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tension.
    “It’s not funny.”
    “No,” I said. “But it was only one time.”
    “Oh, Reed, that wasn’t the first time. I’d gotten into a couple of shouting matches with him, arguing about the rent. And on top of everything else, my dad was a cop.”
    “So?” Then it dawned on me. “Spillman might think because of that, you’d know how to set a fire in such a way that you’d avoid getting caught.”
    “Bingo.”
    I drew in a deep breath. “You’re right.” Don’t kid the kidder, right? I started ticking things off on one hand. “So O’Rourke owed you almost a year’s worth of rent. You thought he might be destroying the apartment. You’ve been in a number of verbal altercations with him, the last where you physically harmed him and then threatened him. And your dad’s a cop who could’ve given you tips on how to burn down the building with Nick in it without getting caught.”
    She stared at her beer. “That about sums it up.”
    I ran a hand over my face, then took a drink. I finally said what we were both thinking. “It doesn’t look good.”

 
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    “I wouldn’t kill him,” she finally said.
    “I know that, but the police are going to look at you first. With good reason.”
    I stopped when the waiter came back with our food.
    “Here you go,” he said as he set down our plates. I’d ordered the hamburger with bacon and cheddar cheese; not very healthy, but I justified it by reasoning that the only time I ate like this was when I was at a restaurant. Which wasn’t true, either, but it was easier than actually eating healthy. Willie got the focaccia chicken sandwich and fruit. She took a delicate bite, then dug in with gusto.
    “Hm, I guess I am hungry,” she said through a bite.
    “Me, too.” I finished off half the burger in a few bites.
    “I didn’t burn down my apartment building.” Her sandwich was gone too, and she started on the fruit. “For crying out loud, I have an alibi. I was with you.”
    “I know, and that’s what you tell the police, but they’ll still have to eliminate you as a suspect. And you could’ve hired someone to start the fire for you, which leaves you the ability to plan an alibi. Spillman’s going to dig into your life to see if you had a motive for starting the fire. She’s going to find out everything, all the issues with Nick.”
    “It wasn’t me.” She wagged her head back and forth as she talked.
    “ We know it’s not you, but Spillman doesn’t.”
    “I don’t have anything to hide.”
    “What about your finances? She’ll find out you needed the money, that you couldn’t pay the mortgage without renters. She’ll discover that Nick wasn’t paying rent. She’ll wonder a few things. One, did you kill him for revenge and then try and cover it with the fire? Or two, did you burn down the building for the insurance money, and Nick was a casualty? Or both.”
    She jerked her head up. “So they could think I burned down the house for the insurance money and because I wanted to kill Nick?”
    “Yes.” I finished off my beer. “Is there anything else? Faulty wiring? Other problems with the house?”
    “Things that would motivate me to burn it down for the insurance money?”
    I nodded.
    “No.” She scowled. “Isn’t the other stuff enough?”
    “I’m just trying to look at everything.”
    “I know. I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” I tried to look relaxed, but I didn’t feel it. “So…we know the cause of the fire is arson, we know that someone murdered Nick O’Rourke, and we know you didn’t do either of those, so the first question is: Why did someone burn the building down? Why did someone hit Nick over the head and leave him in the apartment?”
    “That’s two questions.” She smiled for the first time since the fire. I was glad to see her humor returning. But it didn’t last. “And the next question is: Who would want to kill Nick?”
    “And why.” I sighed. “We probably find the