Let it All Burn: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (From the Ashes Book 1)

by Denise Grover Swank

  “She stayed on the other side of the gym,” he continued, “hoping to catch your eye, then lured you to the parking lot. Once you were out there, her accomplice attacked your daughter to get you to demonstrate your powers.”

  My already-aching head was reeling. “But…how could she have known when Harriet would arrive at the game?”

  “Did your daughter plan to come late?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “She had dance after school and joined us once she got out.”

  “So anyone who’s been watching your family and studying your schedules would know what time Harriet got out of dance. They’d know when to expect her to come to the game.”

  The thought of someone watching us sent shivers down my spine. On top of that, I couldn’t get Vee’s face out of my head.

  Well done, she’d said.

  I’d thought nothing of it, assuming she was just praising me for how I’d saved Harriet, but I suspected Heath was likely onto something.

  She’d set me up.

  I suddenly felt nauseous.

  “Darcie, you’re not looking so good,” he said as he slid off his stool. “Let’s sit down in the living room where it’s more comfortable.”

  I let him help me over to the sofa. I hated every moment of looking needy in front of him, but the room was spinning, and it would be much more embarrassing if I refused his help and fell flat on my butt.

  Once I sank back into the cushions, he took a seat in a side chair, and I told him about Vee’s parting words.

  “We should talk to the police about her involvement,” Heath said, looking worried.

  “You are the police,” I said. “I’m telling you.”

  “No, I’m the FBI, and this isn’t a federal case. If I try to take over, people will start asking questions, and I really don’t think we want people poking around.”

  He was right, but my gut told me not to tell the police about my mystery woman. “You promised you’d try to find Vee.”

  “And I will, but I have to be careful with that too.”

  I could see the logic in his answer, but it was still frustrating.

  “This seems like terrible timing,” he said, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his thighs. “But I’m also here for another reason.”

  My eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

  “Friday night, there’s a Founder’s Day masquerade ball at the art museum. A new exhibit is being unveiled.”

  “The exhibit in the basement of Lisman and Freud. It’s being moved this week.”

  His eyes widened slightly, but he was quick to hide his interest. “Yes,” he said in a subdued tone. “What do you know about the exhibit?”

  “Only that it’s been in the basement for months and it has something to do with our notorious town founder.” And that I felt drawn to it, but I wasn’t ready to share that tidbit with him. He already knew enough. “Is that why you were so interested in Parker? After our date went awry, he didn’t come to work the next day. He came in on Monday, but he seemed off.”

  “Off? How so?”

  “Distant. Aloof. Like he had something on his mind and couldn’t be bothered with any of us. At first I thought it was because I’d ditched him, but he was like that with everyone.”

  “I’ve been watching him for months. I think he’s feeling the heat.”

  “You think he’s up to something underhanded in regard to the exhibit?” I remembered hearing him in the basement on the day he’d called in sick. Maybe I should have said as much to Heath, but I wasn’t sure I trusted him either.

  “I do. I think he asked you out to dinner because he knows your mother is on the board and you could get an invite. They sold out weeks ago. I’m sure he could find another in, but he wouldn’t want to draw attention to himself.”

  I couldn’t ignore that Sylvia had died on the day of the ball. It wasn’t a stretch to think the ball was somehow related to our family curse. Especially since my great-grandmother had been on the board…just like my mother was this year. Somehow I knew I was meant to go to the ball.

  Apparently Parker had thought so too. Embarrassment flooded out my other thoughts, and it took a second for my synapses to calm enough for me to find words. “You think he only asked me out to dinner to get an invite to the fundraiser?”

  He’d certainly brought up the ball quickly enough on our date.

  Horror washed over Heath’s face. “Shit. Darcie. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  I closed my eyes. “Yeah, you did.”

  Why in God’s name had I thought a man who looked like Parker Townsend would be interested in me?

  What a fool.

  “Do you have an invite to the fundraiser?” he asked.

  I opened my eyes and tried to focus on his face, but it was blurry, a sign that I’d been doing too much. “Why do you care if I have an invite to the fundraiser?”

  “If you do, then I want you to invite him as your date. We can watch him. See what he does. Word has it he didn’t win a set of the company invitations.”

  How did he know that? Then I felt stupid. Of course he knew. He was with the FBI, which made me wonder why he needed my help at all. “You want me to invite him to a fancy masquerade ball? I’m supposed to just make small talk with him all night, knowing he was using me?”

  “You could do it for revenge,” Heath said with glittering eyes. “Payback.”

  “What exactly is going to happen to him at this fundraiser?” I asked, my back straightening. “I need to make sure it’s satisfactory payback.”

  He laughed. “I think you’ll find it sufficient.”

  “Then count me in.”

  Darcie Weatherby was done taking crap lying down.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  My mother was suspicious when I called her to ask if it was too late to RSVP for the ball. I told her that our failed family dinner had been eye-opening to me and I wanted to take more of an interest in what she did. I must have been somewhat convincing, because she told me she’d put my name on the guest list and I could just check in at the door.

  “Can you add a guest?” I asked. “I’d like to bring someone.”

