Page 104 of Ink and Ashes
I shake my head. “I have no idea. But it’s true.”
“Holland have any suspects?”
“I don’t know. If she does, she hasn’t told me who. And I haven’t asked.” I blow out a breath. “I don’t think she’s found much about Joseph Welland either. Nothing to suggest that he is still alive, anyway.”
“If he is,” Beau starts, looking between the two of us. “Then it’s possible it’s not someone here, isn’t it? That he’s framing the fires to make us believe he's a firefighter?”
I shrug. I hadn’t thought about that. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Then let’s hope that’s the case. I don’t wanna believe any of our guys are behind the fires.”
“Trust me, neither do I.”
Dom’s brows pull together. “How long have you known?”
I swallow roughly, keeping my gaze trained on the floor. “Three weeks. Holland told me a few days before the church fire.”
Dom clenches his jaw. “You should’ve fucking told us sooner. Maybe we could’ve prevented that.”
I flinch as his words land. That’s a thought that has crossed mymind daily since it all happened.
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to believe it, so I was pretending like it didn’t exist. Clearly, that was the wrong thing to do, but I can’t change what happened. And even if you’d known, you wouldn’t have been able to, either.”
Dom’s throat bobs as he swallows, then he nods. “Have you told anyone else?”
“Just my dad, and Holland told me Ollie figured it out. But I don’t want to tell anyone else until we have a better idea of who it isn’t. If we tell everyone, we could spook the arsonist, and I don’t want to think about what might happen if that does.”
The two men across from me nod in agreement.
I blow out a breath, feeling relieved now that they know the truth. I’ve become a damn good secret keeper through all this, and I hate it. I’ve never been one to keep things from the people I love, and I feel slimy doing so. But right now, I don’t have much of a choice.
At least Beau and Dom know now.
And it’s only a matter of time before everyone else will too.
CHAPTER 37
Holland
Today is day seventeen.
It’s currently just past eleven o’clock in the morning, and as far as I know, there hasn’t been a call yet. But unless the arsonist really is Ollie—which it’s not—we know one is coming today. I’m relying on Cass to keep me in the loop, since I know Colson may not have a chance to shoot me a text once it comes in.
He left around seven, heading in early to make sure everything’s ready for when they get the call. I made sure to get up with him and say goodbye, since there’s a good chance I won’t see him again for a few days. Since he left, I’ve been pacing between his living room and the office, checking my phone every two minutes. My focus is shot, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t get my mind off him.
Today’s fire will be the first one they’ve had since Finn’s death. It’s been just over two weeks since then, and as if the weather knew they needed a break, it’s rained on and off for the past seventeen days. There have been dry spells that resulted in holdover fires, but BCWS has managed to control those, so most ofEmber Grove’s resources have been directed toward preparing for today’s.
Since the church fire, I’ve had an unsettled feeling in my gut about the fire we’re expecting today. Something tells me that despite the rain we’ve been having, the arsonist will find a way to make this the worst one yet. After what happened with Finn, I haven’t been able to get the thought out of my head that someone else is going to get hurt today.
It doesn’t help that I’m on my third cup of coffee of the morning, but I’ve needed something to do besides worrying.
Everything that has happened over the past few days has only made me more confused. I’ve spent every day since meeting with Colson’s parents down at the police station trying to dig more into the Wellands, but I’m still coming up empty. There’s nothing to suggest that Joseph Welland is still around, and it does make me wonder if the note left for Colson’s dad was another attempt to trick us.
I mean, it would make sense. The arsonist tries to frame a dead man, so we continue coming up empty. But I’m not so sure it’s that simple. I’ve wondered all along if Joseph Welland is somehow involved in this. If maybe there’s someone he met in the ten years after he left Ember Grove who has now come back to do what he can’t.
But leaving the note for Colson’s dad seems strange, regardless of whether it’s Joseph or someone else. He really hasn’t been involved in this case, so aside from the fact that he’s Colson’s dad, he has no connection to it.
Then again, he was on the scene of the original fire thirty years ago. I remember Colson telling me his dad was a lieutenant at the time, so maybe that has something to do with it. But a few of the other guys on the team were also around then, so why they chose to give it to Colson’s dad, rather than someone who was on the scene then and has been active during these fires too, is a question that won’t leave my mind.
