“Let him do this. You can sort it out afterwards, but let him do this.”
“I can’t,” I breathed, feeling on the verge of panic. I was the fucking sheriff, and I couldn’t help him. “He didn’t do it.”
“I know. But he’d be devastated if you lost your job because of him, Seth.”
I turned like a coward and let Doc pull me into a hug. There was no way I could watch the love of my life being arrested in my own damned jurisdiction for a crime I knew he didn’t commit. Now I knew why families of criminals proclaimed their loved one’s innocence till their dying breath. When you loved someone, it was impossible to think them capable of a crime.
Jesus, I was acting like all those idiot families—the ones my buddies and I would roll our eyes at in court when they sobbed and swore their lover or mother or brother couldn’t have done such a thing. Now here I was, in the same damned denial.
Otto was careful not to look at me as Shayna cuffed him and followed protocol to place him in her squad car. After they pulled away, Grandpa and Doc both squeezed my shoulder before rushing off to follow the squad car to town.
I looked at Evan Paige. “What’s the evidence to justify his arrest?”
The pity in his eyes was impossible to bear. “I’m not charging him yet, Seth. But he needs to explain some things. This is just the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“What was on those lab reports?”
“Trace evidence found on the toilet-roll fire starter at Jolie’s house showed the lint had been sprinkled liberally with a specific mineral spirit sold for use in painting toy models.”
“So? What does that have to do with Otto?”
“We found the exact same kind of mineral in Otto’s cabin.”
“You couldn’t have known that before tonight. Plus, all kinds of people build model shit. Hell, my nephews and I build model trains. That doesn’t prove anything.”
“We didn’t know before tonight. That’s why we just wanted to talk to him about it—to question him. But, Seth, you have to see that the evidence is only pointing us in one direction here. I know it’s hard to accept. Believe me, I don’t want to accept it either. But we can’t let our personal feelings stop us from doing our jobs.”
“Fuck!” I snapped. “This doesn’t make any damned sense. Tell me why! Why would he do this? Why would he wreck his own damned place, Evan?”
He sighed and shrugged. “Firefighter arson maybe. Plenty of firebugs become firefighters and vice versa. Or maybe he has some kind of PTSD left over from what happened in the navy that’s having a negative effect on him of some kind. Maybe there’s a psychological explanation. We simply need to ask him some more questions, Seth. That’s all.”
I pulled out my phone and dialed Otto’s brother, West. When he answered in a sleepy voice, I started talking right away. “Hey, it’s Walker. Listen, I need you to come keep an eye on Otto’s cabin. There’s been another fire. He’s fine, everyone’s fine, but I don’t want to leave his place unprotected.”
“What? Wait… what?” His groggy voice came over the line, and I heard Nico in the background asking who it was.
“The lab techs are coming here and I think your family might want some, ah, representation here when that happens. You know, like maybe a lawyer or something?”
“Oh, right. Okay. I’m up. I’m coming. Where are Grandpa and Doc?”
“Headed to the sheriff’s office. They took Otto in.”
“Who did?”
I sighed and raked my fingers through my hair. “My deputy did it, but it may as well have been me. He’s at the county jail, West. I’ve got to get over there and make sure he’s okay.”
“Shit, Walker. Fuck.”
“Yeah. So… I’ll leave the ranch in your hands?”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
I lit out of there without saying another word to Evan Paige. I was at my office in less than ten minutes and quickly made my way to the back room where our two jail cells sat. They were usually empty, but tonight everything had changed.
There, in a pair of scrubs, bless Doc’s heart, sat my other half. On the wrong damned side of the bars.
His face lifted when he heard my footsteps, and I noticed Shayna had been nice enough to let Doc and Grandpa sit on the bench against the wall opposite the cells so they could visit with him.
“Hey,” I said, walking up to the desk where Shayna sat filling out reports. My eyes stayed glued on Otto while I removed my gun belt and emptied my pockets, leaving everything remotely controversial on the desk with my deputy. Once I was unencumbered, I asked Shayna to let me into the cell.
Otto’s eyes had tracked me with confusion while I’d halfway disrobed, but when I entered the cell and came straight for him, he seemed to finally understand. He stood and walked into my arms.