Playing With Fire

by J. J. Cook

  Stella translated for Walt. “Eric is a little upset about the mistake.”

  “I knew it was either that or we’re having an earthquake.” Walt grinned. “The whole place is moving around.”

  “He’s got a good point,” Stella said. “It’s what I’ve been saying to Chief Rogers for months. Now that we can actually prove the remains in the firehouse belonged to Eric, we should get some answers.”

  “Personally, I think he expected to find Eric in that silo, like we all did, and it colored his judgment. He said there’s a notation in his report about a metal rod in the leg of the remains he found in the silo. You didn’t have a rod in your leg, did you, buddy?”

  “You mean the whole thing was a mix-up?” Eric struggled to understand. “Judd identified the wrong body as mine—and then I was buried in the wall?”

  Stella didn’t think that was it. Chum’s description of that night made what happened more evident.

  “I don’t know how that second part happened,” Walt said. “Judd is kind of convinced there’s another body in your coffin. He thinks the mortuary made the mistake.”

  “Which still doesn’t explain Eric’s bones in the firehouse,” Stella reminded him. “I don’t think the mortuary put him there after he was shot either.”

  “I know. I didn’t say it made any sense. I plan to be there when they dig up the coffin.” Walt slurped his coffee. “I want to make sure it’s all on the up-and-up this time. You planning on going since you championed that cause for so long?”

  Stella nodded. “I’ll be there. I’m sure there must be some kind of explanation for all of this. I hope exhuming the coffin gives us some answers. Then all we have to do is figure out who pulled the trigger. I think that’s usually the toughest part.”

  Walt agreed. “I hope we find some answers too. You stayed all this time because you were looking out for Eric. He saved your life, after all. You have a reason to be grateful to him.”

  Eric stared at her. “That’s why you stayed?”

  “I stayed because I wanted to know the truth about what happened to you,” Stella said. “Not out of gratitude, although I’m grateful to you for saving my life. I might have to go home soon, though. They won’t hold my job forever, and my parents are getting worried.”

  “I understand,” Eric said. “I didn’t expect you to stay this long, and certainly not on my behalf. I’m dead, Stella. There’s not much anyone can do to hurt me, or help me, anymore.”

  “What’s he saying now?” Walt asked.

  Stella was too busy debating with Eric to relate his words to Walt.

  “Don’t pretend you aren’t upset about the idea that you were murdered instead of dying in the silo fire saving Ricky Senior’s life. I know you haven’t wanted to talk about it, but I could tell you were covering up.” Stella defied Eric to disagree with her about it.

  “I wasn’t covering up. What difference does it make to me now? I think you should go back to Chicago. You’ve done what you came to do. I’m grateful to you for setting up the new fire brigade. That doesn’t mean you have to stay here the rest of your life.”

  She stood as close to him as she could. It wasn’t exactly like standing next to a living person. He was light and energy, crackling like electricity in the small space between them.

  “Why are you grateful for the new fire brigade if nothing matters to you? Your legacy is safe.”

  He towered over her. “It’s not only about my legacy. I want what’s best for my hometown. You did that by setting up the new fire brigade. I’m grateful. You can accept that and go home.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I guess that means we’re even. I saved your stupid fire brigade and you saved my life. That’s it. We’re done.”

  “That’s right. We’re done.” Eric disappeared in a puff of smoke that felt like warm fog on her face.

  “Nice trick.” Walt was only able to see the aftermath of the argument. It must have been a doozy. “You’ll have to teach me to do that when I pass over, buddy.”

  “He’s gone,” Stella told him. “At least I can’t see him. Do you want me to tell you what he said?”

  “I think I got the idea. You’re going home. He doesn’t want you to go.”

  “I don’t think that’s it. He doesn’t want to admit that it bothers him that someone killed him. After all, he’s the Paul Bunyan of Sweet Pepper. How could someone kill him? Not good for the myth of Eric Gamlyn.”

  “I know I only heard one side of the conversation, but that’s not what it sounded like to me. Excuse me for asking—I know I’m good at sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong—have you got feelings for Eric?”

  “Feelings?” Stella thought about it. “You mean romantic feelings? He’s dead, Walt. How could I have feelings for him? Talk about relationships that can’t go anywhere.”

  Walt shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone fell in love with the wrong person. Eric is a ghost, but he’s still got that same charisma that always made the ladies flock to him.”

  “I don’t think so. And trust me, if he ever had charisma, he’s lost it. He’s so stubborn. He always has to be right, not to mention that he’s the worst roommate in the world. He doesn’t clean up after himself and he has no respect for my privacy. If I have feelings for him, it’s pity because he’s stuck up here alone.”

  “Well, it’s best that you don’t have those type of feelings for a dead man anyway, Stella. You need a nice living man so you can have some kids and settle down. You know that’s never gonna happen with Eric, right?”

  “I don’t have those types of feelings for Eric.” Her voice was as resolute as any command she’d ever given on the fire line. “I’m dating Zane Mullis. He’s a nice guy. I’m not staying, so nothing will come of it. He’s alive and breathing. You don’t have to worry.”

