Spark

CHAPTER 36

Gabriel wanted to pound on the door and demand answers. Unfortunately, that uniformed officer was standing there, obviously guarding him until the fire marshal returned.

Funny how being under guard made him feel more dangerous instead of less.

Gabriel chewed at his lip and stared at the floor, trying to reason it out. Pentagrams usually meant someone had called the Guides, had reported that Elementals were living in a specific house. Pentagrams were a target and a warning. Had there been pentagrams painted on the doors of the burned houses? He’d never gone in the front, so he had no idea. He and his brothers were the only full Elementals in town—well, until Hunter and Becca had shown up.

Right?

No, they had to be. Becca’s father would have known about others.

Hell, Seth and Tyler would have known about others.

But why else would there be pentagrams?

The door opened, and he jerked his head up. Marshal Faulkner was in the doorway. He didn’t look happy. “Someone is here to see you.”

Gabriel straightened. Relief almost knocked him out of the chair. Michael had come. He’d figure out what to do.

He cleared his throat. “My brother?”

“I wish I were that lucky, kid.”

“What does that mean?”

But the marshal was ignoring him, gesturing to the officer on guard. “Come on, Joe. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”

Then they were filing through the narrow doorway, the steel door falling closed behind them.

Only to be caught by a strong hand.

Belonging to Layne’s father.

Gabriel stared up at him as he came through the doorway. The man had to be coming from work—or maybe he just wore a suit all the time. Even though it was after six on a Friday, his shirt looked pressed, his tie straight and tightly knotted.

His expression was all business. Gabriel had no idea how to take that.

He also had no idea what he was doing here.

Mr. Forrest set a briefcase on the table and unlocked the clasps. “You know,” he said by way of greeting, “the night I caught you with Layne, I called you a future felon. I didn’t realize you’d make good on that prediction so quickly.”

“The night you dragged Layne out of my driveway, I called you an asshole. Guess we were both right.”

A smile, but it looked a little vicious. “Normally I’d tell you to call me David, but given the circumstances, I think we can stick with Mr. Forrest.”

“Don’t tell me. You’re the lawyer for the other side.”

“That’s not quite how this works.”

Then Gabriel remembered her father’s original threat from that first night, and realized this guy might be here to add more fuel to the fire. He shoved out of his chair. “Hey, I never did anything to Layne! If you told them I—”

“I’m glad to hear it. That’s not why I’m here.” Mr. Forrest eased into the opposite chair and pulled a legal pad out of his briefcase.

Gabriel watched him, perplexed. “Then what are you doing?”

A silver-plated pen came out of the briefcase next. “What have you told them so far? Please tell me you haven’t signed anything.”

“Wait.” After the news about the pentagrams, Gabriel’s brain couldn’t wrap itself around this. “What?”

An eyebrow rose. “What. Have. You. Told. Them—”

“Shut up. What are you really doing here?” Gabriel hesitated. “Did my brother hire you?”

“No. He didn’t. He and I have spoken, however.”

“So, what, you’re just going to make sure I get locked up? I didn’t start those fires.”

That vicious smile again. “It doesn’t really matter if you did or not.”

“It sure seems to matter to everyone else.”

“Not to me. I help people who ‘didn’t do it’ all the time.”

Wait a minute. “Are you saying you’re here to help me?”

“I’m going to try.”

Gabriel didn’t trust him. “Maybe I don’t want your help.”

“They have several fires, a dead firefighter, and an eyewitness. Not to mention motive, a prior record, and a bedroom full of lighters. You want my help.”

Gabriel frowned and looked away.

Mr. Forrest leaned back in his chair, spinning the pen between his fingers. “Did you really help Simon get a starting position on the basketball team?”

Gabriel couldn’t get the fire marshal’s threats out of his head, to say nothing of this mystery with the pentagrams, and Layne’s dad wanted to talk basketball? “You want to talk about this now? Seriously?”

“If you want my help, yes. I want to talk about this now.”