  “Cyn,” she said in a dry tone. “I thought she was already attending.”

  “Not Cyn. A man I went out to dinner with last week. Parker Townsend.”

  “A date?” she asked in a perky tone. After her insistence that I get back together with Richard, I was surprised to hear the excitement in her voice.

  “It’s still very early, but he’s a charming man,” I said, then couldn’t help adding, “I think you’ll like him.”

  “Consider it done.” Then she added in a hesitant tone, “You realize it’s a formal masquerade ball, right? You’ll need a formal dress and mask. He’ll need a tuxedo and mask. Neither of you will be let in without them.”

  “I know, Mom, but thanks for checking.”

  “I know money is tight for you right now,” Mom said. “Let me help you pay for the dress.”

  My pride rose up and insisted I refuse, but I couldn’t afford to. I considered calling Heath and insisting he pay for the dress since I was doing this to help him, but I decided I could afford to relinquish my pride.

  “Thank you, Mom,” I said sincerely. “I really appreciate it.”

  My mother was quiet for several seconds before she said in a tight voice, “Thank you for wanting to be involved in my life, Darcie. This is one of the best gifts you could give me.”

  I was a terrible person. It was going to break her heart when she realized I’d used her.

  “Hey, Mom. One more thing,” I said, my voice catching. Good thing my mother wasn’t even remotely good at reading other people’s moods. “How did you end up chairing the committee for the Founder’s Day Ball?”

  “Why, Mayor Harless,” she said. “She said she couldn’t do it without me.”

  Was Mayor Harless part of this? And what exactly was she part of?

  Once I had the invite, the next step was getting Pa
rker to accept my invitation. It turned out to be much easier than I’d expected. I sent him a text, telling him that my mother had invited me and a guest to the fundraiser ball, then asked if he would be interested in being my plus-one. He responded within seconds, telling me yes, he’d love to. Then he asked how I was doing after the explosion. Word had gotten around, apparently. I was surprised my mother hadn’t grilled me on it. Did that mean she hadn’t heard or was ignoring that it happened? Either way was fine with me, because I had no desire to discuss any part of it with her.

  Flowers showed up on my doorstep a few hours later, with a card in Parker’s handwriting.

  Feel better soon. I can’t wait for Friday night.

  The note made me want to take a shower, but Heath had suggested that taking Parker to the ball would be the perfect revenge. I wasn’t typically a vengeful person. I usually let karma deal with the users and abusers in my life. But maybe karma needed a helping hand. Nothing bad had happened to Richard, after all, and he was hardly an upstanding person.

  The flowers went straight into the garbage—which I then had to take to the bin outside so the kids or Nana Stella didn’t find them in the trash and wonder about them.

  Ella called shortly after. She’d heard about the explosion and had suspected I could be involved. I filled her in on the details, keeping mention of Special Agent Stone’s visit out of it. My cousin vowed to look into finding Vee, and I took satisfaction in knowing that two very competent people were searching for her. Surely one of them would track her down.

  “Ella,” I said, “before I let you go, I wanted to tell you that I accepted Mom’s invitation to the fundraiser ball at the art museum Friday night.”

  “You want to go to that?” she asked in surprise. “That doesn’t seem like your kind of thing. I mean, I know we haven’t spoken much over the past few years, but you never seemed like the princess and ball gown kind of woman. Not even when we were kids.”

  I still didn’t want to tell her about the FBI investigation—I wasn’t one hundred percent certain what Heath was investigating and, stubborn man that he was, he refused to tell me—so I said, “It’s not, but after the dinner last Friday, I thought it might be good to show some interest in her activities.” Then I added, “She’s not getting any younger, and I want to have some kind of nonconfrontational relationship with her. This seemed like a good first step.”

  To my shock, I realized I actually meant it. My mother had sounded different on the phone, more open.

  “Look at you being all mature,” she teased. “I approve.” She reassured me that she would track Vee down and hung up.

  On Wednesday morning, Harriet still refused to go to school. She was scared to death someone would try to kidnap her again, but Jack, Jeremy, and their friends vowed to be her bodyguards. It was eating Jack up that someone had tried to hurt his sister, and this was something he could proactively do to protect her. He swore that he and/or several of his friends would be with her at all times whenever she was outside, so she reluctantly agreed.

  The doctor still hadn’t released me to go back to work, but I was taking three naps a day and couldn’t read for more than twenty minutes without my constant nagging headache becoming unbearable. There was no way I could do my job. At this rate, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to attend the fundraiser, which I was beginning to think might not be a bad thing.

  Sure, I was humiliated that Parker had only used me, but my need for vengeance was fading.

  I was taking yet another nap when I got a call from the detective investigating the case. “Ms. Weatherby. We’ve apprehended the suspect who attacked your daughter. I wanted to let you know before we release the information to the press.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “Who is he? Do you know why he did it?”

  “I’m afraid we’re not at liberty to say,” he said. “We’ll let you know as soon as we can.”

  After he hung up, I promptly called Heath and told him the news.

  “Can you get me information about him?” I asked.

