by J. J. Cook
She knew Eric was right about finding out the truth about Chief Rogers. She hoped this was the right time to do it. Giving him her only evidence of possibly finding cocaine at the Falk house was a risky move. If John had been there, at least he would’ve been a witness to what had transpired.
She sat in one of the chairs facing Chief Rogers’s desk. He lounged back in his chair behind it. He waited patiently, but with no encouragement. It was hard to find a way to tell him.
Eric gave her a nudge that felt like a strong electric shock.
“I collected this evidence yesterday when I was working on Barney Falk’s house,” she blurted out, a little angry at the shock Eric had given her. “I’m not sure what it is. It looks like cocaine. I have corroborating photos of where and when I found it.”
She handed the sealed container to Chief Rogers. He looked at it against the background of the lamp on his cluttered desk.
“What makes you think it’s cocaine?”
“I’ve seen cocaine before. It was sprinkled everywhere, possibly blown out of a package by the blast that caused the fire.”
“Blast?” His gaze moved from the cocaine to her. “I saw the report on the fire. I didn’t read a thing about a blast—or cocaine.”
“I know. I saw it too. Like I told you this morning, those men that picked me up last night wanted me to keep my mouth shut about what we’d found. It seems to me that someone bigger than them took care of the problem. Gail Hubbard signed off on the case. The evidence we gathered has been lost. This is all that’s left.”
“And you’re giving it to me?”
“You’re the law in Sweet Pepper. No matter what the state says about the fire, you can still investigate to find out if this is cocaine, and if there is a connection to the drugs found with the college kids on the trail.”
He nodded and swiveled in his chair. “You and me have never hit it off, Ms. Griffin. I don’t trust you. I’m sure the feeling is mutual. Why are you doing this?”
Stella leaned forward. “Because this is my home too now. Because you uphold the law here. I try to keep people safe from fires. We should be working together. At least that’s what a friend of mine told me.”
He laughed. “Walt, right?”
She glanced at Eric. “Not exactly.”
Chief Rogers considered her words as he contemplated the container she’d given him. “I was just discussing this very thing with John. I don’t want my town to get a reputation as being a good place to get or hide drugs. I think you’re right. I think something is going down here. I don’t like it.”
Something inside her relaxed and she took a deep breath. “I’m glad. I don’t like it either. Can you have that sample checked?”
“I can, and I will. Send me those photos. I may need you to testify to back this up if we find something.”
“All right. Whatever I can do to help.”
He got to his feet and held out his hand to her. “Chief Griffin. Welcome to Sweet Pepper.”
Stella shook his hand. She hoped they’d come to a new place in their relationship. She wanted to believe he’d pursue the problem.
Words are easy, she reminded herself as she left his office. Will he follow up?
“So?” Eric asked as Stella waved goodbye to Sandy, who was on two phone lines.
“I don’t know. We’ll see.”
“You’re a hard woman to convince of anything, Stella Griffin. You held on longer in the cabin than anyone else ever had. Your father was right. You’re plain stubborn.”
“You mean that in a good way, right?” She started out of town hall but veered away from the Cherokee.
“I don’t know,” he teased. “We’ll see. Where are you going?”
“I’m glad you stopped me before I went back to the cabin. I need to get my dress for the pepper queen’s coronation dance tonight. I’ll walk up to Molly Whitehouse’s place and get it.”
“The coronation of the pepper queen and her court?”
“I know. I can hardly express how excited and thrilled I am.”
“You don’t want to see the queen and her court crowned?” Eric couldn’t believe it. “I never missed it when I was fire chief. It’s actually the beginning of next year’s Sweet Pepper Festival. The queen reigns for a whole year. Who’s in the running for queen this year?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. I’ll ask Molly if you want me to.”
“You mean you’re on the planning committee for the festival and you don’t know?”
“Don’t push me, Eric. And what was with that electric nudge inside? Don’t do that again. And if you can monitor my pulse rate, don’t do that either. The idea of it creeps me out.”
Eric’s voice deepened as he whispered, “Stella, you don’t know all the things I can do.”
A small flurry of leaves danced in a circle to an unseen breeze around her feet even though the rest of the street was quiet.
“And I don’t want to know. Let’s keep that your little secret, okay?” But she shivered and walked faster on the sidewalk.
Molly Whitehouse’s dress shop was busy, as always. With the event that night, everyone was coming in for last-minute alterations and add-ons. Stella waited for her turn, thinking of all the other things she could be doing—like taking a nap in front of the fireplace.
“Chief Griffin,” Molly greeted her at last. “Your dress turned out beautifully. Do you want to try it on one last time before you take it home?”
“No. I’m sure it’s fine. I have practice in a few minutes. If I could pick it up now that would be great. Thanks, Molly.”
“All right. I hope it’s okay.” Molly handed her what seemed to be a very large brown dress swathed in plastic.
“It looks wonderful already.” Stella smiled. “Who’s running for festival queen this year?”
Molly giggled. “Foster Waxman is running for her last court. She’s a senior, you know. We’ll miss her when she goes off to college next year. She’s the favorite, of course. But she has been queen before.”
