He asked so many detailed questions that the receipts took over thirty minutes to log and then move on to counting the cash.
Ralph rearranged bills so they all faced the same way. “Want me to drop this in the night deposit on my way home?”
“Sure, that’d be great,” she replied, but her attention was diverted as she noticed the crowd moving rapidly toward the house. They seemed agitated and upset, which was odd.
“What’s going on?” she muttered.
“Fire in the back of the house,” a man in their midst called out.
Emily jerked her head around to see flames shooting from a third-floor window. Her bedroom window! Dark smoke billowed from the nearby bedroom.
Birdie.
Emily was vaguely aware of a scream. A wild, air-rending noise.
Had it come from her?
Maybe. She didn’t care.
She shoved the cash box at Ralph and ran.
All she cared about was getting inside the house to save Birdie.
FIVE
Archer caught sight of flames greedily licking at an upstairs window, seeking air and fuel to burn brighter.
Emily. Where’s Emily?
He shot a look at the food table where he’d seen her just minutes before counting money with Ralph Inman. Ralph sat alone, staring up at the fire.
Archer ran his gaze over the crowd. Caught sight of Emily racing toward the front door of the house.
“Call 911,” Archer commanded the woman next to him and took off running.
“Emily, no!” he shouted, but she either didn’t hear him or chose not to listen.
He grabbed one of the Bridal Veil T-shirts they were selling, powered toward the house and offered a prayer for help and guidance.
Inside, he paused to listen and assess. The foyer was filled with a light cloud of smoke, but no fire. He heard Emily’s footfalls on the stairs to the third floor. She was heading up to the fire. Maybe to Birdie. He started after her, tying the T-shirt over his nose and mouth.
As he climbed, smoke swirled around his body like a living, breathing thing. The color darkened as he climbed higher, and when he hit the top floor, he heard a woman coughing. It didn’t take him long to see that the blaze had flared up in Emily’s room.
“Emily, call out!” he yelled.
“In here,” her voice came from her bedroom.
He ran down the hall and found her trying to lift Birdie from the floor, but she wasn’t making any progress. Birdie’s breathing was labored and low, but she was conscious. Flames spread across the far wall and smoke billowed from an antique sofa, which Archer suspected was the fire’s point of origin.
“Step back,” he commanded.
“No, Birdie’s my responsibility. I’ll do it.” Emily started coughing and doubled over as the spasm racked her body.
There was no way she could move Birdie, and yet, she was a fierce protector and wouldn’t leave her aunt. He admired this trait, but she would only succeed in killing them both.
His lungs were starting to burn from the smoke, but he ignored the pain and intense desire to get fresh air. He hurried to Emily, moved her out of the way and lifted her aunt into a firefighter’s hold over his shoulder.
“Go, now!” he shouted at Emily, who was staring up at him, but not moving.
“I...”
He rounded the bed and grabbed her by the wrist, directing her into the hallway. “Pull your shirt up and cover your mouth. Try to stay as low as you can.”
As he stepped to the door, water sprinkled from the open window. The fire department couldn’t have arrived yet so the people downstairs must have deployed a garden hose.
Please, Lord, let it be enough water to calm this fire.
As they descended the steps, the air became easier to breathe, but his lungs were still raw with pain. His throat was dry, his eyes stinging. Emily kept looking back, slowing them down, and keeping Birdie from needed oxygen. He pushed past Emily and hoped she followed. If she had the strength. If she didn’t, he’d settle Birdie outside and come back for Emily.
He hit the main level and looked back one last time before racing out the door. Emily’s eyes went wide, and she crumpled to the floor. Archer’s heart stuttered, and yet, he couldn’t help her now.
He burst onto the porch and down the steps, nearly running over a burly man in bib overalls. Archer ripped the T-shirt from his mouth and gulped deep breaths of air.
“What can I do?” the man asked, his focus on Birdie. “I know CPR if that helps.”
Archer didn’t think twice but handed Birdie over to him. “She’s breathing and shouldn’t need CPR, but help her any way you can. I’m going back in for Emily.”
He charged up the steps to the foyer. Found Emily crawling toward the door. She batted her eyes, and her breathing was labored.
Fear roiled through him as he scooped her up and barreled out the door.
Please, Father, please. Emily. Birdie. Let them both be okay.
Emily continued to battle watery eyes and struggled to breathe. She coughed, then gasped and coughed some more. Despite her pain, he remained optimistic. She hadn’t lost consciousness and could breathe on her own. That was a good sign.
“Birdie,” Emily finally eked out. “Take me to her. Please...I need to see her.”
He thought to argue in case Birdie had taken a turn for the worse, but Emily would fight him off and worsen her own health in the process. He scanned the crowd and saw the man in the overalls kneeling in the grass by the bouncy house where Birdie lay.
“I see her,” Archer said and started his way through the crowd.
Emily’s coughing fits eased and her breathing improved, but her body remained limp and she made no move to get free.
