Chapter 2
Cole
My hands won’t stop shaking.
She’s alive and well.
So why can’t I catch my breath?
“You good, Lieutenant?” Theo leans against the lockers, already stripped down to his t-shirt. He’s got that post-call glow people get when the rescue goes right. “That was some textbook hero work up there.”
“Just doing the job.” I peel off my turnout coat and hang it up with more force than necessary.
“Right. The job.” Theo grins. “The job that involves carrying Jake’s little sister out of a fire like some kind of romance novel cover model.”
I shoot him a look that would make a rookie wet himself. “She needed help. I helped. End of story.”
“Sure. Totally professional.” He’s not even trying to hide his amusement. “That’s why you white-knuckled the steering wheel the entire drive back and haven’t said two words since we got here.”
I don’t answer.
The locker room door swings open. Marco walks in, still in his street clothes, that badge clipped to his belt like it’s part of his DNA. His dark eyes scan the room with the same intensity he probably uses on crime scenes.
“Saw you pulled a Morgan out of a fire tonight.” He drops his investigation kit on the bench. “Jake’s sister.”
“And her kid,” Theo adds helpfully. “Don’t forget the kid. Cole was very heroic about it.”
“I’m going to punch you,” I tell him.
“You’d have to catch me first, old man.”
I’m thirty-two. He’s thirty-one. The age jokes are getting old.
Marco ignores our bickering and pulls out his notebook. “The fire started in the storage room. Accelerant patterns suggest arson.”
That stops me cold. “Arson? You’re sure?”
“I’m always sure.” He flips through his notes. “Flashpoint origin, pour patterns on the floor, secondary ignition points. Someone set that fire deliberately.”
“Jesus.” I sit down hard on the bench. “Rachel and Tommy were upstairs when it started.”
“I know. I questioned her.” Marco’s expression doesn’t change. “She seemed nervous.”
“She seemed traumatized,” I correct him. “There’s a difference.”
“Maybe.” He makes another note. “Or maybe she knows more than she’s saying.”
Theo straightens up, smile gone. “You think Rachel had something to do with this?”
“I think everyone’s a suspect until they’re not.” Marco looks at me. “How well do you know her?”
“She’s Jake’s sister.” I stand up, needing to move, needing to do something with the energy crawling under my skin.
“I’ve known her since she was a kid. Used to come over to their house after school, remember?
She’d be doing homework at the kitchen table while we played video games in the basement. ”
“That was fifteen years ago,” Marco points out. “People change.”
“Not that much.” But even as I say it, I remember the woman I carried out tonight. The one with green eyes full of fear and fire. She’s not the gangly teenager I remember. She’s all grown up with a kid of her own and an ex-boyfriend who apparently wasn’t worth keeping around.
Jake mentioned she’d moved back home a few months ago, some messy breakup. I didn’t ask for details because Jake gets protective when it comes to his sister, and I didn’t want to seem too interested.
Didn’t want to admit I was interested at all.
“She manages the café,” Theo says. “Has keys, knows the layout, would know where to start a fire for maximum damage.”
I turn on him. “You’re not seriously suggesting—”
“I’m playing devil’s advocate.” He holds up his hands. “Marco’s going to investigate her either way. Might as well think it through.”
“There’s nothing to think through. Rachel didn’t burn down her own workplace.” I yank my t-shirt over my head, needing to get out of these smoke-saturated clothes. “She was terrified up there. That wasn’t fake.”
“Fear doesn’t equal innocence,” Marco says quietly. “I’ve seen plenty of guilty people scared of the consequences.”
His response makes me remember my father’s funeral. Closed casket because the fire accident left nothing worth showing.
I was eighteen, barely holding it together, and the Morgan family showed up.
Not just Jake, but his whole family. His mom brought casseroles.
His dad helped me figure out the insurance paperwork.
Rachel, fourteen and awkward, sat with me on the porch and didn’t say anything because what was there to say?
Jake stayed for three days. Slept on my couch. Made sure I ate. Kept me from doing something stupid when the grief got too loud in my head.
