Summer Flash Burn

by Unger, Erin;

  “Well, I didn’t see you. I don’t even know where you came from.” Heat rose up my neck to my face.

  Ava rushed out of the SUV. “Is there a problem?”

  The driver dropped his fist but kept his eyes on me. Something lurked in his black pupils…something frightening. “Not as long as she watches where she’s going next time.”

  I had to force my hands to stop making fists. I moved back to the curb and made a broad gesture for them to pass.

  He returned to the truck, and the passenger hung out the window. “See ya.”

  I double checked this time to make sure there were no other vehicles before I crossed the street. I noted the phone in Jillian’s hand pointed at the passing license plate. “Got a good picture of the truck in case we need it for the future?”

  Jillian nodded. “How much do you want to bet Tony sent them to keep an eye on us?”

  My other partner got back in the SUV and closed the door. “I’m almost certain that’s exactly why they’re here.”

  “I checked across the street and didn’t even see them until they almost hit me.” I shook off the same kind of haze I’d experienced the day of the train accident. “Is it just me, or did they come out of nowhere?”

  Jillian pulled out her tablet. “They came around the corner, so I guess that’s why you didn’t see them. But I’d say they did that on purpose. I think I remember them from the first day we went to meet Queenie. Ava, do you remember their names?”

  Ava bit her lip and pulled at a strand of hair as she thought. “Wasn’t one of them Steve Holmes? I’m not sure about the other one. Shauna, do you remember?”

  “Like you said, it could’ve been at the village. But that’s all I can say about him.”

  Had those men known I’d been talking to Isabelle? Isabelle had disappeared so fast, and it was possible she had rushed down the same side street that the truck had come from. Did this have something to do with her instead?

  Her finger poised over the tablet, Jillian squinted at the page she viewed. “This morning when I was looking over a few things online I found another connection between Steve Holmes and Tony four years ago. Wait a minute, let me try to find it again. It was in the newspaper.”

  I sat forward in my seat as far as I could to see the tablet and pressed my hands into my lap so they would stop shaking.

  Ava moved the tablet a little to get a better look as Jillian searched in her “favorites” folder. “We’re lucky in a town this small the library has digitalized older newspapers. Most small towns don’t have the funds to have it done.”

  Jillian nodded and continued pressing different things on her screen. “Here it is. Steven Holmes had been suspected of robbery. There was a gas station out on Route 753 that was robbed one night, and a witness ID’d him at the scene but later retracted his statement. No charges were ever filed. If you notice here,” she pointed, “Tony was suspected to be with him.”

  They perused the article. Then Jillian passed the tablet back to me so I had a chance to read it. After I finished with it, I closed the screen and set it down beside me. “I can’t imagine a mother ever wanting that guy near her daughter.”

  Ava looked back. “Me either.”

  My cell phone buzzed. I checked the number on the front and didn’t recognize it, but it had a local area code for Uppland. “Hello?”

  “This is Luke down at Pete’s garage. Is this Shauna Pratley?”

  “Yes.” A rock dropped into my stomach, and I tensed. My hands began to shake again. Why did his voice sound like very bad news was about to be delivered?

  “I have bad news for you. Sorry to have to tell you, but it looks like your truck is totaled. Its frame is bent, and there’s no way to repair it. We were wondering what you would like us to do with it. We have a salvage yard right outside of town that could buy it from you.”

  Not my baby. I fought tears. “Let me think about it.”

  Jillian and Ava turned at the same time. I hit the end call button and stared straight ahead. Then I told them what he’d said.

  Ava scratched her face. “I’m so sorry, I know how much you loved that truck.”

  If only they knew the whole truth. I hadn’t bothered to get gap insurance, and now I was going to pay the price. I dropped my head into my hands. With all the aftermarket things I had done to it, the reimbursement from the insurance company wouldn’t even come close to what I owed. “It was my fault. I should have been paying attention.”