  “Okay. You don’t have to convince me.” Walt winked at her. “When are you thinking about leaving Sweet Pepper?”

  “I don’t know. Probably sometime soon.” Unconsciously she glanced around the room in much the same way Walt did when he spoke to Eric. “I have to tie up a few loose ends. I feel like I should be here for the exhumation since I pushed so hard for it, even if it doesn’t clear up all the questions.”

  “Let me know. I’ll buy you a drink before you go. We’ll all miss you, Stella. Chicago doesn’t know how lucky it is to get you back.”

  He gave her an awkward hug and then left the cabin. Stella watched him pull his old pickup out of the drive until she couldn’t see it anymore.

  When she turned to face the empty cabin, she felt strange and vulnerable. Usually if Eric was there, he showed himself. He wasn’t even on the back deck, looking out over the river. She felt alone for the first time since she’d acknowledged that she was actually living with a ghost.

  She jumped when the fire alarm went off from her emergency radio. There was no cell service on the mountain. Hero started jumping and barking as the call continued.

  Stella was glad for the interruption in whatever was going on between her and Eric. She urged Hero to run down the mountain and left quickly on the Harley after him.

  Eric watched her leave from the bedroom window. Lucky for him, Walt couldn’t see his face. His old friend knew him too well for him to be able to hide his feelings for Stella.

  • • •

  “There’s a structure fire at Fourth and Magnolia,” Ricky yelled as he put on his bunker coat and boots.

  Stella watched as other members of the fire brigade hurried into the parking lot at the firehouse, running from their cars and trucks to join the group.

  As usual, she took out her clipboard and stopwatch. It was important to keep track of how long it took the group to respond to a call. Information had to be kept for state records as well as insurance companies that had pol
icyholders in the Sweet Pepper area. Their speedy response to an incident was what kept insurance rates down.

  Banyin Watts, the town librarian, came in the door first, huffing and puffing as she tried to catch her breath after her sprint from the car. She was taller than Stella but also carried a lot more weight. She’d managed to keep up with training but had put on a few extra pounds since the first of the year, making it harder for her.

  JC Burris and his friend, Royce Pope, worked at the Sweet Pepper bottling factory. They were both black men in their thirties, mid-height, wiry, strong, and quick. They seemed to be everywhere at once during a fire.

  Kimmie and David Spratt brought Hero’s mother, Sylvia, with them as they always did. Both dogs had been rescued by the Spratts, who had later joined the fire brigade. The Spratts were a little timid during training and fires, but they put their hearts into what they did.

  “Where do you want me, Chief?” Patricia “Petey” Stanze was already in her gear, fire ax in hand.

  Petey was Ricky’s co-assistant fire chief. She was ninety pounds of tough determination, always out in front. She was a waitress at Scooter’s Barbecue who worked hard to impress. Stella couldn’t believe, at first, that she could keep up with men more than twice her size.

  “You ride in the pumper. Kent will drive.” Stella raised her voice so everyone could hear her over the sounds of getting their gear. “Everyone else, you know where you belong.”

  “Aye, Chief!” Kent Norris called out. He was an over-the-road trucker the fire brigade was fortunate to have as a volunteer. He was starting to get a little stomach from his wife’s good cooking, but he was in good shape for a man in his forties.

  “Where do you want me, Chief?” Tagger Reamis’s rheumy brown eyes were hopeful that he was needed somewhere.

  Tagger was a veteran of Eric’s fire brigade. He was a little too old to actually train or go out on calls, probably in his mid to late seventies, but he knew the routines and he’d picked up on communications quickly.

  Stella reminded herself that he was around the same age Eric would’ve been now if he’d survived.

  “Monitor communications.” Stella put on her gear. “Depending on where this is, we might need help from the forest service. I don’t want to take a chance on starting another forest fire.”

  He saluted smartly. “You got it. Nothing will get by me.”

  Ricky Junior laughed as he and Stella headed out to the engine. “Chief, Fourth and Magnolia is nowhere near the forest.”

  “We have dangerous fire conditions,” she explained. “All we need is a wind gust that carries burning ash to catch other trees on fire. We have to think ahead. The worst that will happen, if Tagger notifies the forest service, is that they’ll be alerted for nothing.”

  She opened the engine door, passenger side, and that was all the invitation Hero needed. The young dog jumped into the cab and took his place on the seat between Ricky and Stella. He had begun to show his merit with the team, going into burning buildings to help check for anyone stranded inside.

  Stella couldn’t help but think that if Eric had a dog like Hero that night at the silo fire, he might have made it out alive. Maybe he realized it too, and that’s why he’d grown so attached to the dog.

  Thinking about Eric brought up a whole flurry of problems that she didn’t want to deal with during the emergency. All of the volunteers needed their wits about them when they answered a call. It was their most important weapon.

  To focus, she checked the time as the engine pulled out of the firehouse parking lot with the pumper/tanker and the Cherokee behind it.

  “Good time,” she remarked. “Looks like Bert couldn’t make it.”

  Bert Wando was a high school senior, the star quarterback of the Sweet Pepper Cougars, and the son of Mayor Erskine Wando.

