by Oram, Jean
“Did you see anything suspicious?”
“No.”
“Anyone else camping or hiking?”
“No.”
“Lightning?”
“Clear skies.”
He watched her for a long moment before turning back to his notes. “Did you make another fire that day, Saturday?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her, waiting.
“For supper. I put it out before I went to bed, then made another one in the morning so I could make breakfast.” She leaned back, crossing her arms.
His job must really suck sometimes. Just like her life.
“What methods did you use to put out the fire?”
She explained the process for putting out her fire as well as answered a few questions about weather conditions before he stacked his papers and capped his pen. “I might need you to show me the exact site where you camped since it is in question.” He gave her a look as though being stuck hiking for hours in a burned-out forest might not be the highlight of his week.
Ditto on that one, His Holy Major Not-So Hotness.
“I need to inspect the burn areas first, but I’m sure I’ll have more questions later.”
“When?”
“After the fire is out, which shouldn’t be too long if the wind continues in this direction. There will be nothing for it to burn when it doubles back on itself.” Rob spoke into the recorder and was about to turn it off when Jen suddenly reached out to stop him.
“The truck in the parking lot!”
* * *
Jen yanked her hand off Rob’s warm forearm as he turned to look out the staffroom’s window that overlooked the store and, if you lined your sights right, out beyond to the street.
“I can’t believe I forgot the truck!” She bounced in her seat, eager for Rob’s attention. “It was old. A bit rusty around the fenders.” She scrunched her eyes shut. “Blue, I think. Or maybe green…” Why couldn’t she have a photographic memory?
“I’m not following,” Rob said.
“There was a truck.” Jen rubbed her forehead as though trying to make a genie appear, pulling a picture perfect memory of the truck parked in the Raspberry Creek parking lot. “When I fell down the hill into the parking lot I looked around to see if anyone noticed.” She frowned at Rob’s look. “What? You know how embarrassing that was? A nature guide spilling out of the woods because her pack overtook her on a downhill slope?”
Rob gave her one of his stifled smiles again.
“There was a truck over at the edge of the parking lot.” The problem was that when she tried to think about the details they slipped from the edges of her memory. “It was in the parking lot when I left on Sunday. I wasn’t there alone.”
Rob slowly pulled a sheet out of his leather folder, his gaze on Jen. He flicked on his recorder.
“I wasn’t the only one out there.” How could she have forgotten such an important detail? She sat on the edge of her seat, her heart racing.
Rob held up a page for her to read. “According to this, there was nobody else registered that weekend. Day use or otherwise.”
She scratched her hands through her hair, tightened her ponytail and huffed out a breath. There had been a truck. She was sure she wasn’t mixing up memories. “When I fell down the last bit of the hill into the parking lot, I distinctly recall looking around for observers.”
“You never mentioned this before.”
“Well, it’s a little embarrassing, and I didn’t think falling into the parking lot was exactly vital information.”
“You were to share every detail of your trip in the woods.”
“Did you want to hear about my latrine visits as well?” She crossed her arms.
Rob’s eyes twinkled with mirth.
“That person could have started the fire,” she pointed out.
“Was the truck there when you arrived at the park on Friday night?” he asked, a slight smile still tugging at his lips.
Jen scrunched her eyes, trying to picture the parking lot when she’d arrived. “I don’t think so.” She would have been on the lookout for other campers and hikers if it had been. “No, it wasn’t. But why should I go through hell if there’s another suspect? Just because I was a good citizen and registered, it doesn’t mean I should be the fall guy.” Jen stood up before realizing there really wasn’t room in the small space to make her point physically. “You need to look for this other guy.”
Rob crossed his arms and leaned back, his eyes on her healing knees. “Tell me more about this truck.”
Jen shrugged and tossed her hands in the air, sitting again. “It was old. Rusted. Parked near the far end of the lot.”
Rob, eyebrow quirked, patiently wrote down her details.
