The firemen started to trickle out the building, giving everyone the okay to go back inside. Apparently, there had been no structural damage as the room was mostly brick. It was pretty much only the clothing damaged from what Harper heard as she walked past the firemen who were talking to Gertie. She was insisting they stay for some food, telling them she would have the chef make something nice for them.

Logan had insisted on walking her back up to her office and Harper didn’t mind. His protectiveness over her felt nice, it was comforting. Even though she knew the fire was over, she was still a little jittery, especially when she thought about the picture. Was there any relation between the person who left the picture on her desk and the fire? She assumed there was, and it scared her.

They entered her office and she walked over to her desk and reached for the picture, looking at it again to make sure she was right, and it was indeed her in the picture. Positive it was, she handed it to him without saying a word and sat in her chair.

“What’s this?” he asked, squinting his eyes while holding the picture close to his face. “Wait a minute, is that you? Who took this?”

Harper could tell he was upset by his tone, it was more of a demand than a question.

“I have no idea. Whoever it was, left it on my desk earlier. Shortly before the fire.”

“What? That’s creepy.” Logan looked disturbed. “This isn’t good.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I think you should leave the snooping around and investigating to me from now on. Obviously, this person is on to you, and they are dangerous, they just tried to burn the place down, for crying out loud.”

“What?” Harper asked, surprised at his reaction. “Of course I’m still going to investigate, don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m serious, Harper. Leave it to the expert—me—to get this guy, okay?”

Harper couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Only yesterday he was all about them being a “team” and working together to find the person. Now he wanted to just drop her and find the person himself. It reminded her of her ex-boyfriends: especially her ex-fiancé, always so eager in the beginning to work together then, boom! They want to do it on their own and she was left out, alone. Well, not this time. Logan wasn’t her boss, even if he was “the expert.”

“The expert, really? Well you might want to think again since this has gone on for a while, and your list of suspects is the same as mine. You’ve gotten no further in your “investigation” than I have! So, excuse me while I go do some work. I have an actual job to do here besides just “snooping around!”

With that, she stormed out of her office, leaving Logan staring at her open-mouthed.

She marched into the break room and grabbed a can of tuna from one of the cabinets, then took the back stairs to the loading dock. She'd started keeping a stash of tuna for that stray cat. Feeding it always gave her some comfort. Plus, she wanted to make sure it was okay after the fire.

She walked out of the stairwell into the basement and could see the area around where the fire had occurred was all taped off with bright-yellow caution tape. There were some policemen and another person standing there talking. She walked towards the loading dock area slowly, still looking back at where the fire had happened.

“Coming through!”

Harper turned to see Sarah, who was rushing towards her with a cart full of food in plastic containers. The food must have all been ruined in the fire! Wait. That wouldn’t make sense. The fire had only happened in one of the dressing rooms, and the kitchen is located way down the mill at the opposite end of the building.

“What’s that for?” she asked her, leaning over, and peering into one of the large containers.

“The giant walk-in fridge broke, and everything inside it spoiled. We’ve had to replace it all! That fridge was brand new, too!”

“Wait a minute, you started here already?” Harper asked, suddenly realizing Sarah wouldn’t be doing this unless she'd gotten the job.

“Yes! Today, actually. Take it from me, don’t ever get a job working with your boyfriend. Boy, was that a nightmare. I’ve only been here a few hours and I already know I made the right decision.”

Harper nodded her head, recalling the previous conversation in the break room she'd had with Sarah about Raffe. It only made her feel stronger about keeping Logan at arm’s length now, strictly on a professional level. Which kind of stunk, because there was no way the fridge breaking was a coincidence. Gertie bought brand-new equipment for the kitchen and made sure it was always maintained. Someone had messed with that fridge on purpose, and she would like to tell Logan about it. But, since he was the expert as he'd pointed out to her, he would just have to find that out on his own.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. I think you’ll like it. I know you’re in a hurry, so I’ll let you go, but if you need anything just give me a yell.”

“Thanks, Harper, I appreciate it.” Sarah took off down the hallway towards the kitchen.

Harper continued down the hall and out the loading dock door, pulling the tuna can from her pocket. She peeled the top off and placed it on the ground, calling out to the cat as she looked around for it.

Behind her she heard the door open. Crap! She stepped in front of the can as she whirled around to see …

Veronica was standing in the doorway, her face registering surprise at seeing Harper as she quickly tried to hide something behind her back.

“What are you …” Veronica’s voiced trailed off as she craned her neck to see what Harper was hiding.

“Are you …” Harper craned to see what Veronica was hiding.

Meow!

The cat jumped up onto the loading dock and greeted the two of them, rubbing up against both of their legs as if to say hello, then turning its attention to the open can of tuna behind Harper.

“Are you feeding the cat, too?” Harper figured with the way Veronica’s face had lit up when she saw the cat, it was a sure bet that’s why she was out here.

Veronica laughed and pulled a tuna can out from behind her back. “Guilty. I saw him my first day here and I’ve been feeding him ever since.”

“I was worried something might have happened to him, you know, with the commotion from the fire and everything,” Harper said as she watched Veronica lay down the second can of tuna.

“Me too. I’m even more worried about what’s going to happen next. I think we can all say the fire was no accident.”

“Yes, I agree that was no accident. But who could want to do all this? Whoever it is started it at Marly’s reception. They obviously want to put Gertie out of business. What I can’t figure out, is why?” Harper said, bending over to pick up the empty tuna can as the cat moved on to the next one.

“What do you mean, whoever it is started it at Marly’s reception?” Veronica asked.

Harper hesitated for a minute, then explained about the lanterns at Marly’s wedding. She knew by saying this she was opening herself up to more judgement by Veronica, since some of the things that had happened at Marly’s reception were done by her and Tanner.

“Wow, and to think I assumed it had been your Uncle that pulled that stunt,” Veronica said in an icy tone as she stared at Harper.

Harper’s eyes dropped. She could feel her cheeks start to burn from embarrassment.

“Veronica, I’m sorry. I did do some of those things, too. My Uncle had totally convinced me to do them, and while it’s no excuse, he’s all I have for family. I felt like I should do whatever he said to help him. But I didn’t do everything that happened. I absolutely did not move those luminaries! And, that’s why I’ve been trying to figure out who is doing this. I want to right the wrong I did and catch this person.” Harper couldn’t resist the tears welling up as she spoke, she felt horrible and knew she'd probably just sealed her fate. Veronica would fire her for sure.

“It’s okay. I get it, actually. I don’t really have any family either.” Veronica put her arm around Harper. Harper was shocked. “And I know about wanting to right wrongs, turning over a new leaf. Trust me. I’ve done some pretty crappy things in the past and I know people can change. I’m living proof!”

Harper looked at Veronica with new eyes. No longer did she see that hard-as-nails boss. She saw the vulnerability in her and felt a small bond forming.

“Thanks.” She wanted to say so much more but didn’t know how to form the words. Instead she tried to do one good deed. “There’s something else.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I just saw Sarah, TJ’s sister, running around trying to make sure the food doesn’t spoil. Apparently, there was some fridge incident.”

“You think it was this person? The same one that messed around with the invitations?”

“Maybe.”

Veronica sighed. “Okay, I’ll go find Sarah.”

Harper smiled as she watched her boss walk away. Since Veronica was in a consoling mood, she hoped that would spill over to Sarah. And if she could help bring Veronica and Sarah together, then at least something good would come of this whole mess.

She hurried back into the building. She wanted to do more than just bring people together, though. She wanted to stop the one person who was determined to ruin it all, never mind what the “big expert,” Logan Carter, wanted. She could do this. And she didn’t have much time.