October Twilight (A Year in Paradise Book 10)

by Hildred Billings

  “We never did that!” Sally would appreciate it if her wife didn’t go around spreading rumors like that. Especially since we came from a movie theater… “I don’t know what you see when you go around tapping on car windows on the weekends…”

  “You don’t know, and you don’t wanna know.”

  “Right! So why are you putting it in my head when you could be putting other things in other places?”

  “Next, you’re gonna start talking to me about your kegels again.”

  “When you have four kids, you think about your kegels a lot more than ever before.”

  “You know what rhymes with that?”

  Sally was almost afraid to ask. “What?”

  Candace’s grin told her that she should have been afraid. “Pelvic floor.”

  How had Sally ended up with such a silly woman for her wife? Did it go both ways? Were they a match made in Heaven? Was it easy to forget everything that frustrated Sally when she was in the arms of her wife like this? Sharing a kiss like this?

  Forgetting her woes like this?

  Sometimes, she wondered how this happened. Maybe not this moment, exactly, but certainly this life she had cultivated with Candace. I can still remember the day we met, but I don’t know how we ended up married with four kids. Like most young women who came to Paradise Valley, Sally had been from a nearby rural Oregon town who decided to find love in the only place built for people like her. Back then, Candace was far from training for her career move into law enforcement. She was barely the head lunch lady at the high school cafeteria. Sally didn’t have kids that age now, and she definitely didn’t have them back then. No, no, they met in the unlikeliest of places…

  The bank. We were both standing in line at the bank. Only one window was open on a day when most people got paid. The line stretched out the door. Sally stood in front of Candace, her check from the restaurant she worked at – now closed, unfortunately – pressed against her chest. Candace had become so bored that she struck up a conversation with Sally. Next thing Sally knew, here they were, making out like dumb kids in the back of the family car.

  She’s hotter now. That’s all there is to it.

  The wonderful thing about Candace, aside from her drive to provide for her family, was that she always made Sally feel like the sexiest girl in town. That had been true back when they started dating, and that somehow lived to the present day. Sally had been no stranger to physical changes, either. If it wasn’t mere aging, it was the four kids and the strain they put on her after they were born. Pregnancy? Easy. Childbirth? Over before she knew it. Screaming, the diaper changing, and the errand running that they made her do? That’s what made her snore well into the night and feel like a zombie the next day. It’s only going to get harder. Tucker would be a teenager before she knew it. He’d start his rebellious phase. He’d question his paternity, since it would finally dawn on him that two women didn’t make a baby like him. He might resent the younger siblings he was asked to watch. He’d have friends that worried Sally, and girlfriends whose parents drove her nuts. It hasn’t happened yet, and I’m already exhausted.

  But Candace never treated her wife like she was undesirable. If anything, Candace’s appetites remained exactly the same. It was Sally who became more tired, more worried, and more convinced that there was no point to making love when the kids were only a shout away. How many times had they been interrupted because a baby started crying or they heard someone sneaking downstairs to the kitchen?

  Can’t get interrupted here…

  Sally kissed her wife so hard that the car started rocking. They both knew what that meant.

  ***

  They found Christina half-asleep on the couch, the TV playing endless Adventure Time reruns.

  Candace woke up the babysitter while Sally found the rest of Christina’s payment. She informed the Greenhills that Gage had put up a bit of a fight about going to bed, but last she checked, he and his sister were both snoozing in their room. Sure enough, when Sally went to peek, she caught Gage with his covers tossed off and his pajamaed-legs hanging over the side of the bed. He had his arm thrown over his face and grumbled when the hallway light entered the twins’ room.

  “Everybody’s asleep, huh?” Candace sat down at the kitchen table, a can of cider in her hand. Only when she approached did Sally realize that another was saved for her. “Does that mean we get a little quiet before going to bed? We’re not often up this late…”

  Sally took a swig of her cider and said the most brazen thing she had thought of since the back of her car. “We should probably take a shower. Wash up before bed. God only knows what I touched when we were…” she lowered her voice. “Well, you know.”

