Page 4

THREE

The sound of the alarm sent Jesslyn burying her head under her pillow for five seconds before she couldn’t take the sound anymore. The night had been a long one, her mind full of images featuring the faceless, backlit stranger in the dark-colored car.

No matter how tightly she closed her eyes, the figure stayed etched on the inside of her eyelids, a constant source of the unease that had settled in her bones—and the reminder of the man she used to dream about on a nightly basis. Those dreams had faded in frequency, but she had a feeling they were about to return full force.

She swung her legs off the bed, her feet contacting the cool hardwood floor. One day, she’d pull out her mother’s slippers that she had tucked away in her closet. They’d been left at Aunt Carol’s house from a sleepover, so they’d survived the fire.

But if she wore them, something might happen to them.

Suppressing a shiver, she walked into the kitchen to fix a strong pot of coffee, the rich aroma a balm to her senses. The weird events of last night continued to crowd her memory, and she mentally mapped out her day while cradling the warm mug. First the coffee, then a quick visit to her aunt’s home, then the lab, a church inspection, a talk at the high school ... Thinking about that sent her mind skidding to the dark car once more.

It had shown up in two places where she’d been. Maybe. It sure looked like the same car, and the driver had behaved exactly the same in both situations, so ... for now she’d assume it was the same person. He’d been at the church and the hospital. Like he’d been following her. Or waiting on her? If she’d been alone, would the driver have approached her? She wanted to doubt it, but the fact that he’d run both times lent a rather sinister feeling to the two events.

If there was a third...

Jesslyn peered out the window, her eyes scanning for any signs of movement. Or the dark sedan. But the world outside was still—the only movements the leaves rustling in the gentle wind and the bird on the ground looking for his worm. “Go farther south, little dude. You’re running late.”

The peaceful scene did nothing to ease the tightness in her chest or the heaviness in her steps as she wound her way back to her room to get ready for the day. Someone had burned her church down. Mr. Christie had a long recovery ahead of him. If he lived to make it. He had great doctors and protection on his room to give him the best chance possible. That was all they could do.

She shook herself. She needed to throw off the emotional lethargy weighing her down. She had work to do.

Her phone buzzed just as she stepped into the bathroom. Lainie.

Jesslyn put her on speakerphone while she readied her toothbrush. “What’s up?”

“How’s the investigation going?”

“It’s in the infant stages at the moment. I’m heading to the lab this morning, hoping to take a look at the evidence and see if that sheds some light on things. How’s Mr. Christie?” She started brushing.

“Hanging in there. I checked on him about twenty minutes ago and I think there’s some minor improvement. Minor enough not to get our hopes up, though.” A pause. “Are you brushing your teeth?”

Jesslyn spit. “I am.”

“Oh. Okay. Glad to know you still do that.”

“Haha. You called just as I was getting ready so...”

Lainie gave a chuckle that ended on a sigh. “Let me know how the investigation goes. I’m praying that you get the guy fast before ... well, before.”

Before he hit another place and hurt someone else. Or worse. “Yeah. Me too. Thanks for the update on Mr. Christie. I’ll talk to you later.”

She hung up and finished getting ready, checked the time, and bolted to her car.

Thankfully, the trip to her aunt’s home was uneventful, and she pulled into the drive of the familiar ranch-style house in a middle-class neighborhood a little after eight. When Jesslyn had gotten the fire marshal job, her aunt decided to stay in Lake City. Right smack in the middle of the other two girls—one in Canada and one in Florida. And now, once a week her aunt liked to do breakfast. She cooked a whole smorgasbord for the two of them and they caught up on life. This morning would have to be quicker than their usual more leisurely meal.

Jesslyn opened the front door and stepped inside to the yummy scent of pancakes, bacon, and more. “Aunt Carol? I’m here.”

Her aunt had done a big remodel not long ago. To the left was the dining room, to the right was the kitchen, and straight ahead was the living area. Off that was a new sunroom and screened porch with a well-manicured lawn and more plants than Jesslyn could name.

“Carol?”

The sunroom door opened and her aunt walked in, shrugging out of her coat. “Hey there, hon. Good morning.”

