“Why would you ask that?” Olivia said.
He attempted a careless shrug. “No reason. Just wondered if...if she managed to get her job back at Sexy Sadie’s, or if she came over to hang out with you or you met her for a drink—”
“Noelle’s been spouting off, saying some stupid things. I told you that before,” Olivia said. “But she would never purposely set your plant on fire, if that’s where you’re going with this. Why would she take the risk? What if someone was in the building? What if you were there, working late like you so often do?”
“I’m sure she could see that my truck was parked here. And all the lights were off at the plant, except for that one pole light outside.”
“She’s done some really dumb things, some thoughtless and selfish things. But she’d never go that far.” Olivia looked at Brandon for confirmation, but he surprised Kyle by frowning at her apologetically, as if he wanted to agree with her for the sake of support but couldn’t do it for the sake of honesty.
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Kyle said, hoping to draw any fire Brandon’s lack of support might cause. He didn’t want to get his brother into an argument with Olivia just because Brandon saw Noelle the way he did.
Fortunately, it worked.
“You think it was her!” Olivia set her glass aside and rose to her feet.
Lourdes shifted as if she was tempted to say something but didn’t.
“No,” Kyle said. “Never mind.” Damn it. He should’ve kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t trust himself at the moment; he was too angry. “I’m sure she didn’t do it.”
“Now you’re just telling me what I want to hear,” Olivia said. “Well, you may think it was her, but I don’t.”
“Have you heard from her tonight?” Brandon asked his wife.
Olivia gaped at him. “Brandon, stop! Not you, too.”
He lifted his hands. “Kyle’s my brother, babe. And she’s the only one who’s got a grudge against him. It makes sense to tie down her whereabouts. If she really has nothing to hide, you don’t have anything to worry about.”
Brandon’s words must’ve seemed reasonable, because Olivia’s shoulders slumped. “Have they even established that it was set on purpose?”
“Not yet,” Kyle said. Which was why he should’ve waited. One minute he told himself to hold off; the next he was dying to hunt Noelle down.
He needed that fight he was spoiling for. Sitting here drinking was far too innocuous, especially since he couldn’t keep from looking at Lourdes—and wanting her in spite of everything.
“Then why are you even asking about her?” Olivia demanded.
“Because he saw her there,” Lourdes replied as if she couldn’t resist speaking up. “Tonight.”
The blood drained from Olivia’s face, and her eyes were riveted on him. “Noelle was there? When?”
Kyle finished his drink. “After the fire broke out.”
“A lot of people probably showed up after the fire broke out,” she said. “Stanley, our neighbor, told us he’d never been to a fire that had so many people running around.”
“I’m not arguing with that,” Kyle said. “We don’t have too many emergencies in Whiskey Creek, so they attract plenty of attention.”
“But Stan was referring to firefighters,” Brandon said. “Noelle’s not a volunteer, so...what? She came to watch?”
“I’m not sure what she came to do,” Kyle admitted and repeated what he’d seen and how quickly she’d driven off.
Olivia bit her lip. “So you’re not positive it was her car. You said yourself that it was difficult to see. That there was a lot of movement and chaos and smoke.”
Kyle exchanged a look with Brandon. “That’s true.”