“It’s ok, no one was hurt.” Cade rested his cheek on the top of her head. His shirt had soaked through and he smelled of smoke and sweat. “That’s all that matters.” They clung together as the firefighters doused the remaining pieces of the structure, now barely standing.
In what seemed like hours later, the chief declared the incident contained, and the water was turned off. As they were cleaning and rolling up their hoses, Cade walked the damage with him while Lucy went inside to check on the dogs. They were happy to see her come in, and greeted her with wagging tails and lolling tongues.
The fire trucks rolled past the kitchen window as she was adding water to the dog’s bowls. As the last truck moved past, the full brunt of the fire was visible on the other side of the yard. But what she saw next really horrified her.
Cade stepped inside and slunk down in a kitchen chair. “That was close.” She’d poured herself a glass of water, but handed it to him instead, numb. “Sorry our morning turned out to be less than relaxing,” he said, and emptied the glass.
“Cade,” she found her tongue, “look!” Stepping back, she lifted a still trembling finger to point outside. He pushed up and walked over to look out the window over her shoulder. Across the yard, running the length of the kennel wall that was still standing, was a warning message spray painted in red and black.
CHAPTER SIX
“I didn’t notice that while we were walking around. Must have been hidden by the truck!” The back door slammed shut behind Cade as he sprinted out to get a closer look.
Lucy picked up Penny and watched from the window. Her fur smelled of smoke, and it only served to remind Lucy how close she’d come to losing the pup.
In a few moments Cade came back in. “I took some pictures with my phone and sent copies to the fire chief.” The couch creaked under his weight as he sank down. “She ok?”
Lucy sat down next to him with Penny in her lap. He placed a protective hand on the dog’s back. “I’ll grab my stethoscope and listen to her lungs.” Instead of rising, he stayed put, his jaw clenching and flexing.
“Tell me where it is, I’ll get it.”
“In the burned building.” He wiped a hand across his brow and pinched the bridge of his nose. “My others are in town.”
“I’m so sorry you lost your kennel. Do you have any idea what caused the fire?”
“No idea. The fire chief said he would send an arson team.”
“And the graffiti?”
He dropped his arm as if he could hold it up no longer. “Someone may be trying to persuade me to sell along with Gloria. There are a lot of people who could make tons of money if the zoning was changed here.” The hairs on his arm were singed, and a cinder had burned him in a couple spots.
“You’re suggesting someone involved with the developers could be responsible?” She got up to wet a cloth at the kitchen sink. “Who has enough greed to destroy someone’s property?” Despicable. She wiped his forehead with the cloth, then his forearms and hands.
“Mmm. That feels good.” He closed his eyes, allowing her to take care of him. “Maybe the same kind who would commit murder?”
“What?” she said, stopping to peer at him. “What are you saying?”
He took the towel from her and wiped his face and neck. “I didn’t mean to say it’s all related. Thanks for taking care of me. I better get those horses in and shower.” He turned to catch her eye. “Stay here as long as you want, but I have patients to see this afternoon in town.”
“You should put something on those burns.” She pointed to his arm, and then set the dog on the rug. “I’ll help.” She stood. “I left the saddle on. Rookie mistake. I’m also forgot to bring the backpack.”
“Neither one of those are deal breakers, both fixable.” She followed him out the backdoor. “The fire, however, is a bigger setback.”
Together they retrieved the riding horses from the corral. “I wonder if your neighbor saw anything. She was riding this way earlier, right?”
He nodded. “You’re right. I’ll ask Mrs. Meadows if she saw anything unusual.”
***
Cade’s truck left a half hour later kicking up a flurry of dust as he sped toward town for his afternoon appointments. Lucy volunteered to wait for the sheriff and answer questions about the tagging. He’d been interested in the graffiti when the fire chief shared Cade’s pictures with him. Lucy fiddled with the television remote, but outside the window, the birds chirped, and the house began to feel closed in. Cade had said it would be all right to walk Penny, who was dozing on the rug at her feet.
