Page 55 of Burnin' For You
“It doesn’t work. Hasn’t worked for years. And you’re not going anywhere.”
Gilly frowned at him.
“And no, Gilly, HQ has no idea where you are.” Patrick didn’t even glance at Gilly when he spoke, his gaze only on Reuben. Reuben itched for a distraction, the chance to put Patrick on the floor.
As it was, Gilly froze. And Reuben ached for her when she said slowly, “I don’t understand.”
A beat, and Reuben met Patrick’s eyes.Please, don’t hurt her.
Patrick’s voice fell, dark and steely. “I think you do.”
Gilly looked at Reuben, but Patrick took a step toward Reuben. “Sit down, Reuben. Over there.”
He motioned to the sofa, and Reuben held up his hands, glanced at Gilly.
“Let Gilly go. She has nothing to do with this.”
“Nothing to do with what?” Gilly said.
“I’m not angry at Gilly,” Patrick said, ignoring her. “She’s just a casualty of firefighting.” His eyes hardened. “Like my son, Tom.”
Yes. Reuben had put the puzzle together, and connected this moment to last fall’s tragedy.
And what did Brownie say about this being a hard day?
A hard summer. His mind went back to Conner’s lost drone, the one that found its way from the Browning property to the Whiskey Creek fire.
“You blame us for Tom’s death,” Reuben said quietly. “And I understand. I do, too.”
“What?” Gilly said. “Wait—you’re blaming Reuben for the fire? Patrick—!”
“Stay put, Gilly!”
“I know you miss Tom—we all do,” Reuben said, his hands still raised. He was using his very best mental telepathy to tell Gilly to sneak out, that he’d keep Patrick’s attention on himself. Or die trying. “But we can’t change it—”
“Shut up! Thisisall your fault—all of you. Conner, Pete, and you. Tommy trusted his team. I trusted the team. And you all left him to burn to death on the mountain.”
Reuben had no words. Because Patrick was right.
His jaw tight, Reuben glanced at Gilly, who was staring at Patrick with a white-faced horror.
“Wait—Patrick, you haven’t been—trying tokill the team, have you? Are you the one behind the arson?” Her voice pitched to a low-toned of disbelief. “Did you have something to do with the plane going down? The low fuel tanks?”
“You don’t understand, Gilly.” Patrick had the shotgun leveled at Reuben and looked a millisecond from coming unglued.
Where was Brownie? The question niggled at the back of Reuben’s brain.
“They left Tom there to die. A terrible, horrific death!”
“I know, Patrick,” Gilly pleaded. “I know, but this isn’t—”
“And they deserve to die in the same way!”
Reuben didn’t like the way Patrick’s hands shook. He just needed a second—a moment when Patrick might not be looking at him.
“Please, Patrick, don’t hurt him!” Gilly held up her hands, Reuben’s pack swinging nearly off her shoulder. “He isn’t to blame—”
“He is completely to blame! All of them!”