(4 days before the switch)
Location: Ben's Apartment Building, San Francisco, California, world of Earth.
When Vivian got back to Ben's apartment, Ben was sitting on the floor and eating his dinner on the coffee table while watching TV. The sight of it reminded Vivian of when she and Ben were younger and begged Ben's mom to let them eat while watching one of their favorite shows. At that time, Ben created a list of persuasion points, and Vivian put them into a bullet-pointed digital presentation for his mom. But before Ben and Vivian could get halfway through, Ben's mom started laughing and said that if we put in that much effort, she didn't have to worry about the TV "rotting our brains."
The memory brought a smile to Vivian's face as Marmalade abandoned Ben's side and pawed at her leg for some attention. Ben, meanwhile, paused the program he was watching and gave his familiar "Hey, Viv."
"If you're hungry, I made some extra for you, so help yourself."
"You are going to make someone the perfect househusband someday, Ben," said Vivian in jest.
"You always say that, but you're the only one I seem to be taking care of," Ben said with a hint of amusement. "Anyway, how is the investigation going?"
"Attorney-client privilege?" Vivian asked so she wouldn't have to worry about what she mentioned.
Ben held out his hand, palm up—his gesture indicating that a client pays for his services. Vivian never needed cash anymore, so she rooted around in her attaché and found a bag of catnip treats she had been saving for Marmalade, who followed every movement of the bag with a hunter-like intensity, waiting for his prey to slip up and be devoured.
Vivian put the bag on Ben's hand. He looked at the bag, then at Vivian, then back at the bag. "This has got to be the weirdest retainer I've ever received."
"If you'd like, I'm sure I could find something even more weird."
"No… no. This is enough," Ben quickly responded as he chuckled. "I cringe at what you would actually consider 'even more weird.'"
"Rude." Vivian declared, pretending to be offended and letting a pause tick by before adding, "but also… very true." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled back at Ben, who was laughing harder.
Vivian sat next to Ben on the floor and put her tablet on the coffee table, going over the same presentation she had just given for Detective Garcia and Prosecutor Davies.
Finally Ben commented. "I'm not surprised he didn't want to give access to his personal properties. You know he owns the building where my law firm is, right?"
"Personally?" Vivian asked in surprise.
"Yeah. Makes you wonder what kind of spending power that guy has. And he owns this building."
"He owns it personally, rather than through GIG?"
Ben nodded. "It's like he bought a big house with some pocket change and is subletting all of the rooms."
Vivian smiled at Ben's simile, "You do have a way with words, Counselor."
Ben smirked before he continued. "Well, get this. You know the renovations in the lobby?"
Vivian nodded. "Yeah, I saw people working on something this morning."
"He's putting in a 24/7 security desk that any visitor would have to check in, including deliveries and contract workers," Ben reported, sounding both impressed and annoyed.
"Given the circumstances of the new threat and him living in the building, it's probably a good idea. And it's not like improving the security is a bad thing. Plus, residents mostly use the garage with their access pass, anyway."
Ben shook his head. "He's adding a security booth and valet for the garage level. And the cameras that are going up… Well, here." Ben handed Vivian a memo that was sent out to all of the building residents with the list of updated security measures Alex planned to install over the next few weeks. Then Ben muttered, "He's probably doing all of this just to keep tabs on you."
"As if. No cameras or even guessing needed for that," Vivian responded. "I'm either at work, with you or with him. No big mysteries there."
"If it were up to me, it would only be the first two," Ben said more to himself than to Vivian. "I'm almost curious as to what excuses he'll make once the case is over to trick you into spending time with him."
"Ben…" Vivian said in a warning tone.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm shutting up about it now." Ben took a bite of his food and Marmalade meowed as if agreeing with… well, one of them.
"I need to write up a lot of details in my journal for Ally. I don't know if they will be needed but if we do a Switch, it'll be the worst timing yet."
"You just had to say it." Ben responded with a smirk. "You know that's just a flag for it to happen."
Vivian giggled. "That's not how that works in the real world, Ben."
Ben gave a mock scoff. "How could you, of all people, reference what's realistic or not?"
"You're not wrong, Ben. You're not wrong."
Over the next few days, Vivian and Alex, accompanied by Thomas and Jae revisited some of the known fire locations. Vivian tried to identify the seat of the fire and cordoned it off for screen sifting of the debris. Vivian was able to get some additional monetary resources to pay off-duty and retired firefighters for help as they had keener eyes for debris that might not originally belong there.
One helper was tasked with going over the scene with a magnet to pick up any metal fragments from batteries or small screws that might lead to "Black Box" clues, or remnants of a remote detonation device. Debris from three different sites was bagged, boxed and delivered to the labs designated to perform the forensic analyses.
Outside of the third site, Alex stood next to Vivian as she made notes on her phone to review later. "This is starting to look like a TV crime show," muttered Alex.
"Ugh, don't get me started. I mean, they hire consultants to make it seem accurate, but then inevitably sacrifice it for dramatic effect or some expected trope," Vivian responded, looking incensed at the incredulity in dramatic interpretations of arson investigation.
Alex chuckled. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you express such distaste in anything—or any strong emotion other than geeking out over science."
"Oh," Vivian blushed. "I do try to be accepting of people because that's how I'd like to be treated. But that just… really pisses me off. The tropes are so overused that people think that's the way things really are."
Alex couldn't help but laugh while admiring the way her face looked when she blushed.
"That reminds me. I should probably tell you that I won't be able to do any site visits for 10 days. I'm on duty at the fire station," Vivian said before biting her lip in thought. "The timing is pretty good because we have to wait for the labs to start processing all of this. And there's a lot."
"Station 36, right?" Alex asked.
"Yes. But how did you know?"
"I figured they'd keep you close to city hall in case you had to jump into a meeting," Alex responded as if it was completely obvious.
"I'm not surprised that you deduced as much. I just wonder how you get any work done when you're spending all of this time here. I mean, you do have a rather large company to run, right?" Vivian said, somewhat teasing.
Alex chuckled softly and ran his hand through his hair. "As the boss, I can be where I want to be if I'm interested in something."
Vivian nodded. "Then who knows? Maybe you'll be a fire science expert before we're done."
"Yeah," Alex responded, realizing Vivian was completely oblivious to his attempt at flirtation.