Sweet Fire and Stone (A Sweet Cove Cozy Mystery Book 7)

by J A Whiting

  24

  Angie tore up the stairs to the carriage house apartments. “Ellie!” As soon as the word was out of her mouth, she knew she’d made a mistake. The apartment door flew open and Angie was dragged inside. The slamming of the door made her jump.

  Professor Michael Tyler stood before her, his eyes dark with hate. Angie’s stomach almost heaved. Her three sisters sat tied up in chairs. She spotted a can of gasoline in the corner that had been in the carriage house garage.

  “He used Ellie’s phone to text us, too.” Courtney glared at the man.

  “Quiet,” Professor Tyler warned.

  Courtney ignored him. “He wants the necklace.” She nodded to the door and mouthed the word, ‘run.’”

  Angie stepped back. Tyler grabbed for her arm, but she swiveled and her fist hit him full in the temple. After a few moments of grappling back and forth, Tyler pulled Angie’s arms behind her, pushed her into a chair and bound her to the wooden slats.

  Ellie growled, “Don’t anyone tell him a thing. Not one thing.”

  Angie’s mind raced. At least Mr. Finch isn’t here. The cats aren’t here either.

  Breathing hard, Tyler pulled a knife out of his jacket pocket. His eyes were like sunken holes in his head. He brandished the knife and walked close to Angie, all the while keeping his eyes on Ellie. “Tell me where the necklace is or your pretty sisters won’t be pretty anymore.”

  Ellie’s eyes locked onto the knife like lasers. Concentrating with all her energy, her cheeks flushed bright red. The knife started to vibrate in Tyler’s hand and he stared with alarm at the thing wobbling and shaking in his grip.

  A wild scratching noise could be heard at the window facing the oak tree. Everyone turned towards the sound to see Euclid sitting on a branch just outside the window. He held a white box in his mouth.

  Tyler hurried to the window and pushed it open. His eyes glittered crazily at the box between Euclid’s teeth. “Nice kitty. Come here.”

  Euclid glared at the man and then leaped from the branch into the apartment.

  “No, Euclid!” Ellie screeched. “Don’t let him get the box.”

  Mr. Finch called from the base of the tree in the dark yard of the garden. “What’s going on up there?”

  Hearing Finch’s voice, Tyler panicked. He grabbed the white box that Euclid had dropped and shoved it into his jeans. Lunging for the gas can, he splashed it around the kitchen area. Sweat poured down the sides of Tyler’s face. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and as he ran for the apartment door, he turned and threw the lighter into the kitchen releasing a fireball into the air.

  The force of the ignited gasoline toppled Courtney and Jenna’s chairs and the girls, still tied to their seats, slammed onto the living room floor on their sides.

  The roar of the flames nearly deafened her, but Angie thought she could hear a siren far off in the distance. Smoke filled the room as the flames roared up the kitchen walls.

  A small black figure jumped from the tree branch into the chaos carrying something in her mouth.

  “Circe!” Angie’s heart nearly burst. Because of the swirling smoke, she couldn’t make out what the cat had dropped onto the floor for Euclid, but she could see that they each carried something between their teeth as they raced in circles around and around the sisters still strapped in the chairs.

  Angie coughed and her vision dimmed. She knew she was only hallucinating that the smoke and flames were starting to dissipate around them. Her chin fell to her chest and just before she closed her eyes, she felt her heart fill with love for the two crazy cats, her sisters, Mr. Finch, and Josh.

  A cracking smash jolted Angie and shook her back to consciousness. Firefighters rushed into the room. The girls were lifted, dragged, and pulled from the space, the flames licking at the walls and ceiling, and they were carried down the staircase and placed onto the lawn on the far side of the yard.

  Tears streamed down Mr. Finch’s cheeks as he limped from sister to sister, and when he saw that they were alive, he sank down onto the grass and wept, with two slightly singed felines standing with their front paws leaning against him, carefully licking the tears from his wrinkled face.

