by Aiken, Ginny
At least no lives had been lost. Joe and Wilma should, with good medical care, recover.
As he headed back toward his clustered men, the image of Cate’s face flashed through his thoughts. He felt the sudden urge to hurry to the hospital, to tell her Joe would be fine, to comfort her in her time of need.
He had no earthly idea why the urge was so strong. He just knew he wanted to see Cate again.
The ambulance pulled away from the scene, siren blaring, the EMTs working on her father. Cate shrank into herself, tried to take up the least amount of the limited space. As random medical equipment bleeped and flashed, she watched her dad’s face.
He’d open his eyes for a moment, then, obviously drained, he’d surrender and his eyelids would droop back down. The next time he opened them again, she saw him look around, work to focus and when he spotted her, struggle to raise his head.
Ann Davies, one of the EMTs, turned to Cate. “He’s trying to say something, but the mask is in the way. He needs the oxygen right now, though.”
Her father’s urge to communicate encouraged Cate. “Can you lift the mask for a second? Just enough for him to talk.”
Tethered to the narrow gurney, Joe Caldwell, a huge bear of a man, dwarfed the tight confines of the ambulance. As Ann considered Cate’s request, he grew more agitated.
Cate tried again. “He’s upset. Let him tell us what he wants and then he’ll probably settle back down. He’s a pretty stubborn guy.”
With a final measuring glance at Joe, Ann gave Cate a nod. “Come closer, right down here so he can whisper.”
Cate couldn’t have imagined what her father finally said.
“Not just fire…” he said in a wheezy, scratchy whisper. “Explosion…meth lab in the front of the basement…”
“Meth lab!” In the last year and a half, Loganton had seen the drug make inroads into the community. True, a meth lab had been found and a couple of dealers jailed, but not before the drug had claimed its victims.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t claim an additional two tonight.
Dad was a fighter and Wilma Tucker a spunky livewire with more stubborn to her than a mule. By God’s merciful grace they’d both recover.
Cate brought her lips close to his ear as Ann replaced the mask on her father’s face. “I’ll call the PD and the sheriff’s office as soon as we get to the hospital. I’m sure they’re planning to talk to you, but this’ll make them get right to it. All you have to do is relax and recover.”
His eyes blazed. He twisted against the gurney’s restraints. Ann lifted the mask again.
“No time to lay around—the kids! You’re the boss now, Catey. But the fire…”
The EMT clapped the mask back in place, chuckled and shook her head. “Sorry, Chief. You don’t get a choice here. Cate’ll do her thing with your grandkids, but you’re gonna have to let your men do the footwork this time. And that mask doesn’t move again, you hear?”
Sympathy flooded Cate. There was nothing that got her dad more energized than digging out clues to a fire’s cause. This time, he’d have to trust others to do the job. Like Rand, the former Charlotte arson investigator he’d hired as his number two man.
Her dad’s job now was to stay quiet and recover. Although he wasn’t out of the woods yet, relief flooded Cate. This, she could handle.
Another thought flew into her head. The kids. Total responsibility for ten-year-olds Robby and Tommy, and eight-year-old Lindsay. Could she handle that?
Only time would tell.
At the hospital, Rand headed for the ER entrance. He had to see how Wilma was doing. He’d worked part-time at the theater for her parents as a teen—collecting tickets, sweeping floors, serving popcorn—and he’d come to care deeply for them. Wilma herself? Well, she’d been interesting, that’s for sure.
A free spirit all her life, Wilma left Loganton after graduation and wandered back home whenever an adventure came to its end, only to leave again once the lure of the open road—and a new adventure—became too potent to ignore. She’d finally come to stay when her mother’s rheumatoid arthritis grew too painful for her to keep working and her father lost his battle with macular degeneration and went blind.
The older Tuckers had moved into the Pines Retirement Community on the outskirts of Loganton, and Wilma had restored the theater to its lush, roaring-twenties original glory. Rand knew Augie and Ruth Tucker would have a hard time coping with their daughter’s injuries and the devastation of their family business.
