Double Inferno (The Sinful 7 of Delite, Texas 2)

“You had sex with them? You did these types of things with them? I understand all that. The point is that you asked me to trust you fully. You asked me to give in to one of the biggest fears I have, and I did. I trusted you despite the fact that, initially, every time you raised your voices or made a demand it brought back memories of the fear I had when I was abused. I allowed you to restrain me, lay me over a table, and have your way with my body despite some of the hurtful, horrific things my ex did to me. And now, now, the two of you stand here and want to have secrets? You want to not share what’s going on in this case? Where the hell is the God damn trust, Tyler? Where?” She hadn’t meant to raise her voice like that, but it just came out. She swallowed hard to regain control and hugged herself.

Tyler crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Don’t, Paula. Don’t you see that I want to protect you and not hurt you? Why do you need to know how we knew these women? It doesn’t have anything to do with us and our relationship now.”

She stared at him with anger in her eyes and her body.

“They were playmates every now and then with no strings attached and never with us together,” Matt offered.

Did that make her feel better? Hell no. She knew they shared women. Just not those two. The two he saved today, the two that this killer felt might be of concern to Tyler and Matt.

“Obviously, it was more than just play. Otherwise, this guy wouldn’t use it to get Tyler to jump into hero mode,” she stated, sounding bitchy before she turned to walk away.

“Don’t you dare!” Tyler yelled as he gripped her wrist and turned her to face him.

“We don’t use women and we don’t go around breaking their hearts. Sure, we’ve had a lot of women, but we never found the perfect one for both Matt and I until you. Don’t you dare let this asshole’s attempt at tearing us apart work.”

“Having sex may be no big deal to you, Tyler, but it is to me. I haven’t had sex with anyone in years, and my only lover abused me, so sorry if I feel a bit jealous thinking about how you and Matt got to play your sex games all around Delite. I don’t like hearing about it or knowing about it, and I don’t care what you say, I am jealous, and I am angry, and mostly I’m scared out of my mind that this guy will hurt you or Matt. I won’t be able to live if something happens to either of you because of me.”

Tyler pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. Matt hugged her from behind and they held one another.

“It will be okay. We’ll work this out. We’re with you for the long haul, baby. We’re not giving you up to anyone,” Tyler reassured her.

“Don’t be jealous of our pasts, Paula. It’s the present that counts, and I can tell you that I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never had such a strong and immediate connection to someone, and neither has Tyler. You’re what we’ve been searching for, and we’re not going to screw this up with jealousy or lies, and we sure aren’t going to let this asshole screw it up,” Matt stated, and Paula hoped that what they said was true.

“I’m sorry to sound so possessive of both of you. I’m glad that you were able to get to those women in time and that this jerk can’t hurt them. I’m worried about you two now. Who is this guy and what does he want from me? I don’t even know who it could be. But please, Tyler and Matt, please don’t keep anything from me. I don’t have anything if I don’t have the two of you,” she admitted as they hugged her.

Their relationship was new, but the love she felt for them both was already too strong and too powerful to give up, even though she was thinking that giving them up could save their lives.

* * * *

The week had passed and more information was coming in from an area outside of Delite called Cellar County. There had been a series of arsons there a year or two ago, and in almost all the fires there were remains of bodies left behind and all female. As Detective Louis spoke with a detective from the department, they started to think that their killer and arsonist was the same as the one in Delite.

Detective Louis was waiting for the files to come through as he sat in the office, updating Tyler and the sheriff.

“So you think this is the same guy?” the sheriff asked Detective Louis as Tyler looked over the fire inspector’s reports.

“It’s the same MO and same concrete connections. The only difference is the lapse in time between the last fire in Cellar County and the first one here in Delite,” Detective Louis stated.

“Fuck. I can’t believe that no one picked up on this. It’s like the guy disappeared,” the sheriff stated.

“Maybe the arsonist thought the detectives were getting closer to figuring out who he was? It states here that the accelerant was turpentine, just like our arson cases,” Tyler said.

“The detective I spoke to had a feeling that the suspect didn’t live in the community but liked it there. He also felt that he or she was involved in a profession where they used turpentine on a regular basis so it was accessible and they might be involved with fire regularly. They had knowledge of the results they would get in setting the fires a certain way and in specific locations.”

“Shit, that leaves everyone from painters, builders, and carpenters to officers and firefighters,” Tyler stated.

“That’s it! That’s it right there. A firefighter. That could very well be a route we should investigate or even someone waiting on a list to get onto the fire department. A firefighter has special training and knows how to set blazes and what an arson investigator looks for. He never messed with any wiring or electrical units to make it seem like the fires were accidental. He set them using the accelerants which ignite quickly, spread rapidly and cause the most damage,” Detective Louis stated then rose from his chair.

“What about some of these guys who are waiting to get hired who take on odd jobs like painting or construction?” the sheriff added.

“I can check with Matt to see if he’s heard anything in that department.”

“I can check our list of potential persons of interest that I came up with after questioning Paula, the women at Dixie Chix, and Carole and Marla. There were also some fairly general descriptions from eyewitnesses who saw a man leaving the trailer park in a hurry, but they couldn’t identify him,” Louis stated.

Just then the sheriff’s cell phone rang.

“What’s that? I’m putting you on speaker, Monte.” The sheriff pressed the button on his cell phone.