  * * *

  AMBULANCES WERE parked on the street and as the girls sat on the front porch getting checked over by medical personnel, Jack Ford, Rufus, Tom, and Josh lurched to a stop in Tom’s truck at the curb in front of the Victorian. With worried looks, they jumped from the vehicle and ran to their girlfriends.

  “We didn’t know what was going on.” Tom held Jenna in his arms.

  “When none of you showed up at the going-away gathering for Rufus, we knew something bad had happened.” Jack ran his hand over Ellie’s hair and she rested her cheek on his chest.

  “We texted all of you, but there was no answer.” Josh looked pale sitting next to Angie holding her hand.

  “All’s well that ends well.” Courtney put her hand gently against Rufus’ face as he knelt in front of her chair. Thinking of Rufus’s next day departure back to England, she added, “Sort of.”

  Walking away from one of the ambulances, Betty had her arm around Mr. Finch. “I insisted that Victor be checked over. All this excitement for a man of his age….” She clucked and shook her head. “However, he has been pronounced to be fit as a fiddle.”

  “Physically, anyway.” Finch had dark circles under his eyes.

  Betty sat the exhausted man in one of the porch rockers. “I’m going to make Victor a hot toddy. Anyone else want one?”

  The four men raised their hands. Betty went inside to concoct the beverages. Sure that their sweethearts were fine, Rufus, Tom, Josh, and Jack headed around to the back yard to see the damage to the carriage house.

  “We’ll be right back.” Josh smiled at Angie.

  “How did you know we were in the apartment, Mr. Finch?” Ellie asked.

  “The cats alerted me. They ran to my back door howling and carrying on. I knew trouble had set foot at the Victorian.” Circe climbed onto Finch’s lap. Euclid sat on the porch railing, listening.

  Finch continued. “I texted all of you, but of course, there was no reply. I followed the cats to the back of the Victorian and I could see Miss Angie and Professor Tyler upstairs near the carriage house second floor window. I knew the trouble was because of Ellie’s necklace. The cats and I went into the house where I called the police. I found the necklace there and took it out of the box. I handed the empty box to Euclid and instructed him to climb the tree up to the window.”

  Betty came onto the porch carrying a tray with the hot toddies. “How interesting. I didn’t know cats would do as someone asked. I thought they only did what they wanted.”

  Euclid glared at Betty and Angie gave him a warning look.

  Betty set the tray down. “Oh, I forgot the cinnamon sticks.” She went back into the house.

  Mr. Finch said, “I’d found a spring of the mistletoe on the ground. I gave it to Circe and asked her to go up the tree and into the apartment to try to keep the fire away from all of you. She took the plant and grabbed the necklace and up she went to help save you. The cats jumped into the apartment when Tyler opened the window. I could smell smoke, so I called the fire department.”

  Just as the men came around the corner to the porch, Courtney said, “The cats had mistletoe and Ellie’s necklace in their mouths and they ran around us trying to protect us from the fire.”

  Rufus chuckled. “Maybe they knew that mistletoe is supposed to ward off fires.”

  Circe gave the young man a serene look.

  Rufus whispered something to Tom. Tom nodded and stood up. “I’ll be right back.” He winked at Jenna and went to his truck, got in, and drove away.”

  The girls and Mr. Finch started to feel better as the pleasant company and chatter helped to ease the tension of their ordeal. Having survived the near-fatal attack filled them with equal parts giddiness and crushing fatigue.

  Fifteen minutes later, Tom pulled up to the curb and car
ried something to the porch. It was a banner and Rufus and Jack unrolled it.

  “This was hanging up at Jack’s office. We wanted to surprise you when you came to the get-together.” Rufus smiled at Courtney.

  On the banner, the words, “Rufus is Staying” were written in colorful block letters.

  Courtney blinked. She looked at the young Englishman. “What?”

  “I’m staying.” He grinned from ear to ear. “I’ll fly back to school a few times to meet with my professors and take the final exam, but otherwise I have permission to complete my final term here through independent study and Skype sessions.”

