Page 29 of Scorched Secrets

“Yeah, you have a point there. It makes sense to start with the top three,” he admitted. His phone vibrated, and he looked at it for a moment, then turned to show her the screen. “Mitch is finishing up at the crime scene.”

“Is he coming here?” She glanced at the parking lot outside the window. “If the arsonist does know your Jeep, that wouldn’t be smart.”

“He’s going to call first.” On cue, his phone vibrated again. He put the call on speaker for her benefit. “Hey, Mitch. Find anything helpful?”

“Not really.” Mitch sounded tired. “I interviewed several witnesses who all agree they saw a person dressed in black riding a bike toss the bottle toward you and Faye. But that’s where the description similarities ended. One woman claimed the rider was an Asian man; another man thought the rider was a woman. A third witness is absolutely positive the rider was a young white male.” He sighed. “Take your pick.”

“Young white male fits the arsonist profile,” Colin said.

“Yes, ninety percent of all arsonists are young white men. But the bottom line is, we don’t have anything solid to go on.”

“I really think you need to get a list of firefighters who were terminated from the job in the past few months.” She met Colin’s gaze. “I take it you haven’t found Jayson Sanders?”

“Not yet. You should know that we have MPD involved in searching for him too,” Mitch said. “Tarin issued a BOLO for him.”

“I went through the patient complaint list, and there are three possibilities to explore.” She paused, then added, “I know you’re sick of hearing this, but I still think this is related in some way to my dad.”

“I just spoke with your father, Faye,” Mitch said. “We are exploring that avenue too.”

Hearing that was a relief. “Good.”

“Do you need anything?” Mitch asked.

“A computer would be nice, but I don’t think you should drive here in the Jeep,” Colin said. “I’ll call one of my siblings.”

“I already swapped rides with my brother Marc,” Mitch admitted. “I asked him to switch since I knew I’d need to come talk to you. I’ll bring a laptop, no problem.”

“You rock, cuz.” Colin grinned. “Tell Marc we appreciate his support too.”

“Hey, we Callahans are happy to help,” Mitch assured them. “Give me about an hour or so, okay?”

“Sounds good.” She gave Colin a wry smile. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Mitch chuckled. “See you soon.”

“Later,” Colin said, before punching the button to end the call. They were still sitting next to each other in the small confines of the motel room.

An hour suddenly seemed like a really long time.

“I’m going to walk around outside for a bit.” As if the sense of togetherness was getting to Colin, too, he jumped to his feet. “I won’t be long.”

“Sure.” She watched as he walked through the connecting doorway. Letting out a sigh, she dropped backward onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Obviously, Colin was sticking close to appease her father. He’d said as much when her dad had told him to keep her safe.

This weird awareness between them didn’t mean anything. If they hadn’t been forced to spend time together, that kiss wouldn’t have happened.

She closed her eyes, reining in her emotions. Her schedule was brutal, especially in the summer. Even if she wanted to see Colin after this nightmare was over, she didn’t see that happening anytime soon. Especially since his schedule wasn’t much better.

And that was assuming he’d be interested. Guys like Colin could have any woman they wanted. Young, hot firefighters did not need to search hard for dates.

She abruptly sat up as a terrible thought hit. What if Colin was seeing someone? No, he would have told her. Wouldn’t he?

Yes, he would have. Colin wasn’t like Rory. He’d never kiss her if he was seriously involved with someone else.

She put a hand over her heart, willing her pulse to return to normal. Enough. This was hardly the time to think about having a relationship. Not when a vicious arsonist had her in his sights.

Rising to her feet, she peered through the window. The same two cars she’d noticed earlier were still there. No one was lurking nearby. Colin walked around the perimeter of the parking lot, then disappeared behind the building.

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