Page 53 of Ink and Ashes

Ethan, Hayden, and Ace line one side of the table with Cass, Sam, and Ollie sitting across from them, so I make my way to the other end of the table to join them.

As I take my seat, I make eye contact with Cass, a silent question hanging between us.

She rolls her lips together and shakes her head, letting me know that she hasn’t told Colson—or anyone else—about her and Sam yet.

It’s been a busy week with the team out at the fire so much, so it doesn’t surprise me.

But everyone’s here now, so I jerk my head, signalling that she should go for it. Everyone in this room is family, and none of them will judge her for it.

She looks to Sam, subtly conveying that she’s going to tell them, and Sam places her hand over Cassidy’s. My heart surges knowing what’s about to come next.

Cass clears her throat. “We have something to tell you guys.”

Everyone turns their attention on her. She glances from Sam to me, and I nod, urging her to go on.

Cassidy opens her mouth and closes it again, as if she can’t quite get the words out. When Sam catches on, she takes the lead. I catch her squeeze Cass’s hand once, then without missing a beat, she announces, “Cassidy and I are dating.”

The room stays silent, as if none of the guys were prepared for that. But after a beat, Ace cheers, and the rest of the guys join in. Colson stands from his seat and moves over to his sister, pulling her up to give her a hug.

He wraps his arms around her, and she does the same with a smile on her face.

“It’s about damn time,” he tells her.

I hear Cassidy mutter something back, but I can’t tell what it is since her back is turned. But right after she says it, Colson trains his gaze on me and simply says, “Yeah.”

He hugs Sam next, and the rest of the guys at the table do the same as Colson retakes his seat.

“Hey, Rhodes. Wanna see a magic trick?” Ethan asks once everyone’s settled again, always good at shifting the mood from serious to silly.

I smirk, looking to Colson. His mouth is quirked at the corner, and he rolls his eyes, which is enough for me to say, “Let’s see what you’ve got, Langley.”

He shuffles the deck of cards in his hands, then spreads it out for me to pick a card.

I look at it—the queen of hearts—and show it to Cass to the left of me before adding it back into the middle of the deck.

Ethan does some weird hand gestures, shuffles the deck some more, then lifts the card off the top.

“Is this your card?” he asks, showing me the eight of clubs.

I glance at Cass, trying to hold back a laugh.

“No, it’s not,” I tell him, and his face falls. Brows pulled together, he picks up the next one and asks the same thing. This one is the queen of diamonds, so while he’s closer, it’s still not right.

I shake my head again.

“Damn it,” he huffs, tossing the deck onto the table. I’m about to open my mouth to say something when he looks up at me, a quizzical look on his face. “Wait a minute,” he says, reaching across the table toward me.

“Langley…” Colson warns from the other end of the table.

Ethan just laughs, then he reaches his hand behind my ear and asks, “Is this your card?” as he brings it back into my eye line.

Sure enough, he’s holding the queen of hearts.

I laugh. “Wow. Consider me impressed, Langley. Didn’t know there was a real magician in my midst.”

“Plenty more where that came from.” Ethan tosses the card into the mess of all the others, retaking his seat. “You know, my favourite is the one where I make you c?—”

He’s cut off from a bellowing, “Langley,” coming from Colson.

I huff a laugh at his obvious jealousy, though I’m relieved he stopped Ethan before he could finish.

“Alright, alright, Lieutenant.” Ethan holds his hands up. “It’s about time you admitted you two are together, and I’ll take that as confirmation.”

My cheeks heat as I look to Colson, but neither of us say anything to deny it. Cassidy smirks, and I realize then that the thing she muttered to Colson when they were hugging was about me.

Colson clears his throat. “Yes, Holland and I are together.”

Cheering starts up again as Ollie says, “Damn, I guess this is the day of firehouse relationships, eh?”

“I guess so,” I say with a smile, keeping my gaze locked on Colson.

“Does this mean you’re staying?” Cass asks with a smile.

I nod. “Yeah. I am.”

Her arms are around me in the next moment, and I can’t help the laugh that falls from my lips. It feels wrong to laugh at a time like this, but it also feels good, and we need as much good as we can get right now.

The conversation shifts after that, and when Colson stands from the table, I follow him. He makes his way to his quarters, and when we get inside, he shuts the door and lets out a deep breath.

“You okay?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. He’s happy for his sister and Sam, and I saw the relief flood from him after revealing we’re together too. But his mind is still elsewhere, and until we get to the bottom of this investigation, that isn’t going to change.

Colson nods as he leans back against the door, but the word that comes out of his mouth is a simple, “No.”

I smile sadly, then walk forward and wrap my arms around his shoulders. I let my eyes fall shut as he pulls me close, sighing into my hair.

Things have been really good between us since we got together, and I’ll be honest, he feels like the one good thing to come out of this mess for me right now. I can only hope I’ve done the same for him.

He’s been tense all day, but with his arms wrapped around me, he relaxes a touch. But I can tell his mind isn’t fully with me, and I know exactly why.

He kept a low profile all day, sticking off to the side to watch everyone on the off chance the arsonist is in fact Joseph Welland, and he decided to grace us with his presence.

It’s tough though, because if the note Will received was true, there’d obviously be a reason Joseph Welland faked his death.

And if that’s the case, it’s also likely that he looks nothing like he did when he was fifteen years old.

He’d be in his mid-forties now, which narrows down the suspect pool, but for all we know, Joseph Welland could be any guy in town.

Over the past week, I’ve been trying to dive deeper into what happened to Joey in that decade after he left Ember Grove, to see if there’s anything or any one who sticks out in his past who could be responsible for these. But like with everything else lately, I’ve gotten the same results.

Absolutely nothing.

I’ve worked on cases for over a year before, but none have made me feel as defeated as this one.

Maybe it’s because the only thing at stake in all the others was money.

Here though, people’s livelihoods, not to mention their actual lives , are at risk.

There’s a lot of pressure on me to catch this guy, and I’m not sure I’m cut out to do it.

At the very least, we know that these fires have something to do with the Welland Ranch fire, but it’s seemingly impossible to figure out why .

There has to be more to this. The only other fire that resulted in a death that Ember Grove has seen was at Colson’s apartment building five years ago, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other fires that have been set by the arsonist over the years.

Maybe if I can figure that out, I’ll figure out why the Welland Ranch fire is so important to them.

That’s when a thought hits me. My eyes flash open, and I freeze.

What if the fire at the apartments on High Street was also started by the arsonist?