As the crowd parted, Archer saw another man kneeling next to Birdie, and he seemed to be assessing Birdie’s condition. She wore an oxygen mask and Archer followed the line to a mobility cart where an older man sat, his breathing labored.
The man in overalls stood. “Doc’s tending to her. Said the oxygen is working and she’ll be okay.”
Emily squirmed out of his hold and knelt by Birdie, whose eyes were closed.
“Birdie, it’s me, Emily. Open your eyes.”
Nothing. A guttural sound of pain came from Emily’s throat.
How many times in one day did this poor woman have to deal with potential death and loss?
Anger burned in Archer’s soul.
It’s not fair, Lord. She’s suffering. Help her, please.
Birdie’s eyes fluttered open, and Emily’s shoulders sagged. Archer wanted to follow suit, but he had to stay strong for her and for the crowd. Law enforcement officers were trained to take control and people expected that from them. If he lost his command presence here, people would panic and then he’d have chaos on top of everything else.
Plus, he needed to keep people from trampling a crime scene. Since it appeared as if the fire started in Emily’s room, he suspected it was another attack on her life and evidence would be crucial in proving that.
He turned his attention to the building. Two extension ladders leaned against the exterior, both occupied by men spraying water from a hose. Flames no longer framed the window, but plumes of smoke continued to billow into the night sky.
Sirens sounded, but they were still far off in the distance. Archer’s first response was relief, but then he saw people blocking the driveway and preventing access to the house.
He turned to the man in overalls. “I need you to station yourself at the house and keep everyone out of the building until the fire department takes over.”
“On it,” he said and lumbered toward the steps.
Archer turned his attention to the crowd. “Okay, folks, we need to clear the driveway.”
He started shooing them back, then once he had the driveway clear he stepped over to Emily. “Are you all right here if I go talk to the fire crew when they arrive?”
“Yes.”
She clutched his hand and peered up at him, relief pouring from her dark eyes. “Thank you, Archer. You saved us both again, and I’ll never forget it.”
Something stirred deep inside him, and he had the sudden desire to lift her in his arms. Hold her close. Just for a moment. Not for her sake, but for his. But the feelings were so foreign he didn’t know what it meant so he nodded and said, “Just doing my job.”
Her hand fell away, and she took a quick step back, her smile fading. He’d hurt her. How, he had no idea and now wasn’t the time to ask. “The medic should be here in a second to tend to you and Birdie.”
“I don’t need any help.” She cleared her throat, belying her statement.
“They’ll need to check you out for smoke inhalation.”
“I’m fine.”
Of course, she’d say that. Miss in control, I can do it all myself and don’t need anyone. No wonder she went into accounting. A black-and-white profession. Nothing was gray and muddled. Cash in. Cash out.
He should know. Not about the accounting, but the control part. He did the same thing. He’d come from a wealthy family and had a generous trust fund. People wanted his money, and he couldn’t trust anyone’s motives. Anyone, except the squad, but even with them, he held back. But unlike Emily, he never claimed to have control. When he went against his parents’ wishes for how he lived his life and they’d disowned him, his inability to be in charge of the way they treated him, of everything in his life, became abundantly clear. Emily still fought that battle. Didn’t mean she should get her way. Not when it came to her health.
“If you won’t let the medics check you out because it’s the right thing to do,” he said, earning a raise of her eyebrows, “then do it for the medics. They’ll have a crazy amount of paperwork to fill out if you decline.”
She sighed and clamped her hands on her hips. “Fine. They can give me a checkup. But with this fire, I now have even more to do to keep this place running, so no matter what they say, I won’t be going to the ER.”
He wasn’t even going to try to argue. He admired her strength, but not when she took everything on herself like this. Okay, fine, he was guilty of that, too, but this was different. He didn’t want anything from her other than to help her.
Her gaze shifted to the house. “Just our luck to have a fire break out. Probably the old wiring. Or my fan.”
Archer had seen the fan in the window and it was still running so he doubted it caused the fire. And old electrical wiring wouldn’t spark off the middle of a sofa. “So you think this was an accident, then?”
“You don’t?”
He shrugged. Until he was certain of how the blaze started, he wasn’t going to share his suspicions and amp up her worry. He was far from an expert on fire and could totally be wrong.
She bit her lip. “It’s odd that Birdie was in my bedroom.”
The sirens wound nearer and he had to step closer to be heard. “Do you think she could have started the fire?”
Her forehead creased. “Not intentionally, but...yeah...if she was confused at the time, it’s entirely possible.”
“In the event this wasn’t an accident, you should prepare yourself to talk to the fire department’s investigator. If he finds something suspicious, a detective will be called in to investigate as well and the first people he’ll look at are you and Birdie.”
“But why?” She furrowed her brow in confusion. “We wouldn’t burn down the B and B. It’s our home and we want to see it succeed.”
“You do need money.”
“To keep the business running, and starting a fire wouldn’t accomplish that.”