  “Besides, ain’t it my turn to take off some of my clothes?”

  “You make it sound like I was naked in the car…”

  “Hey,” Candace said with a waggle of her eyebrows, “you were naked in my mind.”

  Sally had another drink before returning the can to the fridge. “Why not come up and see all your fantasies come true?”

  With any damn luck, their kids would be so fast asleep that they wouldn’t think about interrupting them.

  Chapter 12

  CANDACE

  The thing that shocked Candace the most Monday morning wasn’t finding Sheriff Peterson in the office, when he usually spent every other Monday in another town. Oh, no, what shocked her was the small escort a young man named Dillon Musgrave had. An escort that included his mother and another deputy.

  “To what do I owe this great pleasure?” Candace put down her homemade coffee on her desk. There was no reason for this kind of assembly unless she was involved as well. “This looks like a surprise party, and last I checked, my birthday ain’t until March.”

  Peterson rose from his desk, the one unceremoniously pushed up against hers. That desk was blissfully empty for at least half the week. Today, however, it was surrounded by civilians and uniformed personnel alike. “I know this is pretty last minute, Deputy, but one of your greatest wishes is about to come true. Mr. Musgrave is all ours for interrogation.”

  Candace’s mouth dropped. Had this prospect crossed her mind? Sure! Did she think it was gonna actually happen? No! Because someone would have called her that weekend and informed her that an interrogation was on the docket for early Monday morning.

  Sorry. It’s officially a questioning now.

  “Is he offering himself up willingly?”

  Mrs. Musgrave butted in on her son’s behalf. “As his mother, I want to make it clear that we’re here to help clear my son’s name of further wrongdoing. Our lawyer will be here shortly. I have it on the sheriff’s authority that…”

  “Yes, yes, all protocol will be followed,” Peterson said. “Young Mr. Musgrave is under no onus to speak until we get into the interview room, and then, it’s at his lawyer’s discretion. We’re… well, why don’t you freshen up your coffee, Deputy? We’ll have a chat in the other room.”

  Candace wasn’t asked about her weekend. Nor was she allowed any time to get caught up on the minutiae from the weekend. There were too many people filing through the door, from lawyers in business suits to other uniformed officers. It was a mini reunion for the county sheriff’s department, but Candace didn’t get to shoot the breeze over coffee or ask some questions that had been burning in her ever since she filed the last weekly police report with the city newspaper. Everyone was there for one reason, and as soon as business was concluded, they were heading back out to their posts again.

  One of the lawyers was the county DA from the seat. He had a private conversation with Peterson before motioning for Candace to join him in the other room.

  Nothing was out of the ordinary. A refresher about what was and wasn’t legally allowed with a minor, as well as any deals that might be on the table. Unsurprisingly, the DA was prepared to charge Dillon Musgrave as a minor and reduce his charges if he turned over any useful information about his supposed accomplices. That was the who
le reason they were here. Dillon still thought he had something worth hiding, but as soon as his mother heard that deal, she dragged him in by the scuff of his neck.

  Candace cracked her knuckles and announced she would be ready as soon as she grabbed some more coffee and prepared the recording equipment. She still wasn’t the best at figuring out the tech, but at least she wasn’t Peterson, who once blew out a wall socket finagling with a device.

  Their only interview room felt much smaller with four people in there. It would have been five, but Peterson cited mild claustrophobia as his excuse for joining the DA on the other side of the window. It was Candace vs. Dillon and his guardians, which included his mother and the attorney the deputy had never met before. He must have been from the city – which meant he not only knew a few laws, but was prepared to charge for his knowledge.

  Since the Musgraves were undoubtedly being charged by the hour for this privilege, Candace would do them a favor and get going.