“Hey.” She kissed her aunt’s cheek and marveled that the woman could pass as her sister even though she was in her midfifties. Her jeans hugged trim hips and her sweatshirt hung baggy but comfortable on her upper body. She’d pulled her dark curly hair into a ponytail and topped off her outfit with her signature baseball cap.

“Come on in and let’s eat. I’m starved.”

Once the two of them had their food, they said grace and dug in.

“Okay,” Jesslyn said, “I have something to run by you.”

“Go for it.”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. You’ve told me lots of stories over the years about my parents and their desire to make a difference in their community.”

“Yes. True.”

“And you told me that before they died, they were talking about building a youth center.”

Carol’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

“I know I’ve mentioned it in passing, but this time I’m serious. I want to build that center.”

Her aunt set her fork down and leaned back. “I know. I saw the interview. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me more.”

“Right. I’ve been thinking about this for about two years and now, in honor of the twentieth anniversary of their deaths, I want to do it. I bought the old gym at the corner of Main and Hendricks and plan to have it renovated.”

“Okay ...” Her aunt’s eyes widened as she listened.

“I set up a nonprofit and bought it about six months ago with this idea in mind, and now I want to go through with it. I need your help, though. You’re an event planner and you know people with money. Could you help me put together a list of potential donors? People who would be willing to invest in the building’s renovation and who will believe in the project.”

“And you want to put your family’s name on it.”

“Well, my father’s anyway. He worked on a lot of buildings in this city, but you said this one was his dream, so I want to make it come true.”

Her aunt swallowed and looked away for a moment. “Oh, Jess ... I don’t know what to say...”

Jesslyn raised a brow. “That you’ll help me?”

Carol gaped for a moment, then cleared her throat and smiled. “Yes. Of course I’ll help you. I just—”

“Oh good—because there’s more.” She used her most winsome smile and added, “I would love it if you would be in charge. I’ll need you to contact the donors and ask them if they’ll do it. Basically, I need you to put it all together and make it happen. I’ll pay you just like any other client.”

Her aunt smiled, shaking her head, but Jesslyn thought she caught a flicker of something in her eyes. Something...

Jesslyn frowned. “What is it?”

“Nothing. Nothing. Yes, of course. I can do that for you.”

“Wonderful.” But what had that look in her eye been all about? “Are you sure you’re not too busy?”

“I’m always busy with something, but I also can pick and choose my busyness. The question is, do you have time for this?”

“No. That’s why I need you.” She reached across the table and squeezed her aunt’s hand. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d said no!”

“Let’s work out the details then.”

An hour later, Jesslyn walked out to her car. She’d stayed longer than she planned, but the lightness in her heart was worth being a shade later to the lab than she’d originally wanted. After a quick trip through the drive-through, she made it to the lab and was happy to see no dark car in her rearview mirror. At least not one that sent her alarm bells jangling.

When she walked inside with two coffees in the disposable cup holder, the lab was already humming with activity. She found Marissa Fields, the evidence technician, hunched over a microscope, her face set in concentration. The engagement ring on her left hand winked under the fluorescent light, and Jesslyn smiled, glad the woman had found her happily ever after.

“Morning, Jess,” Marissa greeted without looking up. She probably recognized Jesslyn’s footsteps. “I was about to call you. Found something odd in the debris.” Marissa was meticulous, digging into the minutiae and coaxing stories from the ashes, residue, and forgotten fragments left behind at crime scenes. Silent witnesses, she called them. Also without looking up, she held out a hand, and Jesslyn slid the cup of the still steaming brew into it, then parked herself onto the empty stool beside Marissa.

“What’ve you got?” Jesslyn asked.

Finally, the woman lifted her head and took a sip of coffee. “Take a look at this.”

She set her coffee aside and handed Jesslyn a clear evidence bag. Inside was a brooch the size of her palm that had somehow survived the fire’s greediness.

Jesslyn turned the bag over and squinted. “What’s that?” On the back of the piece was the letter M with a horizontal slash through it.

“Maybe a signature or the logo of the store it was purchased from?”

“Maybe,” Jesslyn murmured. “Is it just me or does this look too clean? Too ... something.”

