I was beyond furious. The urge to head back to the station, grab that smug detective by his lapels and give him the tongue-lashing of a lifetime was still burning strong in me as Ethan and I approached the shop next to the school. I glanced up at the school, fear boiling inside of me as I considered a fire spreading into the building. It was almost too horrible to even think about.

I’d never really noticed the place before—it was yet another one of the many bodegas in the area. The windows were dark and there didn’t seem to be any signs of life in the place.

Ethan approached the door and gave it a firm knock. A squat man with thinning hair dressed in a beige jumpsuit, the name “Henry” stitched on the right breast pocket, opened the door. He gave us a quick once-over and realized instantly that we weren’t there groceries. We gave our introductions.

“Mind if we talk for a minute or two?” Ethan asked, his voice stern. “It’s very important—it’s about your business.”

Part of me was glad to have Ethan around. With his commanding presence and deep voice, he was the kind of guy to whom it was hard to say “no.” Sure enough, Henry took one look up and down and stepped aside, gesturing for us to come in.

Henry pulled out a couple of cheap folding chairs from behind the counter and handed them over to us. We all took our seats, and Ethan didn’t waste any time filling Henry in on the details. When Ethan was done, a strange look formed on Henry’s face, as if this might be all some kind of prank.

“These guys are gonna burn down my business?” he asked.

“You said ‘no’ to them, right?” I asked.

“Of course I did,” he responded. “I’ve been with Lancel for years. No way I’m gonna break ties with them just because some goons show up and try to intimidate me.”

“And how long ago was this?” asked Ethan, his tone making it clear that this question was of the utmost importance.

“It was yesterday,” said Henry. “Yesterday morning. Sent those cocks packing like the scum they were.”

“And did one of them have a scar?” I asked, knowing that by this point it was a totally unnecessary question.

“Sure did,” said Henry. “Ugly one, almost as ugly as the rest of his face.” Then Henry sat up. “Now, wait a minute,” he said. “What the hell am I supposed to do about all of this? I got insurance, and this place is just a hole in the wall, but I’d rather not deal with my livelihood going up in flames, you know?”

“Get your important documents in order. We tried the NYPD, and they weren’t too keen on listening to a couple of amateurs,” I said.

“So, you two could be wrong.”

“It’s…possible,” said Ethan. “But it’s looking like you’re the next one up.”

Henry opened his mouth to speak, but Ethan cut him off.

“You can think we’re crazy or not,” he said. “But just to be on the safe side, make sure that there’s nothing here for the next few days that can’t be replaced. And that means you.”

“Fine,” said Henry, throwing up his hands. “Store’s been losing business by the year. Maybe the joint getting torched would give me a reason to finally give it up.”

I let out a sigh of relief. But as much as this place didn’t seem to matter to Henry, the school was still at risk.

“Thanks,” said Ethan, standing up to shake Henry’s hand. “And we’ll do what we can to make sure you don’t have to deal with the worst.”

The two men shook, and soon we were back out on the street. I cast a nervous glance up at the school, the shape of the building backlit by the setting sun.

“Still got that to worry about,” I said.

“At least we’ve got a couple of days,” said Ethan. “We can breathe a little.”

“I’m gonna go talk to the principal,” I said. “Maybe she’ll be a little more willing to listen to reason than the cops.”

“Sounds good,” said Ethan. “I’ll meet you back at the apartment. And come hungry—I’ve got something in mind for tonight.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“That right?” I asked.

“Yep,” he said. “Figured the two of us could use a little relaxing after the day we’ve had.”

“I like the sound of that,” I said.

He flashed me one more pearly-white smile and was off. I lingered for a moment, letting the sight of Ethan hang in my mind’s eye. Despite everything, he still had that same pull on me, and I hoped that the night he had planned for the two of us tonight involved a little more than takeout.

I stepped up to the tall, arched dark wood doors that made up the entrance to the school. The place was quiet and a little eerie without the usual bustle of kids here and there. But I knew that Amelia Wexler, the principal, would almost certainly be here, even this late.

The lock to the doors clicked open as I slid my key card and moments later I was inside. My shoes clicked as I walked, the sound carrying down the place’s cathedral-like hallways. After a short time, I arrived at the door leading to Mrs. Wexler’s office.

“Come in,” came the prim voice after I knocked.

I stepped through the empty receptionist’s office and into the large, stately principal’s office. As I always did, I took a quick look around, imagining myself in this elegant little room with walls covered with colorful spines of books and a view that looked out onto the green space in back of the school.

And behind the desk was Mrs. Wexler. She looked at me skeptically, squinting her wrinkle-fanned, gray eyes behind large, cat-eyed glasses. She was dressed in one of her usual monochromatic power suits with the big shoulder pads built in. She was a serious woman, and despite what I had to tell her, I always felt that I was wasting her time.

“Miss Parker,” she said. “Come in.”

I sat down, my stomach tingling a bit.

“What can I help you with?”

I thought for a brief moment just how I was going to phrase what I needed to say. Then, almost beyond my control, everything came out in a huge blurt.

Mrs. Wexler took the time to think over what I’d just told her.

“That’s…certainly disturbing, if true,” she said, taking off her glasses and folding them in her hands. “And what do you propose we do about this?”

I was at a little bit of a loss. I’d been so wrapped up in solving things that I hadn’t really thought about what I was going to do.

“Well, we need to cancel classes,” I said, a trace of nerves in my voice. “Close the school until the week’s over, or until the fire breaks out—I don’t know. But we have to do something!”

“You want to close the school indefinitely and tell the parents…what, exactly?”

“I don’t know, tell them that there’s the threat of arson right next door!” I was losing more and more hope of getting anything accomplished with each syllable that passed my lips.

“And with what evidence? Your hunch?”

I opened my mouth to speak but said nothing.

“Listen, Chloe,” she said. “I know that you’ve been working hard with the kids, and I know that after what happened with Micah you’re likely feeling extra protective toward them. And my god, you nearly died in that fire at your apartment. I get that you’re shaken up, and maybe it was a mistake to let you come back to school so soon. But we can’t just send everyone home for a week because you’ve got a bad feeling about something.”

I wanted to run home, grab Ethan’s laptop and the rest of the notes that we’d been taking and show them all to Mrs. Wexler. But I realized that this would only serve to make me look crazier, dumping a pile of scrawled notes onto her desk with a fevered look in my eyes.

“Go home and get some rest. I hear you’ve been seeing that handsome fireman from YouTube,” she said, a little glint in her eyes. “Go have a nice dinner, get some sleep, and you’ll be feeling better in the morning.”

“Bu—”

“Principal’s orders,” she said, her voice having just enough of a hard edge to make it clear that she was being very serious about the matter. “Now scoot.”

She slipped her glasses back onto her face, turned to her computer, and that was that.

The conversation was over.