“But they don’t know how badly you want to keep Birdie’s business afloat,” he reminded her. “What they’ll see at first is that you could take the insurance money and sell the land, which has got to be worth a pretty penny, then leave all of this behind you.”
Emily crossed her arms and planted her feet. “Birdie would never want to leave and I wouldn’t risk such a thing. If I was nuts enough to start a fire, I certainly wouldn’t do so with Birdie in the bedroom!”
“We both know that, but they don’t. So you just be prepared that they will look at the two of you.”
She faced the crowd and suddenly spun back. “Ralph. I was with Ralph for...oh...gosh... I don’t know. The last hour or so. He can vouch for me.”
“Good,” Archer replied, but didn’t add that an old family friend who might lie for her wasn’t an airtight alibi.
The fire truck’s light swirled into the darkness near the drive so he reminded Emily to let the medics check her out and then jogged toward the road. The rig bounced over the rutted road and when it reached Archer, he waved the vehicle into the drive, then ran after it.
As soon as the truck came to a stop, a firefighter jumped down and settled a white helmet on his head. Others who streamed out after him wore red helmets, setting the first guy apart and signaling he was in charge of the crew.
Archer saw the captain insignia on the helmet and introduced himself. “The fire started in a third-floor bedroom. Looks like the locals have contained it with hoses.”
He frowned. “Bonehead move. Fire can progress rapidly when not controlled properly. This can create unwanted ventilation and greater fire growth or it can result in a backdraft and the building can explode. Then these guys would be in a world of hurt. A building can be replaced but people can’t.”
Archer totally understood the man’s response. If a citizen tried to intervene in police matters, Archer wouldn’t appreciate it either. “Anything I can do to help, Captain...?”
“John Parker,” he replied quickly. “If you could take up crowd control that would free my men up to do their jobs.”
“Sure.”
“You’ll find yellow tape in the first rig if you need to block off the area.”
Archer nodded and stepped to the crowd, who had eased up to the truck for a better view. He ordered them to move back. Most people complied, but of course, there had to be a few guys who wouldn’t listen and he had to threaten an arrest before they obeyed his directive.
When he’d gotten everyone out of the way, he let his gaze travel over the crowd until it landed on Emily sitting on the ambulance bumper by Birdie, who lay on a stretcher.
Emily swiveled. Caught him watching her. Her sadness evaporated to be replaced with grim determination. She spoke to Birdie, then stood and crossed the lot toward him.
She stopped in front of him and looked up, her expression blank. “Have you learned anything new?”
“Have you been cleared by the medics?” he fired back.
She nodded.
“Cleared or you refused treatment?” Archer asked.
“Cleared.”
“And what about Birdie?”
“Birdie’s going to get a bit more oxygen and then we’re both good to go.” She lifted her chin and dared him to challenge her, but he’d argued with her enough about their health. If they wanted to stay here, and he saw them struggling in the least, he’d ask the team paramedic, Darcie Stevens, to come out and give them a quick checkup.
Emily clenched her hands at her sides and surveyed the area. “I can’t just stand around and watch all of this. There must be something I can do to help.”
A man stepped into the driveway, giving Archer an idea. “It would be helpful if you wandered through the crowd and took pictures of people. Plus, jotted down the names of as many of them as you know.”
“Why?” she asked, crinkling her forehead.
“If this fire was started on purpose, we’ll need to interview as many p
eople as possible, but we can’t ensure they’ll all stick around. A list and pictures will help us find those who go home.”
He paused and met her gaze. “Plus, arsonists are known to hang out at fires they’ve started, and if we’re diligent, you could capture the guy on your camera.”
SIX
Emily eased through the crowd, snapping pictures and listing the names of the people she recognized. Archer’s warning as she’d left him kept sounding in her head. If she spotted Stan Fannon she wasn’t to approach him, but head straight back to Archer. So far, she hadn’t seen him. She knew most of the people from growing up in Bridal Veil and couldn’t believe any of them would be behind the fire. But then, she’d never have believed Delmar would turn into a stark-raving-mad lunatic either.
Fortunately, the heat wave had broken and cool air swept over the crowd, who suddenly swiveled. She followed the direction of their gazes. Captain Parker stepped up to Archer, and she wasn’t about to miss their conversation. After all, he could be talking about the fire’s origin.
She pushed her way through the onlookers and marched up to the pair.
She was trembling inside from another senseless tragedy, but she made sure she appeared confident. “Is the fire out?”
Parker’s nod was swift as he opened his turnout coat. “We’re in the mopping-up phase now.” He faced Archer. “When I arrived, you seemed suspicious of the fire.”
Emily opened her mouth to speak, but Archer jumped in before she could say a word and he shared the afternoon’s events with Parker.
“If this is a case of arson,” he continued, “I suspect friends of Delmar Withrow are behind it.”
Emily honestly wasn’t ready to admit that someone other than Delmar wanted to kill her so she decided to focus on how the fire started and form her own opinion of what had happened tonight. “Did the fire start in my bedroom?”
Parker nodded, but said nothing more.
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