by Misty Simon
“It’s fine. I’ll wait while the two of you have your powwow, and then you can go back to talking about me when I’m gone.”
Sherman harrumphed. “You know the whole world does not revolve around you, man. Tallie and I are talking a different kind of business. I have that firebug running around and I need to find him. I know you’re working on it too, but neither of us are getting anywhere. Tallie always seems to have her ear to the ground, so I thought I’d ask for her help in finding out anything I possibly can to do my job.”
The implication there was that Burton wasn’t smart enough to do that. He caught it like a blow, rocking back a step. “You know, it’s actually my job, Sherman, but I hope she can help both of us. She’s helped a lot before, even without me asking. I’m sure she’ll do just fine with our arsonist.”
Now I was more confused than ever. He admitted I’d helped, was letting Sherman know he had chosen wisely, and yet I knew without a single doubt that if I told him I had questions about his methods with Hoagie’s pseudo-death right now, he’d shut me down faster than a vacuum that had gone haywire.
So I didn’t ask. I just sat there as Gina finally emerged from the back, her hair a little mussed and a huge smile on her face.
Jeremy tried to sneak out the side, but I caught him and called him over.
His sigh was big enough to blow a couple of napkins off the counter. “What, Tallie?”
“Hey, big brother, just wanted to see if we have anything going on tomorrow? Sherman has asked for my help, and I thought I’d see what the schedule is like.”
His look was skeptical, but I kept up the chatter just in case he was going to say something to contradict the good feelings I had going on, with compliments from both Sherman and Burton floating around my head.
“No, nothing new. Ronda should be released in a day or so, and then the real work will begin. With Max on board, I don’t think we’ll need you for anything but helping with the service or driving the hearse. I know how much you like driving that thing.”
I didn’t know if “like” was quite the right word, but the goodwill seemed to be flowing in the coffee shop, and I didn’t want to contradict him. “Sounds good. Just let me know when you need me.”
“Sure thing. See you later.” He looked back over his shoulder and gave a wave to his new fiancée. Was I ready for them to be married? I guess it was the wrong time to ask that question, considering it was already in the works.
Burton got his to-go cup and started to head out again with a brief wave and no further conversation. His shoulders drooped when he got to the door, and it took everything I had not to run after him.
But I wasn’t going to do that. Sherman cleared his throat to get my attention. “He’ll be fine.”
“No, I’m not sure this is one of those okay times.” I turned in my chair. “Burton, do you have a moment?”
He took his hand from the door knob but didn’t look at us.
“Come on. I just have a few questions, and this way I don’t have to find you later. We can get it all out of the way now, so you don’t have to deal with me twice in one day.”
A derisive chuckle was the only response I got for a moment, and then he came back to the table with a half-smile. “You know, it’s really not that bad to deal with you.”
“Three compliments from three men in an hour. I don’t know if I can handle this much goodwill. I know it’s Christmastime and everything, but my head might explode.”
Both he and Sherman laughed. The tension left Burton for just a second. It came right back, but at least there had been that blip in time.
“What do you need to know?” he asked. He took a sip of his coffee, and I was kind enough to wait for him to swallow it before I hit him with the big guns. I didn’t want him to spit it out on me.
“Why do Hoagie’s children think he’s dead when you and I know that’s not true?”
He sputtered anyway, but at least there was nothing in his mouth except the teeth he bared at me. “What did you say?”
“Does she really have to repeat herself, Burton? I’m thinking you heard the question the first time and are just buying time to figure out why you’d do that to a family who was already grieving their mother’s death.” Sherman sat back in his chair of judgment, while I leaned forward to be able to keep my voice down.
“Are you letting them think that, hoping Hoagie will come out of the woodwork if everyone thinks he’s dead?”
“Don’t give him excuses, girlie. Let him think up his own lie.”
“Sherman . . .” I looked at him with what I hoped was censure in my gaze.
“What?”
“Back down.”
“Fine, but I’m interested to hear what he’s come up with now that you gave him some extra time.”
Burton placed his cup on our table, then leaned forward with his hands planted firmly on either side of it. “First of all, I don’t need time to come up with a lie because I have no intention of lying.” Burton moved his cup on top of Sherman’s paperwork and pulled up another chair. He leaned in, and Sherman and I leaned in with him. “I didn’t tell anyone that Hoagie was dead. Who did you talk to?”
Could he really not know? “Caitlin. I went by the house today on official funeral home business, and she had outfits all picked out for her mother and her father. She’s convinced he’s dead. I didn’t correct her in the moment. I was afraid I’d set her off, and I wasn’t sure if it was a story she was telling herself to explain away his disappearance. It’s bad form to mess with the grieving until they’ve had a little time to face facts.”
“Interesting. You’re good at that, girlie.” Sherman smiled when I glared at him. He raised his hands as if in surrender. “I’m just saying, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, even if it’s often trying to find someone to roll it down the hill or carry it away, as the case may be.”
I rolled my eyes because I was not going to tell him my dad had said pretty much the same thing.
