by Molly Dox
“What?” Annie’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean? I thought your husband was gone.”
“He is gone. Only the story is a little different than I first led you to believe.” She grimaced, realizing she was about to share something she’d never shared with a friend before. “The truth is that he’s not dead. He’s in prison.”
“Claude?” The pieces were clicking together.
Charlotte nodded, watching her friend’s reaction.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you lost your husband to an illness. You told me-”
“That he was no longer with me. I know. I let you come to your own conclusion. Nobody wants to admit something like what happened. I found a stash. Annie, it was kiddie porn.” She lowered her head. “I was horrified. I didn’t know what to do. I finally did the only thing I could do. I turned him in. I’m the reason he’s in prison. When the search warrant came through, it was much worse than I realized. He was soliciting to meet people.”
“Wow.” Annie didn’t know what to say. She stared at her friend.
“Now do you see? How do you say something like that, and when is the right time?” She shook her head. “I was afraid he’d be eligible for early parole, but his own stupidity and fighting got time added to his sentence. He’s not due out for a while. I needed to check in with my kids. Part of the reason we have issue is because they know I’m the one who sent him to jail. It was the right thing, and they understand he needs help, but it was still their father and they had a hard time believing it was real. We had a falling out and I gave them space. Now they want me back there, but want to imprison me in an old folk’s home. Yeah, well, that’s how it feels anyway.”
“Oh, Charlotte, the burden you carry.” She was still trying to wrap her head around the information. It was bigger than both of them.
“Anyway, I was afraid the first fire, being so close, was meant for me.” She sighed heavily. “But the second house makes me feel more like it was a fluke.”
“Right, but not quite a fluke; somebody knows what they’re doing and they’re doing a lot of damage.” Annie shook her head. She couldn’t even imagine somebody doing it on purpose, and in such a nice community. It had everyone on edge, wondering if their house might be next. Annie filled Charlotte in on the latest news, about the one homeowner she met, and other small details.
The women filled up on good food and said goodnight. They both hoped sirens wouldn’t but cutting through the night air, alerting them another house was burning down.
Chapter 6
Annie flipped through her wallet, pulling out receipts and what not when she came across Officer Nick Rossi’s card. He’d scribbled his personal number on the back, leaving her a note to call him. She’d avoided it until now. When she picked up the phone, she surprised even herself.
His voicemail picked up. Annie quickly disconnected before leaving him a message. She kicked herself, realizing her caller ID would show up anyway. Her phone rang within minutes. “Hello?”
“Annie?” It was Nick. “Did you just call?”
“I did,” she said, not sure what else to say. She stumbled over her thoughts, and couldn’t form a sentence in the moment. “I, umm, yeah, sure. Yes!”
Nick laughed. “You didn’t leave a message. I was just on the other line. We got a lead in a case, and Frisco was letting me know.”
“A lead?” She wanted to know what it was, but knew she couldn’t just come out and say anything.
“Yeah, if we keep up at this rate, we’ll need an investigation team year round.” He paused for only a short moment. “You called?”
“I did.” She knew more words should come out, but was at a loss.
“To talk to me.”
“Yep,” she said, still unable to say much more.
“Would you like to get lunch sometime?” It couldn’t hurt to ask. She obviously called him for a reason.
“Umm, yes. I think so.” She hated how awkward she sounded! This was so unlike her.
Nick laughed. “Cat caught your tongue? Are you free this weekend? I work the night shift, but I’m open for lunch on Saturday.”
“Sure, right. Lunch. Saturday.” Again. Annie sighed and took a deep breath. “I’d like that.”
“Great, what do you say to noon?”
“Can you do two? Saturday, the shop is open until noon off-season. On season, we go all day.” Like he cares.
“Two o’clock works. I’ll see you then.” She could almost hear him smiling.
