by Audrey Dacey
Alexis shrugged. “Maybe it’s him. Maybe she felt bad and told him.”
Caitlyn stood up, smoothed her hair, and straightened out her sweats before going to the door. She took a deep breath and pulled it open, but let it all out quickly when she saw Danny Moreno standing on her front porch in full uniform.
She smiled at him and asked, “Danny, what are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, Miss Murphy, but I’m going to need you to come with me.” He was stoic and stood completely straight and still.
Caitlyn’s face fell. “What is this about?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Murphy, but I just need you to come with me.”
Caitlyn’s mind ran the gamut of things that could have gone wrong. “Okay. I’ll get my purse.”
CHAPTER 15
“Oh my God,” Caitlyn said, covering her hand with her mouth. She looked out the window of the police car at the firefighters walking through the rubble, and the group of townspeople that had gathered behind the police tape, even though it was nearly ten o’clock.
As the car slowed, Caitlyn opened the door and walked silently under the police tape and toward the pile of smoking ash that was once her coffee shop. She felt a dull ache high in her chest, and she bit her finger trying to keep herself from crying.
“Miss Murphy,” a male voice said as she continued walking. “Caitlyn!” A hand gripped her shoulder, holding her back from moving any further. “You need to stay back. There are still hot spots.”
Caitlyn looked up at Kyle Anderson, who was dressed in his yellow and black fireman’s suit and helmet. “What happened?” she asked.
He shook his head and said, “I don’t know. I was a town over when the call came in a couple of hours ago. It was already a blaze when I got here. The whole building was on fire, not just one part of it, and the fire had already blown off the roof.”
Caitlyn began breathing quick and hard. “This was my life. My whole savings.”
Kyle tried to comfort her with a smile, but it didn’t help. Everything she had sunk the last six months into—the money, the work, the pain—was suddenly gone, and she didn’t know why. There weren’t any walls or flooring. She could vaguely see the outline of the espresso machine that was lying on the floor.
“Can I go in?”
“Not yet. For now, you’re going to have to answer some questions about what happened today before you left and about the property. Officer Moreno will take you.” Kyle nodded at someone in the distance, and within moments Danny Moreno had wrapped an arm around her waist and was taking her to an ambulance.
“Caitlyn!” She turned and saw Alexis jumping and waving her hands behind the police tape. “They won’t let me in.”
Caitlyn looked up at Danny, and he waved Alexis through.
Alexis ran over to them, and hugged Caitlyn. “You okay,” she said into Caitlyn’s hair.
“Not at all.”
Caitlyn and Alexis sat on the back of the ambulance, and Danny pulled out a little notebook.
“Okay, Miss Murphy.”
“Danny, knock it off. I’ve known you for six years. We watched the Pats lose to the freaking Jets together last weekend, and you called me Caitlyn. My business is a quarter of the size I left it and not the color I painted it. I don’t want to be Miss Murphied.”
“Alright, Caitlyn,” he said adding emphasis to her name. “Tell me about the appliances in the building.”
She listed them off and then said, “They were all brand new, and I had an electrician put in all new wiring this summer.”
“Alright, what about your heating system? Was it a central furnace?”
Caitlyn shook her head. “No. The space was small, so I figured I could get away with the heat from the wood stove.”
“Could you have left that burning?”
“No, I drown the fire every night and then bury the wet ashes. I’m very careful about these things.”
Danny twisted his mouth and made a quick humming noise. “Is there anything else you can think of that could have been the source. Did you leave any coffee makers on?”
“I’m very careful. Always.”
He closed his notebook. “Alright. If you think of anything, let me know. The fire investigator will look into it.”
Caitlyn sucked in a deep breath and coughed it back out. She was breathing ash. She looked at Alexis. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
Alexis just grabbed her around the shoulders and let Caitlyn put her head on her shoulder while she cried.
#
Michael picked up the morning paper off the door step as he entered the waiting room of his new office. Margaret followed behind him
“Have you seen my locket?” she asked. “I can’t find it anywhere and…” she continued rambling, but he stopped paying attention to her. She’d repeat it again for him later. She always did.
He unfolded the paper and looked at the picture on the front page. Caitlyn’s sad face stared at a police officer in the dark. He scanned the page and found a headline that read “New Business Burns to Ground.”
He set the paper down on a coffee table and walked quickly to his office and looked out the window. The coffee shop was gone. A pile of wet blackness sat in its place. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
“Michael, what’s wrong?” Margaret had followed him into his office. He pointed at the paper and then out the window.
Her eyes became wide when she saw the picture and wider still when she looked out the window. “What happened?”
“That’s what I am trying to find out. Can you give me a minute?” He nudged his head toward the door. “Shut the door on your way out.”
Michael saw her glare at him for a moment before smiling and doing as he requested.
“Hello?” came a yawn through the speaker.
“Murph, are you okay?” Michael sat down in his chair, a little relieved upon hearing her voice.
“Not really.”
“Were you there when it happened?”
“No. I don’t really feel like talking right now Fitz. I’ve hardly slept, and I have to file an insurance claim and stuff. Can we do this later?”
