn’t know there was a fire until Fred called me a little while ago. Do you have any idea what happened?” she asked.
Frank shook his head. “Al said they’ll have a definitive answer by the end of next week, but—he says there appears to have been an accelerant used near the back bathrooms. He said there must’ve been a crack in one of the windows up front that created enough of a draft that allowed the fire to whoosh through the interior like a fireball, or it’s possible that whoever set the fire laid a trail of accelerant throughout the bar. He wants to speak with you because you were the last one here. I told him you set the alarm when you left. I showed him the confirmation where you’d turned it on, so that’s not in question. We can’t get to the videos to see if anyone came in after that. About an hour after you set the alarm, the power went out. I wasn’t notified there were any issues until Dave next door called the fire in.”
Jinx shivered. Viking wished he could read her mind as she sat there staring at the burned husk of the building that clearly meant a lot to the three people around him.
“Do you have a backup where your video feed is normally stored?” he asked, bringing the older man’sattention to him. “Bekkett Larsen,” he said, reaching across the seats and offering Frank his hand.
Frank shook Viking’s hand in a firm shake. “Samson’s boy?”
He smiled. “That’s me. You know my father?”
“He’s a good man. You must be his lawyer son, the one he brags about all the time. I didn’t realize you were in town. Sorry about your family,” Frank said, obviously knowing about his Nancy and Sarah.
Bekkett gave a curt nod, unwilling to speak of his loss. “If you had your security feed being saved to an off-site location, we might be able to pull up the feed even though you can’t get to the devices,” he said with a nod toward the ruined bar.
Frank dropped his head. “I never had any reason to spy on my employees. We had cameras, sure. But the only way to view them was in the back office. We didn’t have a fancy setup that went to the cloud or anything like that. If a patron left their purse and we needed to pull up the feed from the night before, we could probably do that, but only if one of us went in and rewound the tapes. Fred and Jinx kept telling me we needed to upgrade the systems.”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up, Frank. Who couldn’t have known this would happen? We should count our blessings that nobody was hurt,” Jinx said, patting Frank’s hand.
“That’s what I told him.” Fred wedged his body between the seats. His hand covered Jinx’s. The three of them showed a solidarity in the simple touch.
He clenched his fists to keep from pulling her into his arms. The need to shelter her from her friends puzzled him. Viking didn’t question the urge, but he pushed it down, allowing her the freedom. Hell, she’d probably kick him in the nuts if he tried.
“Did they say they’d have a preliminary report for you before the conclusive one in a week?” Viking asked.
“Al is pretty sure he knows where the fire started. He said there were some pretty telling signs that an accelerant was used to start the fire in the women’s bathroom. Something about red flags, which looked like a rainbow-colored film on the floor in the bathroom near the sink, for one. When he showed me what he meant, it stood out pretty clearly.” Viking listened to Frank explain thedifferent charred patterns, but his mind began to shift.
