Page 33 of Burning Truth

Severn handed her a travel cup of coffee. “I already added cream.”

She grinned as she accepted it, touched that he’d remembered. “Thank you.”

Addie moved to the cupboard and grabbed the bag of cinnamon crunch donuts she’d bought the other night. Severn winced as she unrolled the top and fished one out. She moaned as she bit into the soft dough.

“Do you know how many chemicals are in that?” he asked, arms crossed over his muscular chest.

Addie grinned. “Nope. Want one?”

He stared at her for a long moment, before holding out his hand. “One.”

By the time they pulled up in front of the Lost and Found offices, the entire bag of donuts were gone, and Addie had a feeling they were going to regret eating them all.

Morgan smiled as they walked in, and Addie cocked her head. “Do you work every day?”

Laughing, the receptionist shook her head. “No, but if something important is going on, I make myself available. I’m doing my schoolwork, too.”

She motioned to the stack of books at her side, and Addie nodded. “Gotcha!”

“Gabbie is in her office, sir. Actually, I don’t think she went home last night, so you might encourage her to take a break.”

“Noted,” Severn said, heading for the stairs. He reached out a hand, and helped Addie up the stairs with him, and she tried not to read too much into it.

Gabbie was indeed in the same place they’d left her yesterday morning, and in the same clothes. Her eyes were bloodshot, but she grinned when they walked into the room. “Hey, guys. I have something to show you.”

She rattled a bunch of keys and the screen to the left popped up. On it, there were several lone figures. “There were a bunch of singles, yesterday, apparently. I have two pages of single men going in or out.”

She paged through another group. Addie moved toward the screen and held out a finger. “That one,” she said, no hesitation in her voice.

“Are you sure,” Gabbie asked her.

Addie nodded, then doubted herself. She looked to Severn, but he was nodding as well.

“Well, that was kind of a test,” Gabbie said, “because I had already narrowed it down to him.”

Another screen flashed up. And it was the same guy, Addie thought, just in different places all around the festival. He wore a dark hoodie the entire time, with a ball cap shading his face.

“The guy followed you all around the festival, keeping just out of sight. When the group crowded around you for pictures, he got closer.”

A red circle appeared in one picture, and Addie gasped. “He was within feet of me.”

“And me,” Severn growled, clearly pissed.

“We didn’t even notice him. No wonder he feels invincible.”

Severn huffed out a breath. “Are there any shots of his face?”

“Not really. He was very careful. He had to be sweating like a bitch under that hoody, but he kept it on the entire time. I tracked him away from the festival as far as I could go.”

She set up a line of shots where the arsonist was running away from them. In one shot there was a tiny hint of chin, but certainly not enough to identify him.

Addie sank down into the chair. “Well, seems like we’re back to square one.”

“Not quite,” Severn said. “He said he would see you Monday. It may not necessarily mean an attack. It may just mean he’ll see you on your next scheduled night.”

“Maybe you should take the night off and see what he does,” Gabbie said thoughtfully.

The three of them looked at each other, considering. “It may not be a bad idea,” Severn said eventually. “If he’s emotionally invested in seeing you, maybe he’ll lash out when he doesn’t.”

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