At the information desk, he asked about Wilma and was told to take a seat in the waiting room. Doctors were working on her and a nurse would give him an update once the desk was notified of her condition.
As he dropped into the maroon armchair, his thoughts flew back to the conversation he’d had with Neal while the EMTs loaded Joe and Wilma into the ambulances.
Rand couldn’t figure out what might have started the fire—yet. Neal had said it looked as though the blaze had begun in the basement, toward the front of the building. Wilma must have taken longer than usual closing up after the seven-forty-five showing.
From his days working for the Tuckers, Rand knew the basement was practically empty. A cinder-block wall with a metal door in the middle blocked off the area under the lobby. Augie Tucker had developed black and white photos there years ago, but he’d sold the equipment and emptied out the space when his eyes had started to fail sometime during Rand’s junior year in college. He couldn’t see how the fire had started where Neal suspected—nothing flammable had been kept there.
Of course, Wilma could have started storing things in the basement after taking over the theater. Nothing fed a fire better than piles of junk. But the thought of Wilma—the original minimalist who’d lived most of her adult years out of a backpack—storing junk was almost laughable.
Rand’s gut told him there was more to that fire than just fire. While common sense reminded him of the building’s age and dry condition, years of fighting and investigating fires had left him with a good nose for trouble.
He looked up at the sound of footsteps. Cate walked into the waiting room. Before he could stop himself, he asked. “Where are the kids?”
“The kids? You mean the twins and Lindsay?”
“Of course. I hope you didn’t just run out on them.”
Her brows drew close and her lips tightened. “I’d never leave three little kids alone. No matter how scared I was about Dad. Miss Tabitha’s with them.”
“They’ll be scared about their grandfather, don’t you think?”
“Once I hear how he’s doing, I’ll go home and make sure they know he’s going to…going to be okay.”
The wobble in Cate’s voice told him how scared she was. Sympathy again filled him, but before he could say anything, she went on.
“You didn’t really expect me to stay tucked under my blanket while Dad’s life was on the line, did you?”
The shine of tears brightened her chocolate eyes. Maybe he’d been too hard on her. He knew she loved her father. And Joe had told Rand a number of times how much Cate had changed, how responsible she was.
She probably also loved her niece and nephews and Rand was glad to know she’d arranged for Miss Tabitha, one of Loganton’s true pillars, to stay with the youngsters. But as wonderful as Miss Tabitha was, she was quite an elderly woman. Was she up to watching two ten-year-old boys? An eight-year-old girl?
Now that Joe Caldwell was injured, Rand would have to make sure the kids didn’t lack supervision. He owed as much to their late father, his older cousin Ross. In the interest of keeping peace, he decided not to say anything more to Cate about the kids. He’d just do what he thought best for them.
Rand hadn’t had much contact with them while he worked in Charlotte, but with Joe as their guardian, he knew they’d been in good hands. But now? Rand wasn’t about to just leave them in Cate’s care without at least checking up on their well-being.
“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,”
she said in the growing silence.
Rand shrugged. “The blaze is under control and the guys can finish up. I’m sure you know we have to wait for things to cool down before we can start looking for answers.” He shot a glance toward the large double doors to the ER. “The Tuckers are like family to me. I want to know how Wilma’s doing before I go out to the Pines to tell her folks.”
She arched a brow. “You’re going to tell them? I would have thought the new police chief would do that.”
“I told Neal to let the PD know I wanted to be the one to talk to them. I don’t want to see any more of the Tuckers in the hospital. It’s going to hit them hard, and if Chief Rodgers just shows up, it could make things worse.”
In a gesture full of exhaustion, Cate tipped her head back against her chair, her eyes closed but her features tense. “You might still want to take Ethan Rodgers with you when you go talk to them. After what happened tonight, I suspect they’re going to see a lot of him in his official capacity during the next few weeks.”
