Korbin and I stared at each other in silence, unable to say anything more about it in fear of coming to a conclusion we didn’t want to form. Nothing was proven yet, for anyone, and until it was, nobody in this station would assume the worst.
After a long moment, Korbin sighed and looked back at me. “What are you thinking, Cap?”
I hesitated, wondering if saying nothing at all would be the better route to go. “We don’t need to think anything yet, Korbin. Paisley’s word against Jeremy’s will hold up until evidence comes to rise.”
“Does she have an alibi?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if anyone was with her when Jeremy’s complex caught fire.”
“And Tanner?”
“I don’t know who this witness is, but they made a mistake. That’s all there is to it. Right?”
“Right,” Korbin said, rubbing a hand over his face. I massaged the back of my neck and sighed, unable to ignore the hesitation in his tone. “What about that thing that happened the other night?” he pressed. “Someone beat the shit out of Paisley, Cap. Do you think she’s working with someone or has an accomplice?”
“She’s innocent until proven guilty, Korbin. That’s the end of it.” I knew Korbin didn’t believe Paisley was guilty either, but we knew nothing more.
“Is she coming back to work?”
“I don’t know.” I rested my elbows on the desk and my head in my hands. I felt horrible, but probably not as bad as Paisley felt at that moment.
“Hey.” Korbin stood from the chair and leaned over the desk, his hand squeezing my shoulder. “It’s going to be fine. Paisley is innocent, and this is all just some freak coincidence.”
“I know,” I said, forcing a nod for his benefit. But I didn’t know. None of us knew. Probably not even Paisley.
Chapter41
Paisley
I tried six or seven times to call Jeremy, but my call went straight to voicemail each time. I was so frustrated I wanted to scream. Whatever bullshit was floating through the air was going to bring me down if I didn’t put a stop to it. What was happening? Who could be responsible for these fires? And better yet, who had attacked me the other night at the pub, and why?
Jake was pulling a 48-hour shift, so I had the apartment to myself, and for the first time since I’d left Jeremy, I felt agonizingly lonely. Abandoned. Hansen called a few times, but I didn’t dare to answer. I couldn’t talk to him about it. I knew he already had his doubts, probably doubts Tanner had planted, and I wasn’t about to dig myself in deeper. I had to figure this out before it was too late, and I lost everything and everyone important to me.
In hindsight, walking out of the station after my resignation may not have been the most brilliant move. If anything, I looked guiltier than I already did by doing that. But at the same time, I couldn’t force myself to make an apology; not yet, not when all my brothers at the station were catching word of a possible arsonist, one that they all probably thought was me. It was too easy. It really was. First Tanner’s house, and now Jeremy’s? I couldn’t think straight. Somebody was setting me up. This wasn’t just some merry coincidence. Someone and I had no idea who was trying to destroy me.
I sat on the couch and tried to clear my mind enough to figure things out. A big part of me wanted to go back to the station and talk to Hansen, to apologize for walking out. If there was anything to figure out, we could figure it out together. But the other side of me was pissed. Hansen doubted me. Deep down in his soul’s depths, he didn’t believe I was innocent. I wasn’t an idiot. Someone was trying hard to make sure I went down. At this point, there wasn’t anybody I could trust, not even Hansen.
I was still awake around midnight, tapping my foot anxiously as I made notes on a pad in front of me. I had so little information, but all I could do was try to sort these things out until something made sense. Being jumped at the pub, Tanner’s house, and Jeremy’s apartment; what did they all have in common? Me. That’s all they had in common, and that was almost enough.
“Fuck.” I leaned back into the couch, exhaustion tugging at my eyelids. I needed sleep, but I also needed to prove my innocence before some bad shit went down and I was unlawfully accused of something I didn’t do.
I’d almost drifted off an hour later when the sound of the key in the lock woke me up. Jake came in and shut the door behind him, dropping his bag on the floor so he could kick off his boots.
“Hey.” I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “I thought you had a long shift.”
“I did, but Captain Hansen let me come home so I could check on you. He’s been worried.”
“Oh.” I rubbed both hands over my face, doubting his words but unable to muster up the energy to argue it anyway. Whether or not Hansen and the rest of my crew were worried about me didn’t matter much if I couldn’t figure this shit out and prove my innocence.
“Yeah, actually, all of us have been.”
“Even Tanner Rey?”
“Well—” Jake went to the fridge for a beer, trailing off. “I mean, he’s confused, I guess. Everyone is wondering what in the hell is going on.” He plopped down next to me on the couch and surveyed the old bruises on my face as if just seeing them for the first time. “You never did tell me about that.”
“It’s nothing.” I quickly slammed the notepad shut that was sitting open on the table.
“P, it’s things like that that make people wonder,” Jake said. When I raised my eyebrows at him, he quickly added, “Not that any of us think you’re actually guilty.”
