Page 43 of On Fire

“And yet you didn’t tell him to leave, why?”

Nic tips his head. “I’m confused. I did tell him to leave.”

Craig’s flits to Sessions and back. “Only after he handled the bomb.”

Nic looks at Craig. “You have to know Jackson. He is all about public service. There was no way he was going to walk away from a bomb. Trying to clear a building like that with seconds on the clock is a fool’s errand.”

“A fool’s errand,” repeats Sessions. “You went to school, right? College?”

“Yes,” Nic says.

“Feel like you’re better than your classmates?”

Nic tips his head to the right. “Only once in a while—I have to keep humble.”

“You are a profiler, correct?”

“It’s one of my many jobs, yes.”

“So, you are trained on how to deflect suspicion. You would know how to use body language, words, facial expressions to exert control over say, a situation like this?”

“I probably could if I had something to hide.”

With that the questioning went back to Craig. My hands are sweating and more trickles down my back.

“Can you explain why you took the dice from three crime scenes?”

“There’s something there. A nod to chance, something this person is trying to discuss with us by leaving them.” He runs a hand through his hair much like Finn did in the car. “I don’t know. I guess I felt if I had them on me, I could get into his head, somehow. The fact that the person returned to the two explosion sites in Portland after the fact points to someone with access to both.”

“Did you fill out the chain of custody paperwork for the dice?”

“I did on the one from Boston. Haven’t had a chance yet to file the other two.”

Suddenly Sessions leans over and shuts down Craig’s line of sight to Nic.

“You knew the murder victim, correct?”

Nic swallows, nodding. “Correct. Henry Holt was a former friend of mine.”

“Former? You had a falling out?”

Nic shrugs his shoulders back. I wipe my forehead. Even though the AC is going full blast, sweat continues to bead.

“We did, a long time ago.”

“How long?”

Nic looks thoughtful for a moment. “It’s been over a decade.”

“And you saw him the night of the explosion, correct?”

“Well, after the bomb went off, yes. He arrived at the site.”

“What was his frame of mind?”

“He was upset. Obviously.”

“And yet, we have a witness who stated you were pretty cold—to an old friend. Made no motions to console him.”