  Courtney couldn’t believe what Rufus was saying. Her heart did a flip and she hurried to her boyfriend and wrapped him in her arms.

  Jack cleared his throat. “In a moment of weakness, I offered Rufus a job in my firm as an associate.”

  “And,” Rufus smiled. “In a moment of weakness, I accepted.”

  Courtney whooped and everyone stood. The guys shook hands with Rufus and the women hugged him welcoming the young man to Sweet Cove as a new permanent resident.

  Courtney was the second person in the last sixty minutes who had tears of happiness running down her cheeks.

  25

  After finishing the hot toddies, the men decided to leave so that the girls and Mr. Finch could rest and recover from the evening’s misadventure. The group planned to get-together the next day for a “Count our Blessings” barbecue.

  Betty insisted on taking Mr. Finch home. She was going to cook him a warm meal and put him to bed. She kissed his head and took his hand, but before heading to the walkway that led to his house, the four sisters wrapped him in a bear hug and planted kisses on his cheeks.

  “I don’t know what we’d do without you, Mr. Finch,” Ellie said. She winked at the cats. “I’m not sure what we’d do without you two, either.”

  Finch smiled down at the beautiful cats. “We make a fine team.”

  Circe followed behind Betty and Finch as they walked slowly home under the stars.

  Before heading into the Victorian, the girls stood off to the side watching the firefighters moving about the smoking ruin of their carriage house.

  Angie nudged Jenna. “I guess you and Tom won’t be moving into the carriage house apartment now, huh.”

  Jenna couldn’t help but chuckle at her sister’s lame joke.

  “A joke? At a time like this?” Ellie scolded.

  “It’s joy at a time like this.” Courtney rubbed her wrist where it had been tied to the chair. “Joy that we’re all okay.”

  Angie smiled. “Mr. Finch would tell us that the carriage house is just wood and paint and that no one can ever take away what’s most important to us. With family and friends, we have everything we need.”

  Police Chief Martin walked up to the girls. He held out the white leather box and handed it to Ellie. “Professor Tyler has been arrested and taken into custody. He burned the scarecrows on the common and he admitted to removing the mistletoe from the tree and throwing the firebomb into your house. He isn’t exactly forthcoming about why he did the things he did.” The chief raised an eyebrow. “Which is probably for the best.” One of the firefighters waved the chief over and he excused himself. As he walked away, he sighed. “At least you’re all okay.”

  Angie scowled. “Professor Tyler cut the mistletoe out of the tree so we couldn’t use it to help us. He had this all planned. He found the gasoline can in the garage. He asked Ellie if he could rent one of the apartments so he could herd us all up there away from everyone. He was going to kill us so we couldn’t implicate him in stealing the necklace and threatening us.”

  Ellie nodded. “Well, he’s caught now. It’s finally over.”

  A voice from the darkness spoke. “It might not be over completely.”

  The girls turned around to see Gloria standing behind them wearing the long dark coat. They all went to the pergola and took seats in the Adirondack chairs.

  “I’m sorry you thought I was behind the trouble, but I had to be careful.” Gloria held her hands in her lap.

  Courtney asked softly, “You have powers, too?”

  Gloria nodded. “Some.”

  A huge smile spread over Courtney’s mouth. “Cool.”

  “I can only stay for a few minutes. I want to tell you a few things.” Gloria leaned forward. “For a time, the necklace was in Katrina Stenmark’s possession. She knew that it had powers and that people were after it, so she gave it to your grandmother for safekeeping. Someone broke into Katrina’s house trying to find the necklace. Katrina wouldn’t tell where it was. She died during the break-in, we aren’t sure how, but she protected the necklace with her life.”

  “Why is the necklace so important?” Ellie asked.

  “It has great power. Among other substances, it has mistletoe inside it. The necklace can help with all sorts of things. It can sometimes heal illness, it can protect against fire. I don’t know all of its secrets. There are people, like Professor Tyler, who want to possess it and will do anything to get their hands on it.” Gloria made eye contact with each sister. “You must keep it out of their hands.”