  Like everything in my life, this was one more thing thrown on my back, and it might be the proverbial straw that broke it. As hard as I tried, a tear still managed to break free. “Let’s get out of here. We need to find Christopher because he shouldn’t be alone right now.”

  36

  Christopher

  I wish I hadn’t jumped out of the vehicle and left the investigative team without an explanation, but the more I thought about Leona and our date, the more I had to squash her romantic ideas. I had to be alone to do it…to make it clear to Leona that I would never date her. Ever. If the women had gone along with me, there would’ve been no chance to have a private conversation. And I didn’t want her to create a scene either. The walk to the ME’s office gave me a chance to put into words what I wanted to say. All of my past attempts with Leona had gotten me nowhere. It was going to take very definitive action.

  It didn’t take the ME but a minute to rush down to see me.

  The clicking of her heels punctuated down the hall before I saw her bright red lips and blonde, curled hair. Her face lit up, and I groaned inside. “Hey.”

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you until tonight. What’s the special occasion?”

  I stuffed my hands in my pockets and tried to look at ease. “Is there a private place we can talk?”

  She rubbed her hands together, and her eyes grew big. “Sure, we can go to my office.”

  Her heels clicked even louder on the highly polished wood flooring that groaned here and there as we moved over the weaker spots in the old building. At the end of the hall, she pressed open a dark panel door and waved me into her office.

  I’d expected a perfectly clean environment, but instead, the room could rival my own bedroom. Good thing there was no chair available that wasn’t cluttered with paperwork because I didn’t want to sit. I wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. “Look, I can’t go out with you tonight.” I avoided her gaze. “I can’t ever go out with you, and I’m sorry. It’s not you. But there’s nothing you’re going to say to change it. So I don’t want you to try.”

  She rested her hand on the corner of the desk as if to steady herself. “Ah, the famous line…‘it’s not you.’”

  Was she about to try and insist I was wrong? “It’s not going to happen, I’m sor—” No more apologies. It would make things more awkward. “I can hook you up with one of my buddies at the fire department or something, but it just won’t be me.”

  Leona gave a very hearty laugh. She put her hand to her forehand in a feigned near faint. Always the actress. “I might take you up on that, but first I need to recover from your loss.”

  What? It was that easy? I gestured at the door. “I better get going.”

  “So, this is about Shauna, isn’t it?”

  With my mouth clamped shut, I shifted from one foot to the other. Was it true?

  “I knew it.” She leaned even harder on the palm planted on her desk. “You’re going to have your hands full with her.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

  “I’m not exploring that option right now.” Was it getting hot in here or what? “All that matters today is finding my Dad’s killer.” When I left the building, I stopped and looked to the almost cloudless sky. Now Shauna could see I was no player. Shauna…If even an acquaintance saw the attraction between us, then I couldn’t fool myself anymore—there was something to it. But what about keeping it professional with her? I blew that opportunity when we’d met in the hallway last night. I hadn’t had a girlfriend in two years.
Was I ready to try again? Being a lifetime bachelor hadn’t ever scared me, but now with Shauna occupying all my thoughts, the idea wasn’t so acceptable.

  With effort, I worked away the thoughts of Shauna. The case had to stay at the forefront, and the investigators were only scheduled to be here another few days before they went home to do the rest of their research. I pictured Dad’s home in my mind and went room to room. There had to be something we all missed. What hadn’t I considered? Then it hit me so hard I couldn’t believe I’d missed it. A roll of paper used to be with the invoice papers at the house and at the stand when Dad was alive. But what was on the paper? I put a hand to my temple and tried to bring to mind if I’d ever seen it unrolled. Was it only an antique from Dad’s store? Its yellowed and frayed edges made it look very old. What was Dad searching for, and why did he carry around the paper for those weeks leading up to his death?

  And now, as I mentally pictured the house, I didn’t see it again in any of the rooms. It had to be significant.

