"Did you?"
"I bought her a few drinks."
"And for that he got upset?"
"Not exactly," he said, shifting uncomfortably.
"What? Exactly."
"I flirted with her. She read more into it than I intended. When I lost interest and stopped going there, she got depressed."
"How do you know?"
"This guy calls and starts bawling me out. Said she cried all the time, wouldn't work. Said I was bad for his business, 'cause she was a favorite with his customers. He told me to stay away from his club and his girls, this one in particular. I think he had the hots for her and was just jealous."
"Jealous enough to burn down your building?"
"I doubt it."
Devon took a deep breath. "Bears looking into. Who else?"
"There was a farmer."
"Let me guess," she said drolly. "He had a daughter."
"No. He had a cow."
After a moment's wary hesitance she shook her head. "I don't think I want to hear about this one."
Frowning at her lack of faith in him, he explained, "I was driving one of our trucks through a pasture on my way to a drilling site when a cow decided to play chicken with it."
"With what?"
"The truck."
"In other words, you ran over a cow."
"It was an accident! I swear, the dumb animal ran straight for my hood ornament. Anyway, she died."
"Surely you paid the farmer for the cow?"
"Hell, yes. We paid him more than she was worth. But he pitched a conniption fit and threatened to sue us for further damages."
"What happened?"
"Nothing. We never heard from him again, and assumed he had decided he'd come out ahead."
"Maybe not. Although I doubt a poor old farmer would have the moxie to set a fire."
"Poor old farmer, my foot. He was straight out of Texas A&M. You should have heard some of the names he called me."
"Okay, he's a possibility. Remember his name, and we'll check to see if he's bought any flares lately. Who else have you tussled with?"
He squinted into the sunlight. "Hmm. Oh yeah, the Irvings."
"Plural?"
"There's a clan of them over in Van Zandt County."