“C’mon, let’s take a walk, girl.” The dog jumped up, and the two went out on the front stoop where Harry yawned, shook himself off, and got up to amble after them. The air still heavy from the smell of burning barn, a shiver crawled up Lucy’s spine as she pictured someone just an hour or so earlier, creeping onto the property with harm in mind. Who would want to hurt the guy who just wants to take care of innocent animals, and give back?
Avoiding the barn with its creepy message, she turned the opposite direction and wandered up the side of a small hill. Penny scampered ahead, chasing a lizard that skittered across the narrow path. They climbed for several minutes, Lucy keeping an eye on the road to Cade’s drive.
It’s possible whoever did the damage didn’t approach from the road, she realized, and swept her gaze across the surrounding landscape for other possibilities. She leaned against a granite boulder, and wiped her brow. The hours of rehearsal on stage had taught Penny to keep an eye on her, and true to her training, she sat at Lucy’s feet, ears pricked. Lucy knew snakes could be lured out to warm themselves in the sunshine, so she decided not to push their luck and headed down just as a mud-spattered farm truck rattled off the road toward the house.
She patted her pocket, searching for her cell phone to call 9-1-1 until she saw a woman step out of the truck and walk up to the house.
“Hello!” she heard from the distance.
“Let’s go, Penny.” They made the decent quickly, and she called out when they neared the truck. “Can I help you?”
The woman appeared to be in her sixties, about her dad’s age. She was about to get back in her car when Lucy and Penny approached. “You a friend of Cade’s? He told me what happened.” She slammed the door and stuck out a hand. “I’m Gloria Meadows.” Smile wrinkles bloomed and then faded.
Lucy shook with her. “Lucy Lambert.”
Gloria seemed to hesitate.
Having lost any shyness, Penny ran up to the visitor.
“That’s Penny.”
“She’s the dog that was in the kennel when the fire broke?” The question seemed more like an accusation.
“Yes.” Lucy said with a nod. “Cade got her out before she was harmed.”
“That’s good.” Gloria looked past Lucy’s shoulder. “You better keep her close, there’s snakes out. And coyotes.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“What’s this about graffiti?”
Lucy was beginning to resent the woman’s rapid-fire questions. “While we were riding, someone must have snuck onto the property. She gestured at the barn, and Gloria’s face clouded over when she saw the tagging.
“Oh, my.” Gloria surveyed the burned wreckage, and the scrawled warning. “Tell Cade to give me a call? I’m warning you, you’d better keep an eye out, there’s bad people out there.” She pulled herself up into the cab, the engine rumbled on, and she drove away.
Bad people indeed.
***
When the hate-crimes investigator arrived, he spent a few minutes photographing the burned building and the graffiti, and then handed Lucy a card. “Have Dr. Winston call me when he gets home, I’ll need his statement as well. This may get worse as they get bolder. Keep your livestock and animals close, and leave lights on around your property.”
Lucy watched his car roll toward the road, turn and head for town. His warning replayed in her head while she made herself at home in Cade’
s kitchen, scrounging for enough ingredients to make a meal. Their breakfast had been hours ago, and as the sun dropped behind the mountains, she expected he’d be as ravenous as she was. She was sliding aside a bottle of some kind of veterinary potion to pull out a slab of cheese when a skull and crossbones sticker caught her eye. “Do not feed by mouth, topical only.”
Maybe it was just the creepiness of the day, or a divine reminder, but something about the symbol struck a familiar chord. As she turned the bottle over in her hand, trying to connect the image to somewhere else she’d seen it recently, a noise outside made her jump and nearly drop the glass bottle in the sink.
Penny heard it too, and began barking. More vigorous than she’d been recently, Lucy didn’t know whether to rejoice or shush the dog, then decided to let her continue yapping until she could find out who was outside.
The shadows were long, and she didn’t know how to turn on the porch lights. The detective’s reminder rang hollow in her mind as she searched for a light switch. A bank of them were lined up, and she decided to turn them all on at once, and if that didn’t scare off whoever was out there, she’d dial 9-1-1 and they’d be sorry mister.
