Page 95 of Serial Burn

“He is. For now. I’ll tell you about it later. Are you about done here?”

“Yes.”

“Anyone in the crowd stand out to you?”

“No one.” She ran her gaze over the bystanders one more time while she told him about her conversation with Heath. “I don’t think he knows anything helpful. Kenny and Brad kept him in the dark. But Heath said he thinks Kenny’s afraid of something. Or someone.”

“I’m guessing he didn’t know who that might be?”

“Nope.”

“Jesslyn?”

She turned to see the chief heading her way. He held an evidence bag in his hand. “You found another one?”

“We did.”

She took it and studied it. A beautiful piece. Diamonds, pearls, and emeralds in the shape of a butterfly. She rubbed her thumb over it. It was just dirty. No sign it had been touched by fire. “Someone dropped this here at the edge of the scene.”

“A bystander,” Chief Laramie said with a nod.

“Most likely.” Jesslyn bit off a scream of frustration. “Why can’t we catch this person?” Then again, it would be so very easy to let something this small fall to the ground without anyone being aware.

“We’ll get him, Jess.” He shook his head. “You know, I remember when this place was built thirty years ago. Your dad even showed me the plans.”

“Wait, what? My dad did?”

“Yeah. He and his architect buddy, Bob Nelson, had the plans all laid out on the dining room table one night. He was so proud when it was finally finished.”

“I don’t remember that,” Jesslyn said.

“No reason why you would. You were real little.” A firefighter waved to him and he patted her shoulder. “I’ll catch up in a little bit.”

“Right.”

Nathan nudged her and she blinked. “Oh, sorry. I don’t suppose anyone saw someone drop this, did they?”

“Not that we can tell right now. We had eyes on everyone in the crowd. We even filmed some of it. We’ll watch the footage and see if we can find something on there.”

She nodded. She’d done all she could do here. She’d revisit the scene tomorrow. “I’m going home.” She had to think. And do a little research. Maybe the fires weren’t connected to her after all. Well, they were, but maybe not in the way she was thinking. Maybe they were connected to her father. Which connected them to her, of course. She rubbed her head, thoughts spinning.

“Who’s staying with you tonight?” Nathan asked.

“Kenzie. She’ll take me home.”

“Good.” He hesitated. “You know how I said Eli was okay?”

“Yes.”

“Well, he is and he isn’t. He’s going to be staying with me while I’m in town. As long as this case takes. When it’s time for me to head back home to Asheville, then we’ll figure something else out.”

“Okay. Is that a good thing?”

“Guess we’re going to find out.”

Jesslyn said her goodbyes and finished up at the scene, then headed to Kenzie’s car. She hadn’t had time to arrange another rental.

“Rough scene?” Kenzie asked.

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