“Paisley, I need you to come to the station so we can talk.”
“Talk about what?”
“Now.”
The line went silent, and I stared at the phone, bewildered and horrified at the exact same time. Something was going on, and I seemed to be caught in the middle of it. I wanted to call Jeremy and check on him, but some small voice in the back of my mind convinced me otherwise.
Chapter40
Hansen
When Paisley arrived at my office half an hour later, her eyes were wild with concern. Concern, maybe even some fear. My heart lurched as I watched her shut the door behind her. She looked so tired, and I longed to hold her against me, to tell her everything was fine and that I just needed to see her. But I couldn’t because everything was not okay.
“Have a seat,” I said. Paisley sat, her movements jerky.
“Why am I here?” she asked, but I knew she had a sneaking suspicion.
“The officers at the scene had a talk with Jeremy,” I said. “And he told them that you guys had a fight earlier.”
“A fight,” Paisley repeated. “Yeah, I guess. Kind of. He showed up at my apartment without permission, Hansen. He was trespassing.”
“I understand that.”
“Do you?”
“Yes,” I said softly. “But others might not.”
Silence fell between us, a knowing silence smothered me from the inside out, like being caught in the middle of high-rising flames. Without thinking twice, I reached out to take Paisley’s hand, but she pulled away, finally forcing herself to look at me.
“Please don’t tell me that everyone believes I set the fire,” she said. She looked utterly broken. A frightened child trying to defend herself from the bad guys. “You don’t believe I would set these fires myself, do you?”
“Not for a second,” I said, and that was the damn truth. I couldn’t imagine it, no matter how hard I tried. “But people are talking, P. The only enemies the victims of these homes have in common—is you.”
“Enemies?” Paisley repeated. “Everyone knows that Tanner Rey didn’t welcome me with open arms, Hansen and that Jeremy and I broke up. But no one is an enemy here. Besides,” she hesitated. Her voice was soft, not so defensive, which hurt even more. “Why would I do something like this?”
“I don’t think you would,” I told her. “I don’t know who would, P, and that kills me. But we need to find who is behind this, so you don’t get pulled further into this.”
Paisley leaned forward, her arms on the desk between us. Her brown hair fell around her face, framing her features so that I had to catch my breath and stop myself before falling to my knees. Fury was overtaking the hurt in her eyes. In the months I’d grown to know her, I’d noticed the green in them overtook the brown when she was fired up, a sign of her passion, aggression that she rarely showed.
“Do you all think I worked this hard only to sabotage my career?” she asked. “Do you think I’d willingly put these people in the line of fire? Not to mention the innocent people I could have hurt doing something that petty?”
“Of course not,” I said. I could see her getting riled up and upset, and I couldn’t blame her. I was, too. I hated this. I hated thatshewas going through this, and I hated that every cop in our town could only assume it was her before knowing all the damn facts. “Paisley—”
“I think it would be best if I put in my resignation,” she said, cutting me off. Her words shocked me, and I reeled back, jaw hanging. “As of today.” She shrugged her EMS jacket off and laid it across my desk. When I reached out to grab her hand to stop her, she pulled away. She wouldn’t even look at me, which was worse than facing her.
“We need to talk about this,” I said, but she was already backing towards the door. “I know you’re innocent, P, and I’m going to prove it. So, please, don’t do this.” I got to my feet and crossed around the desk to reach for her, but she shied away, shaking her head. “Sit down and talk to me.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I can’t be a part of a team that believes I’d do something so atrocious. It’s just not worth it.”
I watched her go, part of me wanting to chase after her, and the other part did not know what to say when I caught her. I was just as confused as she was, just as angry, yet so mystified that I no longer knew what to believe. I knew Paisley was innocent. She had to be. She was a good woman, a good person—a good firefighter. She was the one who had run into a burning building to rescue her mortal enemy, the woman who had crawled beneath a falling truck so she could be the slightest comfort to a little girl on the verge of death. She wouldn’t do something like this, not in a million years. And I knew it.
Korbin knocked on my door a moment later, making himself home in the chair across from me. He leaned back in the chair and folded his hands across his stomach. “I saw Paisley storm out.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “She’s pretty upset.”
“Can you blame her?”
“No.”