  “Darcie,” he groaned. “It’s not like it’s in a data bank I can hack. This stuff isn’t as easy as TV shows would lead you to believe.”

  “I lowered myself to ask my mother to get me into that ball,” I said with clenched teeth. “And then I lowered myself even more to invite Parker. This is the least you can do, especially since you haven’t tracked down Vee yet.” Then I added, “You still haven’t tracked her down yet, right? I figured that’s the case since I haven’t heard from you.”

  “You’re not my only case, Darcie,” he said. “And you’re not even an official case.”

  “I’m running out of time, Heath,” I said, “and finding her could mean all the difference. Maybe this guy will lead us to her, because we both know she’s connected to what’s going on.” A hum of anxiety surrounded me every waking moment and had even begun to infect my dreams. Two days had passed since the attack on Harriet, and I was no closer to saving myself.

  “What do you mean you’re running out of time?” he asked, sounding strained. “What are you talking about?”

  The vitamin E and black cohosh hadn’t worked. Or maybe they just hadn’t worked well enough. I’d had another hot flash while I was cooking dinner the previous night, and although it had been the mildest one yet, I’d nearly caught the kitchen curtains on fire. I’d managed to tamp down the strength of the flames, though, and the only thing that ignited was a candle on the window ledge. However, the effort it had taken had induced a headache so severe I’d needed to stop making dinner and take a three-hour nap.

  I only had a few patches of dark hair left, and the wings in my back looked like a well-crafted 3D design. They were fully developed and looked like I could flap them off my back and start flying at any moment.

  But even more unnerving than all of that, I could feel something deep inside me trying to claw its way out, preparing to emerge, and that scared the crap out of me.

  Maybe Cyn was right. Maybe I was becoming a fire demon. I wondered if I should start preparing my kids for life without me. Would Richard take them in? They would cramp his new lifestyle. The hardest part of all of this was not knowing what would happen to my babies.

  “Nothing,” I said with a sigh. “This is all just a lot.”

  “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.” Then, before I could respond, he hung up.

  Cyn had trouble getting away from the coffee shop during the week, but she called or texted multiple times a day, every day, asking for updates about my health and my hot flashes. She still hadn’t bought a dress for the ball, so when she heard I was feeling better on Thursday, she had Indigo cover for her so we could go shopping. Since I couldn’t drive yet, she picked me up around two and drove us to the mall while the kids were still in school.

  “We need to go to Macy’s,” I said, remembering the red dress. “I saw something there last week.”

  “Okay, then,” she said enthusiastically. “Macy’s it is!”

  I nearly panicked when I couldn’t find it—they’d refused to put it on layaway the previous week—but it came into view while Cyn was rummaging through a rack of formals. It was the only one left and in my size.

  “That’s spooky,” I said.

  “Spooky?” she asked in disbelief. “More like lucky. That’s going to look great on you.”

  Cyn found a sapphire blue dress, then joked that we were jewels in our respective dresses. She begged me to try the red one on, but I didn’t see the point. I knew it fit. Vee had gushed about how I looked in it.

  I nearly told Cyn that Vee, the mysterious old lady who’d found me in the dressing room, was actually the one who’d brought this dress to me, but I found myself biting back the words.

  An overwhelming sense of foreboding washed over me. I had a very bad feeling about this ball, all the more so because Vee had found me the perfect dress for it last week, before I’d had any notion of going. I couldn’t help thinking the events of the last week had been orche
strated, but by whom? Fate? Vee? The person who had cursed my grandmother many generations removed?

  Regardless, this red dress was part of it, and the ball was part of it too. I knew both facts as well as I knew my own name.

  Friday night was when this would all come to a boil, and I needed to be prepared.

  I considered running, but there was nowhere I could go to escape it. I could only stay and fight, and hope I got answers that would change my fate—if I didn’t want to go down in the Perry’s Fall history books as the woman who spontaneously combusted at a fundraiser ball.

  “Darcie,” Cyn said after we paid for our dresses and shoes. “Do you think you’ll feel up to going tomorrow? You look like death warmed over.”

  My head still hurt, and my entire body ached. I had no idea how I was going to manage going tomorrow night, but I’d find a way.

  I had a date with destiny, and nothing was going to keep me from it. Not even my traitorous body.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Thankfully, by Friday night my headache was manageable. My shoulder and ribs still hurt, but I could handle the pain. It was the bruises that bothered me, although thank goodness the dress’s lacy three-quarter sleeves would cover most of the ones on my arms. But my right shoulder and the side of my face were black and blue. I looked like I’d been in a fight and lost.

  “I can fix it,” Harriet insisted, then set to work with her concealer and bronzer, her makeup brushes flying. While her skills did a good job of concealing the bruises from a distance, they were pretty unmistakable up close.

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” Harriet said. Her words were drenched with guilt.

  “What on earth do you have to be sorry about?” I asked. “I look a hundred times better than I did before you started. Besides, while I wish the bruises weren’t there, it’s better than the alternative—dead. So I’ll take them and wear them with pride.”

  “But this is all my fault,” she said, with tears in her eyes.