Blue Smoke

before you saw the fire. Let’s go back and sit and you can try to remember.”
    Gib glanced toward the shop, then back at John. “It was vandalism, wasn’t it?”
    “Why do you say that?” John asked.
    “The door. The open door. I talked to Pete. He closed last night. I took the family to the ball game.”
    “Birds trounced the Rangers.”
    “Yeah.” Gib managed a small smile. “Pete closed, along with one of my other kids—employees. He locked up, he remembers specifically becausehe and Toni—Antonia Vargas—had a conversation about his key ring when they locked up. He’s never left a door unlocked. So if it was open, somebody broke in.”
    “We’ll talk about that.” He sat with Reena again. “It’s a nice spot. Nice place to have a cold drink on a hot night. Do you know what time it was?”
    “Um, it was about ten after three. Because I saw the clock in the kitchen when I got the ginger ale.”
    “Guess most everybody in the neighborhood’s asleep that time of night.”
    “All the houses were dark. The Castos’ outside light was on, but they mostly forget to turn it off, and I could see a little bit of light in Mindy Young’s bedroom window. She sleeps with a night-light even though she’s ten. I heard a dog bark. I think it was the Pastorellis’ dog, Fabio, because it sounded like him. He sounded excited, then he stopped.”
    “Did any cars go by?”
    “No. Not even one.”
    “That late at night, that quiet, you’d probably hear if a car started up down the block, or a car door closed.”
    “It was quiet. Except for the dog barking a couple times. I could hear the air-conditioning humming from next door. I didn’t hear anything else, that I remember. Not even when I was walking down toward the shop.”
    “Okay, Reena, good job.”
    The door opened, and once again John was struck by beauty.
    Bianca smiled. “Gib, you don’t ask the man in? Offer a cold drink? Please, come inside. I have fresh lemonade.”
    “Thank you.” John had already gotten to his feet. She was the sort of woman men stood for. “I wouldn’t mind something cold, and a little more of your time.”
    The living room was colorful. He thought bold colors would suit a woman like Bianca Hale. It was tidy, the furniture far from new, but polished recently enough that he caught the drift of lemon oil. There were sketches on the walls, pastel chalk portraits of the family, simply framed. Someone had a good eye and a talented hand.

    “Who’s the artist?”
    “That would be me.” Bianca poured lemonade over ice. “My hobby.”
    “They’re great.”
    “Mama had drawings in the shop, too,” Reena added. “I liked the one of Dad best. He had a big chef’s hat on and was tossing a pizza. It’s gone now, isn’t it? Burned up.”
    “I’ll draw another. Even better.”
    “And there was the old dollar. My Poppi framed the first dollar he made when he opened Sirico’s. And the map of Italy, and the cross Nuni had blessed by the Pope and—”
    “Catarina.” Bianca held up a hand to stop the flow. “When something’s gone it’s better to think of what you still have, and what you can make from it.”
    “Somebody started the fire, on purpose. Somebody didn’t care about your drawings or the cross or anything. Or even that Pete and Theresa and the baby were inside.”
    “What?” Bianca braced a hand on the back of a chair. “What’re you saying? Is this true?”
    “We’re jumping a little ahead. An arson inspector will—”
    “Arson.” Now Bianca lowered herself into the chair. “Oh my God. Oh sweet Jesus.”
    “Mrs. Hale, I’ve reported my initial findings to the police department’s arson unit. My job is to inspect the building and determine if the fire should be investigated as incendiary. Someone from the arson unit will inspect the building, conduct an investigation.”
    “Why don’t you?” Reena demanded. “You know.”
    John looked at her, those tired and intelligent amber eyes. Yeah, he thought. He knew. “If the fire was deliberate, then it’s a crime, and the police take over.”
    “But you know.”
    No, the kid didn’t miss a trick. “I contacted the police because when I inspected the building I found what appears to be signs of forced entry. The smoke detectors were disabled. I found what appear to be multiple points of origin.”

    “What’s a point of origin?” Reena asked.
    “That means that the fire started in more than one place, and from the burn patterns,