Page 116 of Serial Burn

“Because I want to be free of you, Sam!” He waved a hand at Jesslyn. “You want her dead, so here she is. My gift to you. But not here. You can’t do it here. It’s too dangerous. Too many chemicals.”

“Are you out of your mind?” the woman yelled.

“I’m trying to help you!” Derek’s shout echoed.

“You’ve never wanted to help me in your life. Why start now?” Before the man had a chance to answer, she said, “You’re the dumbest—” She growled. “I had everything under control and you had to go and interfere! I told you to stay out of it and now I have to fix it!” She pulled a weapon from her pocket and turned it on Jesslyn.

Jesslyn moved even as the woman’s finger was tightening on the trigger. “Don’t shoot! You could send this whole place up!” The words flew from her lips as she ducked behind the nearest stack of boxes.

Boxes that wouldn’t stop bullets. “Stay at the steps, you idiot,” Sam said to her brother. “Don’t let her up. She can only hide for so long. I’ll find her and be done with it.”

“You could at least be grateful,” Derek said. “You kept trying to kill her, and with each failure, you became nastier and nastier. Here she is. You can stop blackmailing me now. I can’t live like this anymore!”

As far as she could figure, the siblings had both been after her, with Samantha starting the fires, tossing the bombs, and trying to kill her and Derek trying totakeher. So his sister could kill her? Jesslyn wanted to ask so many questions, but keeping quiet was theonly way she was going to get out of this alive. Who was going to be on the way? What did a check have to do with anything? She was confused but couldn’t worry about that now.

She had to figure out a way to get the path to the door free because she was pretty sure it was still open.

NATHAN’S PHONE RANGwhile they pulled out of the day care parking lot, desperately trying to figure out their next move. “Carlisle.”

“Detective Lee here,” the voice said. “I took another look inside Derek Morgan’s home and came across something interesting.”

“What’s that?” Nathan had a tight grip on his emotions and managed not to yell at the man to just spit it out.

“A paycheck from a pool supply company, but it’s not the one the Ashcroft woman sent you to.”

“Okay. So, you’re saying she lied about Derek working there?” Nathan asked.

“Looks like it.”

He caught Andrew’s gaze. “Samantha Ashcroft played us.” Back into the phone, he said, “What’s the name of the company on the check?”

“Bowman’s Pool Supplies.”

“Definitely not the pool company Samantha sent us to,” Nathan said.

“Because she wanted to get to Bowman’s first?” Andrew asked.

Nathan nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.” He said goodbye and hung up.

Please, God, keep her safe.Nathan spun the car around and breathed the prayer with every ounce of faith he had.Please let us be in time.

TWENTY-NINE

Jesslyn stepped to the side, doing her best to hear over her thundering heart. She’d trained at the academy and learned coping mechanisms, but they were failing her at the moment. She pulled in a slow breath and closed her eyes for a second.

Think.

She needed a distraction.

“I’ll just burn the place down with you in it,” Sam said, her voice low and harsh. And straight ahead on the other side of the boxes. “I’m sure you have questions. Want to ask? I’m happy to answer them.”

Jesslyn stilled. She so wanted to ask questions but bit her tongue and moved as silently as possible, needing distance. But at least if the woman was talking, Jesslyn could keep track of her.

“I’ve never understood why your mom and sisters went to your aunt’s house while you were with a friend, but then went home. How could your mother want to stay with a man who didn’t want her?”

But he did. Jesslyn stayed quiet. Arguing with the woman in her head had to satisfy the desire to verbally fight back. The clunky boots were a nuisance, so Jesslyn stepped out of them and the cool of the concrete leeched through her socks.

A distraction. She needed one desperately.

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