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she had to tread carefully. Find out what she could about the fire and his sister, before she could even admit she was interested in him.
    She had about twenty minutes before the pain pill would kick in.
    “In a few minutes. Please, sit.”
    He did, watching her with that concerned look on his face that made her do things she hadn’t done in a really long time. Like giggle. Really, what was up with that?
    Paige told herself to focus on what he had to tell her—not the fact that he was looking better and better every minute she spent in his presence. She still had to rule himout as a suspect for the fire that had killed her friend and fellow agent.
    And his sister.
    But his background check had come back clean. She was here simply checking up on him as a formality. The fact that he had acted to save her life after her collision with the car, the fact that he was straight-up honest with her about his sister’s drug use and the fact that he didn’t seem to have a deceptive bone in his body had her convinced he’d had nothing to do with the fire.
    But she’d press on with a few more questions and confirm her beliefs. As much as she would like to go with her gut, she needed some hard evidence that said he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Paige hated this deception, the lying to him, the constant watching of her words around him. She shoved the feeling aside.
    Deception was the nature of the career she’d chosen and she’d do it well.
    “So …” she settled on the other end of the couch “… what happened that night? I’d ask how Will is handling it, but I guess that’s pretty obvious.”
    Grief clouded his eyes and she felt a pang of guilt for poking around memories that weren’t that old and were obviously painful. But she had to.
    It was her job and she needed to find Larry’s killer. But she couldn’t help offering, “I can see the pain in your eyes. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Biting her lip, she continued her role. “But I’m going to be working with Will at school. It might help me with him if I know some of the story.” She’d prefer the whole thing, but would take what she could get for now.
    Pulling in a deep breath, Dylan rubbed a hand over his eyes and said, “Whatever Will saw scared him enough—
    traumatized him enough—that he hasn’t said a word since.”
    Paige winced. “I’m sorry.”
    “So am I.” He looked down at his hands. “Sandra, my sister, and her boyfriend, Larry, were at home when the fire started. I don’t know why they couldn’t get out.” His words slowed. “At first, I thought Sandra must have been smoking something and it was her fault the fire started, but the autopsy report showed she was clean.”
    “Wow, you said she was trying to get off the drugs. Looks like she was successful.”
    He shrugged and looked up to meet her eyes. “Maybe. She’d gotten clean before and gone back to it, so …”
    Moved by his pain, she reached over and clasped his hand in hers. “I really am sorry.”
    “Anyway, I don’t know what Will saw or heard that night, but until he deals with it, he’s never going to get over it … or stop having nightmares.”
    “Poor kid.”
    “Yeah. Some nights are rough.”
    “Where were you that night?”
    He grimaced. “I was with a patient at the hospital almost all night in Bryson City. I didn’t find out about the fire until the next morning when the social worker brought Will to me.”
    He was with a patient all night. Easy enough to confirm. Her heart warmed. Her instincts were right. He didn’t have anything to do with the fire. Her eyes grew heavy.
    Paige reached over and squeezed his fingers. “I’m sorry, Dylan, I’m fading. Can we talk later?”
    “Sure. I shouldn’t have stayed so long.”
    She was glad he had. With a pang, she realized she didn’t want him to leave. But he sure couldn’t stay.
    Then she couldn’t hold back the yawn that hit her. Her eyelids felt like they had weights