His gut tightened and he knew his initial instinct had been right on target. “What’s going on?”
Through half-closed eyelids, she gave him a long, measuring look. “Ethan’s going to need your help.”
Rand leaned forward, hands itching with the surge of adrenaline he always felt when a hunch paid off. “What kind of help?”
“Professional.” She sat up, shoved a hand through the thick mane of hot cocoa-brown waves. “Dad says it wasn’t just a fire. He says a meth lab blew up.”
Nose for trouble? His was dead on.
From the moment he’d arrived at the theater, his instincts had begun to alert him and not just to the scent of crime. They had tipped him off to something he hadn’t expected. He’d come home looking for a more peaceful, less stressful work environment. As an arson investigator, he’d had his fill of arsonists, a unique kind of thief and killer who took pleasure from the destruction they caused. And now, after the first serious fire he worked for the Loganton Fire Department, it turned out the thrill of the hunt still gave him a charge.
He stood. “Meth’s a killer—in more ways than one. Any idea who might be behind it?”
She shook her head and arched her brow. “Here I thought the answer to that question was what an arson investigation was all about.”
He conceded her point with a nod. Then he spun and headed out to find his answer. His mind whirled with the new information. What Cate had just told him colored the fire at the theater in a whole different palette.
There was a killer out there. He hadn’t killed Joe or Wilma, but anyone who cooked meth had blood on his hands, the blood of those he had hooked.
Rand realized he would have missed solving arson cases had there really been a difference between a small town and a large city. But people were people. A kaleidoscope of memories swirled through his head. Loss, injury, death—and the cesspool where arsonists lived and where he’d had to swim all those years to catch them. And yet, here he was, treading that same water again.
The constant contact with the worst side of society had nearly stolen every last drop of humanity he’d possessed. That’s why he’d come home…
…never thinking he’d wind up right back in the thick of it.
TWO
At six the next morning, Zoe Donovan, Cate’s best friend since kindergarten, finished her shift at the hospital blood lab. She marched right up to the ICU and insisted Cate leave with her. Cate tried to argue.
Zoe countered. “I’m not listening. The kids will be up any minute now and you know they’re going to squabble. Think of poor Miss Tabitha, all alone with the three darlings.”
Cate glared. “They do go at it with all the gusto of sibling rivalry, but Miss Tabitha is wonderful with them and I just checked in with her forty-five minutes ago. She said she had everything under control and I shouldn’t worry. She’s such a sweetheart. They’re always on their best behavior for her. This is Dad—”
“And he would want you home. His medical team’s fabulous—you know he’s in excellent hands. Tell me I’m wrong. Go on.” The light of challenge shone in her green eyes. “Besides, just think of all the times you and your dad have had to referee the trio just to wind up with something that might remind you of peace.”
“Fine. I’m a realist. They’re wonderful individuals, but perfect? Uh-uh. Especially not during the morning routine.”
Cate tugged her jacket tighter around her middle when they stepped out into the cold fall morning. “So how am I going to tell them their gramps is in critical condition? They’ve already gone through so much. First they lost their parents, then their grandmother three years later. Now this.”
“The Lord will find a way—or in this case, a word. Ask Him. He won’t let you down.”
“But this is Dad.” She closed her eyes, shook her head, took a breath. “The kids are little and he’s the only stability they’ve ever known.”
“That’s probably why he asked you to move back in a couple of years ago.”
Cate snorted. “You know he doesn’t need my help. And all that babble about my youth helping him parent them better than he would alone is just that: babble.”
Everyone in town had commented on his apparent lunacy. Predictions had hovered somewhere between the kids’ certain ruination and their imminent stints in the juvie system.
Their perceptions of Cate hadn’t changed much over the years. Even if she had. Or she thought she had.
“What if…what if all the people who said I couldn’t cut it were right? What if I blow it with them and something awful happens?”
“Come on. Look at your day care center.”
