Fire Angel

by Susanne Matthews

  Since they’d begun to lower the dosage of the drugs to allow her to awaken, she was restless, small moans escaping from her parted lips. He hoped that she wasn’t caught in a nightmare. Drug-induced ones could be brutal.

  The door swung open and the nurse entered carrying a box of flowers. Jake looked at his watch. It was after nine.

  “Isn’t it a little late for floral deliveries?” he asked.

  “We get them at night sometimes,” the nurse said, “especially when they come through FTD. I don’t know where these came from, Lieutenant. They were on my desk when I came back upstairs from break.”

  Jake opened the florist’s box and stared at the content. Lying in white tissue were twelve deep maroon roses, so dark that they appeared black, and a half-dozen tiny white mice, the kind people bought for their cats. While the roses were certainly eerie and the mice grim reminders of the last stuffed item she’d received, it was the small angel-shaped wax candle and the card addressed to Alexis that turned his blood cold. He flipped the lid over to read the name on the box: Jane Smith. He’d found her. Slowly, Jake opened the card and read.

  Alexis,

  You can’t hide from me. Three strikes; you’re out. Have a pleasant

  night. Soon, my angel will guide you to your resting place, but not until

  we’ve had a little more fun.

  Farewell, Lexy-Wexy; just as before, you and Jake weren’t meant to be.

  Fire Angel

  Jake swallowed, suddenly clear-headed. He put the note back into the envelope and thanked the nurse. Reaching for his new cellphone, he dialed the first of three numbers. There was no time to lose.

  ***

  Alexis had a headache, not a small one like she’d had after she had drunk too much champagne. No, this was a “my brain is trying to get out of my skull” type of headache, and she was thirsty, thirstier than she had ever been.

  She opened her eyes, relieved to see that the room was in semi-darkness. She tried to sit up, but her brain threatened to explode, so she put her head down again. She turned first to the left and then to the right. Had she been struck by a train? Run over by a truck? Every part of her ached. Pulling at the oxygen cannula in her nose, she removed it. Where was she? This wasn’t her bed, nor was it the bed in Jake’s guest room, and it didn’t look like any hospital room that she’d ever seen. What had happened to her?

  As her eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, she realized that Jake was in the chair beside her bed. She reached out her hand to touch his.

  “Jake?” she croaked, afraid that he wouldn’t hear her, but the slight sound woke him.

  “Hey, honey. How do you feel?” he asked reaching for her hand.

  “Thirsty.”

  He held a cup of water to her mouth and allowed her to sip from the straw.

  “Easy does it, just a little bit. How does your head feel?”

  “Like there’s a herd of angry elephants tap-dancing in it,” she replied and tried to smile. “What happened? Where am I?”

  “I have to get the doctor, and I’ll be right back; then I’ll answer as many of your questions as I can.” He bent over and kissed her gently. “I’m so glad to see those kitty-cat eyes of yours open.”

  He stood up on his crutches and left the room.

  Alexis barely had time to wonder about the kiss when he re-entered with Minette and David, the man she’d seen on the computer screen—but wasn’t he in Afghanistan?

  “Hello, Alexis, welcome back.” Minette said, sounding like a nurse, and shoving an electronic thermometer into her ear. “This is David, Jake’s brother. He’s a doctor and he’s going to examine you.” At the confused look on her face, Minette asked: “Do you understand?”

  Alexis nodded, instantly regretting the movement, but she didn’t understand any of it.

  “Hi. Do you remember me? We saw one another briefly on Skype a few days ago, and although we haven’t actually met, Mia and Jake have told me all about you.”

  Alexis was confused. Nothing was making sense. All this was making her head hurt even more.

  “My head hurts,” she said. He flashed a light in her eyes several times, seemed satisfied with the results and nodded. “That’s because my brother dropped a house on it.” He chuckled.

