Page 58 of Flint’s Strike

I give Thurgood another sweet smile. “Vern has my number. He can call me any time.”

The sergeant shoves his hat back on his head, and Nate and I watch him disappear back into the crowd.

“You can’t punch him,” Nate says. “Not effectively, anyway.”

“I know.” I huff out each word. “Wait. Effectively?”

“Your leg?” He shakes his head. “Parker, you know most of the power in a punch comes from the lower body.”

I laugh. “It’d also be bad professionally.”

“I dunno,” Nate offers. “Decking Chief Harris didn’t seem to derail your career.”

“True. Maybe I just want to give you the same opportunity I had.”

Nate considers this with the gravity it deserves. “I’ll pass. My face is too pretty to risk the paperwork.”

By three thirty, I feel like burnt toast. We’ve talked to every single person still outside in the heat, and all we have to show for it is a mysterious light and three separate reports of a dark-haired man inside the building over the past week. But for all we know, he could be a leasing agent, the owner, or a janitor.

Until I spot a woman standing at the far end of the tape. Mid-forties, a power suit in a deep magenta, and mascara trails down her cheeks.

I touch Nate’s arm and nod toward the corner. “Buy me some time?”

He follows my gaze. “Go. I’ll even risk paperwork if I have to.”

She sniffles loudly when I approach. Her eyes are swollen and red, tears long gone, leaving only hints of her makeup in the wreckage.

“I’m Captain Parker Elmore,” I say softly. “Texas Ranger Division. Are you okay?”

She shakes her head. Just barely.

“Can I get your name?”

“Beth. Beth Navarro.” She draws in a breath, stops, swipes at her cheeks. “I’m a realtor. Delia and June—the women who—” Beth presses her fist to her mouth for a second. “I gave them the key last night. I wasn’t supposed to. The lease doesn’t officially start until Friday. But they were so excited...” Her gaze hasn’t left the burned-out shell of the building. “It’s my fault. They shouldn’t have been there…”

“Delia and June? Do you know their last names, Ms. Navarro?" I prod, my pen resting against my notebook.

“Castillo.” She whispers the word, as if saying it out loud makes the loss real. “They’re cousins. They were opening a paper goods store.”

“Paper goods?”

Beth nods, her eyes squeezing shut for a moment. “Stationery, cards, fancy notebooks, fountain pens… June’s calligraphy was so beautiful. She could paint too. Delia handled the business side of things.” A hint of a smile curves her lips. “They said they were going to be the prettiest store in the whole building.”

She pulls out her phone and shows me a photo. A pastel pink tape measure laid out on a kitchen table. Beside it, a small notebook with Papier Luxe carefully inked on the cover.

“June texted me this last night,” Beth says. “She was so excited. They’d been saving for three years.” Her voice breaks. “They’d already ordered their sign.”

I wish I could tell her it’s going to be okay. I can’t. But I take down every detail, even though I know I’ll never forget a word of this.

“Ms. Navarro.” I wait until she focuses on me. “You gave two excited women a key to their own store two days early.” I hold her gaze. “You were being kind. What happened to them isn’t your fault.”

She shakes her head. She doesn’t believe me. She might not ever believe me. But she needs to hear it. I need her to hear it.

“Ms. Navarro—Beth,” I say, gently touching her arm until she turns away from the building. “Coming down here today, talking to me…that’s the best thing you could have done for Delia and June. Now you need to take care of yourself. Is there someone you can call to take you home? You shouldn’t be driving right now.”

“My husband.” She’s already unlocking her phone, hands shaking. “He’ll come.”

Nate beelines for me. “Thurgood is about to blow his top.”