There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Frank waited.
“Anyone hurt?” Hale asked.
“No, sir, but we had to escape through a window — a fire was set on the stairwell outside the door.”
Hale sighed. “No accident then.”
“No.” He looked toward Seth and Elena, huddled together. “I have a favor to ask, sir.”
“Then you’d better hope I’m more attentive to you than you are to me.”
“If it’s arson,” Frank said, “eventually they’ll call for a detective. If you won’t let me handle this myself—”
“Not a chance in hell.”
“Then I need to ask that you’ll make sure that Carlson sends Pete Baird. And I need you to back me up when I ask for protection of the identities of the residents of the condo.”
“Who are they?”
“I’m not on a secure line, sir,” he said again. “I promise I’ll come in as soon as possible and explain everything to you in person.”
The chief hesitated.
“All right,” he said finally. “But I won’t be here much longer today. Let me give you a number where you can reach me later this evening — no, wait — better yet, come into my office tomorrow morning at ten. One of my meetings has just been canceled, so I have an opening in my schedule. I take it this can wait until then?”
“Yes, sir.”
Hale hesitated, then said, “If that changes, call this number.”
“Yes, sir.” Frank wrote the number down and thanked him.
“Thanks are premature, Harriman.” He hung up.
Frank walked back to Seth and Elena. As he drew nearer, she said anxiously, “If anyone asks, please don’t call Seth by his father’s name. And don’t call me Rosario. I don’t usually go by Rosario now — for obvious reasons. After what happened to Phil… actually, it was Yvette’s idea. Seth and I use the name Nereault. It just makes a lot of things easier.”
“You okay with that, Seth?” Frank asked.
He shrugged, but didn’t look up from his guinea pig.
“Seth?” Elena asked.
“Lefebvre is a good name,” he said.
“Yes,” Frank said. “And so is Nereault. Right now, Nereault is a safer name, so is it okay if we tell these firefighters that one?”
“Okay,” he said, turning the single word into a song of reluctance.
Any further discussion was halted by the approach of the firefighter who had spoken to them earlier. He took down some basic information from Elena, then said, “I’m afraid the car’s a total loss, but most of the contents of the house should be okay. You’ve got some structural damage though — so we won’t be able to let you stay here.”
She looked back at the condo, as if only now starting to fully absorb what had happened. Frank put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, her face pale. “What caused it?” she asked the firefighter.
“Someone will be over to talk to you about that soon.” He left them to join the others.
“Where are we going to live, Mom?” Seth asked.
She looked back at the broken window, where the ladder they had used still hung, and bewilderedly shook her head.
“Maybe you and your mom could stay with me and Irene for a few days,” Frank said.
“We couldn’t impose—”
“With your dogs?” Seth asked excitedly.
“I don’t know—” she began.
“To protect your privacy,” Frank said, hoping she would catch his meaning, “we won’t tell anyone where you’re staying. Not even your former employer.”
His attention was drawn toward the firefighters, who were talking to a slender man in a suit. Frank noticed the man in the suit was armed. He turned toward them and Frank recognized Blake Halloran, an arson investigator he had worked with on previous cases. Halloran recognized him at about the same time and stroked his full, blond mustache in a considering way before motioning to Frank.
“Surprised to see you,” Halloran said. “Are you here on business or is Ms. Nereault a friend?”
Frank considered not answering, then said, “Both.”
“Hmm. Does your friend Ms. Nereault have any reason to light a couple of fires in her sister-in-law’s condo?”
“Two fires?” Frank asked, not correcting him about the relationship between Elena and Yvette.
“One on the stairway, one in the garage. She’s not a likely suspect, I admit, being inside the place at the time and all. But stranger things have happened.”