  “I’ll have Minette bring you something for the headache, but we’ve kept you pretty sedated, so some of the pain could be the drug hangover. Are you hungry? I had some of the soup earlier and it’s delicious. The sooner you get your appetite back, the faster you can get back on your feet. You’ll be as weak as a kitten for a couple of days yet.”

  At the mention of food, her stomach growled, making them all laugh.

  “I’ll get soup and an analgesic,” Minette said, heading out of the room.

  “I’ll get cleaned up while you examine her,” Jake said before following Minette out.

  “You’ve had us all worried. I’ve never seen my brother quite so upset. I’m going to turn up the lights so I can take a better look at you. Let me know if they make the pain worse.” David turned a dimmer switch until the room was lit adequately and came to stand beside her.

  “How’s that?”

  “It’s no worse than it was,” she answered. “Where am I, and what happened?”

  “The where is easy. You’re at the Clear Lake Rehab Center, your uncle’s place. It was the safest place Jake could think of, given the circumstances. As to what happened, I think he needs to tell you that himself.” He leaned forward and examined her head. “This is healing well. It’ll leave a scar, but it’s inside the hairline, so it shouldn’t show much. You were lucky. The door frame actually helped some. Jackson had a number of broken bones, but he’s doing well. Jake wrecked his prosthesis and was banged up a bit, but I think his ego suffered the most damage. I’ll have my wife get rid of all these wires and bags as soon as she comes back with your soup. I think we can dispense with them now. She’ll help you get cleaned up before we bring in more company. That should make you feel better, too. I promised Mia that she could come and see you when you woke up, but she’s asleep at the moment, so I’ll reserve that treat for tomorrow.”

  “Minette’s your wife?” she squeaked.

  “Yes, I thought you knew that.” He frowned.

  “I thought she was Jake’s wife,” she admitted, her cheeks burning.

  David shook his head, his face solemn. “Jake’s wife died five years ago, but that’s something else he needs to tell you himself.”

  “I think he’s still in love with her,” she said, tears forming in her eyes.

  “I doubt that. He might’ve been beguiled at the time, but reality has a way of opening even the most stubborn eyes.”

  Minette walked in with the bowl of soup and the pain killers, placed the tray on the table and swung it across Alexis’ lap.

  “I think we can get rid of all this paraphernalia. She’ll be fine.”

  Minette smiled and nodded, moving to turn off the monitors.

  David turned back to her. “You need to take deep breaths, even though they’ll hurt because your ribs are bruised, but we don’t want you to end up with pneumonia. You did breathe in a lot of plaster dust, gasoline, and smoke. Eat your soup, let Minette help you clean up, talk to my brother, and then get some sleep. You may have been out of it for three days, but now your body needs regular sleep to heal.”

  “Three days! I’ve been unconscious three days? Are you kidding me?”

  She grabbed her pounding head. That meant she’d lost even more time.

  “Alexis, talk to Jake. He’ll explain it all, and be kind. The guy feels really badly about this.” David left the room.

  The last thing she remembered was Jake coming through the door with coffee and that annoying click. There was something else she needed to recall, something she’d wanted to tell him ... Absently, she spooned soup into her mouth until she’d finished the bowl.

  Minette helped her to the washroom to get cleaned up, and when they returned, Alexis felt like
she’d been on a ten-mile hike, uphill all the way. Exhausted, she laid her head against the pillow and dozed. The sound of the door opening woke her, but instead of Jake, her uncle Nick stood in the doorway.

  “May I come in, Alexis?” he asked.

  Too surprised to think straight, she nodded, the movement making her wince. His voice sounded familiar, and yet she could have sworn she hadn’t heard it in twenty years.

  He walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He limped and his back was stooped. Gone was the larger than life, fire and brimstone spewing man of her youth.

  “I’m glad to see that you’re awake. Jake is eager to get back in here, but I asked him to give me a few moments. I’ve spent a lot of time in that chair praying, child, and I know that you probably don’t want me here, but please, hear me out.”

  Alexis stared at the broken man before her. She knew that he spoke the truth. On some level, she understood that he had been in here with her. Was this the man who had terrorized her so many years ago? He looked so small, so frail.