  Something broke through my concentration, making me stop in midstride. A sound or only a feeling? I studied the building and the road, walking a little faster. What had stopped me? One side of the street was empty, but shoppers strolled here and there close to me. Nothing alarming about them.

  I tried to go back to a normal stride but after several glances back, I had to get off the street.

  A guy in a blue hoody several pedestrians back kept pace with me.

  I froze beside a café. Was the guy following me?

  The hoodie man stopped and looked into the window just before the café, and I narrowed my eyes at him. He didn’t look familiar.

  Hoodie man reached into his front pocket, eyes still trained forward. Something with straight edges made an outline within. A gun?

  Inching against the wall, I flexed my taut muscles, ready to pound him if need be.

  He pulled the object out, and I readied for attack. A black cell phone glinted in the sunlight. Once it registered what it was, I tried to slow the beating in my chest with a couple steady breaths.

  A second later, hoodie man hurried away, passing me without a glance in my direction.

  Phew. I rubbed my eyes and bent down. If it wasn’t hoody guy, then what was making me so nervous?

  I better get out of here. But when the feeling didn’t dissipate three shops down, I headed to the nearest store to get out of mystery person’s line of sight. The bakery’s cheerful red and white sign had cupcakes painted on each end with the name in the middle, and I yanked the door open, tinkling the overhanging bell.

  The usual busyness of the tourist season fluttered around me, people moving from one shop to another and others ambling around as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Warm yeasty bread smelled great as I went to the window beside a stand holding a few cakes and trays of donuts as advertisement for the delicious delights they sold.

  Maybe one of my friends would give me a ride back to my truck.

  “Can I help you?”

  I worked to calm myself. Wouldn’t it be rude not to buy something from the shop where I hid? Aunt Eena might like a couple lemon pound cakes for her guests. After another glance yielded no results, I moved to the counter and pointed out a fluffy loaf of bread. “Hey, Dave. I’ll take that one, please. And two lemon pound cakes.”

  The owner picked up on my squirreliness and kept small talk to a minimum.

  At the window, bread in hand, I watched one last time. I hated this cat and mouse game. Something had to give. Several trucks passed, but no one I recognized whizzed by the store. I had to get home to find the roll of paper. Please let it be there still. Please don’t let it be stolen or in some unknown location. It could be the answer to the whole case. With another hard look around, I waved to Dave and took a cautious step out the door.

  Back on the sidewalk, I made a beeline for the fire station. One nice thing about a small town was it didn’t take long to get just about anywhere. In five minutes, I’d made it to the station. A few guys sauntered around a fire truck checking hoses and gear. “Hey, Rob, do you have a few minutes to spare? I need a ride to the B&B.”

  My buddy came over and slapped me on the back then looked at his watch. “I have a break in five minutes.”

  “That would be great.”

  The fire chief came down the stairs and called to me. “The fire marshal’s finished with your place.”

  “I heard. Not great news, but better than it could’ve been.”

  He gave a tight smile before leaving.

  When Rob dropped me at the B&B, I hurried to my room to grab keys and left before Aunt Eena noticed me. And what of Shauna? She would be upset if she knew I ran all over town without her. Wouldn’t it be better to wait for her? I scratched at my jaw. No, if someone was following me, she’d be in danger. That was not an option. I had to keep her safe from herself on this one.

  It wouldn’t take long to check the house now that I knew what to look for, and I’d be back before she even figured out where I’d gone.

  But what if I found the rolled paper? How would I explain that I hadn’t told her about it yet?

  I went to the window and scanned the street as I had at the bakery. Wouldn’t it be better to wait ’til night where no one could track me so easily? But Shauna would definitely follow me like a water hose after a flame once she was back at the B&B. I didn’t even know how I’d gotten out of the SUV without her suction-cupped to my side, and once she located me again, she wouldn’t let it happen a second time. There was no doubt about it.

