Page 94 of Serial Burn

He let the conversation pause, so she did as well.

“Brad’s funeral is Wednesday,” he said after a few seconds.

“I know.”

They fell silent once more, and Jesslyn started her mental checklist of everything she had to do before she could leave while she waited to see if he had anything else to add.

Heath finally huffed. “This is ridiculous. I don’t know why I thought coming here would help. It obviously doesn’t.”

“Sometimes we do stuff out of desperation or just because it feels like we’re doing something. Being proactive.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Exactly. Just sitting around talking about him, wondering what was going through his mind in his last moments, and being sad is getting old. We need to be doing something to figure out what happened to him.” He met her gaze and jutted his chin. “Figure out who pushed him.”

“And you still don’t have any idea who might have done that?”

“No.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked the ground. “I don’t. If I did, I’d tell you.”

“I think you would.” She bit her lip. “Look, I’m not asking you to snitch on your friends, but if you want to keep pushing Kenny to tell you what he was doing at the last fire with Brad, then you might be able to move things along in figuring out why Brad is dead.”

Heath frowned. “Brad was at the fire?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know that?”

“No.”

“And you can’t think of any reason for that?”

“No, sorry. It’s definitely weird.” He glanced at his phone. “I gotta go.”

“Wait, um ... I don’t know what’s going on or what Brad and Kenny were into, but if you do start asking questions, be careful.” She hesitated. “In fact, never mind. I shouldn’t have suggested that. It might not be safe. Just let it go and let the investigators do their job.”

“I’ll see what I can find out.”

She placed a hand on his arm. “No, I’m serious. Let it go.”

“I’ve already asked Kenny what was going on. What he and Brad were into, and he just told me to back off, that it wasn’t any of my business.”

“But?”

“But I think he’s scared.”

“Scared of what? Or who?”

“No idea.”

Jesslyn chewed her bottom lip debating whether to ask her next question, but finally decided to. “Do you know if Kenny owns a gun?”

“A gun? No.” Heath snorted. “No way. Kenny definitely doesn’t own a gun. And before you ask, neither did Brad. They’re not allowed on campus, much less in the dorms.”

Didn’t mean one wasn’t there, though. She nodded. “Thanks.”

Heath kicked the ground and hung his head for a minute. When he looked up, he met her gaze, a firm resolution in his. “I’m going to go. This is a waste of time. I’ll let you know what Kenny says.”

“Be careful, Heath. Seriously.”

“I will.”

Nathan came into her line of sight, and she waved him over, filled him in on her conversation with Heath, and narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s going on with you? Is Eli okay?”

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