Dangerous Season

by Lyn Cote

  “I’ll also try to convince her to take you to court and sue for child support.” And I’ll enjoy doing so.

  Hamilton walked out and slammed the door behind him.

  Keir made himself keep his seat. He would have cheerfully gone after Gordon Hamilton and pounded him into bloody pulp. God, help me. I feel like I’m on board ship on Superior in November, tossed on one high dark wave after another. No chance to get my equilibrium back. He covered his face with both hands. Maybe I should just go to the county board meeting tonight and resign as sheriff. I’m doing a lousy job.

  In the early afternoon, Keir shuffled up the steps of Audra’s Victorian. On one hand, he could barely find the nerve to face her. On the other, he couldn’t stay away to save himself. In any event, he had to tell her about Gordon’s accusation. Who was making the phone calls to Gordon anyway? Keir rang the doorbell. He took off his sheriff’s stiff-brimmed hat and rotated it in his hands. He heard footsteps.

  Audra peered at Keir through the leaded glass panel in the front door. She unlocked the door and stepped back, wishing she’d known it was him. She was a mess. And after her uncle’s public tantrum this morning, she felt vulnerable in Keir’s presence. Why her uncle’s outburst should cause her to cringe at facing Keir baffled her. But she couldn’t seem to shake it. “Come in, Sheriff.”

  Sheriff, not Keir, he noted. And she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Trying to rein in his attraction to her, he cleared his throat. And then cleared it again. “I’m sorry to bother you. Were you resting?”

  “Yes, but I was about to get up and go home. I’m taking Evie to the beach this afternoon.” Head bowed, she folded her arms. “What can I do for you?”

  The formality of her question wrapped around his lungs. He strained to draw air. The urge to drop to his knees and beg her forgiveness slammed through him. Clutching the fragments of his shattered composure, he continued, “I need to talk to you about those phone calls.”

  Startled, she looked into his eyes then. She hadn’t expected this. “The phone calls? You mean…” Her voice faltered. Of all things, did he have to ask her about Gordon today? Hadn’t her uncle embarrassed her enough? Now she had to discuss the father of her child with Keir?

  He shifted uneasily in the doorway.

  “I’m sorry.” Audra pushed her untidy hair back from her face, trying to pull herself together. “Let’s sit down in the parlor.” She turned.

  He followed her into the unfinished room and they both sat down on creaky lawn chairs.

  “What about the phone calls?” She chose her words with care, her face warming with more humiliation.

  Keir wished they could be talking about anything else. Well, practically anything else. He didn’t want to discuss her uncle, either. He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I know who Gordon Hamilton is to Evie.” He grimaced. “He came to see me today. Hamilton thinks you started harassing him first.”

  “What?” she gasped, looking up in disbelief. Learning that Gordon had told Keir about their former relationship was bad enough. But now this? “He what?”

  “He say he’s been getting hang-up phone calls since he came north with his…”

  “His bride?” Audra arched her tired back and looked away, unable to face Keir.

  Her profile captivated Keir anew. So regal, so tempting. “Yes, he thinks you started calling their number because he—in his own words—was ‘petty and immature’ when he flaunted his new bride in front of you at your café.”

  Petty and immature, that pretty much summed Gordon up. Audra felt her mouth twist into a travesty of a smile. “I’m surprised he admitted it.”

  “Do you have any idea who might be calling him?”

  Keir’s solid presence tempted Audra. She wished she could nestle into his arms, safe and cherished again. But somehow this morning’s scene had separated them, shoved them far apart. Returning to his question, she shook her head slowly. “Very few people know that Gordon is Evie’s father.”

  “Who knows?”

  “Shirley, my mom, Uncle Hal.” When she mentioned her uncle’s name, her eyes shifted away from Keir, unable to face him. Would she ever live down all the public scenes her uncle had caused this summer?

  “No one else? Not your sister? Or Brent?”