  “What about the Crossworts?” Angie asked.

  “Mrs. Crosswort was quite ill.” Gloria looked at Ellie. “As you’ve probably figured out, when the necklace is out of the box, its energy can be felt by some. The Crossworts could feel it and came looking for help. I assume Mrs. Crosswort touched the stone?”

  Ellie nodded.

  “You must have had it on when she touched it?”

  Ellie nodded again. Her oval face looked pale in the darkness.

  “The necklace is its most powerful in the hands of a keeper, the protector of the stone. It glows and shimmers only when it is held by a keeper.” Gloria smiled at Ellie. “The stone knows who it should be with and right now, that’s you. By the way, Mrs. Crosswort has been healed. They’ve already left Sweet Cove.”

  “Who set the fire at the house next to the Crossworts?” Jenna asked.

  Gloria sighed. “Professor Tyler. He thought the Crossworts were living there. He wanted to scare them away from town … or worse. To keep them from getting at the necklace.”

  Angie made a face. “Professor Tyler has powers, too?”

  Gloria nodded. “He must. When the necklace was removed from the box, he must have felt its energy and then came looking for it.”

  “He must have used his powers to cause the security cameras to go all snowy while he was on the common setting up the scarecrows and the fire,” Angie noted. “At the common, Mr. Finch and I smelled gasoline. I guess that was a premonition of what was to come.”

  “What about Walter Withers?” Courtney frowned. “Our secret agent.”

  “Walter is a helper, like me. He came to Sweet Cove specifically to help keep you safe. He moves from place to place, wherever he’s needed. He and I were outside the Victorian the night Tyler threw the firebomb into the house. We kept it from igniting.” Gloria nodded to the oak tree. “The mistletoe came to help, too. We left sprigs of it out in different places for you to find in order to hint at its usefulness.” Gloria stood up. “Keep the necklace out of sight.”

  “Stay for a while longer,” Courtney said. “We have a million questions.”

  Gloria gave a little shrug and smiled. “Some things you have to discover on your own.” She headed for the front of the house. “See you at the salon.”

  The sisters talked for a while about all that had happened and then decided to go inside, make popcorn, and watch a movie.

  “This weekend is the Halloween festival.” Jenna put her arm though Angie’s. “We can enjoy it without looking over our shoulders all the time.”

  “I wonder if it’s too late to enter a scarecrow in the town contest,” Angie said.

  The girls glanced at the carriage house as they went into the house through the back door.

  “What a mess.” Ellie’s voice was sad.

  “Well,” Jenna said, �
��we can contract with Tom’s company to rebuild it.”

  Angie kidded, “Tom does need a new project to keep him busy.”

  Inside, the girls took showers, put on pajamas, and Jenna, Angie, and Ellie met in the family room.

  For a moment, Angie’s forehead creased with worry. “Where’s the necklace?”

  “Don’t worry.” Ellie plopped on the sofa. “It’s in the safe and that’s where it’s going to stay.”

  Jenna joined her sister on the couch. “Where’s Courtney?”

  “Rufus came back,” Angie said. “They’re out in the garden.” She smiled. “I wouldn’t wait for her.”

  * * *

  RUFUS AND Courtney had their arms around each other and she rested her head on his chest as she gazed up at the sky.

  “Look at the stars. They’re so beautiful tonight.”

  “I don’t need to look at the stars. There’s something more beautiful right here in front of me.” Rufus held the lovely young woman in his arms and kissed her sweetly standing beneath the branches of the old oak tree right under the spot where the mistletoe used to be.

  So absorbed by a certain kind of magic sparking between them, Courtney and Rufus didn’t notice that a few feet away in the clear, dark night, two fine felines sat side by side on the stones of the fire pit, watching over the Victorian, and the humans they loved.

  Thank you for reading!

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  Some Recipes From The Sweet Cove Series