Molly went on to describe all three girls who might be crowned as queen that night. She launched into the seven girls who might be picked for the queen’s court too.
Stella waited for her to finish with a patient smile on her face. “Thanks. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Yes. And if you have any problems with the dress give me a call.” Molly patted her arm. “I hear we’re having a barbecue at Beau’s to benefit the fire brigade on Saturday. I’m looking forward to it. What kind of tricks are the firefighters going to do?”
“Tricks?” Stella perked up when she heard that. She’d known about the barbecue in a sketchy kind of way. This was the first time she’d heard a date mentioned. Or tricks.
“I read it on the poster. I think I have one over here. You know we’re very proud of our volunteers.”
Stella glanced at the bright red and orange poster that offered food, music, and entertainment by the fire brigade on Saturday at noon. She had no idea what that was supposed to mean. There was also supposed to be an official look at the new fireboat. Who’d printed these things?
Eric was excited about the coronation dance and the fund-raiser at Beau’s. He talked nonstop about the old days, when he’d been putting the fire brigade together.
She got her answer about the posters when she stopped by the firehouse on the way home. The posters were all over the building. Tagger and Allen were viewing them with pride as they drank their coffee.
“I guess you know where they came from.” Eric peered down at a poster on the top of a stack.
“Did you two print these?” Stella asked.
“Hi, Chief!” Tagger beamed. His toothy smile was more pronounced than usual. “I did it with help from Willy and Walt. Having the fire brigade go through some of their routines was Walt’s idea. He’s hoping the Sweet Pepper Festival will want to add firefighter routines to their program. Neat, huh?”
“Not really all that neat,” Stella told Tagger. “I
wish you’d said something to me about this first.”
Tagger did his best to ignore his former chief who was standing beside Stella. He stared at him but didn’t speak.
Allen laughed. “I had the same look on my face, Chief, when Tagger showed me the posters.”
Walt and Bert pulled into the parking lot. Bert could hardly hold back his excitement. Walt’s hands were full of posters.
“It’s great, huh, Chief?” Bert asked. “We’ve been putting them up all over town. Just imagine getting to show off our skills. It doesn’t get better than that—and barbecue too.”
Walt took one look at Stella’s expression and slapped the rest of his posters on the table. “Why do I get the feeling you aren’t excited about this, Chief?”
“I don’t know where to start with that one.” She took a deep breath and tried to figure out what to say. Obviously this had gone far beyond the planning stages. She didn’t want to condemn everyone’s hard work and initiative.
“You don’t like them, Chief?” Bert could hardly believe it.
“She really does,” Tagger assured them. “She’s amazed that we got so much done while she was investigating the fire.”
It was as good an excuse as any. What could it hurt showing off a little, like Bert said? The volunteers had worked hard to learn their skills. People didn’t get to appreciate what they did unless they were the recipients of their services.
“It’s a good idea.” She gave it her blessing. When the applause and screeches died down she added, “It might help us find a few new volunteers and raise some money for the fireboat too.”
David and Kimmie walked in on the celebration. Sylvia and Hero ran barking and jumping through the firehouse.
“Hero got his third certification today!” David announced with tears in his eyes, his voice trembling. “Sylvia is still behind him, but she aced her second certification.”
There were calls for more celebration, and the possibility of going to Beau’s for beer. David and Kimmie didn’t drink. Bert was too young. Allen and Tagger were on duty.
“I guess that leaves me and you, Stella.” Walt grinned at her. “Don’t say no. You need one after going through what you did last night. How’s that head doing?”
That meant going back through the story of the botched kidnapping one more time. Everyone listened intently as though they hadn’t heard it a dozen times already today. Stella ended it by telling them the good news about the fireboat.
“I can’t go for that beer, Walt. I have to get ready for the festival queen’s dance this evening.”
“That’s not until six.” Walt looked at his watch. “What are you gonna do till then?”
“That’s none of your business.” She grinned. “I’m headed home. Keep it down out here. We don’t want people calling the police and complaining.”
Hero barked and started running up Firehouse Road. Stella noticed that Eric was gone. David and Kimmie were disappointed. They’d hoped to take both dogs out for a treat to celebrate their certifications.
“Do you think it’s safe to let Hero run up the road by himself that way?” Kimmie asked Stella.
“I’m sure it is. It’s a private road. Not many people go up that way.”
“Of course not.” Walt snickered. “They all know Eric is up at the cabin. You should’ve seen the way he stopped that dozer. I thought Bob Floyd would lose his teeth.”
They all believed what Walt was saying. Stella didn’t have to confirm his words. Kimmie still looked a little doubtful—she wasn’t from Sweet Pepper and wasn’t sure she believed in ghosts.
Stella went out to the Cherokee, with a stop to check on her Harley. She’d be glad when the weather was nice enough to ride again. The Cherokee was nice, but it would never beat the Harley.
A new white pickup pulled in to the back of the firehouse as Stella was about to leave. She didn’t recognize the vehicle but waited in case it was someone she needed to talk to.
To her surprise, Gail got out of the pickup, scanning the area carefully as she finally saw Stella with the Cherokee. “Thank God you’re here.”
