As the cell door closed behind me, a buzzer sounded down the hallway, and a moment later, Jake appeared, looking tired and haggard.
“Oh, Jake.” I reached through the bars and took his hand in mine, relieved to see someone who didn’t believe I was guilty.
“How are you, P?” Jake asked. His throat was scratchy, eyes rimmed with red as if he’d been crying. He turned his head to look at the guard staring at us suspiciously. “Do you mind if we have a moment?” he asked. “Just a few minutes?”
I was sure the guard would refuse the request for a second, but after a minute, he nodded, just slightly, and stepped out the door to leave us in peace.
“Do you have any news?” I asked once the guard was gone. “Does Hansen? Does anybody? I’m going crazy here, Jake, and I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m sitting on my own execution.”
For a long moment, Jake said nothing. He dropped my hand and leaned against the cool bars of the cell, hands deep in his pocket now, brow furrowing with an emotion I couldn’t quite read.
“Are you okay?” I asked. When he didn’t answer at once, my chest tightened with apprehension.
“I’m not okay,” he said. “And neither are you.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jake closed his eyes and rested his head against the bars, his body shaking with each breath he took. “I know you’re innocent,” he said. “And I know this because I know who’s been starting the fires.”
“You do?” I stepped in his direction, heart fluttering with anxiety against my chest. “Who was it, Jake?”
His head dropped, eyes averting to the floor so that he was no longer looking at me. For a long, excruciating moment, I was positive he wouldn’t answer me.
“Jake,” I said softly. “Who—?”
“It’s me,” he said. “I’ve been doing this.”
The silence that filled the air was suffocating, and I thought for sure I had a heart attack for a second. Blood roared in my ears, and my head swam with dizziness. The floor beneath my feet seemed to rise up and greet me, and I had to reach out to grab onto a bar to keep from falling.
“I’m sorry, Paisley, I’m so sorry.” Jake put his head in his hands, and his entire body was rigid. I stared at him, silent, unable to form the words I wanted to say. I hated him. I wanted to hurt him like he hurt me, and I couldn’t even imagine the way to do it.
“You need to tell the truth, Jake,” I said steadily. The voice didn’t even sound like my own. It trembled, threatening tears. Not screaming at him was becoming increasingly difficult by the second, but I couldn’t lose my cool now, not when the truth was dangling by a frayed thread. “You need to go turn yourself in right now.” I looked towards the door where the security guard had vanished moments before, praying to God that someone had heard his confession. “Jake.Please.”
Jake didn’t respond. His chin was down, hands in his pockets as he shook his head slowly back and forth. “I can’t,” he said. A tremor of fear seized me, and I reached through the bars to clench his arm, pulling him closer. He didn’t fight it, but he still wouldn’t look at me.
“I’m injail, Jake, for something I didn’t do,” I told him, my voice low. “I’m literally just waiting to be prosecuted. You need tohelp me.”
“I’m sorry, Paisley.” He pulled his arms away from me, taking a step back from the bars. He finally looked at me, anguish etched in the features of his face. “I can’t say anything to anyone.”
“Why?”
“Because he’ll kill me.” I reached desperately for him, knowing that my last hope was slipping through my fingers and there was nothing I could do about it. He turned to leave, face hidden by the shadows of the building.
“Who will kill you?” I cried. “Who are you talking about, Jake? Who is threatening you?”
The only answer I received was the slamming of the door as Jake vanished out the door. I stumbled back against the wall, falling onto the cot, legs shaking and stomach swimming with nausea. I pressed my hand over my mouth and cried until I couldn’t cry anymore. And then I screamed.
Chapter46
Hansen
It was almost ten when Chief Davis told me to take the night off and go home, to gather my bearings so I’d be ready to work soon after. The station was a depressing place to be, as most of my men had fallen quiet, brooding over Paisley’s senseless arrest. A few of the guys had taken me aside and asked what they could do to help, but I’d been unable to tell them anything, mostly because I still had no idea what to do myself. No one did. Even Tanner Rey had gone silent, poking at dinner, deep in thought but listening to the conversation anyway.
On my way home, I passed the campus district, mindlessly gazing to the side before I spotted the crime scene tape wrapped around one of the apartment buildings, Jeremy’s building. Without thinking about it, I turned the car around and pulled into the empty lot, putting the car into park as I stared at the charred building in front of me. For a second, I was tempted to sneak in and look around, trying to find something that could prove Paisley’s innocence. As I considered this, a car with bright lights pulled into the lot next to me, and I looked over just in time to see Jeremy step out of his car and make his way toward the evacuated building. A second person was with him, a young woman with dark hair and flawless skin; she looked half his age.
I watched them go briefly and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. The building was empty, and off limits; neither of them shouldn’t have been there. What in the hell was Jeremy doing there?
The logical part of my brain seemed to dull out then, and before I knew what was happening, I found my feet on the lawn, jogging across the grass in the dark towards where Jeremy stood with the strange woman, gazing up at the building through a pair of spectacles. They both turned as I approached, surprised, and Jeremy took a step back.