“So? Are you going to look for it?” she asked. “Do you believe me?”
“I’m not questioning the validity of it. The problem is that we don’t have many details to go on. It could have been anyone. Or nobody.” He paused to drill his gray-blue gaze into her. “You are still the only suspect and someone who has admitted to lighting a fire in the park. Parking in the parking lot is not a crime and doesn’t necessarily mean the driver entered the woods. I’ll find out what I can, but I’m going to need more to go on. Have you shared this with Scott already?”
She shook her head.
Rob stood to leave, collecting his belongings.
“I’m not sure if Scott’s already asked you not to leave town?” He shot her a questioning glance.
Jen wrapped her arms around herself. “He hasn’t.”
“Well, please check in with Scott if you need to leave town for any reason, including any evacuation orders. We may have more questions.”
As she followed him out of the staffroom, she just about slammed into his back when he paused by the canoes.
“I am getting back into canoeing,” he said, turning to her. “I don’t have a canoe, but I’m curious what they’re worth.”
Blindly, she stared up at him as the silence between them grew. Canoe? Her life was on the line and he wanted to go shopping?
“In fact,” said Rob, “I’m taking your canoe excursion in two weeks.” He looked at her, a hint of a smile playing at his lips as he waited for her reaction.
Fuuuuuuck.
She knew she’d known his name from somewhere. Rob Raine. Age twenty-eight. Lifejacket, size large. No known allergies. Canoeing ability: not beginner. Rob Raine who just broke up with his girlfriend, Cindy. The guy she’d convinced to come along anyway.
Rob Raine. The chocolate drizzle on the cherry on the icing on the cake that had been her crapola week.
* * *
Brew Babies was dark and quiet. Just what Jen needed after her hellish day. That and this nice big, cold Cuba Libre sweating in its cold glass. She took another sip, trying to make the rum drink last so she wouldn’t find herself drunk and doing something stupid. Such as trying to put out the forest fire all by herself. She could probably fly a plane in the dark, right? Just dump an ass load of water on the flames and voila. Job done.
She took a long gulp of her drink, the lime mixing with the sweetness of Coke. Mmm.
Mandy, smelling of fresh baked bread and looking exhausted, slipped onto the stool beside her. She ordered a Coke with a double shot of spiced whiskey from Moe and rubbed her eyes.
“Long day?” Jen asked.
Mandy nodded and kneaded her right shoulder. “I’ve been sending picnic lunches out with evacuees.”
“I’ll help. What do you need? Money? Sandwich makers? Someone to get more supplies from the city?”
“You can’t leave town,” Mandy reminded her.
“Um, nobody’s actually given me the official word on that.” Jen hunched over her drink, tugging the hem of her shirt.
“What did I miss?” asked Amber, a long-time friend of Mandy’s. She slid onto the stool on the other side of Jen. “Other than the fact that the jukebox is broken. How long has it been like that?” She no
dded to Moe who poured her a shot of vanilla vodka, and placed it in front of her. “Thanks.”
“About a year,” Moe said, heading down the bar to empty a dishwasher full of beer steins.
Jen rested her head in her hand. How had things in her life gone from bad to worse so quickly? Was it something she’d done in a past life?
“So?” Amber said. “I guess I really didn’t miss too much being away for a few years, huh?” Amber had been living in the nearby city, Dakota, for the past few years until her newscaster boyfriend, Russell, had decided to take a sabbatical, moving himself and Amber to Blueberry Springs so he could write a few books and live the quiet life for a while. Although, Jen secretly figured it was more of a case of him enjoying being shacked up with Amber who was wild, fun, and free in ways she could never be.
“Where’s Russell?” Jen asked.
“Spending a few days in the city. He’s shopping his book around to publishers.”
Mandy leaned across Jen to address Amber. “The fire inspector is on Jen’s overnight canoe trip. And he interrogated her this afternoon. Oh, and your uncle—Judge Radcliff—is still a big, fat jerk face.”