  “It’s okay, Uncle Nick. I’m not angry any more. I’ll listen to you.”

  “I have no excuse for my past behavior. Did you know I was the one who was supposed to make that flight? I’d been out with the boys at the club and hadn’t awakened in time. Your mother and father took my place, leaving you orphaned and in my care. Each time I looked at you, my guilt threatened to drown me. The alcohol helped me forget. For years, I lived in a hell of my own making and terrorized everyone who was dear to me. I was a monster, caught in the grips of an alcohol addiction and it cost me everything that I loved.” He hung his head briefly, and she could see that his grief was real.

  “I did terrible things to you, things for which I am deeply ashamed. I know that I can never make it up to you, but can you find it in you to forgive me?” Tears streamed unnoticed down his thin cheeks.

  “I honestly don’t know what to say, Uncle Nick. It’s hard to forget; if Gramps hadn’t come for me...”

  “By the time you were injured in that fire in Toronto, I’d killed my wife and son with my drinking. I agreed not to fight your grandfather for custody when he contacted me; however, that didn’t mean that I didn’t care. By then, sober and in prison, I saw myself for what I truly was. I did what I thought you wanted. In my own sick way, I have always cared about you. You are my brother’s daughter.”

  She stared at the shattered man standing next to her bed. Could she continue to hate him without that hatred poisoning her soul? What had Gramps said about the past? You couldn’t change it or relive it, but you could learn from it. She reached out her hand to touch his shoulder. He looked up at her.

  “How did the accident happen?” she asked.

  “You deserve to know, I guess. I’ll never forget it. Emily wasn’t feeling well and she’d asked me not to make her go to that reception, but it was Friday night, and the need for alcohol was clawing at my belly. How could I pass up free drinks? I got drunk as I usually did and James had been sneaking drinks all night as well. When Emily got sick, it forced me to leave before I was ready to go, and I was angry. She offered to drive, but in my arrogance, I insisted on getting behind the wheel.” He paused, his eyes staring into the past.

  “It was foggy and I was driving much too fast for the road conditions. I kept nodding off and she yelled at me more than once to stop and let her drive. It only made me angrier. I was falling asleep again when her scream woke me and a huge bull moose stood on the road about twenty feet in front of us. I slammed on the brakes, but I wasn’t fast enough. The moose hit the right side of the car. James died instantly; your aunt lingered long enough to tell me she loved me and forgave me. I’ll never forgive myself.” He hung his head and the silence thundered between them.

  Alexis shivered remembering how close she had come to that same fate.

  “When this is over,” she said “We’ll talk. After I left here, I hit some rough patches, but things worked out for the best. I have no regrets. If I hadn’t left, I might never have met my grandfather. I’m tired right now, but I need to speak to Jake. Come and see me again in the morning, and we’ll talk some more.”

  He looked like a starving dog that had just been tossed a bone, the gratitude on his face painful to see. He leaned over, took her hand in his and squeezed gently.

  “Stay as long as you need to; this place is as much yours as it is mine. I’ll see you in the morning.” He got up and left the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Alexis managed to tidy her blankets and sit up before her door opened. Jake’s eyes were shadowed as if he hadn’t slept well. His spiked hair, still wet from the shower shone, and he’d shaved. He wore another of those plaid flannel shirts he loved and a pair of jeans. She smiled and licked her dry lips. Plaid was quickly becoming her favorite color. Using his crutches, he approached the bed and she fought to suppress her surprise that the left pant leg hung empty.

  “Hi,” he said as he moved the chair as close to the bed as possible. He sat and placed the crutches on the floor beside him. “I should be able to wear my new leg tomorrow. Feeling better?”

  “Hi, yourself,” she said her eyes shining. “I feel clean if not better, and the headache isn’t as bad; so, what happened to your leg? David tells me I’ve been out of it for three days.”

