Page 59 of Studfinder

Still, I had my own suspicions now.

“What happened tonight?” Something must have occurred after Jake left for dinner. Shifting slightly on me, I sense the dampness on my skin and the scoop neck of my nightshirt. Hardly lifting his head, Jake uses his tie to wipe at both.

“Nolan.” His voice cracks on his brother’s name, and he shivers all over again. My arms tighten around him.

“Tell me,” I quietly encourage.

“Nolan did it, Rita. He set the fires. In the warehouses. In the school.” My heart drops to my stomach. I feel sick and press at Jake’s shoulders to get a better look at him, but Jake returns his vise grip hold on my waist, keeping himself tethered to me.

“What?” My own throat clogs at the revelation. “How?”

“He didn’t want me to lose my job. He wanted a fire chief promotion. It’s exactly as the judge thought, only it wasn’t me. It was him.” There isn’t bitterness in Jake’s tone as much as shock like I’ve never heard—incomprehensible shock.

“How do you know?” I question, allowing my hands to flatten on his shoulders as if I’m tugging him to me, keeping him against me. As if I need his strength to support me.

“He told me. He was drunk, and we were fighting about my ex-wife—”

“Lisa,” I interject.

“Yes. She was there tonight.”

“I met her, remember? She’s very pretty.” The surprise at finding his ex-wife present did nothing to quell the nerves I’d already felt after the altercation with Nolan. Lisa was a raven-haired beauty, and I was a mouse compared to her. We looked nothing alike, and I’m certain our temperaments didn’t compare either. Judging a book by its cover, she was all beauty and makeup, while I was hiking boots and knitting nerd. I recall the slow release of Jake’s hand from my back once she uttered those words: I’m also Jake’s ex-wife.

“Don’t,” Jake says, finally lifting his head and twisting his neck so he can look me in the face despite the dark room. “Don’t even think of her.”

I nod but still wonder what he means by she was there tonight. Had she joined them for dinner in my place, or was she always intended to be present? There wasn’t time for the sudden pang of jealousy I felt. Jake had larger issues with his brother unless those issues further included Lisa. Jake told me his suspicion that his wife came onto his brother after Jake was incarcerated.

“Tell me more about Nolan.” I swallow back the bile at simply stating his name. Jake shifts his feet as if kicking off his shoes before he lowers his head once more, returning his cheek to my chest. He speaks to the quiet, dark room.

“He admitted to it all. Setting the fires at the warehouses, hoping to gain attention from the State.”

“Warehouse fires?” I interject, and Jake quickly refreshes my memory of the initial investigation he was under regarding the vacant warehouses.

“Nolan hoped to make a statement that fire departments were necessary as is. When that didn’t gain the attention he’d wanted, he went for the school. He swears he thought it was empty. A vacant building so no one would get hurt.”

“But someone did get hurt,” I interject, clenching my teeth with the statement. Not only had Ian died but Nolan was permanently disabled as well. I wouldn’t even admit to the irony of the situation.

A sense of sad relief comes over me as I wasn’t certain how I’d tell Jake of my new suspicions. After my conversation with Parker and then Nolan’s dismissal of me, I was confident—but without evidence—that Nolan could have set fire to the school. Accusing him, though, would have been similar to what happened to Jake. I didn’t have any proof Nolan committed a crime. It was all circumstantial.

“I know,” Jake whispers, squeezing me tighter. At this point, I was an uncomfortable human body pillow to Jake, but I didn’t complain. I needed to know more.

“So, what happened next?”

“I couldn’t believe what he said. It seemed impossible. Like what was he thinking? What did he hope to accomplish? How could he do such a thing?” Jake pauses for air as his voice rises. “I have so many questions. Nothing feels like it makes sense right now. I want to believe I imagined it.”

My hand swipes down his back. “But you didn’t, did you?”

Sensing his eyes close, he rolls his head against my chest once more. “My own brother,” Jake mutters. Defeat fills his voice. Heartbreak and irreparable hurt linger.

“What will you do?” My mind races as there aren’t many options. Jake already served the time for the crime he didn’t commit. A crime he’d been adamant all along that he never did. To know his brother went along with Jake’s arrest, allowed him to go to prison . . .

“Why didn’t Nolan come forward?” I ask before Jake has a chance to answer my first question.

“He was in a medically induced coma when I was arrested. He says by the time he came around, I was already in jail. He didn’t speak up for fear that Rory would be found out with those damn fireworks. He also didn’t want to lose his son. He thought I’d get off.”

Jake lifts his head once more. “I understand his thought process around Rory. As sick as it sounds, I might have done the same thing if Rory had been mine.” But Jake doesn’t have a son. It’s something we’ve discussed. His wife hadn’t gotten pregnant in the time of their marriage. Jake believes it was partially responsible for their issues. Lisa’s infidelity had been another part of their problems.

I shake my thoughts of her, returning to options for Jake.