“Do you want me to come over?”
“No. Alexis is here. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
Michael was surprised by the suddenness of the conversation. She was pushing him away again, and he felt a little hurt that she was so dismissive of him.
He stood up and left the little office. Margaret was behind the reception counter when he walked past looking at the computer screen and talking on the phone.
“Can you hold for a moment?” he heard her ask, and before he reached the door, she called after him. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to Caitlyn’s.”
“Is she hurt?”
“No.” He put his hand on the door handle.
“You have patients. You can’t just leave.”
“She needs me right now.” He knew that Margaret didn’t want him to be alone with Caitlyn any more. Running to her rescue in a time of crisis apparently wasn’t an exception. He understood after Margaret told him what Caitlyn had told her, threatening to get him back, but it didn’t seem like she wanted him back. It took two people to make a relationship, and Michael had already convinced himself that Margaret was the one that he wanted to be with, that he had to be with. Caitlyn couldn’t convince him otherwise. He was resolute. He had tried to explain this to Margaret, but she wouldn’t hear it.
“Alan Grover and Miriam Wentz need you too. They called you for help. They made appointments. Did she say she needed you right now?”
“No.” Michael let out the breath he was holding and let go of the door. He wasn’t going to get out of here, not right now. Caitlyn would have to wait. The problem was she wasn’t waiting. She didn’t want him there, and Margaret did.
“It’s best if you stay. The place already burned down. You can’t b
e a hero, but you can be a friend later.” Margaret was right. She was always right. Always sensible. Cancelling appointments in the second week of being open didn’t look good, and in this town, everyone would know by noon that Michael had ditched work to see Caitlyn. Ruining his reputation before he even built it wasn’t a smart move.
Michael turned and walked back to his office. It was better this way, he thought. Once the baby comes, I can’t run to save Caitlyn every time she has a problem. She doesn’t want saving, and it wasn’t his job to do it anymore. And it wasn’t one that he felt like he could do properly.
Margaret would insist on coming with him to Caitlyn’s. All time with Caitlyn had to be spent with both of them. It was better if they were all friends anyway. Margaret wouldn’t feel left out.
She had seemed lonely recently. The only contact she had was with him, his friends, and the nurse, who was all business. So she threw herself into their relationship, trying to make everything perfect again. Trying to make up for the fact that she had left him heartbroken only a month earlier.
It was hard for him to forget that. He wanted to. Occasionally he did. When he heard the baby’s heart beat and when he found out that she was going to have an ultrasound in a month, he kissed her like he had in the past and held her close to his chest. But when he looked down, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she was there. The love that he felt a few moments before disappeared, and even when he searched for it, he couldn’t find it within himself.
Really, he was more heartbroken now than when he got on the plane to Boston in the middle of the night. Then he was angry. Now he was just sad. It was something he could never tell Margaret about, and it was something that would always create a little distance between them.
“Dr. Fitzgerald?” Michael looked up to find the nurse standing in his doorway. “Sorry to bother you. Mr. Grover is in exam room one, and his chart is on the door.”
He tried to give her a smile as he stood up. “Thanks, Heather.” At least one of his dreams was coming true, and for now he would have to focus on that.
#
“Your financial outlook was not very promising. You worked at a major loss last month.” The older woman with graying hair peered over her glasses at Caitlyn.
Caitlyn’s heart raced. “It was the first month I was in business. Yes, it started slow, but business picked up significantly in the last two weeks.” Caitlyn sat up a little straighter. She had been sitting in the American Dream Insurance office for over two hours and had been attacked by three different people regarding her claim.
“It appears that the business has $50,000 dollars of debt and was your only source of income.”
“Yes, that’s true, but…”
“And if we awarded you the insurance claim, which is over $200,000 dollars, you would walk away from your failing business with quite a profit.”
Caitlyn clenched her teeth. “I put a lot of my own money into that business. It was my life.”
Mrs. Le looked down at the file in front of her. “You were a teacher before you opened the business?”
“So, after paying your debt you would have about three years’ salary left over from your claim?”
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re dancing around?”
Mrs. Le set her pen down on her desk. “The fire investigator has determined that this might have been an act of arson.”
Caitlyn’s mouth fell open. “What? Who would burn down my business?”
“You, Miss Murphy.”
“Me? Why do you think I would do that? It was my livelihood.” She wanted to stand up and hit the sense back into the woman, but she clenched her teeth to keep herself from being rash. We think that it is highly possible that you were a disgruntled former teacher looking for an easy way to take a few years off. We will be investigating for insurance fraud.”
“A disgruntled teacher? I taught for ten years! I left the school with the principal begging me to reconsider. I wasn’t disgruntled. I was done. I wanted to do something else. I wanted to own a coffee shop, so I took my hard earned savings and a loan and started the business that I thought I was going to run until I retired and sold it to someone else. Now that’s gone. My dream is shattered, and you’re telling me that you think I did it on purpose.”
“It is a very suspicious situation, and we have to investigate it.”
“To screw me out of my money?” Caitlyn stood up and grabbed her purse off of the chair next to her.