  “Not that I know of.” Audra shook her head. “Gordon and I dated when we were away at college. And Megan and Brent were so young when I got pregnant and left the family. Really, I don’t see any of them calling Gordon.” She pressed her hands together as if in prayer and then held them against her mouth.

  “I see.”

  “I don’t see any of them doing this,” she repeated, pressing her hands more tightly against her mouth. I don’t want to think about Gordon, much less speak out loud about him. It was if someone were flinging all her and her family’s worst mistakes into her face. “I mean, why now? Evie’s seven years old and I don’t care about Gordon’s bride. I thought it was rude of Gordon to flash his bride around in front of me, but I wasn’t surprised at his rudeness. He’s jumped to the conclusion that I’m calling him out of what—a guilty conscience? These calls might have nothing to do with me and Evie at all.”

  “You’re right.” Keir didn’t know how she would react but he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “You should sue Hamilton for child support.”

  Never. “No. I don’t want to have anything to do with him, or have him in my life in any way.” She felt physically ill just thinking of any contact with Gordon. She shook her head decidedly.

  Keir felt impelled to impress this point on her. He remembered how it had felt when, after his mother’s death, his own father had turned him away from his door. His father, another of this world’s Doyle Keskis, had said, “I don’t have any time for a kid.” I want to spare Evie that.

  “I wonder if you’re being fair to Evie.” He hurried on. “She may never have any relationship with her father. But don’t you think she might feel better if he at least contributed to her support? That would show that she had some importance to him.”

  This had never entered her mind. She propped her chin on her closed hands. “I never thought of it in that way.” A sob for Evie coiled in her throat; she pressed it down. “I just didn’t want him in my life after…I found out what kind of person he really was.”

  No doubt. Keir longed to take her into his arms and hold her, comfort her. He flexed his hands, working out the feeling.

  Audra looked into his eyes then, so serious, so pained. She longed to smooth away the careworn creases in his forehead. But would he welcome her touch? She was Hal’s niece and somehow she felt the stigma. Perhaps she carried the shame because her uncle didn’t have the sense to feel shame? Her uncle was headed on a path toward destruction, destroying everyone and every relationship in his path.

  And he was trying to destroy the sheriff’s career. Today, looking haggard, Keir didn’t appear to be the same confident man who’d wooed her this summer. Maybe I don’t have good sense about men. Maybe if I’d steered clear of Keir, my uncle wouldn’t have…No. Her uncle’s behavior wasn’t her fault—even if it felt as if it stained her, too. Was there a way to turn this around?

  She lowered her face into her hands and changed topics. “Have you made any progress in finding out who set today’s fire?”

  Keir frowned, not really wanting to admit more failure. “Trish and I have been all over the fire scene.”

  “And?”

  “And this time the arsonist probably connected a slow-acting fuse to several handmade pipe bombs.”

  “Inside the office?” She glanced at him sideways over the fence of fingers around her mouth.

  “Yes, there was an obvious point of entry. One of the windows had been forced.”

  When would this all end? She sighed, so tired. “No clues again?”

  “Except for the remains of the blown-up pipe bombs, all we found was a handful of blackened pennies.”

  “How bad was the damage?”

  “A
total loss.” The wreckage had sickened Keir. Even if Ramsdel was a jerk, no one deserved a loss like that. “Your uncle is going to have a hard time getting back into business anytime soon.” If I’d solved these fires, this wouldn’t have happened to him. Guilt over his incompetence jabbed him.

  Abashed, she moved her hands to each side of her face like blinders as if she could block out facing unpleasant reality. Would this fire finally push her uncle over the edge as she feared? “Why is all this happening? Why couldn’t this just be a regular busy summer?”

  He thought he heard tears in her voice. Everything in him wanted to reach out and pull her to him. But her eyes had warned him away. My lack of restraint ruined everything this morning. Destroyed everything.

  Through the uncurtained bow window which faced the wharf, Keir glimpsed the WFJW-TV van drive past. Great. Just what I needed, another story on the Penny Arsons. And it looked as though tonight’s county board meeting might be taped for the news. He thought, with rich irony, it couldn’t get much better than that.