Gabriel glanced at the door. “Don’t we have a time limit or something?”

“No.”

“Fine. I gave Simon a few pointers. The coach made the decision. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“He came home with a black eye last night.”

“Look, I didn’t do that—”

“I know you didn’t. He told me what happened.” A pause. “Layne told me about the party, too.”

“She did?” Layne had stood up for him? After everything that had happened? Then Gabriel felt his anger swell. “Why aren’t you on that guy’s case?”

“I will be. Don’t worry.” Mr. Forrest hesitated, and for the first time, his arrogance faltered. “She also told me you pulled her out of the barn yesterday morning.”

Gabriel stared back at him. Talking about the fires felt like a trap.

“Anything you say to me is confidential. They can’t use it against you.”

Gabriel glanced at the corners of the room and dropped his voice. “What if they’re recording what I tell you?”

“I hope they are. It’s against the law, and then they’d never get a conviction.”

Gabriel had to clear his throat. “I thought maybe Layne was the one to turn me in.”

“No. From what I could find out, someone reported seeing you at the scene of the barn fire. Since you were already on their radar, they pulled you in.” Mr. Forrest steepled his fingers. “Layne was ready to march down here and tell every officer she saw that you didn’t start that fire. She said she was with you when it started. Is that not true?”

“It’s true.”

“She doesn’t believe you started those other fires, either.”

“I didn’t.”

Mr. Forrest nodded at the doorway. “They think you did. What have you told them?”

“Nothing.” Gabriel paused. “Can they really keep me here overnight?”

“They can keep you a lot longer than that.”

With every passing minute, the room seemed to feel smaller. Gabriel swallowed. “The guy told me I could go to jail for thirty years.”

“He’s right. Maybe longer if they can pin the dead firefighter on you.”

Gabriel rubbed at his eyes. “Gee, I’m so glad you showed up.”

“He’s trying to scare you,” Mr. Forrest said. “I’m going to work on it. If they’re going to charge you, you’ll get a bail hearing within twenty-four hours. Since it’s a Friday night, it’ll probably be tomorrow morning, and I imagine they’ll set bail rather high.”

The more this guy talked, the more it seemed like this was a hole Gabriel would never dig himself out of. “Fantastic.”

“I’m going to see if we can avoid charges altogether.”

“How the hell are you going to do that?”

“It sounds like they have a lot, but really, they don’t have a thing on you. The lighters are suspicious, I’ll grant, but no one actually saw you start a fire. No other incendiary devices have been found in your home. You have no record of starting fires. You’re not a model student, but according to Layne, you’re not a troublemaker around school, either. They can’t even get you for impersonating a firefighter unless you did it to get money.”

“They have an eyewitness.”

“Sure they do. And you have a twin brother. Any eyewitness testimony is dead in the water.”

Holy crap. Gabriel didn’t have anything to say to that.

Mr. Forrest leaned in. “Layne says I was wrong about you.”

Gabriel didn’t know what to say to that, either.

“She has a whole timeline written out. She showed me some newspaper articles. Thinks you were the one to save the Hulster girl. Is that true?”

A timeline. That was so . . . so Layne. If he weren’t knee-deep in drama, he’d smile. Instead, he just shrugged and looked away. “The little girl went down the laundry chute. They didn’t think to check in the basement first.”

“And the fireman who went through the floor?”

Another shrug.

“Are you crazy?”

Gabriel met his eyes. “Probably.”

“They’re going to want to question you some more. Think you can handle it if I stay?”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “Why would you do that for me?”

“You saved my daughter’s life and protected my son. Why wouldn’t I do that for you?” Mr. Forrest didn’t wait for an answer, just glanced at his watch. “Let me make a few calls.”

Before he was through the door, Gabriel said, “Do you really think they’ll let me go?”

“I’ll be honest. An hour ago, I wasn’t too sure.”

“So what’s different now?”

Mr. Forrest gave him a grim look. “There’s been another fire.”