“Tell me; what are your plans for the money should you receive it?”
“Oh, I was planning on going to Cabo San Lucas for as long as possible, so I could meet a rich man and steal his money. Because I am a con artist and a gold digger.” Mrs. Le dropped her gaze to her desk and started writing something down in the file. “Are you kidding me?”
“This is very serious, Miss Murphy.”
“You’re seriously out of your mind.” Caitlyn turned and walked to the doorway before looking back at Mrs. Le. “Investigate me all you want. I’m not hiding anything. And when I get my money, I’m going to rebuild my business, and I would be more than happy to make you a double espresso so maybe you can chill the hell out.”
Caitlyn knew that she had handled that all wrong, but she didn’t care. Anyone who knew her knew that she wouldn’t burn down Fine and Mellow on purpose. They knew that she worked too hard to let it all go up in flames without even taking the money out of the safe.
When she got home, Michael and Margaret were sitting on the wood rocking chairs on her front porch. “What fresh hell is this?” she said aloud when she saw them.
They stood up and greeted her. “I made you a baked ziti,” said Margaret offering her a casserole dish.
“That’s nice, but no one died. I don’t need people to make me food. In fact, because I don’t have a job any more, I have plenty of time to cook for myself.”
Margaret looked down at her foil-covered dish and bit her lip.
“What the hell Caitlyn? Margaret was trying to do something nice for you.” Michael grabbed the dish from Margaret and shoved it into Caitlyn’s hands.
Caitlyn glared at Margaret, who smiled at her incessantly. “I don’t want her brand of nice.” She set the dish on a side table and then unlocked the door to her house.
“I know that you are going through a rough time right now, but…”
“You have no idea what I’m going through.” Caitlyn turned to face the happy couple. “Maybe you should be more worried about your life than mine. Not everything is perfect in your world either. Is it Margaret?”
Margaret looked at her feet, gulped, and then looked directly into Caitlyn’s eyes. “I never said that it was.”
Caitlyn wanted to just tell him right there that Margaret was faking her pregnancy, but she didn’t want to be nasty. That’s not who she was. It should come out delicately, when she could help him. That’s not who she was today. Instead she waved her finger between the two of them and said, “Maybe you two should work that out before you come around to pity me and my disaster of a life.” With that, she walked into the house and left them alone on the porch.
She didn’t have the patience for them right now. She didn’t have patience for anything, which is why she was surprised when she called her mother after setting down her stuff.
“Can I come down tomorrow and spend a few days with you?”
“Of course! I would love that Caitlyn.” She figured that Cat wouldn’t mind.
“You have to cut back on the cigarettes.” A pause answered her demand. “Ma?”
“Fine.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Caitlyn had to get away at least for a little while, so she could function without biting someone’s head off. What better way to get it out of her system than to stay with her mother for a few days?
CHAPTER 16
When Caitlyn’s alarm went off the next morning, instead of trudging through her routine, she sped through it, so that she could leave as quickl
y as possible. Alexis was very supportive, and if Caitlyn didn’t get out of Maple Field really early, she was going to be stuck in Maple Field. That was the last thing she wanted at this point. She wrote a quick note and posted it on the front door. It read: “Needed a vacation, so I took one. -CYM” She hoped that Mrs. Le wouldn’t see it, but she doubted that she would be that lucky.
When she went outside, she noticed that Margaret had left her baked ziti on the porch. Caitlyn considered bringing it inside, throwing it away, and washing the dish. Screw it, she thought. She didn’t have time or the inclination to wash other people’s dishes, so she left it where it was.
She took one last glance around her little house before locking up and heading out. She heard her phone ring from the driveway but decided to let the machine get it. It couldn't be nearly as important as leaving in that moment.
As she was heading to her car, her cell phone rang. For a moment she hoped that Michael had figured out the truth, but the call was from Alexis's number. She ignored the call and then turned off her phone. She was not going to deal with anyone in Maple Field for a least a day, and her best friend was just going to have to deal with that.
The drive was fairly quiet and pleasurable. The snowy landscape and wiry trees made for interesting views on the way down to the city. By the time she reached Worcester, it was morning rush hour, but Caitlyn did not mind. Her concentration was fixed on the beauty that surrounded her and not on the destination. She was in no rush to get where she was going and had no obligations to anyone except herself. The faint sound of Joni Mitchell's voice soothed her over the aggravated honks of the other drivers.
She pulled into the parking lot of a small diner that she liked to visit when she was in town for breakfast. She had juice instead of coffee, eggs instead of a muffin, and bacon because it was there. It was the anti-coffee shop breakfast. She needed to distance herself from that life for a little while, at least while the wounds of the loss were still fresh. She liked this stuff, but she didn't serve it because it would have been too difficult on her own.
She looked out the window at the cars and people passing by and realized that things were peaceful if that was how you wanted to perceive them. She began to wonder if her situation, if viewed from a different perspective could be considered peaceful. Was it possible that if she looked at her life from another angle she was actually fortunate? Maybe Michael was distracting her from the real love of her life. Maybe she wasn’t meant to own her own coffee shop, or at least that one.