  “He rigged the house and we were all caught in it. Jackson got the worst of it along with my prosthesis. You spent the first night in the hospital in North Bay, but once I realized he was coming after you there, I had you moved here. Your uncle’s been great. I couldn’t have protected you without him.”

  “We’ve spoken. We won’t be besties any time soon, but maybe I can let bygones be bygones. He’s had to deal with his own monsters. So how did Fire Angel rig the house and why didn’t Sam know it?” she asked, anxious to know what had happened during her three-day siesta.

  “When Sam showed up at the house,” he started, going on to explain about the sidewalk and everything that had happened. He hung his head. “Alexis, I’m the one who triggered that switch when I opened the door to bring you coffee. To make matters worse, he used my cellphone, the one I forgot in the truck, to set off a bomb that ignited the place and destroyed the evidence. Another minute, and I would’ve lost you.” His voice caught on the last sentence, and tears trickled down his face.

  “I’m glad I’m not the Wicked Witch of the East,” she said, trying to lighten the moment. “When Dorothy dropped a house on her, she didn’t walk away.” She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “This wasn’t your fault, Jake. It was Fire Angel using the perfect material to carry out another phase of his revenge—you to kill me. You didn’t plan this, he did, but he failed. Something went wrong, like it did at Duffy’s. Whatever cellphone he’d planned to use must’ve malfunctioned because he couldn’t count on yours being available to him. Did they salvage anything from the house?” she asked, trying to stay focused, while her heart did a happy dance over her own misunderstanding. Jake wasn’t married!

  “If you mean your kit, one of the firemen grabbed it. All of your notes—you really need to work on your penmanship—were logged and tested.”

  “And?”

  “You were right on.”

  Jake showed her the forensic reports, including the new evidence collected from Providence House, the analysis of what she’d collected at the house before the roof had tumbled in, and the fact that Andrew Shillingham had been cleared of any possible involvement.

  “So unless you know something that wasn’t in your notebook, we’re out of suspects.”

  Something teased at the edge of her mind, something about the owl, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

  “Why did you bring me here?” she asked. There had to be a reason why she hadn’t stayed in the hospital in North Bay.

  He handed her the third note, his expression grimmer than she’d ever seen it.

  “This came with a dozen maroon roses, so dark they looked black, a vanilla scented, ang
el-shaped candle—the wax is an exact match—and six small, white, toy mice. I was terrified he would attack the hospital. David surprised us all by coming home early, so with your uncle’s help, we orchestrated the charade. By pretending you had died and moving you out of the hospital, we may have saved not just your life but hundreds of others.”

  She scanned the note, scowled, and then put it down beside her on the bed. There was something about it that had the shadow on the edge of her mind clamoring for attention. She didn’t think she had memory loss, but it was like those dead things on her window sill, she recollected some of the story but not all of it.

  “Maroon or black roses are rare and expensive. Have you traced them?”

  “Yes, but we’ve got another dead end. They were ordered in Ottawa and paid for in cash. The flower shop had video surveillance, but our guy had to know it was there. He wore sunglasses, a trench coat and a hat. All that we can say for sure is that he’s about five foot ten. He never even took off his gloves. We haven’t got a lead on the candles yet, but everything except the note is at the lab. If you want roses, I’ll send you dozens of red ones.”

  Alexis blushed. Red roses were for love.

  “Maybe one dozen,” she said. “I love the smell of roses.”

  “You’ll have them in the morning,” he promised.

  Alexis tried to calm her emotions. What she wanted was to be taken into his arms and held. Instead, she focused on the topic at hand.

  “So, now everyone thinks that I’m dead? How can that be? David said he’d bring Mia to see me.”

  “To the world at large, you’re dead. We even put an obituary in the paper. Captain Peters is here. He claimed your body and sent it back to California with another investigator, a guy named Scott Evers. That was the only way we could be sure that you would be safe.”

  She frowned. Talk about extraordinary measures. What would happen to her when this was over? Becoming undead might be easy enough on television, but in real life it involved tons of paperwork.