Marissa sipped her coffee, then set it back on the counter. “Like it wasn’t in the fire, but dropped there after the fact?”

Jesslyn met her gaze. “Exactly.”

“It’s not just you. I noticed that too.”

“Not only that, but the mark looks familiar,” Jesslyn said, frowning.

“How so?” Marissa asked.

She blinked, trying to force the memory to the surface. “I’m not sure. How hard would it be to find out where this piece came from?”

“I can have it run through the database of jewelers and their logos and see if we get a match. If so, then really easy. If not, then at least you know not to check with those.”

“In other words, this might take some old-fashioned legwork.”

“Yup.”

“Fabulous. In the meantime, I’ll send the pictures to Pastor Chuck and see if he recognizes it as belonging to someone in the congregation.” She snapped several pictures of it and texted them to Chuck, asking him to check around.

“Good thought. Do you have any suspicions as to who’s behind the fire?”

Jesslyn placed the brooch back on the table. “Nothing concrete. We’re just in the beginning stages of the investigation. A whole team’s on this, but Nathan and Andrew are teaming up with the detectives, interviewing the pastor and the congregation, and doing background checks to see if there are any ties to an arsonist with an agenda, but honestly, I’m not sure that’ll pan out.” She didn’t know why she felt that way, but she did.

Marissa nodded. “I’ll keep digging,” she said. “Maybe this brooch will speak a little louder than the rest of the evidence.”

Her phone pinged with a response from Chuck. He’d put the photos on the churchwide text loop to see if anyone recognized the jewelry.

Jesslyn’s eyes lingered on the small inscription, the familiar mark nagging at her. She had seen it before, she was sure of it. But where? The answer flickered at the edge of her consciousness, elusive and teasing. But ... nothing. A sigh slipped out. It would come to her.

She stood. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, one thing. The accelerant. It’s not gasoline or propane or any of the usual stuff. This is—”

“Potassium permanganate?”

Marissa’s eyes widened, then she laughed. “Yes. That chemistry degree is serving you well once again.”

Jesslyn smiled. She didn’t tell everyone about her educational background simply because it didn’t come up often, but Marissa and a few others knew she’d double majored in criminal justice and chemistry before heading off to the police academy to get the law enforcement training that would help her work her way up the firefighter ladder and catch arsonists. “The purple stains kind of gave it away.” Residues of the accelerant had been visible as the dark purple staining around the initial burn areas—a clear indication of potassium permanganate. “Antifreeze or glycerin?”

“Antifreeze.”

“Easy to get ahold of.” Mixing the potassium permanganate with antifreeze would give the arsonist time to get away from the structure before the combination of the chemicals ignited and flamed hot.

“And relatively safe to use—at least until you get them all mixed together.”

Anyone could buy it in hardware stores, pool supply stores, and even online. “That will take forever to track down, so we need to get started ASAP.” She pulled her phone from her pocket. “I’ll pass this on to Nathan and Andrew.”

“Well, if you hang around a few minutes,” Marissa said with a wave of her phone, “you can do that in person. They’re on the way in.”

“Great.” Jesslyn shoved her phone back into her pocket, then picked up the jewelry once more to study the signature, but mostly because she needed something to do with her hands. Nathan was coming and she refused to fidget, because his presence always unnerved her.

“You okay?” Marissa asked.

“I’m fine, just thinking about the mark on this thing.” She stared at the piece and could only hope she didn’t look like she was thinking about Nathan and her weird reaction whenever he was around.

“Might help to turn it over if you want to look at that mark.”

Jesslyn flushed and flipped it over, ignoring Marissa’s chuckle. Did everyone on the planet know Nathan’s presence had the power to wig her out?

She looked up and Marissa winked at her.

Apparently they did.

NATHAN AND ANDREW HAD FINISHED TALKING to Pastor Chuck and now found themselves in the parking lot of the lab and heading toward the double glass doors. Andrew walked beside him. Nathan had to admit he appreciated the man’s silent fortitude. Most of the time.

As they entered the lab, the sight of Jesslyn, her attention fixed on a piece of evidence, caused an all-too-familiar pull in his chest. Seriously? He really needed to stop that. Hoping his expression was neutral yet friendly, he walked over to her. “Marissa said you were here. Got something interesting?” he asked.

