Free Under Control by Em Petrova

dawned on him. “Jayla. Haven’t seen you forever.” His tone was reserved. He’d know what she was up to, and she’d prepared for it, expecting belligerence and refusal to answer questions. The workers of Pacific had probably been questioned several times by the police or harassed by the media. Nobody wanted to have an arsonist working for them.
    She put on her best understanding smile and approached with her hand extended. “Hi, Alan. Good to see you again.” She’d attended a small office gathering at Christmas last year. His wife had made a killer crab dip, and Jayla would have liked to drop the whole bowl in her purse and make a getaway.
    “How’s Shelly?” she asked, pumping his hand.
    Wariness showed in his eyes. “She’s fine, thanks for asking. Look, I know what you’re here for.”
    She inwardly winced at his harsh tone but called on any acting ability she might have buried deep inside. “So you know I’m working with my company on a claim filed concerning one of your pools?”
    His face contorted as her words sank in. “Damn, I knew it was only a matter of time before one of my guys didn’t adhere to codes. Come into my office.” He waved a hand toward the door behind the front desk.
    She skirted the desk, throwing a quick “hi” to the secretary. Following Alan into his office presented a brand new feeling of dread in her. She didn’t want to be enclosed in a small space with a man she was pretending to investigate. One of the first things she’d learned in her job was people took offense easily, especially when accused of a wrongdoing.
    “Please sit.” He took a seat in his own ragged vinyl office chair.
    Taking the seat across his desk, she crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. “Thank you for sitting down with me, Alan.”
    He stared at her. “You aren’t here to ask about Blaine?”
    She shook her head. “You know what he did to me the other day, I’m sure. But this is another matter.”
    Alan looked skeptical but tensed at the mention of the other issue. It wouldn’t surprise her if he was more concerned that he was facing a lawsuit than he was about his asshole employee using pool chemicals to start fires around the city.
    She pushed out a controlled breath. “I’m here on behalf of Mutual Insurance. We received a complaint last Wednesday.” A day Blaine would have been working. “Apparently one of your employees came to check the levels of the owner’s pool and several items were missing when he left.”
    “Stop right there. We have the owners sign contracts stating that they’re responsible for all their property while we look at their pool.”
    “Yes, but a few of the missing items might interest you.”
    “Why the hell would that be? I don’t care what they are. My guys didn’t take them, and I’m not reimbursing anybody.”
    The house of cards that was her story wobbled. If she didn’t deliver this next lie perfectly, Alan would see through her charade. She pulled out her phone and flipped through a few bogus screens before pulling up the document she’d drafted on Joey’s computer and sent to herself.
    She held out her phone for Alan to see.
    “A length of rope, a bucket. What the hell kind of claim is that? Why would my guys steal rope or a bucket?”
    “The owner didn’t think anything of the missing items until she saw on the news that the fire on Sixth Street originated in a bucket outside of the building. Rope was discovered half-burned, obviously used as a fuse.”
    “Oh my God.” Alan’s face went deadly pale.
    She dropped her phone into her purse again. “I can see you understand how sensitive this information is. We don’t want the press getting ahold of it and splattering Pacific Pools and Spas across the papers.”
    Alan stood so fast his chair shot backward. “Look, Jayla, I don’t know anything about this stuff. It’s all on Blaine, and I haven’t seen him since that Wednesday.”
    “But surely he’s come by for his