“That’s different. Parents know I hire only the best. They know their kids are safe with my teachers, some of whom they’ve known for years. I’m mainly the administrator. But Lindsay and the twins? Dad’s always been there to keep me from messing up too badly.”
Zoe brushed imaginary lint off Cate’s shoulder. “Dust that junk off, sister. I remember how scared you were, but it didn’t take you long to get into a family groove and you’ve done a great job, if I do say so myself.”
They crossed the parking lot, heading for Zoe’s yellow subcompact. Cate loved the tiny car, especially since she had to tool around town in a massive green minivan.
Zoe pulled out her keys and zapped the lock gizmo. “Hop in. I’ll give you a ride back to your car.”
They pulled out into the light early morning traffic in silence. A moment later, Zoe piped up. Again.
“What’d you think of your dad’s newest hire?”
Rand’s features flew into Cate’s thoughts, vivid and strong. He’d changed, but not so much. He still reminded her of her dad’s protégé, the guy who could never do wrong back in high school.
Only better looking.
But she couldn’t let Zoe know she thought of Rand that way. “Eh…not much. He’s still Rand Mason, you know?”
“He did come to see about your dad. He cares.”
Cate shrugged. “He’s always cared about Dad. Of course he’d come see how Dad’s doing.”
At the light, Zoe shot her a sideways glance. “Hm…just to see about your dad? Didn’t look like it to me.”
Intense blue eyes materialized in Cate’s memory. “Um…yeah. He gave me the third degree about the kids. He doesn’t think much of me.”
Zoe gunned the pedal. “Coulda fooled me. He looked pretty interested when he was talking to you right before I got there.”
“No way! Not Rand. He’s not interested in me. He doesn’t like me. Trust me. A woman can tell when a man can’t stand her. He can’t stand me.”
“Uh-huh.” Zoe chuckled, and Cate’s frustration grew. Rand had made her uncomfortable. But arguing with Zoe was a no-win situation. Besides, she had three kids waiting for her. And Cate knew all about the weight of parental responsibility. The fire had made hers even greater.
Cate glared at her friend. “Just drive, will ya? I’ve had a horrib
le night, my dad’s in the ICU, and the three kids are probably driving Miss Tabitha nuts by now. That’s the only thing I can do anything about right now, so let me get going to do what I can.”
“The lady doth protest—”
“Do you think Dad’s really going to be okay? I’m afraid…” She drew a deep breath. “I have to trust the hospital with Dad’s life. That’s just all there is to it. And they’d better not let me down. I’m not ready to do this parenting thing all on my own all of the time.”
“Get over yourself, girl. You’re gonna do it, you’re gonna do it fine and you’re not gonna do it alone, not while he’s in the hospital and not when he comes home. You have friends who’ll help, like me. I’m not chopped liver, you know. Besides, the Lord’s gonna be right there with you, remember?”
“Yeah. I remember. I just want Dad home again.”
Zoe slowed to pull up behind the van. When she shifted the car into idle, she reached out and put a gentle hand on Cate’s arm. “And your dad will be home again. Have faith. And a little bit of trust won’t hurt either.”
Tears welled in Cate’s eyes. “You’re right. Faith and trust, faith and trust. Got it.”
They said their goodbyes and she headed for the van, her gaze on the rosy tint of the eastern sky. As the day became more real, details crossed her mind. Had Robby run the dishwasher last night? He often forgot to follow through on his chores. She decided it would have to be a cereal morning. Tommy would likely howl, because he loved his pancakes, but no way was she about to cook anything when she got home.
Lindsay would take the news about her grandfather harder than the twins. She was the youngest, only an infant when her parents had died, but that wasn’t really the issue. Sweet Lindsay had a quiet nature, so much so as to seem almost withdrawn much of the time. She teared up at sappy commercials and she was shier than one of Miss Tabitha’s night-blooming primroses.
As much as she loved her niece, Cate struggled to understand someone so different from her. She’d always prided herself on her tough and scrappy approach to life.