  Even though he was a favorite of everyone local, he hadn’t let it go to his head. He was a big help on the team too.

  But he had developed an unfortunate problem of not showing up on time for training or for emergency calls. She hated to do it, but she was going to have to talk to him. They didn’t have a large group of volunteers. If he couldn’t make it, she’d have to recruit someone else.

  Also missing from the group was Marty Lawrence, her grandfather’s stepson. There was no actual relationship between them, as he kept reminding Stella. He’d been trying to insinuate a romance between them—it wasn’t happening for her.

  She’d wondered many times if that was the only reason he’d joined the fire brigade, to get close to her. Many people had intimated that Marty wouldn’t get anything when her grandfather died and he was cozying up to her for a share of the money.

  Stella thought it was more likely that he’d planned to spy on them for her grandfather.

  She felt bad thinking that about her own grandfather. A lot of it was due to people in the area always accusing Ben Carson of terrible things. She wasn’t completely immune to their whispered accusations.

  Whatever it was that had prompted Marty to join the fire brigade, he wasn’t holding up his end of the bargain. Stella was going to have to put her foot down about him not showing up. She needed people like Petey and Ricky, Banyin and Kent, Royce and JC, who were dedicated and engaged. Even Tagger attended all the training and was there for calls.

  The only other face missing from the group was police Captain John Trump. That was a whole other story. He was probably on duty at his real job, working as a Sweet Pepper police officer.

  Ricky drove the 1976 fire engine like a race car, sliding along the curves and running too fast into town. She couldn’t complain since he always got them there quickly and safely.

  He’d blamed his fast driving on his grandfather, who he’d claimed was a moonshine runner. Stella wasn’t sure about that history, but Ricky drove like a professional. He’d terrified her at first, but she trusted him now. He’d never gone off-road with the engine or hit anything. That was what mattered.

  She saw John Trump climb out of his police car as they arrived at their destination.

  “Hey there, Chief.” He greeted her with careful politeness. “I called this in. You made good time.”

  “Thanks.” She kept her gaze on the house, where she saw neither smoke nor flame. “What’s going on?”

  “That power pole over there snapped.” He pointed to the dark brown pole that was very near the small white house. Sparks were flying around it where the lines had broken.

  “Not sure what happened, but the lines are close to the house. I called the power company too, but they won’t be out here for at least thirty minutes. They’re coming from Sevierville. You know how that goes. It made me nervous, so I called in the alarm. Better safe than sorry, right?”

  She nodded. “You did right. We should be here, just in case. We should probably take a look around, make sure everything is okay.”

  “Sorry I missed dressing out for the call. I knew you’d understand once you got here.”

  “I was wondering where you were,” she admitted. “You never miss a call.”

  He smiled, but his gaze was guarded. “I’m here anyway. Maybe that will get me off of the no-show list I know you keep.”

  Stella knew she wouldn’t miss these awkward conversations with John when she left Sweet Pepper. They’d dated for a while last year. It hadn’t worked out. He blamed her grandfather—the whole Carson bloodline actually—for his father’s death.

  When she’d decided to stay in Sweet Pepper after her contract was up, John had been certain she was fulfilling his prophecy that she couldn’t pass up the Carson money and power.

  He’d called it quits. Stella had been relieved.

  It was too much pressure trying to keep up with his off-again, on-again idea of romance. His intense hatred of a family she couldn’t help but be part of was stupid. She needed someone fun, like Zane.

 
“Let’s go up and take a look around,” Stella said to Ricky and Petey.

  She’d assigned each of them members of the group for their teams. It made it easier to know who was with whom when they were working and gave both her co-assistant chiefs experience being in charge.

  Understanding their duties from long hours of training, the teams split up to assess the situation. Before anyone could move from their position at the street, Hero and Sylvia started frantically barking. They whined and pulled at their leashes, something they never did at a call.

  Stella glanced up at the house and saw the first lick of red flame shoot out of the roof. “Never mind. Let’s get the hoses.”

  Chapter 5

  “I checked it out,” John said. “There’s no one in the house.”

  “Any pets?” Kimmie Spratt asked.

  “Not that I saw.”

  “We’ll have to get inside anyway,” Stella said. “Why don’t you and David take the dogs and check that out. Not everyone has pet stickers on their doors.”

  “Will do, Chief,” Kimmie said.

  Petey’s team was connecting one of the smaller hoses to the fire hydrant. Ricky’s team was using the thermal heat sensor to find hot spots in the house before they went inside.

  “Watch out for those live wires,” Stella yelled as Kent Norris got a little too close to the fallen power pole. “John, see if you can rush the power company. The situation has changed. We need those wires shut down now.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” John got back in the car to call for help again.

  “Those wires aren’t even touching the house,” Allen Wise said. He was a barber in town when he wasn’t volunteering. “How could that cause a fire in the house?”

  “The current builds back to the house,” Stella explained. “The wires don’t have to touch anything. Current can be carried through the ground or through the wires that are still connected to the house.”

  “Has anyone contacted the homeowners?” Petey asked. “Do we know who lives here?”