Amber nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“What am I gonna do?” Jen asked, her head still in her hand.
Mandy shrugged, sending her glossy, straight hair cascading onto her back.
“Wait! This is perfect!” Amber clapped her hands and gave a fist pump. “You can nail him in the bush.” She batted her dark, kohled eyes, rolled a shoulder seductively and murmured, “Woo him. Then blackmail him.”
Jen frowned at Amber. “Blackmail him? Him being Rob?”
Mandy laughed. “Amber, this is real life. She’s not going to get down and dirty with him in the woods.”
“Fine. At her place then. Less likely to get poison ivy on the ol’ hoo-ha.”
Jen choked on her drink.
“You think it wouldn’t work? It could totally work. When was the last time anyone gave you the big O? A nicely built man such as our fine Mr. Fresh as Rain is guaranteed to move you in ways you’ve never been moved.”
Jen felt her face heat with embarrassment. It was as though Amber could peer into her mind and see the effect he’d had on her from the word go. Or, in her case, the words, ‘It’s all right’ followed with the unsaid declaration of, ‘I’m here to make your life a living hell. Welcome aboard.’
“I don’t have wooing skills, and I have no interest in blackmailing Rob,” Jen said. “If I were to have sex with…never mind. I can’t believe I’m even dignifying this with reasons why it wouldn’t work.”
“Who said anything about sex?” Amber held her fist up to her cheek and poked her tongue in her opposite cheek as if she was giving a guy head.
Mandy smacked Amber’s hand away. “This is Jen we’re talking about. We can’t even get the girl to go on a date.”
“I go on dates.”
“Yeah, and both times you looked like you were being tortured,” Amber said. “Dating you should come with a warning.” She gave Jen a contemplative look. “You know, if you’d gone on that double date with Russell and I you wouldn’t have gone camping and now you wouldn’t be—”
“I know,” Jen snapped. Even in her current predicament she wasn’t sure she’d choose Amber’s handsy smoke jumper over the ill-fated camping trip. That man had more wandering hands than an octopus playing pin the tail on the donkey. Going to a drive-in with him would ensure she’d do more slapping than if she’d walked into a mosquito breeding swamp after a rain.
“You’re tense,” Amber said.
“Of course she’s tense!” Mandy cried. “Her life fell in the crapper and everyone’s taking turns flushing.”
“Then we need to get you liquored up and get something hard between your legs,” Amber said. A twinkle in her eyes, she ordered another round for Jen. “It’s nature’s best stress release.”
“Amber!” Mandy scolded, giggling.
“What?” Amber asked with an air of innocence.
Jen rolled her eyes and tried to shake off the conversation. “You make it sound so…”
“What? Suddenly you want happily ever after?” Amber frowned. “When was your last date?” She cast a sly glance toward Moe as he brought Jen’s drink, an urgency in his steps as though he was needing to escape. “Moe, honey, when was the last time you got some?”
He shot her a look and continued on.
Jen shook her head and spun off her stool. “Nobody’d want me and I’m not looking. I’ve got to get home. Thanks for the drink.”
“You didn’t touch it!”
Jen spun back to the bar and downed the second Cuba Libre.
“We’re still going to get you banged so good you’ll forget your own name!” Amber called out as Jen headed to the door.
“Yeah, maybe if I don’t burn the place down first.” Jen swung out the door and slammed into a solid form.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” said the deep voice.
Jen sucked in a breath. Oh, triple fudge brownies. “Rob,” she said in a shaky voice. “H-h-hi.”
“You big, horny pyromaniac!” Amber laughed. “Found someone hard already?” She came to the door and sized up Rob. “Hot stuff, you’d burn the place down all on your own. Come have a drink. Jen’s got time.”
Mandy made furious slicing motions with her arms, which Amber studiously ignored as she tried to pull Jen and Rob into the dimly lit bar. Jen backed away from Rob who was giving her a curious look.
