Page 122 of Serial Burn

“Yep. It was such a long shot, someone finding that check, but I guess even criminals get lucky.”

“I don’t believe it was luck. God knew I needed you to find that.”

“Very true.” He shook his head. “That Samantha was a pieceof work. She’d picked up their father’s abusive habits and went from hitting Derek to blackmailing him. He said he saw the fires as his chance to get rid of her once and for all. She’d snooped on his phone one day and read a text message thread between him and a student and knew he was taking bribes to change grades. From then on, she extorted money from him in exchange for her silence. Samantha didn’t know about the jewelry, so Derek figured he could use that to lead us to her. He convinced Kenny to drop the jewelry for him and keep his mouth shut. Derek knew we’d put it all together eventually, but apparently, we weren’t working fast enough for him. He planned for Samantha to die in a shootout with the police. When he kidnapped you, he knew she would come after him. But before he could tell her what he’d done, we alerted her to the fact we were closing in on Derek and she panicked. Hesayshe didn’t want you to die, but that he couldn’t see any way around it. We were too slow to figure it out and he got desperate. He decided the only way to stop Sam was to bring you to her and convince her that his debt was paid and she was to stop blackmailing him.”

“He’s an idiot. He was going to call her and tell her I was there at the store and for her to come get me. She was supposed to arrive about the time you guys showed up. Although I’m not sure how he planned to make that happen time-wise. But apparently he thought he could.”

“Weirdly enough, his plan did kind of work. She went to find him and set the chemicals up to ignite to destroy the building she’d been stealing her supplies from. She’s on camera. Anyway, she’d given herself thirty minutes to get in and get out.”

“She planned to kill Derek too?”

“I’m not sure about that. He was her money source. If he died, that would have dried up.”

“Not technically, if her kids were his beneficiaries.”

“True. If he died, her kids may have inherited. He seems to really care about them.”

“Wait a minute. That jewelry was worth a lot of money. Why not just sell it and run?”

“I asked him that. He said she would have found him wherever he went. He needed her dead.” He pursed his lips. “I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but he sure believed it. He knew that jewelry would eventually lead us to his family—and then his sister. He also said he knew that she’d fight to the death. And if he could instigate that, then great.” He pulled in a breath. “But we’re done with that until Derek’s trial. Now we can focus on us.”

Us. Right.She swallowed hard and looked away, trying to figure out how to tell him everything.

He tilted her chin to look at him. “What is it?”

“How are you so in tune to my feelings?”

“Because I care about you.”

She smiled, then sobered. “Oh, Nathan, I’m still trying to figure out who I am if I’m not looking for the arsonist. My whole identity was wrapped up in that. And now he’s—or rather, she’s—caught and I feel at loose ends. Like I’m no one now. I don’t know what to do with that.” Tears slipped down her cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do this here. Now.”

“It’s fine. No one’s missed us yet. Keep going. Get it all out.”

“It’s like I need to let them go now. Let my family just fade into the past. Justice is served so we can all just move on.”

“No, Jess, no.” Nathan pulled her down onto the couch and took her hands in his. “You don’t have to let them go. You’ll never have to let them go. They’re a part of you. A part of your past, your present, and even your future. You’re a fire marshal because of them. Every family you help in the future will have your family’s stamp on that. They’ll be a part of each person you help. That’s who you are. And besides, you know your identity is in Christ, not what you do.”

She sniffed. “I know that. In my head. I’m having trouble convincing my heart of that, though.”

“Maybe it’ll just take a little time to figure out where to go from here, but you will. We’ll pray about it together.”

Jesslyn scrubbed her tears away and looked at him. “Thanks.”

“And you have the center. It’s going to be something that will keep you busy. I don’t think you have to feel lost or without purpose, I think you need to lean into a new purpose. A new chapter in your life.”

“A whole new book, you mean?” But his words struck a chord and she let them settle in her heart. He was right. Her shoulders relaxed, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she looked forward to the future. “I’ve been living day to day for so long, not daring to dream about ... anything. My focus was solely on catching my family’s killer. And now...”

“What about now? Tell me what you’ve been thinking.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a thinker, Jess. A planner. If you could do anything in the world with your job, what would it be?”

“Cold cases.”

He blinked. “That was fast.”

She stared at him, her jaw swinging. “I have no idea where that came from.”

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