  I swung the key around my finger and jogged down the stairs with light steps. At the truck, I checked the bushes then hurried to Dad’s.

  For a midafternoon, the street was quieter than I’d expected. Some of the neighbors must be on vacation. I tried to ignore the blackened siding along the kitchen window on my way to the back door, but the melted vinyl siding and bubbled window sash reminded me of the forest where I’d found Dad. I shook away the memory and worked to keep it at bay. Not right now. I couldn’t afford to get sidelined with unwanted images.

  I slipped down the hall and put my back to the wall in an attempt to miss the weakened spot in the floor. In the living room, I checked every bookcase, chair, and corner. Opening the entertainment center doors, I pulled out old VHS tapes. Nothing.

  The bottom drawer only held old photos that had never been put into a photo album, and I shuffled through them to reach the bottom.

  I moved to the magazine rack where Dad kept the latest additions he read every night before he went to bed. Still nothing, but I didn’t expect to find it in there because the rolled-up paper was pretty large.

  I leaned against the doorframe then remembered the soot and stood up again. Was it a map? Why did Dad need a map, and a very old one at that? Did it go back to the land disagreement that landed him in court with the Monacan village? It made sense.

  In the supply closet under the stairs, I moved cleaners aside and dropped the rags off of the shelves onto the floor, checking around me like every ten seconds. I reached the very top shelf and ran my hand along it. Sharp pain shot through my finger. I retracted fast and held it up to the light to find the splinter, but my short nails couldn’t get at it. It would have to wait.

  I returned to searching the shelf with a little more care. Between two blankets, a picture pulled free. Mom. I sucked in a breath and gingerly touched it. Had Dad set it there to reminisce when no one knew? There were no other photographs of her anywhere in the house. Dad had made sure of it when she’d left us.

  I ran a finger over the smooth image. She was a beautiful woman, and I could just make out the color of her eyes in the faded image. They matched my own. For a brief second, I pressed the picture frame to my chest and held in a moan.

  I thrust the photo back under the blanket and ran my hands through my hair. Why was everything getting to me today?

  At the bottom of the closet, I got on my hands and knees and turned on my phone flashlight. Piles o
f old phone books lined one wall. Was Dad afraid he would never find an important number in one of the newer versions? Funny how older people distrusted technology.

  I went through three boxes lining the opposite wall, knowing that the paper wasn’t in there but checking everything. Nothing could be left undone this time.

  I saved the back room for last. Please let me find the roll somewhere other than in that room. It was so full of junk that I didn’t even know how I was going to find anything in there. Upstairs, I went through the guest room again and my old bedroom. Now that I’d taken over Dad’s much larger room, I was sure it wasn’t in there, especially since Shauna had also looked through it twice. But on the slightest chance, I did it anyway.

  As I suspected, it yielded nothing. The hall closet held only towels and old sheets, some of which should’ve been thrown away years ago. That left the attic, and Dad couldn’t have maneuvered the steps with his bad knee. In the past five years, Dad had relied on me to go up there on a few occasions, and it held nothing but junk. Dad had turned into a hoarder.

  I drew in a breath and released it through clenched teeth as I slammed the door. No doubt the paper roll was gone. I scrubbed my face with both hands and headed back downstairs to search the crawlspace. No one ever went down there.

  At the back of the house, I studied every inch of the yard and then pulled the wooden door open and shined the flashlight into the black space. All the spider webs at the entrance were enough to prove no one had been down there in at least a year. Shutting the door tight and locking it again, I stood and wiped off my knees.

  We’d made a thorough search of the stand, but we weren’t looking for the scroll there either. I locked all the house doors and jumped back in the truck.

  On the highway, a beat-up truck seemed to take every turn with me. I did a double-take in the rearview mirror, not recognizing it.

  Other vehicles followed me on the highway, but it was the main road between Uppland and Linton. I’d expect to see some of the same vehicles.