Knock it off, he silently chided himself.Bryn needed a helping hand.A shoulder to cry on.A strong arm to lean on.That’s all.
The fact that he cared about her more than he should was his problem.Not hers.He would rather cut off his fingers than make her feel uncomfortable.
Time to focus on the case.He fished out his phone and called Rex.His boss didn’t answer, so he left a quick message.“Hey, I know it’s late but call me if you can.There’s new information you need to hear.”
“Was that Rex?”Bryn padded into the kitchen.She wasn’t limping anymore, which was a relief.As long as they didn’t have to go on the run again anytime soon, her blisters should heal in a few days.
“Yeah.I left him a message.”He pulled out a kitchen chair.“Please sit.Better yet, find the master suite.You should get some rest, Bryn.”
“Not sure I’ll be able to sleep.”She sank into the chair.“What are you going to do?”
He hesitated, then gestured to the door leading to the garage.“I have a laptop in my car.”Without waiting for her to respond, he headed out to grab the device.He returned, setting it on the kitchen table.“If you have a minute, I’d like you to show me pictures of Damien and Richard, the owners of the company.”
“Sure, but how does that help?”
“It might not, but I’d like to know who we’re dealing with.”He opened the laptop and logged in.Then he used a common search engine to type in the name Damien Rochester and Digital Creative Express.
“That’s him,” Bryn said, when a picture bloomed on the screen.The smiling face of a dark-haired man wearing an expensive suit stared back at him.The guy’s dark hair was artfully styled, a far cry from Micah’s military cut.
Not that he cared if Bryn found this guy attractive.Okay, he did care, but that wasn’t important right now.
“If you go to the company website, you’ll see Richard’s photograph there too.”Bryn’s comment shook him from his thoughts.
“Got it.”He clicked on the link.Both men’s photographs were on the same page, Freeman’s was listed first, with Damien’s underneath.Richard also had dark hair and wore glasses, giving him a more studious look.“Why is he listed first?Did Richard own more of the company than Damien?”
“I don’t think so.”She shrugged.“They didn’t talk much about that.Richard handled more of the marketing and branding side of things.Damien used to work on those accounts, too, but recently branched off into doing public relations stuff.”
He glanced at her.“Do any of Damien’s accounts seem suspicious?Maybe Damien got caught up in something he shouldn’t have.”
“It’s public relations, not government secrets.”She waved a hand at the screen.“Most of the stuff they do is boring.”
“You need to think about the most recent accounts,” he pressed.“Maybe what looks boring on the outside isn’t routine at all.”
“I’ll try.”She looked thoughtful for a moment, but before she could say anything, his phone rang.
“This is Rex.”He picked up the device.“Thanks for calling me back.”
“Yeah, I’ve been on the phone with the feds and the Madison police.”Rex got straight to the point.“Are you with Bryn?”
“Yes, she’s sitting beside me.”A niggle of concern snaked down his spine.“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah, you could say that.I knew about the fire before I listened to your message.Is there anything else you want to tell me?”Rex asked.“Any other information you’ve stumbled across?”
“No, why?What’s going on?Should I put this call on speaker so Bryn can hear?”
Rex sighed.“Sure.It’s not good, though, so be prepared.”
He wasn’t sure how things could possibly get worse, but he trusted his boss.He’d have rather had this conversation in private, but that wasn’t fair to Bryn.
Not that any of this was fair to Bryn.
“You’re on speaker, Rex.Tell us what’s going on.”
“Okay.The fire at Bryn’s house wasn’t an accident.It’s officially been ruled as arson.”
That much he’d already anticipated, so he relaxed.“Yeah, we expected that.Any idea when the fire was started?”
“They estimate it burned for thirty to forty minutes before the call came in,” Rex said.“They’re still working on the exact timeline.But the biggest problem is that the house wasn’t empty at the time of the blaze.”
