“That cranky old bat? Who is he after now?”
“He’s after Paisley.”
There was a pause, and then, “What in the hell are you talking about?”
I grabbed the folder that Mayor Jensen had left me and slid it over to Korbin. He took it, flipping it open to read the contents. When he was finished, he slammed the folder shut and slid it back to me.
“This is a joke, right?” he asked.
“I wish it was.”
Korbin leaned forward until his elbows rested on the top of my desk. “Let me get this straight; some random witness claims she saw Paisley before the fire, and so they think it’s her?”
“The witness described her to a T,” I said.
“So what?” Korbin snapped. “Even if she had been around Tanner’s house, that doesn’t mean she had anything to do with it.”
“Yeah, I know, but—”
“But what?”
“She’s a suspect, Korbin. Someone identified her and told the police she’d been around the place leading up to the fire.”
“This is bullshit.”
“Apparently, Tanner Rey launched a complaint against Paisley when she started here, but there were no grounds to investigate. He just didn’t like that there was a girl on the crew. Not many people did, in fact.”
“Yeah, well, we all knew that. I didn’t much care for the brat, either.”
“My point is because it’s Tanner’s house that caught fire, there are suspicions that Paisley did it to get back at him for lodging a complaint. They’ve never liked each other.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Korbin said. “Paisley wouldn’t do something like that, Cap. She loves her job, and she’s finally starting to fit in. She’s not that stupid, either.”
“I know,” I said. “I don’t believe it for a second.”
“What do we do?”
“We find the real arsonist,” I said. “That’s our only choice, isn’t it?”
Chapter39
Paisley
Hansen was quiet for the rest of the day and into the evening. He bid me goodnight without saying anything more or trying to sneak a kiss while the guys had their backs turned. I tossed and turned most of the night, wondering what was bothering him and how I could help. We had no calls, allowing the crew to catch up on precious sleep. When morning came, and I dressed in my civilian clothes to get ready to clock out, I went downstairs to confront Hansen, but he was already gone. When I called his cellphone, no one answered, and I went home.
What I’d been expecting when I arrived back at the apartment, I didn’t know, but Jeremy sitting next to Jake on the couch when I walked through the front door certainly wasn’t it. I froze, looking between them, wanting to throw something heavy at Jeremy and strangle Jake simultaneously.
“What in the hell is this?” I finally managed to get out. Jake looked a little sheepish, and he glanced over at Jeremy, who was smiling at me.
“Your new friend invited me in,” he said. He stood up from his place on the couch and crossed the room to hug me, if not a bit warily.
“Oh, did he?” I said, peering around Jeremy at Jake. “That was his bad. You’re not welcome here.”
Jeremy’s hands dropped from the sides of my arms, and he sighed, taking a step back before I decided to start swinging.
“P,” he started. I groaned and walked around him, dropping my overnight bag on the couch next to Jake, who’d sunk down so low in the couch cushions I hoped he might get stuck there.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I said. “You had your chance, and you fucked it up. I’m done. I’m moving on.”
