“So…these fires that have been happening,” she said, her voice cautious. “You think they’re arson?”
My hands stilled.
Technically, I shouldn’t discuss it. The investigation was ongoing, but I nodded anyway.
“Yes,” I answered. “At first, we thought it was a bored kid, setting fires to get attention. But then it escalated.”
I glanced up at her before returning my attention to her hands.
“The coffee shop was different.”
“And Hearthstone?” she asked.
Hearthstone.
The reminder of the ruined building twisted my stomach. “I have no idea why Hearthstone was a target.”
The lingering virus still had me feeling off, my brain slower than usual.
Palmer continued to ask questions, curious about details such as the other locations and times. She sounded a bit like Skye, my brother’s investigative journalist fiancée, who always was digging deep into everything. Part of me was glad she hadn’t been here to hound me about the fires. I didn’t mind talking to Palmer about it, though. She wouldn’t discuss it with anyone else if I asked her not to.
As I secured the final wrap around her palm, she went rigid.
“The church you mentioned…was it that Pentecostal church on Maple Street?”
I nodded and she paled.
“What’s wrong?”
She swallowed. “I-I’m not sure.”
She looked away, but I sensed something churning in her mind.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She bit at her lip. “Well, I might be seeing something where it isn’t but…” she trailed off, unsure.
“Spit it out, Golden.”
The nickname slipped out before I could think about it. I’d said it in my fevered stupor the other night, but I found that it suited her. I might keep using it until she told me to stop.
She flushed. “Ever since I got here, I’ve been deep diving into everything I could get my hands on concerning the Shadow Stalker—Amos Anderson.”
His name alone sent a spike of rage through me.
“Anyway,” she continued, sounding breathless and hurried. “That church…didn’t he go there? I’m pretty sure he was involved with it for a time, and the coffee shop was owned by him until he was arrested.”
My throat constricted as an unsettling weight sat like a stone in my stomach.
“And Hearthstone,” she said, meeting my gaze. “Well, you said it yourself that he had some kind of fixation with your family, with your brothers.”
“You think Anderson has something to do with this?”
She shifted on her feet. “I don’t know. It’s the first thing that came to my mind after you named off all the locations like that…”
I didn’t want to believe it. How did it make sense that Anderson would return to Ember Hollow just to burn it down?
I studied her as I held her hands. The bandages were secured, but I didn’t want to let her go yet.