Hanging up the phone, Annie slapped her hand to her forehead. Why so awkward? She wasn’t even going to go on a date, but then his number was right there, and she dialed, and now she had a date. She wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad thing, but spending more time around Nick Rossi had to be a good thing, right? She’d find out soon enough.
A date, imagine that. She wasn’t sure she was ready. In fact, she was certain her baggage stacked a little too high, but what’s done is done.
Annie settled in with a good book with Pip by her side. A thought rolled through her head. She kept hearing the fireman mention the fire was burning too hot, and the damage was more severe than a regular burn. If someone is burning down houses, and making an effort to scorch them to the ground with nothing left, what are they hiding? If they got a thrill out of lighting a house up, why would they go through the trouble of using chemicals to make it hotter? Was there more to the story? Annie shook her head. She was a hair stylist, not a detective. This wasn’t her business. She tried to get back into her book, but her mind had other ideas and led her down a path of discovery.
Most people wouldn’t know about stuff like that; unless you’re familiar with fires and what’s involved in starting them or putting them out. Firemen knew about fires, but then again, arsonists probably have a technique so there’s little evidence. And why did Mr. South Carolina really end up in New Jersey? He seemed like a nice enough man, but maybe he had something to hide.
“Okay, Sherlock,” she teased aloud. Standing to stretch, she took Pip outside to joggle her brain and try to take it off of the fires. She shouldn’t stick her nose in where it doesn’t belong.
The sirens cut through the night air. A chill went up Annie’s spine. Did another house go up in flames? Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe it was an ambulance. Somebody could have fallen and broken their hip or something. Only, she knew. Everybody was on edge when the third house went up in flames. Nothing was left of it by the time it was over.
Black smoke, not gray, not white, not reddish brown…and black smoke indicated that an accelerant was used. That’s all they were saying at this point, as the headline ran in the tiny town newspaper. The few shreds of glass that remained were melted, which meant temperatures were high enough for the glass to become runny, projecting temperatures over 1400 degrees. “Another House Burns”, the paper called out in print. No more details were given.
No people were hurt, and again it was another vacant summer home. At least whoever was doing this wasn’t in it to injure anyone, though he or she was risking the firemen’s lives every time they were called out. One fireman stuck out in her mind. Maybe she’d just mention him to Nick, and see if he could figure out why he needed to start over in New Jersey. It’s not that people didn’t relocate all the time; it’s just that his answers were vague…and he knew a lot about fire. And he was new in town. She hated accusing anyone of anything before having the details. He was a nice man. He didn’t seem like he could burn down people’s homes. Would the arsonist look like an average person? Was it a woman? An old man? A young twenty-something kid? It was ridiculous. Mr. South Carolina was a regular guy. He wasn’t an arsonist. She shook her head. He’s the guy to put out fires, not start them. They were lucky to have a seasoned fireman on the department. Ashamed she’d pegged him as a bad man, she said a silent apology to him.
Charlotte was already texting her. She’d driven by the scene of the crime. There was barely anything left to the home. She finally just called, since she had more to
say. “Don’t things burn a certain way? There’s like, no evidence. Well, maybe there is. But aren’t there things like burn patterns and stuff. I remember seeing it in a movie one time, them talking about how patterns on the wall or ceiling gave them clues. Annie, there’s no ceiling, no walls, no anything. It’s another one that went clear to the ground.”
“It’s creepy. I keep wondering if my home will be next. So far, they seem to be picking vacant homes. I hope if they continue, nobody ends up hurt.” Annie shivered at the thought.
“We need to start a neighborhood watch. I know it’s a long island, but people have to come and go in the middle of the night to do this. Is it burning inside for a while before anyone notices, or is it a quick, flash type of fire? If we had somebody stationed every few blocks or something…” she trailed off. “That won’t do. What if the arsonist is part of the watch? They’ll know where we’re located.”
“I hate this. Sandy Beach Island was always such a nice, quiet place. This is getting weird.” Annie sighed. “And by the way, I have a date on Sunday.”