“Let’s get back to the point.” I turned my cup around and around, wishing it had answers I just couldn’t see yet. “Do all the kids think their father is dead? Caitlin was saying they’re already squabbling over the will, so they must.”
“I have no idea, but no one has said anything to me about this.”
“See, she always gets that insider info that no one else seems to get. She’s a whiz.”
“We don’t need to go that far. People just seem to think they can talk to me without repercussions.” I shook my head. “So, Burton, do you think one of them brought that body up from West Virginia? Were you able to look into that?”
“I put Matt on it, Tallie, but he hasn’t figured anything out yet. We don’t know what the connection is, or how someone found an almost duplicate of Hoagie. I’d really like to find the man myself and ask more than a few questions, but he’s either long gone or an expert at hiding.”
After pulling a pen from my bag, I made a quick note on a napkin. “Have you been able to talk with Nathan? Caitlin says he’s the one who inherits the store if Hoagie and Ronda die, but only if Ronda died first, because she was fighting Hoagie tooth and nail about it, according to the youngest, Chrissy.”
“But how does this all tie in?” Burton asked the question but seemed more to be talking to himself. Not for long, though. “What are your thoughts, Tallie?”
I didn’t even know what to say. I had so many, but they were all half-formed. “Did someone kill Ronda and then the kids thought it was a good time for Hoagie to go too? But that doesn’t make a ton of sense, because why would they kill him without getting the will changed first? Or did they kill Ronda too? But why? Something had to have happened to set all this in motion.”
“I don’t know either, and I’ve come to the same conclusions. We have to find Hoagie, the real one.” Burton’s face pulled into a tight frown.
“Agreed,” I said. “And Ronda’s killer. And the arsonist. Do you think they have anything to do with one another?”
That thought had just popped into my head, but I couldn’t see how it would make sense because the fires started before the Ronda thing.
“It would be a lot easier if they did, but the timing is off.” Burton stood. “I have to go see how Matt is doing with the info I gave him, and then I’m calling it a night for now. Let me know if you find anything, Tallie. Sherman, we’ll talk later about any ideas you have. No matter what you think of me, I’d never shut you out if you have information you think will help. I want this firebug caught just as much as you do, if not more.”
When Burton left, Uncle Sherman and I looked at each other.
“Do you think the two of you will ever get over your feud? It was a ton of years ago and she’s gone from both your lives,” I said.
He snorted. “It’s not just that. We’ve had animosity since we were little. He just rubs me wrong, and I do the same for him. But we can put that aside for the moment to do the right thing. Now, let’s look at what I brought you.”
“Hey, before we get into that, do you know how Hoagie is related to us?”
“Well . . .” Sherman looked at the hammered tin ceiling and rubbed his chin. “Isn’t he your uncle, or maybe he’s your dad’s uncle? Or your mom’s? I can’t keep track of everyone all the time. Our tree’s roots are about as deep as you can get around here, almost more than Gina’s, but don’t tell her mom that.”
I laughed. “It’ll be our secret.” Then I sobered up. “You know, the funny thing is that no one can seem to remember exactly how Hoagie is related. Even Mama Shirley went to her own genealogy, and he isn’t there. And when she tried to talk to one of the cousins, she didn’t know either. It’s like someone just started calling him uncle one day, and we all fell into line.”
“Hmmm. Well, whatever it is, it’s a done deal at the moment and I need you on this. Can I count on you to help me, Tallie?”
The difference between dealing with Burton and dealing with Sherman was immense. And yet I felt far more pressure to please my uncle than when I was defying Burton. Call me crazy, but I almost liked when I could surprise Burton with tidbits, instead of having someone depend on me to bring in the answers.
“Of course,” I said despite my reservations. “I’ll take the info and go over it with Max, if that’s okay. Maybe between the two of us, we’ll see something that is being missed.”
“I sure hope so.” He flipped the paperwork back over. “We’ve had five suspicious fires in four weeks and that’s four too many if someone is setting them instead of it just being the old knob and tube wiring that still exists in some of these houses.”
After that, we got down to business. Max came over about ten minutes into it and pulled up the chair Burton had put back when he’d left. Sherman went back over what we’d already covered. Basically, an accelerant was used in all five fires. Some kind of chemical that started the fire, along with matches or a lighter. There were no bombs, no fragments of something going off, just houses where no one happened to be home going up in flames. The damage was mainly interior, the charred insides black as night, but little damage on the outside of the buildings. So that meant that the fire was inside the house. And then a person—refusing to give a name, only the address where the fire was—called the fire station and then hung up.
Or that was what had happened at the beginning. Sherman was worried now about the business fire.
“Wow, Sherman, this is some nasty business if you think these are deliberate,” Max said.
“Yeah, you’re telling me. I don’t know what they’re after, because the fire cleanup guys have checked the contents of the house they’ve been able to save with each family, and nothing is missing that they can tell. So it’s not a burglary they’re trying to cover up. No one seems to have anything in common, like jobs, family, part of some civic organization with enemies. I tried all the triggers and nothing is popping.”
“Do the police have anything else?” I asked, flipping the pages over one by one while I skimmed the information.
