Chapter 19: Final Masquerade

Nellie Noble, the co-owner of the management company, came in voluntarily, much to Jo's surprise. Nellie's partner, and ex-husband, Ricky Owens was less obliging, telling them he was far too busy to come downtown and that if he had to sit next to his ex for five minutes he would probably shoot her. Still, one interview was better than none and if they got a little lucky Nellie might give them enough to justify forcibly bringing Ricky in. At least, that was what Jo told herself as she stirred a single packet of Splenda into her morning coffee. The optimism was unfamiliar and, even though she didn't really believe her own lies, strangely comforting.

"You're going to go through those records the insurer sent over?" She asked Sam, more to cut the silence in the break room than because she needed to double check what he would be doing while she took a run at Nellie.

"Yep." It was more grunt than word and Jo had to consciously stop herself from imagining what he and McNally had to have been up to last night to make him so tired this morning.

"Great." She snapped a lid on her coffee and headed for the door. Nellie would be there any minute and she wanted to review her notes. This interview had to be the best of her life.

Nellie Noble looked younger than Jo expected. She knew from the background check that Nellie was fifty-two and would have auburn hair and blue eyes, but somehow when she had spoken with her on the phone she had adopted a mental picture of a grey haired woman with an excess of crows feet more fitting with the archaic name. Seriously, who was named Nellie?

Nellie was also much more composed than Jo thought she had any right to be. Sure, it was for the best if Nellie had no idea she was a suspect. Jo had a detective's loathing for lawyers. The more she could get her suspect to talk before the woman realized she needed a legal shield the better.

"Thank you for coming in, Ms. Noble." Jo smiled and slid into her seat across from Nellie.

"Please, call me Nellie." The woman leaned slightly forward, resting her elbows on the edge of the table. "I'm happy to do anything I can do to help wrap up this horrible affair." She sighed, "That poor family on the first floor, you know their dog died from smoke inhalation."

"I didn't," Jo said, suppressing the urge to turn and roll her eyes at Sam through the glass. "That's terrible. Did you know the family?"

"Oh, heavens no." Nellie laughed, "I really have nothing to do with the day to day at our buildings. Ricky handled that when we first started and it's been almost fifteen years now since we hired Manuel to oversee that property. I just can't imagine how this happened."

"Well that's what we're trying to find out."

"Of course. You said on the phone that you had a few questions. I'm so sorry Ricky wouldn't come. Divorce," She shook her head and sighed heavily, "it's hardest on the man I think. Ricky took it very badly. I really thought he might do something desperate." She giggled, as if the thought of a man committing suicide over her was the humorous equivalent of a hamster in a sweater vest. "But of course he didn't. He did what all men do, bought a bright red sports car and found himself a Kim. Did you talk to Kim? She's really miles out of his league, but I think he's convinced her he's worth millions so... you know how that goes. But he really should have been here…"

She probably would have gone on like that for several more minutes, but Jo had no interest in listening to the details of Nellie's personal life, or her husband's, and certainly not the ex-husband's twenty-something tart of a girlfriend. "You said that you're not involved in the day to day running of your buildings."

"No, not for years."

Jo didn't let the silence marinate, she didn't want Nellie to take off on another tangent. At least, not yet. "So what is your role in the company?"

"I'm afraid I don't really have one at all. When we split eighteen months ago Ricky took over running the financial end of things and Manuel manages the day to day. I used to be in charge of personnel, but we haven't had much turn over. I think my last hire was Lisette, our office manager. Oh, and Freddie. I hired Freddie… oh, about two and a half years ago."

"And what does Freddie do?"

"He's our handyman. Deals with maintenance calls at all of our buildings and keeps the landscaping company honest. He's a sweet boy, hard worker. It's really too bad about his parents. Such a tragedy, and so soon after we hired him. Ricky gave him a whole month off with pay. " Nellie stared into space for a moment; Jo was about to interrupt with another question when she continued. " I guess he thought it was kind of our fault, with them living in our building. But honestly, the fire inspector said it was a faulty stove. I don't know how we can be responsible for quality control on an appliance. We have two hundred of those stoves and Ricky replaced every single one after that."

