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The main police officer cleared his throat, shifted his weight, and squared his burly shoulders, trying to appear in control of the situation. He was all but ignoring Harry’s claims about the fishy fire.
“The odds of this happening again are slim to none,” Harry continued. He was clearly perplexed. His breathing was rapid. He was fired up and excited, waving his hands animatedly as he attempted to get the officer’s attention. The fire had been contained, but the damage had already been done.
Clearly frustrated and steaming, Harry stomped over to me and Felix, still swaddled together in a single blanket on the side of the curb.
“Can I talk to you guys alone for a second?” he asked.
I exchanged a glance with Felix to make sure it was okay. “Sure.”
Harry seemed pleased with our willingness. “I think I can help you guys out.”
“You… can?” I asked.
He nodded fervently. His eyes sparkled enthusiastically. “I have some contacts outside the city. I think I need to call them for outside help in dealing with this fire. I don’t believe it was an accident.”
I nodded. “I don’t think it was an accident either. I think I was deliberately targeted.”
Harry seemed to agree with me, almost as if he was personally offended by the alleged arsonist, who still needed to be outed.
Harry leaned in and made intense eye contact with me and Felix. “Believe me, I’m going to get to the bottom of this so that whoever is responsible for this atrocious crime can be brought to justice.”
I didn’t know why Harry was so hellbent on helping me. Maybe he just hated criminals and bullies as much as I did. Either way, I was grateful to have someone with city authority on my side.
“Thank you,” I said. “I, of course, will be appreciative of anything you can do, or any strings you can pull. I’ve been running around in circles, basically getting nowhere.”
I was overwhelmed and exhausted and had reached my breaking point. I didn’t know how much more I could take.
“I just need some help to try and discern who is corrupt and who isn’t.” Harry frowned and scratched the top of his head.
At least he was willing to try, unlike these officers on the scene. I secretly wondered if they had been paid off by the mayor too, and that might have been the reason for their uncooperativeness.
“We should ask for copies of the statement,” Felix said, “just to make sure that they wrote down everything we actually said, authentically.”
“Good idea,” I said. I appreciated his cleverness.
“I’m furious with Nelson,” Felix grumbled.
“I’m just glad we escaped with our lives still intact,” I said.
Felix’s face was pale. “Do you really think he intended to kill us?”
“Judging by what we now know about him? I wouldn’t put it past him,” I said.
Felix looked disgusted.
“Do you guys have a safe place to stay tonight while we contain the rest of the fire and do our investigation?” Harry asked.
I nodded and pointed to Felix. “Yes, we can stay at his place tonight, thank you.”
By now there was a sizable crowd of bystanders who had streamed out of their houses in droves to witness the spectacle firsthand and to see what was causing all the commotion. Some people even had their phones out and were recording the events. It made me feel trapped and on display.
Nelson had infiltrated himself into my life and taken over. It was finally time for me to come to the conclusion that Nelson had more power over the situation, and that I had very little control on my own.
After the crowd began to clear, I looked at Felix. “I don’t think that standing up to Nelson is worth endangering our lives anymore,” I said. “I realized that me being stubborn about the situation is putting someone I love at risk. If anything happened to you on account of my inability to be reasonable, I would never be able to forgive myself.”
Felix cast me an empathetic smile. “I appreciate you saying that. I just want you to be happy. I’ll support you no matter what, but I think you’re making the right decision here.”
I took a deep breath and moved us over to the sidewalk, pulling out my phone.