  “How ya doin’, Dillon?” She leaned back in her seat, pen thumping against her legal pad. The notes were for her own benefit, in case she was called back to testify later. The AV equipment would do well enough recording the exchange. “Bet you’re enjoying all this time off from school. How long has it been, huh? Almost a month since you’ve been under house arrest?”

  “He’s no truant,” Mrs. Musgrave said. “We have him doing alternative education over the internet to keep him on track to graduate. Supervised, of course. It was arranged through the DA’s office.”

  Candace didn’t give a flying crap if Dillon were suddenly a new Einstein with his home studies or had spent every day of his house arrest staring at his ceiling. “I’d prefer to hear what he’s been up to from his own mouth, if you don’t mind, Mrs. Musgrave.”

  Dillon, who kept his chin pointed toward the table and his eyes downcast into his lap, slightly turned his head to the side and snorted. “Nothing. Hanging out and reading, when my mom’s not making me do math sheets.”

  “Must be real lonely having all your electronics taken away from you, huh? Can’t talk to any of your friends from school… or online.”

  “They’re all punks, anyway.”

  “Dillon,” the attorney said. “Remember what I said about the language you use?” He looked to Candace and said, “What my client means to say is that his friends have not been forthcoming with wanting to visit.”

  “He’s not allowed visitors, anyway,” Mrs. Musgrave cut in. “He’s grounded on top of being under house arrest. No friends.”

  “They ain’t coming around, anyway.”

  “You’ve got your cousin to talk to, right?” Candace asked.

  “Who? Carrie? Are you kidding me? I’d rather talk to the dirt on my shoe! She’s a nark!”

  Candace chuckled. “I’d nark on you too if you lit the barn I was in on fire.”

  “I told you all, I had no idea anybody was in there!”

  Dillon was halfway across the table, hand slapping against metal and spit flying toward Candace’s face. She didn’t flinch. I’m not afraid of no kid. Especially no kid with his mom right behind him. Never mind the sheriff behind Candace.

  Even so, the family attorney pulled him back into his seat and whispered something to both him and his mother. Mrs. Musgrave nudged her son, who muttered an apology.

  “I know the events, don’t you worry. Besides, your cousin Carrie corroborates that you probably didn’t know that she and Leigh-Ann Hardy were in that barn when you lit it up with Christina Rath.”

  “Told you, Christina didn’t do nothin’.”

  The lawyer interrupted. “My client merely wished to show off for his new girlfriend. We’ve already cleared Ms. Rath’s name, so let’s carry on.”

  “Right. I’m not really interested in Christina,” Candace said with a lackadaisical shrug. “I’m interested in your other friends. Maybe your online friends. The ones you say have a vested interest in making things go up in smoke around here. So far, you’ve been reaaaallly quiet about any of your firebug buddies. Now, you can’t go dangling that juicy information in front of our faces and then snatch it away. Really good way for you to make some of your friends in the sheriff’s office none too happy and willing to help you. The whole reason we’re here is because we have come to an agreement, from what I understand.”

  The lawyer lowered his head toward Dillon’s again. “Remember, the whole deal falls through if you don’t give them something they can work with. It’s not about being a nark, Dillon. This is way more serious than what any of those people can do to you.”

  He shared a look with Candace before sitting up. “Best listen to your lawyer,” she said. “What’s got you so scared about turning them over, anyway? Are they in a gang?”

  “No,” Dillon muttered.

  “Have they threatened you?”

  He was silent.

  “All right, how about this?” Candace leaned back in her seat, the chair creaking with every heavy movement. “Have you ever met any of them in real life? Or only over the internet?”

  After more prodding from his mother, Dillon finally said, “I’ve never met anyone else into it in real life. They’re careful about that.”

  “Yet you say you’re only responsible for a couple of the fires, not all of them. That tells me they’ve been around town. How do you know they take credit for them, if you’ve never met them or weren’t there?”

  “’Cause they said so online.”

  “Did they provide any evidence, such as pictures or videos?”

