Page 45 of Serial Burn

Andrew sighed. “That might be a long shot.”

“He’s burning buildings, Andrew. Mr. Christie still isn’t stable enough to come out of a coma yet. I can’t believe no one was hurt at the fitness center. But if he—or whoever he’s working with—starts another fire, someone else could get hurt. Or die.”

Andrew rubbed the back of his neck, but nodded. “All right. Let’s talk to Nathan and see what we can do.”

“Good. Thank you. Because I’m not just worried about innocent people caught in those flames, I’m also thinking about the people who fight them.Mypeople risking their lives when they shouldn’t have to. We need to stop him. Now.”

NATHAN STUDIED KENNY,taking in every detail. The kid was nervous but not overly jittery. He didn’t want to be here but was keeping his cool. Nathan wanted to keep pressing to see if he could break him. But he’d heard Jesslyn’s idea through the comms and it also held merit. He cleared his throat. “Do you have a job? Go to school? What do you do with your days besides start fires?”

“I didn’t start that fire!” Kenny shifted, twisting his fingers together. “I go to school.”

“Where?”

“At the community college.”

“Major?”

“Math.”

“GPA?”

“3.9.”

“Smart guy.”

A smug smile crossed Kenny’s lips. “I am.”

“So why are you at L Cubed?” The nickname for Lake City Community College. LCCC was just too hard to say. “Why not Lake City University or UNC?” Nathan had no problem with students who went to the community college, but some people felt like it was “less than” the bigger universities. A lot of students complained about the stigma, but most in Lake City knew it was a good school. He wondered what Kenny thought.

Kenny’s smile slipped. “That’s none of your business.”

“Come on, now. I’m not dissing community college. You can get a great education there. But you look like more of a university guy to me.”

Nathan refused to look at the mirror. Andrew would be all over this new information and getting the details, including the class schedule and who Kenny hung out with.

“Mainly because of the shoelaces you’re wearing. Lake City Bears? I mean, you could be a fan, I guess, but seems to me like you’d be a Cougar fan if you were at the community college.”

“Shut up, man! Just shut up! Stop it!” Kenny lurched to his feet.

Nathan raised a brow. “Why don’tyoustop it? Sit down. Now.” His voice, louder than normal but not quite a yell, had the desired effect.

Kenny sat, shuffled his feet, and rested his head on his hands.

“Stop playing games with me,” Nathan said. “Quit lying and tell me why you ran.”

Kenny’s head snapped up. “Because you chased me!”

“Actually, the fire marshal just wanted to talk to you. So, technically, we were just walking toward you. We didn’t chase until you ran.” Nathan leaned in once again. “Look, man, I can do this all day and night. This is my job. I get paid to sit here. But I’ll be honest. I’m hungry.” He nodded to the unopened bag of food. “I’m guessing you are too.”

“So you think you can bribe me. Withhold food until I tell you what you want to know? That’ll really hold up in court.”

“Oh? You’re picturing this going to court? I hadn’t really thought that far ahead, but okay.”

Kenny let out a low groan. “No, I just ... no.” He gathered himself and shook his head. Then jerked at his shackled wrists. “Unless I sue you for false imprisonment. Then yeah, I guess we’ll wind up in court.”

Nathan shoved the food in front of the guy. “Eat.”

“In exchange for what?”

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