(Two Weeks Before the Switch)
Location: Downtown San Francisco, California, on Earth
After Vivian's father died, she promised to take up his mantle and become an arson investigator. As she got older, she even looked over some of his old investigations in hopes of seeing what he saw and if she would come to the same conclusion. She was permitted to investigate her own cases if she had a supervisor at her side. However, due to a recent uptick in suspicious fire activity, Vivian was called to start an investigation alone that she would later turn over to a more seasoned investigator. At least, that was what they told her.
The reality was much simpler: no one wanted to touch the investigation involving Greyson Investment Group (GIG). The CEO, Alex Greyson, was known for being ruthless if rubbed the wrong way—and nothing said wrong-rubbing quite like investigating his properties for arson. Of course, Alex had notified City Hall himself of a few property fires he thought were suspicious to the Fire Bureau. In order to make an insurance claim on the properties, the Fire Bureau's report must be filed and verified by the claims adjuster. So while no one wanted to investigate GIG's holdings, Greyson himself was asking for just that. And so the task fell to the youngest and least vetted arson investigator (in training) on staff.
A meeting for the following week was scheduled between Vivian and Alex at GIG's headquarters office, but Vivian did a lot of prep work beforehand. She went through the last five years of arson reports in the areas where the most recent GIG fires took place. In addition, she reviewed the records of all GIG's holdings and any property damage or incidents, including fires, but not exclusively. She combed through both police and fire reports and first responders at the scenes. And where there was access without going on to private property, Vivian took photos of locations and points of interest. Finally, she interviewed garbage collectors from the route that included the properties.
After a week of a deep-dive into the reports and images, a pretty clear pattern began to emerge. She uploaded all of the data into her AI program, and it verified what she had surmised, as well. After that, it was just a matter of telling Mr. Greyson about her research findings and discussing where the investigation would go from there.
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(6 days before the Switch)
Location: GIG HQ, Downtown San Francisco, California, on Earth
A little more than a week later, Vivian stepped out of the elevator in the GIG Headquarters (GIG HQ) building. She found it curious that the CEO's office was not on the highest floor but, rather, in the middle of the building. Greeting her was a reception desk with two pleasant people, who immediately addressed her by her name. Vivian was asked to follow the male receptionist to a smaller, modest waiting area, which was separate from the large waiting area near the elevator bank. She was offered water and told that Mr. Greyson would summon her for their meeting soon.
Vivian looked around the waiting room. It was sparsely furnished, and there were no extravagant offerings like many other companies. She also noted that all of the reading material and digital content in the waiting room was exclusively about GIG or CEO Alex Greyson in interviews and receiving accolades.
It's not uncommon to stage a waiting area as a form of a power play. Perhaps this concoction was meant to say that GIG has better things to spend money on. Or maybe it was to say that the person waiting wasn't important enough to be given the VIP treatment. Or maybe it was just a way to force the person waiting to be surrounded only by GIG (and Alex) to intimidate them before a meeting.
That's what made the People Magazine stand out—until she realized it was the "sexiest man" edition, and Alex had been listed and bookmarked with sticky paper. Vivian covered her mouth with her hand as she attempted to suppress a smile and a soft giggle.
The act, however, caught Alex's notice as he approached her to personally fetch her for their meeting. He looked at her face, then at the magazine she was holding, then back at her face again. A small glint of amusement tugged at the corners of his eyes as he cleared his throat. "Excuse me." He retrieved the magazine from her hands and called out, "Patrick?"
The man who had escorted Vivian to the smaller waiting room appeared, his face bright red as Alex continued. "Patrick, I thought we were on the same page about getting rid of this thing. Yet, here it is in the waiting room again." Alex held the magazine out to Patrick as an offering.
"Sorry, Mr. Greyson. I just thought it made you seem more… approachable."
"I don't need to be approachable. I need to do a good job." Alex's expression shifted from slightly stern in a paternal way to a softer tone and face. "I appreciate the effort, but this is not the place for it."
Patrick gently removed the magazine from Alex's hand and hid it behind his back like a scolded child. "Yes, Alex. But…" Patrick looked like he was steeling himself for his next words, while Alex was calm and nonchalant. "Your staff is not giving up, Sir!" And he scuttled off as quickly as he could.
Vivian watched the entire exchange play out in front of her like she was enjoying a good play. Whether it was staged for her benefit or not, it was still an unexpected side to Alex Greyson (and GIG) that hadn't been in any part of her research. She continued to smile, but was no longer hiding it.