“Whoa, stop the presses! A date? You? Did you finally cave in? Was Officer Rossi banging down your door begging you to go out with him?” Charlotte teased.
“I called him. I don’t know why I dialed, but then I panicked and hung up the phone. He called me back. He saw my number on his caller ID.” Not how she’d planned it.
“So a date? What are you going to do?” She asked.
“I don’t know yet. I guess we’ll go out for lunch. He has to work that night.” A real date. She wasn’t ready.
“Well, good for you. It’s about time you got back out there, and Nick Rossi is quite a catch.”
“I didn’t catch him,” Annie defended. “I’m simply having lunch with him.”
“Same thing,” Charlotte chuckled.
“How are you doing?” Annie was almost afraid to bring up the touchy subject.
“I’m okay. Now that I know it was a coincidence that the house next to mine went up, I feel much better. Besides, he’s locked away for a few more years.” She hated to even talk about it.
“I need to run some errands. I’ll catch up with you later.” Annie hung up the phone after saying good-bye and made a list. Only the list started with items to pick up and things to do, and then ended with a list of details about the fires. Her brain refused to let go of the topic.
She decided she’d drive by the latest house to see if she could figure out a connection between the three homes. So far, all she knew was that they were vacant. Their owners weren’t there, and renters were gone for the season. Wouldn’t there at least be remnants, shreds of evidence or pieces of furniture, electronics, anything left? Where does it all go?
She promised Pip a walk on the beach when she got home, then headed out the door. There was a lone man standing in front of the caution tape, doing the same thing she was, looking at what was no longer there.
“Hey,” she said, shoving her hands in her pockets.
“Hi,” he answered. “It’s such a shame.”
“Yeah.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“You know, I didn’t think anything of it when they moved out their stuff the other day, but maybe they got scared. Who knows?” The man shrugged and turned to leave.
“Movers?” Annie’s interest was piqued.
“Yeah, I didn’t think much about it. It was just a white van, some guy loading stuff into it in broad daylight, so it’s not like he was trying to hide anything. I’ll be honest, if another home goes up in smoke, I may very well think about leaving this place too. I’d hate for my retirement to go down the drain after working so hard. I can’t afford to rebuild at these prices. Anyway, nice talking to you, I’ve got to go.”
Movers. A guy with a white van. Something smelled fishy. Were the other houses emptied before the fires also? But with so many workmen driving white vans around there, it would be near impossible to pin one down unless there was a sign on it, or somebody grabbed a license plate. All the trucks looked the same.
Maybe it was a coincidence and the people hired movers, but her gut told her something different. She reached into her purse and dug through her wallet, pulling Nick’s card out with his number on it. Taking a deep breath, she dialed his number.
“Officer Rossi,” he answered.
“Nick, it’s Annie. I’m sorry to bother you,” she started.
“You aren’t canceling on me already are you?” His voice rang of disappointment.
“No. It’s about the fires. I think there’s something you should know. It may be a clue.” She hesitated, realizing she was involving herself more than she should be. “Anyway, I stopped by to see the remains, and one of the neighbors mentioned a white van, like a moving van was here the other day. Do we know if the owner was moving stuff out, or getting ready to sell the house?”
“We don’t know, but I appreciate the information. We’ll follow up on that and see what’s going on with that. Thanks for calling.” He liked the sound of her voice.
“You’re welcome,” she said, realizing she was wearing a smile, and then added one more thing. “I’m looking forward to our lunch.”
“Good. Me too.”
Annie hung up her phone and slid it back into the front pocket of her purse. Going back to her car, she went to open the door. No. No. No. The door was locked, but her keys were still inside. What a foolish thing to do. She dug through her purse, trying to locate her spare key. After a hair-raising moment of digging and not finding anything, her finger connected with the small ring of metal that housed her spare keys. Opening her door, she sat in her car and looked over at the house again. What if the mover was really a burglar? Were they stealing the items and the home ended up in flames coincidentally, or was the burglar then going back and lighting up the house to hide the evidence. She wondered how often criminals crossed streams; an arsonist and someone who steals have very different motives. But what if there were more than one of them? What if they were working together, like in a crime ring? Her mind got away from her, having watched too many television shows and reading too many books. She shook the information from her head and went to run her daily errands.