  THIRTEEN

  The county board meeting took place in Winfield’s town hall, a simple white frame building a block down from Audra’s Place on a side street. Audra approached its double doors, open to let in the evening lake breeze. Determination stiffened her spine as she scanned the gathering for her uncle and for Keir. She wouldn’t let Keir face her uncle alone.

  It was quite a gathering. Almost every ancient wooden folding chair was already occupied. But Keir was nowhere to be seen. Did he intend to stay away? Or had he only been delayed? The rear seats were all filled, of course. A few men already leaned against the back wall.

  Her entrance launched a ripple of glances and mutterings. Well, of course. Everyone had come to see the show tonight. And the show involved her relationship to Keir and Keir’s conflict with her uncle. In a new summer dress, she tried to appear unconcerned and suppressed her natural inclination to shelter at the rear. She’d come to show support for Keir. So she strode down the narrow center aisle to where Shirley and Tom had saved a chair for her.

  As she slid in beside Shirley, the county board chair called the meeting to order. The five wary-eyed board members, mostly middle-aged men in short sleeves at a long table, faced the audience. The chairman sat in the center position. Just two rows in front of her and dressed formally in a suit in spite of the summer warmth, her uncle fidgeted, jiggling the manila file folder on his lap.

  Audra made herself sit very straight and gaze around into familiar faces. After this afternoon, she’d come to a decision. I will not let my uncle’s embarrassing behavior affect me tonight. No matter what he does, it has nothing to do with me. At the first opportunity, she’d make that clear to Keir. She’d finally realized that they’d both been deeply embarrassed, deeply wounded by her uncle’s morning tantrum. That was what had caused this afternoon’s excruciating politeness between them. But no more.

  She was not going to let her uncle’s self-destructiveness taint her and…her love. Also, she had finally realized that until her uncle had attacked her early this morning, Keir had not lost his temper. If Keir didn’t note the significance of this fact, she would point it out to him. Firmly.

  Now awaiting the coming showdown, she listened to the county board begin discussing the minutes of the last meeting. A few flies drifted in through the open door. They buzzed around flying into faces, making people flap them away with their hands. People shifted in their seats and glanced over their shoulders toward the door. What were they waiting for? Then it struck Audra. They were all—just like her—waiting for Keir to arrive.

  A few minutes and there was a rustle of movement behind her and a surge of murmuring. Audra looked over her shoulder, too. In uniform, Keir had entered and taken up a position, lounging against the doorjamb, observing the meeting. His stance seemed to say it all—he had come, but he was in command of himself and the situation.

  A silent cheer ricocheted through Audra. Their eyes connected. She beamed at him. He looked taken aback. But unable here and now to express more, she nodded encouragingly and then turned back to watch the meeting, her mood rising like a hot air balloon. She’d never been more sensitive to his nearness. No matter what her uncle said or did, she would be within Keir’s arms tonight.

  Keir’s presence infused the gathering with more pronounced restlessness. The county board meeting groaned on. The friction in the room heightened; it became a tangible force. It was as if everyone were whispering, “Come on. Come on.”

  Audra realized her hands had fisted in her lap and she made herself relax them. No matter what was said or resulted from this meeting, she had nothing to be uneasy about tonight. Nothing.

  At the rear someone else entered. Another stir swept the room. The board member who was speaking raised his voice. Who had arrived now? Audra glanced back and saw Brent sauntering down the aisle toward her. He slid onto the aisle seat beside her and muttered, “Hey, looks like I got here in time for the show.” Brent glanced down at his watch.

  Audra shook her head at him, disapproving his mocking manner.

  Brent smirked.

  Then, the chairman asked if there were any new business. Uncle Hal leaped to his feet. “I have something I want to show the board.”

  Brent leaned close to her ear. “So the sheriff didn’t charge Chad with torching my dad’s place?”

  Audra frowned and whispered repressively, “If the sheriff had evidence that Chad set the fire, he would have charged him.”

