Page 81 of Serial Burn

She checked her appearance in the visor mirror to make sure she didn’t have sleep in her eyes or drool on her chin. She didn’t. “All right. I’m ready when you are.”

He led the way out of the car and the wind whipped her hair around her face. She shivered and shoved the strands aside and admired the traditional ranch home. It had been updated with a white coat of paint over the brick. Black shutters graced the windows and the landscaping was absolute perfection. “Who’s the green thumb? Winter has muted it, but I can tell it’s probably beautiful in the spring and summer.”

“Mom. She loves gardening and yard work.” He wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

“I’m guessing you don’t.”

“Nope. My sister Carly does, but Eli and I never learned to love it. Dad helps Mom, but just because he loves her, not because he loves the work.”

For a moment, Jesslyn’s world darkened and she couldn’t help the flash of sheer fury that zipped through her. She could have had a family like this.Shouldhave had a family, period.Shouldhave worked in the yard with her mother, played in the park with her sisters, had her dad teach her how to drive. Her uncle Sean had taught her, then walked out of their lives the next year. They’d all been devastated.

“Jess?”

She took a deep breath. “Sorry, was just thinking.” She forced a smile, grateful he didn’t push her about her thoughts.

He rapped his knuckles on the door and pushed it open. “Mom? Dad? Eli?” The hardwoods in the foyer gleamed with a recent polish. The living room to the right was done in neutral colors with the exception of a light blue sofa that offered a splash of color. Footsteps sounded from the den area straight ahead, and the man she recognized from the hospital stepped into view.

Eli.

He smiled and she noted a dimple exactly like Nathan’s in his left cheek. They were definitely brothers. Eli nodded to her, his smile slipping into a slight frown. “Hi.”

“Hello.”

“Jesslyn and I are on the way to another appointment. She can visit with Mom and Dad while we talk.”

“Mom and Dad aren’t here.”

Nathan paused. “Great.”

“Hey,” Jesslyn said. “I don’t want to be in the way. Just point me in the direction of a comfy couch or chair and I can work on my phone.”

Once she was settled in a very comfortable recliner with a bottle of water and a pain pill in her system, Nathan kept his coat on, Eligrabbed a blanket, and they walked out onto the back deck and shut the French doors behind them. She sent up a silent prayer that the brothers could work through whatever was causing them division, then she pulled her phone out and began reading through the bank’s fire report one more time.

What was the connection with her?

Or maybe it wasn’t a direct connection with her, but something else?

Someone who banked there that she knew? Good grief, that could be anyone. She should have asked her aunt Carol, but she’d been so thrown by the story of her parents’ marriage and everything they’d been going through, it had slipped her mind.

She yawned. She was so sleepy. The physical and mental fatigue were taking a toll on her and she was making mistakes. Mistakes she couldn’t afford to make if she was going to catch the arsonist before he struck again. She could see Nathan and Eli sitting opposite each other at a brown wicker table.

But they didn’t seem to be talking.

She frowned. It looked like they might be a while, so she called her aunt Carol and got her voicemail. “Hey, call me when you get a chance. Thanks.” Then she closed her eyes once more.

NATHAN REFUSED TO BEthe first one to speak. A little voice whispered that he was being immature, but at the moment he didn’t care. Okay, he cared. A little. But Eli just sat there, head down, eyes on the table.

Nathan checked his phone. Okay, enough was enough. He’d be the mature one. “What are you doing here at Mom and Dad’s? Why aren’t you at your place?”

Eli finally lifted his head. “I don’t have a place anymore. I sold it and moved home until my other house is built.”

“What other house?”

“I bought a piece of land out near your friend James’s lake house. Figured it would do me good to get out of the city and be somewhere peaceful.”

Whoa. Nathan really was out of the loop. “No one told me that.”

Eli shrugged. “It was kind of a recent thing. I just signed the papers last week. Closing on my old place and buying the new.”

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