Dave’s lips twitched as if he wanted to smile at Jay’s keen mind. “Went up just after the house. The latest,” he told Jay, pointing at the television. “Is that eight other private residences have all gone up the same way.”
Jay looked at the muted television, where helicopter footage was now showing a Salisbury on fire. He saw Dave move from the corner of his eye, reaching for the laptop that was on and open on his bed. He knew the man was likely about to present his findings thus far, but they were hardly necessary. Even from the choppy footage on the TV, he could tell that the houses attacked were all in the same neighborhood, a stone’s throw from the antique store that was also on fire.
“Have there been any casualties?” he asked as Dave looked ready to speak.
Dave sighed. “Figured it out already?”
Jay felt his face harden. “Enough of our usual back and forth, Dave. I need to know how many of the people we spoke to are dead.”
Dave held out his laptop. “I have found and verified the addresses with the women I met with. They all match. As for deaths, the news has made no updates yet, but there is speculation that at least some of the houses were occupied.”
Jay ran a hand over his hair, feeling a lash of guilt. If this was truly all aimed at him, he wished his enemy would hone their aim a little better.
“Any other fires elsewhere in the city?” he asked, his mind flashing to Ruby and Frank.
Dave was watching him closely. “Not that I am aware of. Are you going to tell me where you went earlier today.”
“Irrelevant,” Jay breathed. “I understand that this might have rattled you, but we can’t leave before—”
“There’s one more thing you need to know,” Dave interrupted. His fingers flickered over a few keys and a new page opened up. “This is the CCTV footage that the police released about seven minutes ago.”
Jay looked at the grainy images. Two showed a person, dressed head-to-toe in black, running away from the neighborhood now in flames. The last was time stamped about an hour before the first two. It seemed to show the same figure, but lacking their gloves and head covering, with their back to the camera, so there was no real chance of an ID. They were bending close to the passenger window of a cab. Just visible through the gap was a hand with a chunky, Celtic-style ring.
Jay felt his stomach bottom out. He looked back to Dave and saw that the man didn’t need his help to recognize the ring.
“You see? We need to get out of here now before Mr. Haraby sends that thug after us, too.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jay nodded and started to pack his belongings. He needed to try and send a message through to Ruby or Frank. They might not see Stella’s father as a threat. He moved toward the box he had taken from The Bronze Rose and stopped. This didn’t make sense. He turned back to Dave and saw a small stain of blood soaking into his shirt on his left side.
“What happened?”
The question came out sharper than intended. The other man recoiled away from him, but he huffed a small laugh.
“Nothing really. I was near the Rose when it went up in flames. Don’t think I have ever run so fast in my life. I thought I saw that red-haired woman again and ducked through a fence. Got scratched.”
Jay felt all his muscles lock, but endeavored to keep his face and voice clear. “You saw her near the fires?”
“No, a few blocks away. I can’t even be sure it was her. You seem very interested in her. Is there—”
“This wasn’t Mr. Haraby,” Jay cut him off and changed the subject.
He saw Dave’s certainty that he was keeping him in the dark deliberately, then Dave sat on the bed.
“Why? Because you don’t think he’d kidnap his own daughter? He wouldn’t be the first, you know.”
Jay sighed and ran a hand over his hair. It wasn’t exactly that he didn’t think Mr. Haraby would stoop so low, it was more that he didn’t see how the man would have bothered with all the other stuff. The anonymous messages, the fact that it seemed Jay’s movements and Stella’s were all tracked with care to line up perfectly. Why would he care who Jay and Dave had been speaking to?
He looked up and saw that Dave was still waiting for an answer. His fearful dash through the city seemed to have taken a toll on him even if he didn’t seem outwardly concerned with his injury.
Jay managed a small smile. “I understand that this is getting more dangerous than perhaps you thought it would. I will ensure you get back to your old life safely if that is what you want.”
“You want me to leave?” He stood and shook his head. “Look, Jay, you’re right. This isn’t exactly how I had imagined things. For one, you’re a lot nicer than the papers make you out to be. But I can’t escape this now, and you know it as well as I do.”
Jay bit his tongue. Dave was right. There was no escaping the fact that this was personal now, which meant that Dave would likely be targeted no matter if he left or stayed.
“So,” Dave continued after watching Jay silently accept his point. “I don’t know why you are keeping information from me, but that’s fine. You’re the boss. I trust that you have a good reason, and that I’ll find out when I need to. As for these fires, I don’t know who it was. Maybe it wasn’t Mr. Haraby, but that leaves the one big
