Jesse clenched his fists, but after a moment he leaned into Bryce. “Someone burned down my place.”
Bryce wrapped his arm around Jesse. He couldn’t take too deep of a breath. They were both covered in soot, and the smoky scent bothered Bryce’s already hurt lungs. “I know, babe.”
“Who the fuck would do that?” Jesse’s voice was hoarse.
“I don’t know.” Bryce pulled out his phone, only he wound up with Jesse’s. In the mess between finding the journal and taking Jesse into the DWO, he’d forgotten he still had it. Jesse was clinging to him, obviously not processing the scene before him. Bryce could wait to hand over the phone until Jesse was ready for it. He put it in his pocket, then dug out his own phone and texted Bonnell.
Between the residents, the fire department, and the arrival of the SLMPD, the scene was chaos. Had the fire started in Jesse’s apartment? Was it a coincidence, or related to their case? Bryce didn’t want to put stock in a conspiracy until he had proof, but the timing didn’t sit well. Jesse had been pushing at work to follow the Lawson lead. Had he told anyone else about the Crowley Construction investigation? Had one of his contacts ratted him out? But to who?
Too many questions and not enough information. Bryce needed sources, contacts, anything to bring in data and figure out who would want to burn Jesse’s home.
And given the time of night the fire had started at the apartment, there was every chance that someone had meant to kill him. Someone had tried once at Lawson’s apartment. Was it the same person? Did they know who Jesse was?
The situation didn’t sit right with Bryce. He rubbed Jesse’s shoulder. “We should get you out of here.”
“The cops, and—fuck, work will want to talk to me.” Jesse had another long coughing fit.
“That’s the glory of attracting the department’s interest. We can run interference. You won’t get in trouble.”
Jesse frowned at him and shifted away. “Trouble? I need to do everything I can to help catch the fucker who did this.”
“You can’t tell anyone what you were working on,” Bryce replied.
“Someone burned down my apartment to either shut me up or kill me. It might not even be related to—” Jesse coughed more. “—Valless. Could be Crowley.”
“Which you brought to us, making it our investigation.” Bryce did his best to suppress his own coughs. They needed water and a checkup. Most of all, they needed to get away from the scene before any authority demanded they answer questions. “This is too fishy. We need to handle it.”
“You?” Jesse waved at his apartment building. “Maybe they only had access becauseyoudragged me out and I had to answer questions all night!”
“And maybe the only reason you’re okay is because you weren’t here,” Bryce snapped. “There’s too much we don’t know. We need to go to a safe house and regroup.”
“Hiding won’t solve anything!” Jesse headed toward the chaos of first responders.
“What are you doing?” Bryce demanded.
“Seeing if I can help! You can hang back and play secret agent man! I don’t care!”
Apparently, there was no stopping Jesse. Bryce didn’t want to cause a scene, and, as much as Bryce longed to bundle him up and get him somewhere safe, trying to force him into the car was not an operable plan. Jesse would resist, people would notice, and Bryce would look like the bad guy. Any chance of Jesse’s cooperation would go up in smoke. But he didn’t know the string of magic words that would convince Jesse to see reason.
Bryce’s phone vibrated. He took it out and answered without looking. “What?”
“Whoa, there, rookie. Wasn’t expecting to get you this late,” an unfamiliar male voice said.
Bryce frowned and glanced at his phone. Except he didn’t have his phone, but Jesse’s. The screen readMilton. He put the phone back to his ear, ready to apologize and flag Jesse down.
“Rookie?” Milton said.
“Hold on,” Bryce said.
“If I caught you in the middle of banging some dude, well, you need to stop letting work be the most important thing in your life.” Milton chuckled. “But I saw word of a fire in Soulard hitting social media and couldn’t help wondering. That’s near where you live, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, actually…” Bryce thought Jesse glanced his way, and he tried to motion for Jesse to come back over to him. Instead Jesse scowled and turned his back. “Damn it.”
“It’s your building?” Milton said. “Are you okay?”
If Jesse wouldn’t come to him, Bryce would have to chase him. He began working his way through the crowd. “Look, I’m not—”
“Of course you’re not fine,” Milton grumbled. “What am I thinking? Do you got somewhere to stay? I’ve got a couch that ain’t half bad. Could even pick you up. Where are you?”
