Liam schooled his face.
“They said we were cool for covering for them both times.” Sophia shrugged.
Bella took over the explanation again. “We were hanging out and having fun, and one of them pulled out spray paint and started tagging things at the park. They wanted to go to another secluded place and do more painting.”
Bella looked at Sophia.
Sophia wrapped her arm around her friend. “We need to tell the truth. Get it all out there.”
Bella nodded. “We followed them. They gave us a couple cans, and we sprayed some dumpsters. Tori—Sabrina’s best friend—and her boyfriend disappeared for a few minutes. Probably to make out. When they came back, they gave us the cell phones they’d bought at the grocery store. Said since we left ours at home, we needed a way to stay in touch with them while we were out.”
As an adult, Liam could see the signs in the story. These friends had been testing them. Seeing how trustworthy they were, pulling them deeper into their world.
He had questions but didn’t want to interrupt in case they stopped talking. It was best to get it all out, and then he could go back in and ask those questions to fill in the blanks.
“One of the guys that was with us kept playing with a lighter,” Bella continued. “He’d grab long pieces of grass or leaves and set them on fire and watch them burn.”
“It was weird the way he watched the flames,” Sophia added. “Like he was hypnotized.”
Bella nodded. “Anyway, he said he wanted to watch something burn. He lit a piece of trash on fire and threw it in the trash can.” She swallowed. “Sabrina called him an idiot and put the fire out with her bottle of water. She told him to save it for later. That’s when I knew we needed to get out of there. So while Sabrina and Tori argued, we snuck off.”
“So you called me from this cell phone?” He looked at the two cell phones on the table.
The girls nodded.
“What happened after you left?”
“You found the spray cans and yelled at me for having them,” Sophia said.
“I didn’t yell.” He pinned Sophia with a stare.
“Anyway,” Sophia continued. “We decided we didn’t want to be a part of their stuff anymore, so we ghosted them.”
Apparently, they hadn’t taken that too well. “Is this the first threatening message you’ve gotten from them?”
“You can read the texts.” Sophia nodded at the phones.
He had every intention of doing so.
Maybe Sam had every reason to be scared—the girls were getting themselves into some pretty sketchy stuff. A slippery slope.
But did it connect to the fire at their house and the doctor’s death? Liam didn’t know, but he was determined to find out.
THIRTEEN
Sam focused on the orange glow through the thick, rolling smoke billowing out the windows of the flooring store. Forearms burning, she aimed the pressurized water at the heart of the fire. Sweat rolled down her back as the heat enveloped her. She stepped forward, the flames hissing as the water hit its target. She fought with all her strength until the fire was out.
“This is the fifth commercial fire.” Greer put the Halligan back in its place. “Another arson. The arson investigators need to hurry up and catch the people doing this.”
“Yes, they do.” She tossed the fire hose on top of the engine, into its spot.
“I wonder if they’ll find any spray-paint markings around this fire like the others.”
Sam stopped and turned to Greer. “Spray paint?”
“Yeah, the other four fires had spray-painted graffiti in the vicinity.” Greer slid the rolling door shut on the engine. “The investigator thought it might be connected. Don’t you read the department memos?”
“I’ve been busy.”