The Morgans saved me that summer. Gave me a family when mine died in a shower of steel and broken safety regulations.
I’d walk through fire for any of them.
Hell, I just did.
“Cole.” Theo’s voice cuts through the memory. “You still with us?”
I blink. Both of them are watching me with varying degrees of concern.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re thinking about your dad.” Theo knows me too well. We all do. Grew up together in this town, got into trouble together, pulled each other out of worse trouble. “The fire brought it back.”
“Everything brings it back.” I slam my locker shut. “Doesn’t mean I can’t do my job.”
“No one’s saying you can’t.” Marco’s tone gentles slightly. It’s the closest he gets to sympathy. “But maybe someone else should handle follow-up with the Morgans.”
“There’s nothing to keep clean because nothing is happening.” I grab my jacket. “Rachel’s a victim, not a suspect. And I’m going home before I say something I’ll regret.”
I’m halfway to the door when Theo calls out. “Hey, Cole?”
I stop but don’t turn around.
“For what it’s worth? I don’t think she did it either.” He pauses. “But Marco’s right about one thing. She was scared. Really scared. And not just of the fire.”
That makes me turn around. “What do you mean?”
Theo shrugs. “I don’t know. Just a feeling. Like she’s running from something bigger than a burning building.”
Marco closes his notebook. “I’ll keep digging. Interview the neighbors, check her background, see if anything pops.”
“You do that.” I push through the door into the cool night air. “But you’re wasting your time. Rachel Morgan’s not a criminal. She’s just unlucky.”
Outside, the station lot is quiet. My truck sits under a flickering streetlight, and I lean against it for a moment, letting the adrenaline finally drain away.
My phone buzzes, a text from Jake.
Thanks for making sure Rachel and Tommy were fine tonight. Owe you one.
I type back quickly. No, you don’t. That’s what friends are for.
His response comes fast. Still, they’re everything to me. You kept them safe.
I stare at that message for a long time. They’re everything to me.
Yeah. I’m starting to understand that feeling.
My phone buzzes again, but it’s not Jake this time, an unknown number.
This is Rachel. Got your number from Jake. Thank you for tonight. Tommy won’t stop talking about the “cool firefighter” who saved him. Pretty sure you’re his new hero.
I shouldn’t smile at that. Shouldn’t feel this warm thing spreading through my chest like I just drank something strong.
I type back. Just doing my job. How are you both holding up?
Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.
Honestly? I’ve had better days. But we’re alive, so there’s that.
There’s humor in that message, but I can hear the edge underneath it, the brittleness of someone trying to hold it together with duct tape and determination.
You’re doing fine. Better than fine. You kept your kid safe. That’s what matters.
Thanks, Cole. Really. For everything.
I type: Anytime. I mean it. If you need anything, you can call me.
I will. Goodnight.
Goodnight, Rachel.
I sit in my truck for another ten minutes, staring at that message thread like it holds answers to questions I’m not ready to ask.
Jake’s little sister. Off-limits. Unavailable. Dealing with enough without me adding complications to her life.
But when I close my eyes, all I see is green eyes wide with fear and the way she wrapped her arms around my neck like I was the only solid thing in her collapsing world.
My phone buzzes one more time. Theo is in the group chat with Marco and me.
So, we’re all going to pretend Cole’s not completely gone for Rachel Morgan, right? That’s the play here?
Marco responds immediately. He’s not subtle.
I’m perfectly subtle, I type back.
You carried her out of a burning building and then gave her your personal cell number, Theo points out. That’s the opposite of subtle.
I gave it to Jake to give to her, for emergencies.
Right. Emergencies. Even through text, I can hear Theo’s amusement. Like “I need someone to carry my groceries” emergencies or “I can’t reach the top shelf” emergencies.
Me: Go to hell, Park.
Theo: Already there, boss. Already there.
I toss my phone onto the passenger seat and start the engine. The station disappears in my rearview mirror, but I can’t shake the feeling that tonight changed everything.
Rachel Morgan is back in Millbrook Falls.
Someone tried to kill her.
And I’m the idiot who can’t stop thinking about the way she looked at me when I carried her out of the building.