Alex looked back at her and gave a soft sigh. "My apologies. Let's get our meeting started, Ms. Lorenson." Vivian followed Alex to his office. Much like the rest of what she had seen of GIG, Alex's office was quite modest, with its only luxury being floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the city.
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Location: GIG HQ, Downtown San Francisco, California, on Earth
Alex gestured to a seat around a small meeting table in the corner of his office. It had four chairs around it, but didn't look like it would accommodate four people comfortably. The office itself could be anyone's office, save for the name placard on the desk. But even that seemed easy enough to pick up and move somewhere else.
She had to ask. "Is this your only office, Mr. Greyson?"
Alex tilted his head slightly, contemplating why she would ask such a question. "I do have a home office." He studied her face, then settled back on his amused expression. "Were you… hoping we'd meet there instead?" Alex asked, oozing with almost too much charm.
However, Vivian kept her own blushing internally this time and responded flatly, "I wondered because this office seems like it could be vacated and turned over to someone else with only removing your name plate."
Alex chuckled softly. "Makes you wonder how precarious being a CEO here is, right?"
"That wasn't…"
"I'm being facetious. In truth, I'm not particularly sentimental. So if it isn't for work, I don't see a reason to clutter the room with it."
"I see." Vivian took what he said and filed it away in her mental folder on Alex Greyson, who seemed to be more and more a menagerie of contradictions. He was personally austere while GIG, itself, was both bold and flashy. He had a reputation for being merciless and cutthroat in the industry, but treated his employees like his family. He claimed not be sentimental, yet was charming and empathetic. Somewhat off-balance by the strangeness of it all, Vivian decided to just be her straightforward and professional self. "Thank you for entertaining my inquiry, Mr. Greyson."
"Of course. And you may call me Alex."
"I couldn't possibly, Sir."
Alex narrowed his eyes, studying her once again to determine if she was being sincere. "Then, shall we move on to the reason for our meeting today?"
Vivian opened her attaché case and pulled out a tablet and an accordion folder. "Yes, Mr. Greyson…" Alex put his hand on the folder, looked at her, and waited until she said, "Yes… Alex."
Alex nodded in approval. "Continue."
"Yes, Sir. And if you will excuse me," Vivian said as she wrestled the folder out from under Alex's hand. "There are some things in here I'd like to show you."
Alex looked taken aback as if he hadn't realized his hand was still on the folder.
Yet, Vivian continued forward, explaining how she went about her research and working her way up to her hypothesis. "If you look here…" Vivian had opened her tablet displaying a map. With a tap, indicators dropped on a few locations. "The red markers are the properties that you reported to the Fire Bureau with a request to investigate."
Alex nodded in response.
Vivian tapped again, showing the next layer of the map. "And these gray markers are all of the fires that were reported in the last year." Vivian tapped again. "Then the ones in blue are GIG's or your personal holdings." Tap. "And the ones in yellow I believe to be suspicious fires based on first responder reports, a few interviews, and a cursory walk around the outside of the properties."
Alex sighed. "That is… concerning."
"Yes. Very. And there are some other things that were concerning." Vivian paused and then continued. "First, no one was on site at any of the fires when they occurred—not even security, so no one was harmed. While fortuitous, it seemed unlikely for so many accidental fires. Second, neighboring properties owned by other people or businesses were unaffected, while your properties only seemed to be targeted even more frequently as time progressed. And third…"
Alex waited as Vivian tapped on the tablet one last time
"Third, I believe this spate of fires actually started six months earlier, or 18 months ago instead of the 12 as was initially thought."
Alex looked at Vivian with surprise and concern. "So you're thinking it's someone familiar with our holdings; someone who knew when employees, including security, would be away; and someone who targeted us specifically."
Vivian responded, "Yes, Sir."
"And why do you think it started 6 months earlier than previously thought?" Alex asked, starting to estimate what questions would be coming next.
Vivian retrieved a file from the accordion folder. "I interviewed some of the garbage truck operators. They started to notice burnt items frequently about 18 months ago. It's my belief that the arsonist was testing what might work, response times, and whether or not they would be investigated as suspicious."
"You interviewed garbage collectors?"
"I did. And I have a question for you, Mr…. Alex."
"Okay…?" Alex said cautiously.
"Is there something that happened eighteen to twenty-four months ago?" Vivian asked, her green eyes steady on Alex's face. She didn't press, just waited, the tablet still open on the map between them.
Alex leaned back in his chair with a shift in his posture. The easy charm he'd worn seemed to dissipate as he seemed to give it some thought. Then, his gaze, which had been casually dismissive earlier, sharpened, moving from her face to the tablet, then back to her, lingering on her eyes.