Sliding her hand up the wall, the porch, kitchen, and an exterior flood light came on at once. Peering through the panes into the yard, she breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized Cade’s truck. But he was nowhere to be seen. Had someone been lying in wait, and he’d been jumped?
“Get a-hold of yourself,” she chided. Grabbing the skillet she’d planned to make grilled cheese sandwiches in, she moved toward the door, turned the knob, and before she could order her to heel, Penny bolted. “Wait!”
“Hey, what’s going on?” Cade appeared in the circle of light.
She stood back and let him enter. “I-I was going to make us some sandwiches after I clocked whoever wasn’t you.” She returned the pan to the stove.
“Sorry I scared you. I wanted to check on the horses and feed them before I came in to shower. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be a new man.” He paused in the doorway, and turned back. “Even though this day didn’t turn out the way either of us planned, I’m glad you’re still here.”
***
“So the investigator didn’t know if they were connected, the fire and the graffiti, until the cause is determined.” They had finished eating Lucy’s three-cheese sandwiches, and while she cooked, Cade had brought in kibble for Penny and Harry, who ate together on the service porch. Cade and Lucy were now sitting on the small front porch listening to the last sounds of the evening, and she’d told him about Gloria’s hurried visit. A coyote called in the distance, and another answered. “She’s kind of…stern,” Lucy said.
“She’s had a lot happen to her in the past year, and I think it’s getting to her. She used to be a lot friendlier. I could use another soft drink, how about you?” Cade started to get up, but Lucy shot out a hand.
“Let me get it, you’ve been working all day.” She hoped she didn’t look too anxious not to be left alone. “Where are they?”
“Old refrigerator in the garage,” Cade said, “across the yard.” He grabbed her hand to stop her. “I’ll get it, it’s dark out there.”
She dug in her pocket for the mini flashlight attached to her key ring. “I’m prepared.”
Lucy found the door to the one-car garage that housed supplies for his practice as well as items necessary for running a farm. Fortunately, it was separated from the building that burned, and hadn’t been harmed. As she selected two colas from the cold box, she admired how organized he was. Oil cans, antifreeze, washer fluid…antifreeze? She sidled closer to the bottle. The skull and crossbones warning loomed over bold lettering, “Do not allow animals to consume.” That’s where she’d seen the picture. It was just like the bottle she’d found at the theater!
Back at the house, she handed him the can and he popped it open.
He took a long drink, and looked at her over the rim of the can. “Everything all right?”
“What do you know about antifreeze?”
“A,” he ticked off, thumb up, “it’s necessary for piston engines. And B, it’s fatal to dogs, but apparently tastes like candy. They’ll drink it until…why?”
“Is it possible Penny drank antifreeze?”
“That’s a definite possibility,” Cade said.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lucy squinted, the early morning sun usually just encouraged her to turn over and go back to sleep, but as soon as she stirred, Penny clawed at the bars of her crate, anxious to be released. “Okay, okay, but can we just cuddle?”
Cade had given her the all-clear to bring Penny home, and after he took another blood sample from the dog to see if he could confirm her suspicion, Lucy and Penny had returned to her apartment.
As soon as the latch creaked open, Penny ran to the door, and Lucy knew from experience she shouldn’t push her luck. She quickly pulled on her jeans, a t-shirt and slid her flip-flops on almost at the same time as she clipped the leash on Penny’s collar.
“Good morning, Mrs. Chastain,” she said as Penny squatted on the lawn between their front doors. “How are your kitties?”
“They’re fine dear.” She looked down a hooked nose at the dog, now sniffing the air in the direction of an overweight tabby on Mrs. Chastain’s porch. “By the way, Mr. Snodgrass was asking about your dog.” She thrust a plastic bag at her.
“Oh?” Lucy took it from her, and stooped over to pick up after Penny. “What about her?”
