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“Right. That.” He waves his hand impatiently. “The bigger picture is impossible to look at when you’re in the fucking painting. That’s why we’re here.”

Sometimes it’s easy to forget I have a community. I have a family. I take a breath. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Now, give me this.” He plucks the tracker from my hand. “I’m going to keep this and email you these photos, and you’re going to file a police report. They’ll connect them to the arson once the inspector is done with your house.”

My stomach feels unsettled again. “I’m going to do one more sweep around the car to make sure we got everything.”

North nods. “I’ll hit the inside too.”

We don’t find anything else, which doesn’t surprise me. Neal isn’t that clever. He’s more of an I saw it on TikTok kind of guy. God only knows where he got the idea for the fire, but it also doesn’t surprise me that he didn’t think about the consequences of getting caught.

And as if on cue, my phone begins to ring with an unknown number.

“It could be Neal,” I say when North’s gaze snaps over to me.

“Could be a detective,” he points out.

I answer, bracing myself to hear Neal’s simpering voice, but it’s a woman.

“Mr. Taylor?”

“Yeah, hi. Hello.”

“This is Detective Ahmed. Do you have a moment to come in so we can talk about what happened last night?”

I bow my head. There go my pancake frittatas. “Yeah, I do.”

“Wonderful. Head to the station on Cherry, and I’ll meet you in the lobby.” She hangs up before I can confirm with her, but it’s fine. I know exactly where it is.

North raises a brow at me, and I shrug. “I have to go in and talk to a detective.”

“Want company?”

I do, but not his. North is a great friend, but all I want right now is Easton. I curl my hands around my keys and shake my head. “I’ll be alright. But thank you for today.”

He walks over and hugs me again. “Listen, Leo and I are going out of town next week, and I was going to ask Easton to house-sit for me. Why don’t you and Elio come too?”

“Oh, uh…”

“It’s nice out there. Quiet. I doubt your ex knows how to find it, and Elio would probably love the shit out of the gazebo thing that Leo built.”

I don’t tell him how close Easton and I got to violating that space. Instead, I smile because he’s right. Elio would love it. “Okay.”

He brightens. “Great! I need to make sure someone’s keeping an eye on Russell. He’s been flying off a lot more, but he usually comes back at night, and I get scared the other crows will bully him for his leg.”

I laugh, but in reality, it’s sweet. “We’ll keep an eye out. And thanks. Again.”

He squeezes my shoulders, then lets me go. “Call me if you need anything, okay? I have to head back to the station for a bit, so you know where to find me.”

I watch as he gets into his truck, and I feel a tiny pang of anxiety because I don’t want to be here on my own. I doubt Neal would return to the scene this quickly. He must know there would be an investigation, but I don’t trust him.

And I don’t want any other disasters.

Jumping into the car, I start the engine, adjust the radio, then put it into drive. All I need is an uneventful ride to the station, then maybe I can get home to Easton with just enough time to have a little fun before real life kicks me in the ass again.

“Detective Zainab Ahmed, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The detective is short with broad shoulders, a firm handshake, and hair in a tight braid down her back that nearly reaches her waist. She leads me immediately to what I think is her office, but it turns out to be some kind of conference room by the look of it.

There’s a small recorder on the table and three bottles of water.