Jesslyn looked up, her brow pulled into a mix of determination and frustration, but she lifted her lips in a small smile. “Good morning to you too.”

He coughed to cover his amusement. “Right. Sorry. Good morning. Get some sleep?”

“A few hours. You?”

“The same.”

“Good. Yes, something interesting. We know this brooch survived the fire—if it was even in it. It’s got a mark that could be a logo or a signature. Marissa’s got someone running it through the database to see if we get a hit and Pastor Chuck is checking with the congregation.”

Andrew leaned over for a quick glimpse. “Definitely looks like a signature. I’d go with that.”

Nathan kept his gaze on Jesslyn. “I agree. On a positive note, we grabbed security footage from the hospital parking lot. The plate from the car we saw last night was covered in mud.”

She scowled. “Then it’s highly likely it’s the same one I saw at the church. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t get a good shot of the plate. Dark-colored car, hidden plate...”

“Sounds about right,” he said. “More than a coincidence. Even if the driver’s not responsible for the fire, I want to know why he appears to be following and watching you. We’ve got a BOLO out on him so hopefully someone will spot him soon.”

“Good to hear.” She frowned. “Did you talk to Pastor Chuck this morning?”

Andrew nodded. “He gave us a statement and some names to run but said he really didn’t believe anyone from the church could be responsible for the fire.”

“Well, he wouldn’t want to believe that.” She shrugged. “I don’t want to believe it either, but I know it’s possible.”

“We’ll see what comes back,” Nathan said.

“All right, people,” Marissa said, “out of my lab. I’ve got evidence to process.”

They said their goodbyes and walked toward the exit, pausing at the glass doors that would lead them out into the chilly morning air.

“The arsonist has done their research,” Jesslyn said. “The general population probably hasn’t ever heard of potassium permanganate, much less knows that if you mix it with antifreeze you can start a fire but still have time to get away before it combusts.”

Nathan nodded. “I’ll pass that on to the officers interviewing church members.”

“Unfortunately,” Andrew said, “we don’t have any security footage from near the church. Maybe Lindsay can get me a list of retailers who sell the stuff and I can start looking into that.”

“That works,” Nathan said. Lindsay Franks, one of the analysts at the bureau who would have the information in their inbox shortly. “She’s already working on it.”

“You think our guy was dumb enough to buy both ingredients at the same place?” Jesslyn asked.

“One can always hope,” Nathan said. “But why use that instead of something like gasoline, acetone, paint thinner, or whatever? Something more common? Not that it’ll be easy to track down where he got it, but still ... it’s an odd thing to use if you ask me. And I doubt the average person knows that by combining those chemicals, you can do what he did.”

“I tried a simple internet search without the word ‘permanganate’ and nothing showed up. Then I used an AI software and got a hit. Then again, if this person has access to it and some chemistry knowledge ... he wouldn’t need to bother with a search. We need to be sure to question the employees at these places in addition to asking about the customers.”

“Exactly,” Andrew said. “We’ll figure out where he got it. Eventually. Anyone mind if we grab food? I skipped breakfast.”

“I’m in,” Nathan said. He looked at Jesslyn. “You hungry?”

“I’ve eaten, but coffee sounds good.”

“Cornerstone Café?”

She smiled. “Of course. I’ll meet you there.” Her phone buzzed and she glanced at the screen. “It’s Lainie. See you in a few.” She swiped the screen and walked away. “Hey.”

Nathan tried not to watch her leave, but his eyes had a mind of their own. And so did his feet since he found himself following her. Andrew didn’t say a word, he just stayed with him. Nathan shot him a glance. “I just want to make sure she gets in her car safely. You know. Because of that vehicle that seems to be following her.”

“Right. Of course.”

“Shut up, man.”

The banter came easy and Nathan almost smiled. Andrew reminded him a lot of James in the way he was laid-back and chill for the most part, but could be intense and driven when he needed to be.

It felt good, building the rapport that hopefully would develop into not just a lasting partnership but a friendship as well.

Time would tell.