“When you brought her to live here permanently, you should have paid a pet deposit like everyone else.”
“Deposit?” Lucy hadn’t intended to keep the dog. “Ok, I’ll stop by the office and settle it.”
“See that you do, tomorrow’s the fifth of the month, and after that you will owe the late fee.”
Stomach rumbling and the morning chill seeping through her t-shirt, Lucy coaxed Penny away from an interesting sprinkler head. Back inside, she scrambled herself an egg while she considered her options.
No job meant no income. She couldn’t afford her rent any longer, much less a pet deposit. And she wanted to pay Cade back. He shouldn’t have to cover for her. Besides, he had enough problems of his own.
Lucy looked around the small apartment. In a couple of hours she could box up her few belongings, donate a bag or two of old clothes and things she didn’t need, and vacate. But where would she live?
There was really only one choice. Run home to Daddy.
***
Lucy spent the afternoon sorting through her small place, boxing up the few items she didn’t want to part with. In the office, she begged the manager to let her go without the necessary two weeks notice. He had pity on her, and she went back to mop the floors. At about 4:30 Phoenix time, she had to make the call she dreaded, and dialed the number to the only lifeline she had left. “Hey, Daddy.”
“Can’t talk long, almost time to eat.”
“Oh, right. It’s meatloaf night.”
“Bland-loaf is more like it. No one makes it like your mom did.”
“She was the best. Hey, you have a birthday coming up, maybe they’ll add some flavor for a special treat.” While her dad complained once again about the lack of choices in the video library, “no Westerns, all chick flicks!” Lucy listened, then when he took a breath, she blurted, “It was your idea to move into that place and all you can do is complain.” She immediately felt bad, but her words laid there in between them, another building block in the wall she’d started to build with her words and attitude. “Daddy, I’m sorry. I know you didn’t want to keep up that place by yourself.” The home left empty had echoed with the memories of happier times, and she’d encouraged him to sell the small house they’d lived in together while she grew up. She rushed to make him feel better about being so far away from his last relative. “I’ve been thinking maybe I’ll come over and visit now, instead of waiting until your birthday. Would that cheer you up? I’ll bring you some ripe avocados.”
<
br /> Like an understudy who learns the star has met with an accident, her dad cheered up right away, and began chatting about all the errands he needed to run and the little jobs she could help him do around town. “It’s not the same when you have to take the bus everywhere. I miss my own barber, and I want the tamales from Jose’s, they’re clear across town.”
She decided the whole “I’ve lost my job and you were right I need your support again speech” could wait, he was in such a good mood now.
“Okay. I’ll be over there sometime tomorrow.” She started to tell him goodnight, and then remembered her maxed out credit card. “Can you loan me a little money for the gas and a hotel room?” He gave her permission to transfer money into her online account from his, and she hung up, more depressed than ever.
***
In another hour, Lucy had filled her Jeep with everything she owned and was stuffing full an overnight bag when her phone rang. She answered to a cheery, “So how’re my two favorite townies?”
“Hey, Cade.” Despite herself, she smiled, but pulling the zipper closed on the bag, guilt twisted her heart about skipping out on him. When she’d said goodbye to him last night, he’d told her not to worry about paying for Penny’s treatment, but she’d promised him she would come up with a way to repay him. Now her pride also prevented her from admitting she was running home to Daddy. “I was just, it’s my dad—”
“Is he all right?”
She considered telling him everything, or saying her dad had keeled over on the shuffleboard court and his time in Evergreen Pines was almost over. So on top of being in his debt, she was going to starting telling him fibs?
She hefted the bag to her shoulder, and came out with the truth. “He misses me, and things aren’t going well here…” the memory of Cade’s blue eyes penetrated to her inner soul. She could imagine empathy etched across his brow as he listened to her plight, and her resolve to keep him at arms’ length fell like a curtain on the final scene. “I’m going to re-evaluate my options while I spend some time with him in Phoenix.”
Murder, Most Sincerely: A Romantic Backstage Mystery Page 5