Chapter 7
Saturday afternoon, Annie’s belly twisted and knotted. She hadn’t been on a date in ages, and wasn’t even sure she was ready to date; though Nick Rossi was a pretty good choice. Standing before the mirror, she finished pulling the mascara wand through her lashes and reached for perfume. A spritz, a dab of lip gloss, and she was ready. Annie drew a deep breath. A date. Yep, a date.
“What are you looking at?” Annie grumbled at Pip, sure she was judging her in the moment. Okay, maybe not, maybe she was judging herself. Was she ready for this? Maybe she should cancel. Annie grimaced at herself in the mirror and then walked away. It was just lunch, something informal, and nothing to get bent out of shape over. She was making way too much of it.
Annie froze. What if he tried to kiss her? Did she want him to? Her indecisiveness was driving her crazy. She was a grown woman. It would all work out, she thought, with a confident reminder that she was smart enough to handle the situation for what it was Annie grabbed her keys and purse. She was meeting Nick at a local seafood place.
He was already there when she arrived. Getting out of his car, he greeted her by leaning forward and giving her a small kiss on her cheek. Annie blushed furiously, like a schoolgirl. Her eyes darted downward. Together they went inside.
Talk was slow to get started, but when they hit on a familiar interest, the latest arson spree, suddenly they found common ground. It’s not like she had anything invested, it was just becoming more fascinating, trying to put the pieces together. Certainly she was no Sherlock Holmes, but it was kind of neat to play with possibilities.
Nick started. “I checked out that lead you gave me. It turns out that our friend got into some trouble in South Carolina.”
“I knew it!” Annie squealed quietly, excited she’d mentioned something. “
Do you think it was him?”
“Not so quickly, it’s not for arson. He was a fireman and fire investigator, but was forced to leave his job due to sexual harassment. If he took the plea to leave quietly, they would lighten the wording on his file. There’s a code that is used, certain wording, to let other law enforcement people and the like know what the full story was. So while it ends looking cleaner in the end, we see what it took to get there. What was interesting to me was his knowledge. If he was an investigator as well, he had pretty in-depth information about fires that most wouldn’t. That could prove to be interesting. I’ll drop by at some point and have a conversation with him. What I am more interested in was the mention of the white van, which means something else is going on. I went back to question some neighbors near the other houses that burned, and somebody else recalls seeing a white van parked on the street, with no sign on it. The van may be casing the homes they’re targeting.”
Annie blushed and gloated. “I’m so glad I mentioned it.”
“I appreciate the tip.” Nick looked into Annie’s eyes. “You’re really pretty.”
She felt like an apple had lodged itself in her throat. She finally croaked out a thank you. Wow, did it suddenly get hot in there? One word, pretty, and her nerves kicked in all over again. It was embarrassing. Truthfully, she loved the compliment; she just wasn’t good at accepting them. “Thank you, you don’t have to say that.”
“I wanted to. I’m attracted to you,” he said.
“It’s just…” What? Was she going to make an excuse? A reason she couldn’t see him? Why couldn’t she date? What was stopping her? She was a single woman. Her divorce was a long time ago. She finally let her guard down and decided it was going to be fine. Before she said anything else, she simply smiled. “Thanks.” Was it wrong that she wanted him to kiss her?
“Anyway, I did some checking to see if any of the rental companies have rented out white vans recently and if I could get a copy of the records that date back to the first arson, in case there is a connection. I’m going to see if people are renting on more than one occasion close to the dates, or if somebody has a long lease on one. The other thing I was thinking was looking for recent sales and see what we can dig up.”