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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.”
CHAPTER 37
Gabriel got to leave.
At five o’clock in the morning.
He hadn’t eaten anything in almost twenty-four hours, and he sure as hell hadn’t slept. Mr. Forrest was driving him home, the radio in his BMW playing some kind of light rock. The streets were deserted this early on a Saturday, especially with a cold front moving in, bringing rain to spit at the windshield.
Layne’s father had stayed all night.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Thanks.” It felt woefully inade-quate, but he wasn’t sure what else to say.
“I don’t mind driving you. Your brother has been dealing with the cops all night, too. No sense making him come out.”
Michael was probably fit to be tied. “No . . . I meant, for all of it.”
Mr. Forrest glanced over. “You know, they could still arrest you again. If you give them just cause.”
Gabriel ran his finger along a seam in the leather upholstery and stared out at the darkness. “You’re telling me to stay out of trouble.”
“I’m telling you to stay away from fires. Don’t even go out and buy a new lighter.”
The cops had kept the ones they’d confiscated at school and they’d probably taken all the ones in his bedroom, too. Gabriel felt like he was missing a limb.
And he was already wondering about the fire he’d missed tonight.
“I’m serious,” said Mr. Forrest. The car rolled to a stop at a traffic light, and he looked over. “I’m not a miracle worker. If they catch you at another fire, especially now, you’ll be charged for sure.”
Gabriel nodded. “I know.” He wished he could text Hunter to let him know what was going on, but they’d kept his phone too. Thank god he’d been careful about deleting all the text messages relating to the fires.
“Look, I know I said it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, but I need to know. Is Layne doing this with you? She’s been having a hard time since her mother left ”
“No.” Gabriel shifted in his seat to look at him. “Layne’s not . . . she’s not doing anything wrong.”
“I read once that children who’ve been injured by fire may experiment ”
“No! She’s not. Experimenting.” This felt more awkward than if Layne’s father had asked if they were h**ing s*x. “She had nothing to do with this. I didn’t even know about the scars until the party. No one did.”
“What about the pentagrams? In there, you said you didn’t know anything, but if she’s wrapped up in some kind of cult ”
“Jesus, there’s no cult, okay? I don’t even know what the pentagrams mean.”
And once he’d had a lawyer by his side, he hadn’t been able to get any more information from the fire marshal.
Mr. Forrest glanced over. “What exactly are you doing?”
Gabriel stared out the window. How could he ever explain all of it?
The mist in the air turned to rain, forcing Mr. Forrest to switch on the wipers. “I said I’d help you, but I’m going to protect my daughter, too.”
“From me. You think Layne needs protection from me.”