"Eighteen to twenty-four months," he mused, the words drawn out, as if testing their weight. "That's... a very specific window, Ms. Lorenson. Why that timeframe?"
Vivian didn't flinch. "Because that's when the first anomalies appeared in the garbage collection routes. Not just a stray burnt item, but a consistent, albeit small, increase in singed materials. Too small to trigger a formal report, but noticeable enough to the crews who run those routes daily. They're often the first to see patterns others miss."
Alex's eyebrows raised slightly, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his features. "That is… You really interviewed garbage collectors." It wasn't a question, but a statement laced with a new, unreadable curiosity.
"They're a valuable, often overlooked, source of ground-level intelligence," Vivian replied, her tone purely professional. "Their routes cover every property. They see the minutiae. And their observations, combined with the initial first responder notes on minor incidents from that period, paint a picture of, well, someone testing how to do it and how long it would take for anyone to respond."
She tapped the tablet, bringing up a new overlay. "Here. These are the locations where those early, minor incidents occurred. Notice the proximity to your current holdings." She gestured with a precise finger. "And the nature of the materials found. Small, controlled burns. It suggests experimentation. Learning the burn rates, the spread, the response times of the local fire department without causing significant damage or drawing official attention."
Alex leaned forward, his elbows now resting on the table, his gaze fixed on the map, but his mind clearly elsewhere, processing her words. He ran a hand over his jaw, a thoughtful, almost vulnerable gesture. "A testing phase," he repeated, the words sounding different, heavier, coming from him. "You believe someone was... practicing arson."
"Precisely," Vivian affirmed, meeting his gaze directly. "And they became more proficient, more daring, as time went on. The escalation in damage and frequency aligns perfectly with a learning curve. They mastered the art of causing maximum disruption with minimal risk to themselves or others."
He looked at her with a long, assessing look that wasn't just about the data. It was about her. Her composure, her unconventional methods, the sharp intelligence in her eyes. One of his faint, almost imperceptible smiles played on his lips, a new kind of interest dawning.
"You are... remarkably thorough, Ms. Lorenson," Alex said, his voice softer now, almost a murmur. "More so than any investigator I've encountered." He paused, his eyes still locked on hers, a silent question hanging in the air.
Vivian retrieved her tablet and returned to her chair, tidying up the files and placing them back in her attaché. When she finished, she looked at Alex calmly. "So, if I may ask again, one-and-a-half to two years ago: is there something that happened around that time? Or even slightly before?"
Alex held her gaze, a new, almost playful glint in his deep blue eyes. He leaned back again, this time with a more relaxed air, though the intensity in his stare remained. "That, Ms. Lorenson, is not a simple answer. It's rather...well, an intricate story, with a few too many moving parts for a quick summary." He gestured vaguely around the modest office. "And frankly, this isn't quite the right setting for it."
He pushed himself up from the table, walking slowly towards the floor-to-ceiling windows, his back to her for a moment. "A story of that complexity, one that touches on the very foundation of GIG's recent history, requires a certain atmosphere, don't you think? Like the cliche of looking out of the windows over the city and monologuing. And I believe it will be a bit more time than our scheduled meeting today allows for."
He turned back, a charming, almost conspiratorial smile on his face. "Tell you what. I am helping a friend by sampling a new menu at his restaurant this evening. May I suggest that you accompany me? It would give us the opportunity to discuss this, and any other... anomalies? you might have uncovered, in much greater detail." His gaze was unwavering, a silent challenge in his eyes. "Unless, of course, you have other plans?"
"Mr. Greyson," Vivian returned to her more formal manner of addressing him, slightly flushed. "You probably know that, as a government worker…"
Alex interrupted, "You cannot receive more than $20 in unsolicited gifts at any one time or more than $50 from any one source in a calendar year."
Vivian gave a single nod. "That is correct, Sir."
Alex looked down and smiled to himself. "But you see, I thought you'd want to visit one of the sites that you have flagged as suspicious but weren't reported. And you need my permission to get the most access."
"Yes, but…"
"If I just happen to stop by my friend's place on the way back, and there is no cost to the food for either of us because they haven't been put on any menu yet…" Alex opened a drawer in his desk and retrieved a smartphone. He put the phone in his pocket and returned his gaze to Vivian. "I realize it's a bit of a gray area, but you don't mind, do you?"
"Mr. Greyson…"
"It's Alex. Now, let's go before you have time to overthink it."
Vivian sank her teeth into her lower lip as she considered what to do.