“I’m actually on my way to an appointment,” Rob said politely, taking a step further down the sidewalk.
“This late at night?” Amber asked.
Rob shifted his leather folder to his other arm, shot the girls a smile, his gaze lingering slightly longer on Jen. Or had she just imagined that?
Why the hell did this man, of all the men traipsing through Blueberry Springs, have to be the one who turned her into a shaky mess? And why did Amber have to call her a pyromaniac within earshot? That girl was going to get her put behind bars.
“Oooh. He’s cute,” Amber cooed as she returned to the quiet bar without Rob. “Not as cute as my Russell, of course. Mmm, he’s one good man between the sheets. Glad I found him. But this guy?” She narrowed her eyes in a way that suggested she was undressing Rob in her memory. “Yes, he’s going to be good. Keep him in your sights.”
“He’s the fire inspector,” Jen said quietly.
Amber clapped her hands in glee. “Oh, my God. You have to do him now! It’s destiny!”
Jen rolled her eyes and returned to her still-warm stool. How long did she need to hide out before it would be safe to leave? Five minutes? An hour? A year?
Mandy, head buried in her phone, muttered, “Man, I just got Mother’s Day taken care of, Father’s Day sorted, a gift for Cynthia’s baby shower, and now I’ve got to get my dad something for his birthday. Does it ever end?”
The girls lined up at the bar, sipping their drinks.
“Thanks for signing him up for the Father’s Day hike, by the way,” Jen told Mandy, her drink at her lips. “Let’s hope there’ll still be a forest by then.”
The way her friends supported her outings was a strange feeling. One she hadn’t yet sorted out. It caught her off guard, especially when she was in the middle of failing, flailing and generally being completely doomed. She’d learned long ago that people who seemed interested in you always wanted something in the end. So what did they want?
“And he’s so damn hard to buy for. Any birthday gift ideas?” Mandy asked.
Amber shrugged, her shoulders hunched up by her ears. “Buying gifts is like trying to name a rabbit.”
“How is that the same?” Mandy asked.
“It isn’t.”
“Then why’d you say it?”
“Because I say stuff.”
Mandy rolled her eyes and smiled. She asked Jen, “What did you get your dad for his birthday?”
Jen shrugged.
&nbs
p; “You’re as bad as I am.” Amber laughed. “I can’t remember. I gave my mom the same thing two years in a row for Christmas. She noticed.”
“I’m thinking I should give him a gift certificate to the hardware store,” Mandy said.
“Too impersonal,” Amber said, wrinkling her nose.
“But it’s useful and I don’t know what he needs.”
“Get him a tie.”
Mandy frowned.
“What do you think?” Amber asked, turning to Jen. “Gift card or tie?”
“I’m not choosing sides,” Jen muttered into her glass, wishing she could disappear.
“Why the glum look?” Amber asked. “Is your dad dead or something?” Amber paused, her voice low and worried. “I’ve never heard you mention him. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“He’s not dead. I mean, I don’t think he is.”
“What do you mean, you think? When was the last time you talked to him?”
Jen paused as though she had to count it out. “About three years ago.”
“Three years!” Amber pushed herself back on her stool, her face blank with shock. “Three years? Is he in jail?”
Jen shrugged and grabbed a handful of nuts out of the bowl on the bar. “I don’t think so.”
“There it is again. ‘Think so.’ ”
“Did you have a falling out?” Mandy asked.
“You could say that.” Jen checked her watch. “I should go.”
Amber placed a hand on her arm. “Oh, no. You don’t drop a bomb like that and then take off.”
“What’s done is done.” Jen dusted her hands and gave a brisk nod. There was no point in talking about something that would sound juvenile to others. Even if the pain was just as great as it had been all those years ago.
“What does your mom think about all of this? Are they separated?” Amber frowned. “I can’t believe I don’t know anything about your family.” She shot Mandy another look as if to ask how Blueberry Springs could possibly not know everything from Jen’s past.