  “Well, the fire-setter hasn’t left much evidence behind, has he?” Brent sounded pleased and glanced at his watch.

  Audra shook her head and turned her attention forward.

  “I have here a petition signed by many of Winfield’s citizens.” Uncle Hal waved the document. “Many people here are not at all pleased with the performance of Keir Harding as Sheriff.”

  A few rows behind Audra, Florence stood up. “Many people here saw the performance you put on this morning, Hal Ramsdel,” the woman chided. And murmurs of support swelled on all sides. “What makes you think you can live here full-time for less than a year and tell us what to think or do?”

  Her uncle swung around and stared at the older woman in surprise. “I have the floor,” he blustered.

  “You have the gall,” Florence forged on, “to cause public scenes at the drop of a hat. I’m here to tell you that I’m sick of hearing you always bellowing and bad-mouthing someone about something. I was there on the Fourth of July—”

  Audra turned and gave Florence a big smile. Way to go, Florence.

  Hal swung back to the county board. “Do I have the floor or don’t I?”

  The county chair nodded to Hal. “Florence, Mr. Ramsdel has the floor. Please sit down and wait your turn.”

  Florence humphed loudly and plumped back down, making her chair creak.

  “Wow, I love that old woman.” Brent leaned close to Audra’s ear again. “Hey, where’s Evie? I thought she’d be here.”

  “She’s with Chad. He’s watching her,” Audra whispered back, her eyes on her uncle.

  Hal waved the petition again. “We’ve had six fires in this town this summer—”

  Brent ignored his father and asked, “Afterward, do you want me to come and help you load the bread machines for tomorrow morning?”

  Brent’s unexpected offer touched Audra. She squeezed his arm. “Thanks.” From the corner of her eye, Audra saw Keir make his move. He left the doorway and headed down the center aisle toward Hal. Keir’s expression was guarded as usual. But his stride was filled with authority.

  “—and our sheriff has made no arrests,” her uncle droned on.

  “Well?” Brent prompted. “Do you want me to help or not?”

  “Thanks, but Chad’s at my place doing that now.”

  Brent looked startled. “What?”

  Keir reached the middle of the center aisle and halted.

  Hal continued, “Chad Keski was caught in the act of leaving my place this morn
ing, this morning when my office was torched—”

  Brent grabbed her arm. “Chad is at your place?”

  Audra said, “Yes,” looking past Brent to Keir.

  “With Evie?” Brent demanded.

  “Of course.” She made a hushing motion with her finger to her lips.

  Brent twisted in his seat toward the aisle and scooted forward, preparing to leave.

  Keir halted right beside him in the narrow aisle. He blocked Brent’s exit. “You can save your effort, Ramsdel. I’m going to resign as soon as it is convenient for the county board.”

  Hal closed the space between them. “You don’t fool me. You come here tonight all noble and say you’re going to resign—”

  Brent glanced at his watch and jumped up, trying to slip past the sheriff.

  Hal reached out and grabbed Brent’s arm. “—but it’s just an act! You think you’ll get sympathy and look like the good guy. I’m not the only one who isn’t—”

  Brent tried to wrench free.

  Hal held on. “You blackened my late daughter’s reputation this morning—”

  “I apologize for that. I was out of line.” Keir’s eyes sought Audra’s.

  She tried to tell him through their eye contact that she understood, that she didn’t hold him accountable. She nearly stood up as Keir’s penitent expression drew her to him.

  Brent struggled but his dad held tight.

  Keir reached up and began unpinning his badge. “I’m not doing this for show. I’ll resign tonight.”

  Suddenly a lot of people were on their feet and each one was trying to be heard.

  With his shoulder, Brent rammed his father and then pulled free. He turned and collided with Keir. “Let me by!”

  Keir gripped Brent by the shoulders. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

  “Let me go!” Brent yelled.

  “What’s wrong?” Keir demanded. “What’s so important?”

  Hal grabbed Brent again, trying to pull him from Keir’s grip. “Leave my son alone!”

  Keir released Brent. “What’s the matter? Something’s not right.”