Wilde Fire (Forever Wilde 3)

“No kidding,” West agreed. “But would John really do that to his niece and sister-in-law?”

“No one was supposed to be at either place. And the fire at Jolie’s wasn’t likely to turn into a big blaze like the one at Mom and Dad’s. It probably would have burned out before catching the house on fire.”

“Would an amateur know that, though?”

“No. Probably not… God, West. Walker would die if he thought his brother had done this. I can’t imagine what he’d think.”

“Are you going to tell him?” my brother asked.

“What? No. It’s pure speculation based on practically nothing,” I countered.

“Not nothing. He was at the scene of the first crime and home alone during the second one. What if he was angry when Jolie got the little house on the Walker ranch instead of him and Beth?”

I thought about that for a minute.

“I could see him being upset about that. According to Walker, the family never really saw Jolie as a true Walker. The idea of her ending up with one of the two Walker homes would most likely burn his gut.”

“Motive,” West murmured before taking a final sip of his water and reaching to take a large paper bag from the bartender. “Talk to Seth, Otto. At least tell him you didn’t do this.”

I sighed. “He knows that, West.”

“Tell him anyway. And then tell him about the Poseyville.”

My jaw dropped open. “Who told you?”

His hand clamped down on my shoulder, strong and warm. “Doesn’t matter. You know I love you no matter what. Which is why I’m telling you to get your ass to the sheriff and tell him your story before he hears it through the dreaded Hobie grapevine. He deserves to hear it from you, Otto.”

I closed my eyes. He was right. But what happened when he heard about what a fucking nutcase I’d been and how when it came down to it I’d failed at the very thing I’d entered the navy for—putting out fires.

“He’s going to think I’m a loser,” I confessed in a low voice.

West’s face softened. “He already knows you’re a loser, but he loves you anyway.”

Leave it to a brother to be a jackass even when he’s loving you.

Chapter 25

Walker

Walker,

We had a training exercise in which we were supposed to start an actual fire on the boat. I thought it was a joke at first, but I never found out because we were called to rescue a stranded SEAL team. Thank god. (I still think maybe my commanding officer is fucked in the head, but whatever.) The point is, if I’m ever in this damned metal tube when a legit emergency happens, I hope the sea takes me quickly. What irony to be highly trained in fighting fire while literally surrounded by the world’s largest body of water.

Wilde

(Unsent)

Three days after the fire, I was called in to a meeting with the arson investigator and the fire chief. We met in the small conference room at the firehouse to discuss the progress of the case.

That was where I found out that Otto had gone from a person of interest to the sole focus of the investigation.

“You’ve got to be kidding?” I asked Chief Paige before turning to the investigator. “No disrespect, Teri, but Otto Wilde did not start this fire. There’s just no way he would do that. If he wanted to burn down his parents’ house, why didn’t he save his parents’ important papers first or remove the photo album before the blaze?”

Even as I said those things, I realized how pathetic they sounded. If it had been any other random suspect, I could have easily explained away those things.

Teri’s voice was calm and steady. “Sheriff Walker, I appreciate what a tough position this puts you in, but right now the only suspect we have is Lieutenant Wilde.”

I appreciated her still using his rank when referring to him, and it was a reminder that she was a professional who wouldn’t want to take a wrong step in charging an innocent person with a crime. She continued speaking.

“I didn’t say he was guilty of the arsons, Sheriff, only that so far he is the sole person we know for sure had motive, means, and opportunity.”

“Do you have any actual evidence?” I asked.

“As you know, we have a witness statement that puts him at the scene of both fires. We also have a personal connection between him and both locations. He is a trained firefighter, which means he is very familiar with how to set fires.”

I threw up my hands. “Exactly. Which is why if he wanted to burn something down, he’d know how to do it without implicating himself.”

Was I the only person who could see how stupid this was?

“Why would he have started that fire at Jolie’s house? Give me one potential motive,” I demanded.