“Not really, because as of yet, there’s not much to go on. No one has been hurt, and nothing has been stolen, so there’s not a lot to look at besides the actual fire.”
“That’s got to be frustrating.” Max took the pages I’d already looked over and scanned them himself. “We’ll see if we can find anything.”
“I’d appreciate it.” Sherman rose from his chair. “I gotta head out. Tell your mom I might be late to dinner tonight, but go on without me. I’m on call and it’s been a heck of a day since the last fire. Who knows when another will come up? They seem to be getting closer together, and I don’t like it. I don’t want that one fire where someone does get hurt to happen and we could have avoided it if I’d just looked closer.”
He shook Max’s hand and hugged me before walking out the front door. Gina swooped in on us as soon as the door closed behind him.
“What have you gotten yourself into now, Tallie?”
“Don’t you start.”
She had the gall to laugh. “I’m not going to reprimand you. I just want to know if it’s something I can help with. You guys all looked so serious. Then Burton lingered longer than he normally does, so I didn’t want to interrupt. Can I help?”
“Keep your ears open for anyone who might be setting fires.” I shrugged after that. “I don’t know what more we can do. And no matter what else is happening, I’m also listening for anything having to do with Ronda’s death and Hoagie’s disappearance. So this will just have to ride tandem.”
I hoped I hadn’t taken on more than I could handle.
Chapter Seventeen
Dinner tonight was different from Christmas. For one thing, it was only Grams, Dad, Mom, Max and me. Sherman had bowed out at the last second when a call had come into the station. It wasn’t a fire, so that was at least something, but he’d be working late again.
I spaced myself away from Grams by a few chairs and waited with anticipation for the meat loaf to be delivered to the table. We were on the snowflake plates again, but this felt less festive. My dad would need to go right after it was done to get back to work. A natural death had come yesterday and was on the table, Hoagie’s near twin was still in the basement, even though the funeral guy from West Virginia would probably want him back at some point if the widow returned to pay, and Ronda was there ready to be worked on. He’d have a lot of hours over the next few days. Max would be working next to him and getting an idea of what was entailed in being a funeral director.
I was still trying to wrap my head around that. Not the working with my dad part, but what he’d actually be doing.
As I sat still waiting for the meat loaf with my salivary glands doing three times their normal work, Dad was trying to talk him into going back to school to get the parts of a degree he’d need to have to prepare the bodies.
“The schooling’s not that bad, and you already have a lot of credits, so they should count toward anything you need in the general ed section.”
Max, to his credit, shook his head. “Let’s see if this works out first before we start getting me to the stage where I’m emptying people and filling them up with embalming fluid.”
Grams shook her head. “Is that truly appropriate conversation for the table? I’m pretty sure we can come up with some other topic that doesn’t involve disemboweling people.”
I snickered into my water glass as Dad frowned. “Now, Jane, we weren’t talking about the details, only that I’d like Max to consider being a full mortician.”
“And you might just want to consider yourself lucky he wants to learn to be a funeral director. Get him hooked on that first before you start pulling him into the darker side of what you do.” She sniffed. “Pass the green beans, please.”
Dad frowned and Mom just blushed.
“So, Grams, how is your visit going so far?” When she’d contacted my mother to let her know she would be gracing us with her presence, my mom was very clear that it was my job to step in to save her from her mom wheneve
r possible. And I’d been neglecting that job recently in my pursuit of all the weird things that had been happening with the death of Ronda and the disappearance of Hoagie. I hadn’t done one shopping excursion with them or a single lunch. Grams was still going to be here through the New Year, so it wasn’t like I didn’t have time, but I felt like I was falling down on the job at the moment.
“Well, between the death of Cousin Ronda and then the way Hoagie left this earth, I can’t say it’s been the best of times, but at least your mother has been attentive.”
“Oh, Tallie has been busy. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get together soon, and she was able to make both dinners, so that’s been appreciated. She also went to bingo, if you remember.”
And there was my mom jumping in to my defense. I wished she didn’t have to do that, but I’d take it at the moment, and I’d see her one chip to throw down on the table because I could change the subject in a heartbeat.
“Grams, how is Hoagie related to us?” I speared my fork into a nice-sized bite of meat loaf, dipped it in ketchup and shoved it in my mouth. I wasn’t going to tell her why I wanted to know unless she refused to answer without the information, but I found it easier to have my mouth full at the moment. That way I didn’t run off with reasons when I should just wait her out. Or try to find out why she also thought Hoagie was dead.
“Well, that’s an interesting question, Tallie. Why do you want to know?”
I chewed the rest of the way through the meltin-my-mouth meat loaf before answering. “Just making conversation.” I prayed my father wouldn’t look up from his plate to tell on me for my lie.
“Conversation. I don’t think so. Try again, young lady.”
I looked around the ceiling and then at all the knickknacks my mother had displayed in the dining room to come up with inspiration. Nothing came to me, though. I decided to stay as close to the truth as possible so I didn’t get into trouble with a lie that made no sense. But I didn’t get a chance.