  “Yeah…”

  The lawyer motioned for Mrs. Musgrave to hand him something. With a small jerk of her shoulders, she reached into her purse and pulled out a small smartphone with a black and neon green case. It had Dillon’s name all over it.

  “Here is one of the videos we’ve already sent the DA’s office,” the Musgraves’ attorney said. The phone was soon in front of Candace’s face. She pressed play on a video. Sure enough, it was one of the first barn fires of that past summer season.

  The DA tapped on the window. He motioned that the video wasn’t worth Candace’s time.

  “Right. Thank you for this.” She placed it face down on the table and refocused her attentions on Dillon. “If what you say is true, it shouldn’t be too hard for you to give us some information to identify the other culprits.”

  At first, she wasn’t sure he was going to say anything. His line of sight made a sharp turn from Candace’s face to the far corner of the room. The only sound was the hum of the air conditioner as it churned recycled air back into their faces. The phone remained overturned on the table, taunting Candace with promises that she could identify somebody’s voice on the video, which had undoubtedly already been torn apart by county forensics.

  “You’re never gonna catch ‘em all,” Dillon said with a deep, disgusted voice. “The network’s too big, all right? There are hundreds of people in the group in this state alone. I don’t know how many more in Washington. Maybe they got some in California, too. What, you want me to rat them all out? You want me to put that kind of target on my back? Today, it’s some abandoned barn nobody cares about. Tomorrow, it’s my house.”

  Mrs. Musgrave gasped. “I don’t know anything about this,” she insisted.

  “That’s the whole thing about a surprise retaliatory attack, Mom,” Dillon said with a snort. “You’re not supposed to know anything!”

  “Where is this network?” Candace asked. “Is it online? Some kind of group? Forum? Facebook?”

  “Forums? Facebook?” Dillon was nearly in stitches by the time he got his act back together. “How old are you, anyway? Nobody goes on those anymore!”

  Candace folded her hands over her legal pad and leveled her gaze on the boy acting the tough sport in front of her. “Dillon,” she said, “this is it. This is your chance to avoid the kind of crippling, criminal punishment that could affect the rest of your known life. If you want a chance at any kind of future, you’ll help us figure out who is
terrorizing our town. You’re already going down for some of the fires. The least you could do is bring the others down with you.”

  He was silent again, studying the lines crossing Candace’s aging face. Youths always love to remember how young they are. They act like they’re not gonna be sitting here in my spot in another few years. Those years would go by so quickly that they wouldn’t know what happened. Nobody did.

  Finally, Dillon spoke.

  “They’re everywhere,” he said. “Take a look outside, and you’ll count the number of kids getting off on this stuff.”

  If his goal was to unsettle her… well, she hated to admit it, but for the briefest second…

  She was a bit unsettled.

  Chapter 13

  SALLY

  Tucker waited until the last minute to tell his mother what he wanted to be for Halloween. When the words “vampire police officer” came out of his mouth, Sally tilted her head, as if expecting him to follow that up with an explanation.

  The boy was in third grade. What other explanation was necessary?

  She knew where his desire to be a police officer came from. This was a boy who looked up to Candace with awe on his face. Like most boys his age (and younger,) Tucker was fascinated with uniformed personnel, from the police down at his other mother’s station, to the firefighters taking out a blaze two blocks away. On Veteran’s day, a few of the old combat vets got out their uniforms and held meetings down at the American Legion Hall before going to get a late lunch at Heaven’s Café. Tucker was always the first one with his face pressed against the glass and asking the vets questions about their uniforms and what it was like being in the Navy. Or the Army. Were there any Marines in the house?

  The thing that confused him the most wasn’t how Candace became a deputy when he was still a baby. No, what confused Tucker Greenhill more than anything was how Candace wasn’t a vet, too. Most of the other law enforcement officers had stints in the Army and Air Force. How did Candace claim her “combat” experiences in “high school lunchrooms?”