Page 15

FOURTEEN

The buzzing of her phone woke Jesslyn from a sound sleep. The first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was that her hands hurt, but the pain wasn’t unbearable. There were burns in small patches and they stung, but she could live with it. Her leg, on the other hand, was really uncomfortable. The buzzing had been a text from Lainie checking on her.

Jesslyn, grateful someone had retrieved the device and her surprisingly intact purse, answered with a simple I’m fine. Talk later.

She glanced at the clock and figured the nurse would be coming in any minute to check on her and take her vitals. Again. Jesslyn shifted and spotted Nathan asleep in the chair. His soft snores filtered through the room.

And into her heart. He’d stayed despite his own discomfort. His hip had to be killing him, but he’d found a way to sleep. She’d have to ask him his secret.

Someone knocked on the door and it opened slowly.

The nurse. Gwen. A friendly redhead with dimples as deep as the ocean. Laugh lines crinkled and the freckles across her nose danced when she smiled. “Hi there. I’m back.”

“No problem. Thanks.”

Gwen did her thing and left.

Nathan stirred and straightened, his face pinching at the movement. But he swiped a hand across his eyes and blinked a few times.

Jesslyn smiled at him. “Have a good nap?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Too short.”

“Same.” He smiled and her heart lurched. He was really adorable. Not that she was interested. Okay, she was. Why bother to deny it to herself? For a moment, she let herself dream about what it would be like to be a part of Nathan’s life in the role of girlfriend. And maybe one day more.

But her family...

What about them and getting justice for them? Could she juggle both? And what if she allowed herself to fall in love with him and the killer caught up with her? Or worse, Nathan?

She shivered and turned those thoughts off. Better to be alone than have that happen.

“You sure you’re okay?”

She nodded. “I’m just sore.”

He stood with a grimace and walked over to squeeze the tips of her fingers very gently. “This will pass.”

“I know.”

He walked to the sink and picked up the pen and pad of paper sitting next to it, then handed both items to her. “Can you write down any cases that you’ve thought of that bear looking into? Someone who would have a grudge against you?”

Jesslyn nodded. “I’ve already thought of three.”

“Good.”

She picked up the pen, wondering if it would hurt or be too awkward, but managed.

A knock on the door sounded just as she wrote the last name.

“Come in,” she called.

Andrew stepped inside. “Hey, I just wanted to give you two a little update.” His eyes landed on Jesslyn. “How are you doing?”

“Better. I think. I hope.”

“Good.”

“So what have you found out?” she asked. Maybe listening to him and concentrating on the case would take her mind off her throbbing leg.

“The officers scouring the local sources for the chemicals—pool supply companies and hardware stores—came up with seven possible suspects in a thirty-mile radius who bought both items in the last three months,” he said. “I’ve got their names and addresses. If it’s not one of them, we may have to expand our search and/or our time. Maybe go to a hundred miles and six months. And bring in other departments to help because that’s a big undertaking.”

Nathan raised a brow. “Well, it’s a start. Between that and the list of names Jesslyn just wrote down, we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

Andrew nodded. “But if our arsonist already had the stuff in his garage for a while—say someone who has a pool—we’re just chasing our tail.”

“Or he ordered from an online service.”

“Yes, we covered that possibility once.” Andrew groaned and dropped onto the built-in seat under the window while Nathan rolled his eyes and shook his head.

He pulled out his phone. “I’ll get Lindsay on that too with all of the big distributors.” He tapped the screen for a few seconds, then looked up. “All that is well and good, but there has to be another way to track this guy down before he strikes again. He’s going to have time to burn the whole town down at this rate.”

Yes, there had to be another way. Guilt slammed her. She shouldn’t have poked the bear. What if someone died because she’d said what she said? But what if this gave her the opportunity to take a killer off the streets and possibly save someone else by doing so?

It was a Catch-22.

“Did anyone find a connection between Kenny and my family?” Jesslyn asked.

“We looked,” Andrew said. “His parents are about ten years younger than yours would have been. They’re well off, well thought of, and are active in the community, their church, and various charitable organizations. If your parents were still alive, it’s possible your families would run in the same social circles, know some of the same people, et cetera, but with you? There doesn’t appear to be an obvious connection.”

“Okay, then let’s focus on something else for a minute.” Jesslyn rubbed her eyes, then picked up her phone and scrolled to her pictures. “I keep coming back to the jewelry. If he’s planting it, it means something to him. He picked those pieces for a reason. Maybe it has to do with the store.”

“But why?” Nathan asked. “If he’s got a grudge against the shop, why not just burn it down instead of other local businesses?”

“I don’t think he has a grudge against the store per se, but...” She googled the store and noticed it had a blog. “Oh, this is interesting. They just did a renovation about two years ago. The woman we met, Isabelle Sims, put up simple posts so customers could follow the progress.” She noted the excitement in the comments. “Wow. Who knew people were so passionate about their favorite jewelry store? I have about three pieces of jewelry to my name and those belonged to my grandmother.” She jerked as a memory surfaced.

“ Just because, darling,” her father said, handing her mother a slim rectangular box.

