Cole gave us a bland look. “Have you checked out if we’re allowed on the premises?”
“The arson chief said we could go in today.” I tightened my hold on Teagan’s hand when she tried to slip away.
“Good enough.” Cole climbed the stairs and flicked off the tape. “Let me do a walk-through and make sure it’s safe.”
Teagan gnawed on her lower lip and craned her neck after him. “What does he think he’s going to find in there?”
“Think he’s more worried about who.”
“Oh.” Deflated, she slid her fingers of her other hand around my wrist.
Cole stuck his head out and waved us inside.
We followed him in, walking side by side. Just before she crossed the threshold, she hesitated. I wrapped my other arm around her then pulled her back into me for a moment. I lowered my lips to her ear. “Whatever it looks like, I’m here, okay?”
She nodded and took a deep breath then walked ahead of me, her hand still clamped in mine.
She gasped as she entered the foyer. Eighty percent of the room was a sickly dark gray ash soaked in water. It smelled like someone had drowned an ashtray full of cigarette butts. Her living room was a complete loss. The succulent plants that had been tucked into every spare corner were singed, and some had even split from the heat of the flames. The aloe plant she’d always taken such meticulous care of along the kitchen window was a pile of green spiky goo.
My gaze tracked the trampled wreckage from the firemen and the investigators. Her couch was upended, cushions singed, melted, and waterlogged. The posters and tapestries that usually covered her walls were curled up from fire damage, save for one rope-looking thing. Macramé? Looked like something my mother had in her craft room. The piece was still heavy with water and soot, but it was remarkably undamaged compared to the rest of the room.
There seemed to be a strange semi-circle of charred areas, as if gasoline had been splashed wide and lit without a care. The air smelled of some sort of accelerant. I’d been in enough fire-bombed places all over the world with the Rangers that I knew the smell.
Arson, for sure. And by the looks of it, a sloppy job. Whomever had done it hadn’t even bothered trying to make it look like an accident.
Teagan quietly picked through a few things in the far corner. Her fingers shook as she picked up a framed photo and held it close to her chest.
I wasn’t sure if I should go to her or give her a minute with her obvious grief. I hated feeling helpless. I wanted to rip the fucker’s face off who had done this to her.
Thank God she hadn’t been home.
Ice slid down my spine. Here with all the proof of the fire, it was even more ominous. Had they set the fire because she wasn’t home? Or would they have done it regardless?
Cole peeled back a bit of waterlogged shelf liner on a shelving unit in the kitchen with a pocketknife. He pulled off his sunglasses and stuffed them in his pocket and gave me the high sign with a nod.
I checked on Teagan one more time. She was crouched in front of a bookcase, pulling out boxes. I didn’t want to leave her, but I followed him down the hallway toward the door.
“What’s up?”
“I spoke with Noah before I came over. The arson investigator asked about cigarettes.”
My eyebrows rose. So, that was where Noah had come up with that particular question. “Yeah, he asked her if she smoked, and she said no. He wouldn’t tell us much.”
“Still an ongoing investigation. Insurance will be held up until they rule out that she did it.”
“Fuck that.”
“She wasn’t here and that isn’t great.”
“Why would she do something like that?”
Cole’s face was expressionless. “One way to get the remodeling done.”
“She loves this house. Remodeling because she’s making more money now is far different than just torching it to get a quick buck. Besides the fact that it was sloppy as fucking shit.”
Cole stayed quiet.
“How could anyone think she’d do this? She doesn’t even have it in her to fight with the crazy people in our band. She’d never do something like this.” I pointed to the room. “Do you see her in there?”
“Could be a good actress.”
I took a step toward him, my hands fisted at my sides. “She isn’t that kind of person. She’d rather go hungry than commit insurance fraud. And believe me, she doesn’t have any need to. We do damn well for ourselves.”
“I agree.”
“What?” The tight rubber bands strung between my shoulder blades were officially going to snap. Then I was going to strangle this dude.
Cole folded his arms and gave a half-shrug. “Devil’s advocate.”
“I’m going to beat you unconscious.”
Cole’s mouth twitched. “I’d like to see you try.” He held up a hand. “Look, I’m not going to insult you because I know you’ve seen some shit, same as me.”
I gritted my teeth, but I nodded.
“I’ve worked more than a few arson cases, and this feels more like a statement than personal. The sloppy angle could be used against her too. Maybe she hired an idiot to light it up.”
When I opened my mouth, he shook his head.
“I don’t believe it either. Neither does Noah or Lila. But there’s a smug-like setup to all of this. The way I see it, if they’d wanted to make it personal, they would have lit her bookcase. That’s where you hurt a person. In the memories and the sentimental things.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
“Instead, they just haphazardly did it this way, like they couldn’t be bothered to do it right. And yet it’s not the kind of thing a firebug would do. Not enough flames.”
“You’ve thought a lot about this.”
Cole gave a curt nod. “I’m a bit more than just hired muscle.”
I frowned. “Is that right?”
He ignored that question. “Lila’s people are going to take care of gathering up her things
