I was torn between feelings of anger and happiness at seeing O again. I was happy that he was alive and well, but the fact that he had not come out to say hello to me sooner bothered me. I recalled the hour and a half I spent at their restaurant the night before. When Mihoko was serving my tea she mentioned her "brother". She said he told her to offer me a blanket when I was wet which meant, he cared about me still. How could I be angry at that? 


When Victoria Taisha Lawford, civilian researcher and freelance reporter begins an investigation into a series of arsons striking fear into local restaurants all over the city, she runs into "O", an old flame who mysteriously disappeared six years ago.  She learns he now works as a gourmet chef at a Japanese restaurant...the only restaurant in the area to survive the recent spate of fires. Will they rekindle the fire between them? Or will a turn in the investigation make him her latest suspect?