Her mother opened it, stared at it a moment, then snorted and tossed it on the counter . “You can’t buy forgiveness, Owen. At least not mine .” Her mother’s voice caught on a sob, and she ran from the room while her father stood there, his face like granite, nostrils flaring. He spotted Jesslyn in the doorway and walked over to pick her up.

“Jess?” Nathan snapped his fingers in front of her eyes and she blinked the image away. “You okay?”

“Yes, um ... just a memory. A very strange memory.”

“Anything you want to share?”

She frowned. “It was just a moment when I was five or six and my parents were arguing in the kitchen.” She gave a shake of her head and shoved the past away. “I have no idea why I’d remember that now. I mean, I do remember arguments, but that one really stuck with me.”

Another memory that had to have been shortly after that floated to the surface.

Her father slammed the door behind him. Sobs came from the den. She walked over to the couch to find her mother swiping tears from her eyes while Gabby and Maria argued over a toy. Jesslyn marched over to her sisters and snatched the item. “Stop it. Both of you. Stop it!”

The girls looked at her wide-eyed, then Gabby burst into tears and fled. Maria moved on to another toy, shooting a scowl at Jesslyn over her tiny shoulder. Jesslyn went to her mother and climbed up beside her. “What’s wrong, Mommy?”

Her mother sniffed. “Nothing, baby. I’m sorry. I should have stopped the girls arguing. That wasn’t your responsibility.”

“You’re sad. Why?”

“ It’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m fine.” But she pulled Jesslyn into a tight hug and held on for a long time.

“No you’re not. Daddy was mean. He’s a meanie.”

“He doesn’t do it on purpose, Jessie-girl. He’ll apologize later. You have to understand, mommies and daddies argue sometimes, but never think that your daddy doesn’t love you and your sisters. You’re all so very precious to him. You know that, right?”

Jesslyn blinked again. And again. Where were these memories coming from? And why now?

She shoved aside the images and continued scrolling the blog. She stopped when she came to the “before” picture of the store. There were six pictures and the post was titled “A bold step out of the past and into the future.”

But what interested Jesslyn most was the cash register in the image. It was distinctive, with the gold dragon design on the side. “I’ve been in that store,” she said. “Before this morning, I mean. I went there with someone.”

Andrew leaned forward. “Who?”

She shook her head. “No idea. My mom maybe? Or my dad? Probably my dad since he’s the one who bought the jewelry for my mother. I don’t know, but I do recognize the interior of the store and know I’ve been there because of that cash register. The man, probably Isabelle’s grandfather, let me push the buttons on it and ring up the sale.” Why couldn’t she remember who she’d been with?

Her phone rang and it was her chief. She glanced at the guys. “I need to take this. I’m sure it’s about the fire.”

Nathan nodded to Andrew. “We’ll just step outside. I want to check in and see if there’s an update on the wreck.”

“The wreck. Yes.” Jesslyn pressed fingers to her temples. “I need to call the rental car company. Thank goodness I got all the insurance available on it.”

NATHAN LEFT JESSLYN at the hospital under the watchful eye of two Lake City police officers. They were men he’d worked with as a detective and he trusted they would keep her safe. And Tate promised to keep an eye on her as well.

“I’m going to head to my parents’,” Andrew said. “I have a family dinner thing I promised to attend.”

“Have fun. I’m going to the scene of the fire and then I’m going home too.”

“Let me know if you find out anything new.”

“Of course.”

The fire at the gym had been out for a while, and Charles Alexander, a fire marshal from Asheville, had come over to work the scene. He’d update Jesslyn with his findings and she’d take it from there if she was able.

When Nathan stepped out of the hospital, the rain was coming down in buckets. His first thought was that at least the arsonist wouldn’t strike in this kind of downpour. If that was the case, maybe they could catch a break while he waited out the weather.

The problem was, they really didn’t have any viable suspects. A few maybes, but no one who really stood out. Which was odd. Usually—okay, most of the time—someone did.

He was stumped.

He drove out to the scene of the gym fire. Well, it wasn’t so much a fire now as a burned-out shell, thanks to the downpour that had now slowed to a misty drizzle.

He grabbed his umbrella and walked over to the man who he suspected was the fire marshal for this scene. “Nathan Carlisle, FBI.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Charles Alexander. How’s Jesslyn?”

“She’s still in the hospital for observation, but they’ll probably release her tomorrow.”

“Good. Scared me to death when I heard about the wreck.”

Try witnessing it , he wanted to say. “Anything else you can tell us about this fire?”

“It was a doozy. Permanganate and antifreeze. Sound familiar?”

He nodded. Just like the other fire, but Jesslyn had already figured that out. He handed the man his card. “I know you’re going to loop Jesslyn in on everything you find, but do you mind calling me too?”

“Of course not.” Charles pocketed the card, and on a whim, Nathan pulled his phone out and tapped the screen to show the man Kenny’s picture. “Have you ever seen this guy before at any other fires you’ve investigated?”

Charles shook his head. “No, don’t recognize him.”

It was a long shot. “Thanks.”

“But I did have a fire with this same accelerant. I’m guessing whoever set this one set the one I covered.”

“Really? Where and when?”

