Page 73 of What They'll Say About Us

"I'm going to figure it out, no matter how many times someone tries to stop me."

He gave me a questioning look. "Who's trying to stop you?"

"I don't know who's behind the escalating attacks on me, but last night, the apartment where Morgan and I were staying was set on fire. We barely escaped out the window."

Shock ran across his face. "What the hell? Why didn't you tell me that last night when I texted you?"

"It happened after that. It was in the middle of the night. They broke into the yoga studio downstairs and started a fire."

"And the police don't know who did that, either?"

"No, but it's obvious. I'm making someone nervous."

"Well, you were always very good at that." His words were hard, but his gaze softened. "I'm glad you weren't hurt. But this is bad, Tessa. You're taunting a murderer."

"Who will hopefully make a mistake."

"If you don't make a fatal mistake before they do."

I tipped my head in agreement. "So why did you want to talk to me?"

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Ray MacIntyre came into the club last night. He was already heated when he got there, but after a shot or two, he started to rage at me about you, how you were hurting his family and ruining his life. He rambled on somewhat incoherently about how Paige hated him the last few days of her life, and that she'd died without understanding why he'd done what he'd done."

"That's cryptic. Why would Paige hate her brother? I thought she adored him. She was always worrying about him, checking up on him, at least when we were friends. I guess I hadn't talked to her about him for a while."

"I asked him the same question. Ray wasn't making a lot of sense, but he said he'd needed cash just to tide him over, and it wasn't a lot to ask, and Paige had the money, and he just didn't understand why she wouldn't help him. He'd told her how important it was. She was being selfish, and she should have helped him."

"That's interesting. I wonder why he suddenly needed cash. Or why he didn't go to his parents."

"He said that he told Paige their parents would kill him if they found out what he'd done."

"Ironically poor choice of words."

"It was what Ray said next that really bothered me. He looked me right in the eye and said, 'It wasn't my fault. You have to believe me. I didn't know. It wasn't my fault.'" Liam paused, then said, "I asked him why anyone would think her death was his fault. He jerked back, like he'd suddenly realized he'd said the words out loud. That's when the backpedaling started. He said he just felt bad that Paige had died feeling disappointed in him. And he can't relive it all. Alina doesn't understand how much this is hurting his parents again."

"It sounds more like he doesn't want anyone to think he killed his sister over the cash she wouldn't give him."

"I hate to think Paige's own brother killed her, but Ray has a temper. I told him he was drunk, and we weren't going to serve him anymore. He should go home, sober up, and talk to his sister, because Alina was the one driving this whole thing."

"What happened next?"

"He said he was going to finish his drink, so I walked away. Ten minutes later, he was in a shoving match with another customer. I ended up throwing him out."

"What time was this?"

"It was about eight o'clock last night. I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said, and then I looked up your podcast and saw your video about Cabot and thought about how convinced you were that someone had killed Paige, and that's when I texted you." He paused. "I don't want you to quote me on anything, Tessa. I just wanted to give you the information in case it was more than just drunken rambling."

"I appreciate that. I'll talk to Detective Barclay about it."

"So, Colton is helping you?"

"I don't think he's trying to help me, but he's investigating, and he's more committed to searching for the truth now that his mentor is dead."

"Maybe you were right to dredge all this back up."

"I would like to know where Ray was before he got to your bar and where he went after that. Detective Cabot was killed around four or five in the afternoon yesterday, and my apartment building was set on fire probably around one thirty in the morning."

"I'm not sure Ray was sober enough to set a fire."