Stella wasn’t feeling exceptionally friendly toward Gail. She felt like she’d been betrayed by the other woman. She tried to remember what Eric had said about Gail backing down from the same people who’d kidnapped her.
Gail was wearing a pair of large, dark sunglasses, the kind you get from the eye doctor after you’ve been for a visit. She removed them when she got close to Stella. Her cheek was bruised and she had a black eye.
“Are you okay?” Instantly Stella felt terrible that she’d been less than charitable toward Gail. Obviously her experience had been much worse. She didn’t have a friendly ghost to help her out of a jam.
“I’m fine. I know I look bad.” Gail’s eyes welled with tears. She bit hard on her lip to keep from shedding them. “I heard you went through the same thing. I’m sorry I had to let you down. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Come back with me to the cabin.” Stella saw her jump when Petey drove into the parking lot. “We can talk privately there.”
They left Gail’s pickup at the firehouse. She put on her dark glasses again when she got in the Cherokee.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life. I was sure they were going to kill me.”
“I know what you mean,” Stella commiserated. “What do you think tipped them off?”
“I don’t know. It may have been the samples I sent to the lab. I had to sneak in there and wipe them off the computer where they’d been logged. Thank goodness no one had time to examine them yet. I don’t want to think what would’ve happened then.”
They reached the cabin where Hero was running in the woods.
“How did you get away? What did you do? You must have had much better training than I had not to fall apart like a wet cupcake.”
The door was open to the cabin as Stella got out of the Cherokee. There was no way to explain. “I lived in Chicago all my life. I guess I grew up scrapping with my friends. Come on. I’ll make you some coffee. I think I have some food, if you’re hungry.”
Eric had already put on a pot of coffee. The cabin smelled strongly of it. There were also a few packages of cinnamon rolls that he’d thrown into the cart at the store. They were displayed on a plate in the middle of the table.
Stella, sensitive to seeming too prepared for her guest, smiled. “Lucky I had these ready, huh? We-uh-are planning to meet here later.”
“Oh. I don’t want to ruin your meeting.”
“It’s fine.” Stella smiled. “I have more.”
“Those look yummy.” Gail finally sat down and took off her glasses. “I’m exhausted. The police called me about what happened to you. I panicked, but I didn’t say anything. I really feel like I let you down.”
“You didn’t let anyone down.” Stella poured some coffee for Gail and grabbed a Coke for herself. “It was a bad situation. It still is. The investigation may be shut down, but I don’t know for sure if that means we’re out of harm’s way on this.”
“You were brave to tell the police what happened.” Gail sipped her coffee. “What do we do now?”
“I saved some of the white substance we found at the house. I gave it to our police chief. He’s interested because we found some kids who were out here with cocaine.”
Gail’s eyes got wide. “You’re kidding? You didn’t really, did you?”
“I didn’t have any choice. I don’t like being threatened and I want to know who killed Barney Falk in my jurisdiction. Did you find anything that would corroborate the explosion I heard before the fire?”
“I did,” Gail admitted softly.
“What did you do with it?”
“I still have it.” She pulled the blasting cap from her bag.
It was still in the marked and sealed evidence bag. Stella didn’t know a lot about explosives. She might be able to find someone who did.
“May I keep it?” Stella asked her.
“I was thinking of it as my protection in case something else came up about it.” Gail looked at the charred and mangled scrap of metal. “I suppose you want to give it to someone?”
“It’s evidence,” Stella reminded her. “If we can prove who started the fire we can also prove the cocaine connection.”
Gail shrugged and handed it to her. “I’m sorry. I wish I could help you. I’m not willing to take this any further. I’m only a few years from retirement. I want to live to see it. I don’t care who wins the election for state representative.”
“So you think it’s Barney Falk Jr.” Stella nodded. “I got the same vibe when I saw that his driver was one of the men who’d kidnapped me. But why would he kill his own father?”
“I can’t imagine. People do things for the oddest reasons. Maybe the old man wouldn’t give him his support. A lot of people felt that way when Representative Falk retired right before his son came home. Everyone thought he’d wait so Susan Clark couldn’t have stepped in to take his place.”
“I suppose that was strange. Maybe they didn’t get along.” Stella considered what could have happened. “Was he trying to set up his father to look like the drug dealer at the same time?”
“I can give you my professional opinion, off the record. You can’t quote me. I won’t testify.”
“Okay. It might help me find someone else who can identify it.”
“It was made by someone with military experience.” Gail raised her eyes to Stella’s. “Like our candidate friend. You were right. It’s very small, probably only enough to set off half a kilogram of C-4. Not enough to take out the house, but enough to make a loud boom. That was the small explosion you heard that triggered the fire. I think the cocaine stash was close to the detonator at the time. That’s why the powder was everywhere.”
“Thanks.”
Gail laughed. “Don’t thank me. I wasn’t even here. I’m sorry I can’t be more help. I wish you well with it. Please be careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I hope you’ll consider taking my place in a few years.”
“We’ll see.”
Gail didn’t ask for any details on what Stella had planned to do. Stella didn’t offer any since she wasn’t sure yet. After a few minutes Gail asked if Stella would take her back down to the firehouse.