Page 40 of On Fire

I ask the question Finn doesn’t want to. “What? Another bombing?”

“No,” Carlson says, sitting down and we all take his lead. He looks more crumpled than usual. Rubbing his hands together he then takes his thumbs and presses them against the pressure points in his upper eye sockets on either side of the bridge of his nose. An anti-migraine move.

He drops his hands and looks at the three of us.

“I’ll cut to the chase. Nic’s a suspect.”

You could hear a pin drop.

“Boston?” Finn asks.

Carlson nods.

Finn’s face, already stone white starts to flush. “Listen. We are going to shut this down as soon as we can.” He gestures, spreading arms wide. “I don’t know what the Boston PD thinks they’re going to accomplish with this, but I’ll call the governor’s office and—”

Nic just holds up his hand. “It’s due diligence. They’re doing their job. It makes sense. I live blocks from the Blue Wave. I knew the murder victim. We had a past relationship. I’ve met the other two owners. I am the one person who they can trace to all three sites.” He straightens up in his chair. “Honestly, I don’t think they have much choice than to put me at the top of the list.”

Finn struggles for a moment. “But it’s bullshit!” he blurts out. “After everything we’ve done for the Boston PD? Fuck them.”

Nic says it again, patiently. “They have to make this call.”

“What about loyalty? What about knowing a person? They know you. They know the kind of person you are.” Finn shoots out of his chair and starts pacing. “Sorry. I just found out about these two minutes before you did. Jack . . . Carlson, do you think they’re heading to an arrest?”

Carlson shakes his head. “Not yet. But they’re doing a lot of digging.” He clears his voice, “I mean a lot. Into you, Nic. Your past.”

“They can dig all they want—and they should,” he says.

My heart which has been hammering for the last minute suddenly lurches when I start to speak. “He can’t go back to Massachusetts then.”

“I would suggest staying here,” Carlson says. “Until you can’t.”

“It doesn’t matter. If the FBI or ATF lends a hand—they have jurisdiction everywhere.” Nic’s grin is faint. He turns his gaze from Finn to Carlson. “What kind of pressure are you under right now to get something on me?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he says. I like Carlson. He routed out a corrupt police chief and helped put a dirty judge away with the Colton team. He’s pretty damn determined.

“Look, I need you active through the weekend, Nic. The last thing we need is a diversion like this. You’re too valuable to be out of the picture.”

“I disagree. Nic’s character is on the line here, as well as Colton Security’s. I need to clear his name immediately.” Finn starts pacing, hands on hips.

“I agree,” I say. All three look at me. “This needs to be shut down. The longer they sniff, the more invested they’ll be in pinning this to him.”

“If Nic continues to work with Keller and you two can come up with a risk assessment of Saturday’s parade, that’s good enough for me. Then Nic can go and talk to Boston, clear himself, but at least you’ll have something to work with the Rockland Fire department, and I’ll have a better sense of what the percentages are and what we’re looking for.”

“Nic needs to clear his name now. If something happens, he can be nowhere near Rockland.” Finn is pushing hard.

Nic clears his throat. “May I?” Everyone grows quiet. “First, this is not an issue. I did not set the bombs. There’s nothing that can stick.” Finn opens his mouth to say something then closes it when Nic cocks a head in his direction and holds up an index finger. “Second, our priority is determining if the parade is a target and if so, how to protect people.” He turns to Carlson. “Is there any chance of shutting it down if we identify a high-level threat?”

Carlson shakes his head. “Too political. We’d be accused of being homophobic, anti-gay, stopping voices.” He stabs his thumbs against his eyes again. “Jesus, what a mess.”

“I can clear things up with a phone call to Boston.”

“No, you can’t,” Carlson says. “You’re not even supposed to know you’re a suspect. I shouldn’t be talking to you right now. How’s that supposed to work? Fuck.”

This seems to calm Finn down. Carlson does understand loyalty and honor. That’s the language of Colton Security.

“What about the kid that brought us up here?” Finn is all about the details.

“He thinks we’re strategizing about Saturday.”