"Can you tell me more about that fire?"

Before Nellie could answer there was a tap at the glass. Jo shot Sam an annoyed look but she had promised she would hear him out in exchange for him staying out. She smiled politely at Nellie. "I'm just going to step out for a moment. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Water?"

If Nelly thought it was strange that Jo was leaving with her question unanswered she didn't show it. "Coffee, two sugar. Thank you."

"Coming right up."

Sam was waiting outside the door when Jo stepped outside. She motioned with her head and he followed her to the break room, waiting until the door closed behind them to speak.

"The official reports don't say anything about a faulty stove." Sam announced without preamble.

Jo abandoned her coffee making. "Nothing?"

Sam opened the folder in his hands and passed her a piece of paper. "See? Right here, it says a rodent probably got into the wiring. No mention of anything suspicious."

Jo took the paper, running her eyes over the words trying to make them match the half story her brain had been forming while Nellie talked.

"But look at this," Sam passed her another sheet, this one a photograph. "Look familiar?"

It took a moment before her eyes found what Sam was talking about. The picture was of a kitchen, or what had been a kitchen before fire turned it into something out of a post-apocalyptic film. In the left corner was the stove, and though the angle of the picture wasn't great, Jo thought she could make out the same striated lines of soot she had shown Andy. "I'm no arson expert…"

"But that's where it started." Sam finished for her.

Jo handed the pages back to Sam. "Okay, so we have two fires that started in a similar fashion. What else?"

The smile on Sam's face dimmed. "We still need our suspect."

Jo nodded. There was a sinking feeling in her chest. She knew now with absolute certainty that Andy was innocent. But knowing something and being able to prove it was not the same thing. She had already told Frank she had a suspect. But right now she really didn't know who that suspect should be.

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Andy couldn't sit still. Sam had texted her two hours ago that he and Jo were interviewing the management company today. He hadn't said as much, but she knew he was hoping they would learn enough to clear her name. She was too. But two hours of pacing later she was getting worried. What if they were wrong? If the company had nothing to do with the fire they wouldn't just be back at square one, they would probably have no choice but to take steps towards prosecuting Andy. It was almost a miracle the papers hadn't gotten wind of the connection between the fire and fifteen division yet. If Jo didn't tell Frank that Andy was innocent today she was pretty sure her career was over.

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"Here's your coffee. Thank you for waiting." Jo handed the warm paper cup to Nellie and resumed her seat.

Nellie turned the cup slowly between her hands. "I'm sorry, I've just remembered I have an appointment I really can't reschedule. Can we continue this interview another day?"

A little flicker of hope started in Jo's chest. "I just have a couple more questions for you. It really won't take long."

Nellie pursed her lips in obvious displeasure but stayed seated.

"You were telling me about the fire two years ago." Jo prompted.

Nellie took a swig of coffee, grimaced, and set it down on the table. "It was so long ago, I'm afraid I don't remember much."

Jo could feel the beginnings of a smile playing at her lips and ruthlessly supressed it. "Well, start at the beginning. Where were you when you learned about it?"

Nellie rose suddenly to her feet. "Really, I do not have time for this. You can call my secretary and she will put you in the books, but I must be going."

It took Jo only a split second to make the decision. They didn't really have enough evidence yet, but she knew if she let Nellie walk out of the station she would never voluntarily return. "Nellie Noble, you are being detained on suspicion of arson…"

Behind the glass Sam was torn between punching the air and banging his head against the glass. He couldn't fault her decision. He would have done the same thing. But now they had twenty-four hours to bring enough evidence to convince the crown to prosecute. And all they had was a reluctant witness, a picture of an oven, and a hunch.