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My heart squeezes in my chest, and I’m oddly touched by her words.
“Why don’t we set aside my lack of belief in the supernatural for the moment, and you two tell me what you want my help with.”
Liz Wu doesn’t like to beat around the bush any more than I do, so I quickly recount where the path of our investigation has led us thus far. By the time I’m done, Liz’s meal has arrived, and she tucks in like a starving woman.
“God, that’s good,” she says after swallowing a few mouthfuls of stew.
Then her sharp gaze lands on me. “So, I’m assuming it’s my access to case files that you’re wanting?”
I hold my hands up in the prayer pose. “Any help you can give us would be great. For now, we’re just trying to get some details on what happened, who the deceased were, and what the outcome of the investigation was.” I frown. “I’d also like to take a look at the arson investigator’s notes if you can find them.”
Liz sips her drink. “If there were casualties in that fire, I’m fairly confident we’d still have some records. Although fair warning, they may not be terribly well organized, and not all documents are likely to still be around this many years later.”
“I’m fully prepared for that. Any information you can find will be useful.”
“Hmm. You’ll probably be best off to start with the London Fire Brigade. Most of their records that far back are held in the London Metropolitan Archives. You should have no problems getting your hands on incident reports, but you won’t be able to get access to any arson investigation files under a Freedom of Information request. I’d need to step in as a DCI, and that’s when things could get more complicated.”
I wince. “Gotcha. If you can check into it on your end first, that would be great. If there was a criminal case, then the Met will have records, and those will be faster for you to track down.”
She nods. “I’ll be able to suss out if there were any criminal trial proceedings following the investigation, but it’ll take me some time.”
“No worries, luv. I’ll write up all my notes this evening and email them to you. They should help you with searching through the Met database.”
Liz and I shake hands, and she finishes the last of her stew then leans back in her chair and sips her pint.
She darts a look between me and Beau. “So, tell me more about you two. Are you an item?”
I nearly choke on my tongue. “No we’re bloody not.”
Beau bats his lashes at Liz. “I’m working mighty hard on getting into Callum’s pants—and maybe even into that curmudgeonly heart of his.” He winks at me after saying that.
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose.
Liz laughs. “Ooh, tell me more. Cal needs to get laid in the worst way.”
My eyes snap open and I glare at them. “Hey!”
They ignore me.
“Agreed. I think that might be partly why he’s such a grump.”
Liz’s eyes sparkle and she leans closer to Beau. “Oh, I do like you.”
Beau grins.
I groan.
How did this conversation get so derailed?
“Callum and I are both single and the attraction is very much mutual,” Beau continues, “so I don’t see what the problem is. But convincing him is proving more difficult than nailing Jell-O to a tree.” He shakes his head sadly. “I’ve been putting all of my gay Southern charm on full blast, but it’s not having the effect I was hoping for. Yet, anyway.”
Liz snorts. “Fair warning, Cal can be a bit of an arsehole when it comes to romantic relationships. He’s entirely too oblivious to other people’s emotions and can really put his foot in it.”
“Is this Shit on Callum Day or something?” I gripe.
Liz flicks my forehead lovingly and turns back to Beau. “He’s actually a big sweetheart, a total softie underneath it all. You should see him with my girls. But you’ve got to dig your way through a lot of layers of grouchy, grumpy bastard until you get to the good stuff.”
Beau grins. “No kidding, honey. But don’t worry, Mama says I’m a force to be reckoned with. I’ll keep digging until I strike gold.” He rubs his hands together. “In fact, I’m gonna channel all of my inner Miley Cyrus and take a wrecking ball to those walls of his, every single one.”