“Last week. The bank on Shady Oaks Drive. First Credit about thirty minutes from here on the outskirts of town, so it would normally have been her fire, but I covered it because she was gone.”

“Jess never mentioned that one.”

“No reason she’d know about it.”

“It wasn’t entered into AEXIS?” The Arson and Explosive Incident System was a database of information from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. It provided information about the nature of incidents, devices used, and other relevant details.

The man grimaced. “We’re backed up, so no, it hasn’t been entered yet.”

And while it was mandatory for federal agencies to do so, it wasn’t for state agencies. Most did, just sometimes not in a timely manner. Jesslyn would want to know this ASAP. “Thank you. Do you think you could get that entered since we have two other fires that seem to be connected?”

“Yes. Absolutely. I’ll do it myself before I go to sleep tonight.”

“Appreciate it. One other question. Do you know if they found any jewelry at that fire?”

“Yes, they did. It was weird because it didn’t suffer any damage. Just needed a good cleaning.”

Because it had been dropped after the fact? “Do you happen to have a picture of it?”

The man pulled up his phone and within seconds showed Nathan a picture of two beautiful black pearl swans’ necks curved into a heart. “A brooch?”

“Yes.”

“Send it to me?” Nathan gave him his number and waited until the picture showed up on his phone. “Thank you, sir. Have a good night.”

Nathan went back to his car, stashed the umbrella, and called Andrew. He briefed him on his meeting with the other fire marshal. “Any word on picking up Kenny?”

“Nope. The guy is in the wind, but we’ve got a couple of officers watching the entrances to campus and one on his dorm. If he shows, we’ll nab him.”

“Anyone check his parents’ home?”

“Yep. Nothing there either, and according to his cell records, he hasn’t called them. Could have used another phone, but the officers on his house said the parents left yesterday with overnight bags and bicycles mounted on the back of their vehicle. There’s been no sign of the kid before or after. If he doesn’t show up in the next few hours, officers will have to talk to them, but honestly, I’d rather not tip them off that we’re looking for him.”

“Because they could tip him off.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay, just text me if you catch him. I really would like another go at him.”

“You got it.”

“In the meantime, I’m going to go back to the hospital and let Jesslyn know this latest. She’ll want to see the picture of the jewelry.”

“You could just call her, you know. And text her the picture.”

“I could.”

“So why don’t you?”

Because I want to see her. “Because she may want to talk out strategy, thoughts on capturing this guy.”

“Oh, that’s why. Riiight.”

“Shut up.”

“See you later, partner.”

When Nathan returned to the hospital, he found Jesslyn asleep and her aunt Carol had returned, occupying the chair he’d used earlier. She waved him back out the door and followed him into the hall.

“How’s she doing?” he asked.

“Not much change from the last time you were here.”

He flushed and tried to ignore it. “I guess not.”

The woman took pity on him and smiled. “I’m glad she has you in her corner.”

“She’s a very interesting person. I like her.”

Carol narrowed her eyes at him. “That surprises you.”

“Yeah, I guess it does a little.”

Grief flashed for a brief moment before she lowered her lids and covered the emotion. “She needs someone like you,” she said, her voice soft. “Just understand that she’s a very driven person.”

“I do understand that. We’ve talked about it.”

Her eyes went wide and locked on his. “You have?”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t know if it’s my place to ask this, but what do you make of the fact that she believes the arsonist—murderer—was in her bedroom watching her sleep shortly after her family’s funerals?”

“She told you about that?” Carol couldn’t have looked more shocked if he’d punched her in the nose.

“She did.”

“Wow.”

Nathan fell silent in case she didn’t want to talk about it, but after several seconds, she shifted. “It was a terrible time for her. For all of us who were left to deal with the aftermath. But for Jesslyn, it was...” She waved a hand. “I don’t have the words to describe it, really.”

“I can’t imagine.” Well, he could. A little. But not really. He’d lost a friend. She’d lost her entire immediate family in one night. However ... grief was still grief. Loss was still loss.

“She insisted the man was there, but I shudder to think how he got in the house, much less managed to get to her room without waking anyone. It’s honestly easier to believe he wasn’t real.”

“But what if he was?”

She grimaced. “What if he was? He left without hurting anyone. I don’t have answers and I prefer not to add questions to the ones I already have.”

“Understandable.”

“She’s so dedicated to her job,” Carol said, then frowned. “Actually, dedicated isn’t a strong enough word. Obsessed is more accurate. She’s had men interested before, and she’s pretty much chased them all away because none of them could understand her fixation with catching her family’s killer—or if they did actually sympathize, it didn’t last long.”

“Okay.” What was he supposed to say to that?

Tears formed in the woman’s eyes. “I wish she could let it go. As much as I want justice for my sister and her family, I want Jesslyn to move on more. I want her to find happiness and settle down with someone, but she ... won’t. Not until she’s exhausted every avenue and concludes that she’ll never know who killed them.”

“Do you think that’s even something that could happen?”

She hesitated. “I’d like to think so, but I just don’t know. Only God can answer that one.” A pause. “There are a lot of questions that only God can answer.”

She wasn’t wrong.