“Go to sleep, Ang. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay. Goodnight, Colt.”
He said goodnight and they hung up. Angie checked the door locks again out of habit, checked the alarm to make sure it was set, then headed for bed. She was just settling under the covers when her phone rang again. It was Liam. “Have you heard?” he blurted when she answered.
Her eyes were gritty from lack of sleep. She rubbed one. “Heard what?”
“The building is on fire.”
That made her sit straight up. “What? Triple B?”
“Yes! Murphy just called—it’s burning to the ground.”
Chapter Five
There was nothing but a burned out shell and smoking remains as Angie pulled into the parking lot the next morning. Even the firemen were gone, though the area was surrounded with barricade tape to keep people from venturing too close. She didn’t know why she’d come since there wouldn’t be any work today, but she’d had to see it in person and not just on the news.
Apparently she wasn’t the only one.
Liam stood in front of his car, hands in pockets, looking at what was left of the building. Jenny Clark was there and so was Jack Murphy. Last night when Liam called, he’d been passing on the information from Jack.
Angie got out of the car and went over to join them. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” they said back.
Liam put an arm around her. “Guess you had to see it too, huh?”
“It’s unbelievable.”
The air smelled like smoke and water, and the building shell was a sad sight on a street filled with old brownstones and neat landscaping. Barton, Barnes and Blake had occupied the building for thirty years of its long life. It’d been a mercantile at one time. And a haberdashery. Now it was gone. Other people stopped to stare too, but none of them were coworkers. Most continued on their way after they’d gawked a bit.
“It sure is,” Jack said. “I could hardly believe it when I got the call. Mr. Barnes found out when the alarm company called him to report a fire on the premises. The fire department was here within minutes, but it was too late to save it. There was an explosion at some point, but I don’t know whether the fire started before that, or if that’s what caused it. It’s lucky none of the surrounding buildings caught.”
“It was an old building,” Liam said. “Maybe the wiring sparked. Or somebody left a space heater running in their office. It’s been cold lately.”
They stared morosely at what remained of their workplace. Angie thought of the space heater in her office. She hadn’t used it this week because she’d worn sweaters. Didn’t mean someone else hadn’t used theirs. But this on top of Charles quitting and the Cardinal Group files disappearing?
Too convenient. Though why would anyone want to burn down the office? The files were already gone before the fire started, and that could have been done remotely.
“I’m starving,” Liam said after a moment. “IHOP anyone?”
Angie nodded. “Sounds good.”
“I could eat,” Jack added.
“How about you, Jen?” Angie asked when Jenny didn’t say anything.
Jenny’s eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. She’d been crying. She jumped when Angie touched her arm. “Jen? Breakfast?”
Jenny nodded. “I can come. Thanks.”
“You okay?” Angie asked.
“I’m fine. I just—I had pictures of my kids in there. I can print them again, of course. I don’t know why I’m emotional about this.”
Angie hugged her. Poor Jenny had been through an ugly divorce recently and she was still recovering from the emotional trauma of it. “I’m sorry, Jen.”
“I’ll be okay. It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“Have you seen anyone else?” Angie asked the group at large.
“Mr. Barnes was by a few minutes ago. He said Blake’s working on a solution,” Jack said.
As if on cue, everyone’s phones pinged with a text. “It’s Blake,” Liam said.
“Can you tell me what it says?” Angie asked. “I left mine in the car.”
“Nothing much.” Liam scrolled. “Basically, we’re to work from home for now. Everything’s in the cloud so he hopes it won’t impact us too much. We can send forms that need printed to the Falls Church office. They’ll mail them to clients. Blah, blah. No news on what caused the fire.” Liam sighed. “That’s it. Work from home. Contact your clients and reassure them, though Triple B’s sending out an official email as well.”
“I can’t imagine how long it’s going to take to get a new office up and running,” Angie said. It hit her forcefully that this was a huge change in her life. She hadn’t lost her job—not yet—but nothing was the same as it had been yesterday. It wasn’t going to magically go back to normal in a day or two either. She’d thought getting the jacked up Cardinal Group account was the worst thing to happen to her lately. Apparently not.
“We’ll be out of our jobs if they decide not to rebuild,” Jenny practically wailed. “And maybe they won’t with all the new branches they’ve been opening in other cities.”
“Don’t think that way, Jen. This is still the original BB&B. Tradition means something to those old boys,” Jack replied.
“Come on, ladies,” Liam interjected, looping an arm around each of them. “Let’s go drown our sorrows with pancakes and maple syrup.”
“Sounds good to me,” Angie replied. She didn’t want to imagine the worst that could happen, or listen to Jenny have a meltdown over it. She made a note to ask Jenny if she’d gotten any of Charles’s accounts before they parted ways for the day.
As she got into her car and stared at the smoking remains of the building, a cold shiver rolled through her and she started to tremble. Her first instinct was to call Colt. She’d called him last night after Liam’s text about the fire. He’d helped her calm down considerably. He was good at that. Probably because he was used to chaos and uncertainty.
Now that she was sitting there in the cold light of day and seeing what was left of
