October Twilight (A Year in Paradise Book 10)

by Hildred Billings

  “PV City Hall,” the highlighted message said. “Eight thirty. Place should be clear as the security guard goes on break. It’s gonna be LIT.”

  “What in the world does this mean, Tuck?” Sally strapped her baby to her torso and held Gage’s hand. That didn’t give her much room for looking at her phone, but when Tucker looked at her like that, she was inclined to listen. “You involved with these people?”

  “No! Some kids at school were showing me. I’m scared, Mom. Are they really gonna light the city hall on fire?”

  How was Sally supposed to know? She barely knew what “lit” meant in this context. I have long accepted that I am no longer hip with youthful lingo, but this would be a good time to suddenly become fluent, huh? “You tell me! You’re the one wrapped up in this!”

  “I’m not, Mom! I only know about it!”

  “You’re only now saying something?”

  “I didn’t know that they… I didn’t want to be…”

  The boy’s bottom lip wibbled. Soon, the tears arrived, his whole body shuddering as he turned away from his mother and held himself to the bathroom wall.

  Great. He wasn’t going to be much help. Sally looked down at her phone again, scrolling through the conversation. Lots of abbreviations. Lots of acronyms. So much slang that she didn’t know if this was still English.

  But one thing was fairly clear. There were some kids in Paradise Valley talking about lighting the city hall on fire. If that wasn’t a red flag, Sally didn’t know what was!

  “All right, let’s go.” She shoved her phone in her purse, looped the strap over her shoulder, and grabbed Tucker. “Party is over. We’re going to get your other mom.”

  If there was ever a time for Candace to step up into her role? This was it! The time was now!

  Chapter 16

  CANDACE

  The worst thing about Halloween was not having the chance to join her family in their dress-up festivities. Yet Candace knew that would be a sacrifice when she started having kids. Missing out on one or two holidays a year is worth it for something like this. She still got Thanksgiving, Christmas, and most birthdays. She still got to see her kids in their Easter best running after eggs and chomping on chocolate bunnies. Aside from Halloween, the only holiday that really took her away from the family was Independence Day because, like Halloween, it was when a bunch of idiots ran amok.

  If there was one thing she was hired to do, it was keep those amok weirdos in check!

  “Tell me again, Sam,” she said to the middle-aged man in lockup. “Tell me how many drinks you’ve had.”

  “Oh, well…” Sam burped into his mitten. Even without the noxious gas in the air, Candace could smell the alcohol all over him. Literally. He spilled it all over himself when Peterson pulled him over. The sheriff came by long enough to put the guy in lockup and have Candace babysit him. Which meant filling out the report for her boss, too. Can’t decide which job is worse, honestly. “Only two. Lite beers. Hardly anything in them, you know?”

  “Which is why you were swerving all over the road and can’t touch your nose, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Sighing, Candace returned to her desk and stared at the form. That was a mighty high blood alcohol level…

  Did this beat dealing with toilet paperers? Not really. Did this beat the kids trespassing into the old auto lot and doing some “artistic” graffiti? Nope. Honestly, Candace would rather be out there right now instead of staying in here until around midnight, when most of the town went to sleep on Halloween. At least I get to come in later tomorrow. And she got some mighty fine overtime for her troubles tonight. That would go straight into the Christmas coffers. The kids were getting old enough when most of their toys cost more than ever before.

  Candace expected to see a couple crazy things that night, sure, but she definitely did not anticipate seeing the family car barreling into the parking lot and her whole family spilling out in costumed bliss.

  “Everyone inside, let’s go!” Sally swung the door open and motioned for her three older kids to get their asses into the waiting area. “That’s right. All of you. You too, Wonder Woman.”

  Paige’s wig was on sideways. Both her and Gage complained that they were missing the costume contest.

  “To what do I owe this lovely pleasure?” Candace stood up from her desk and welcomed a barrel hug from her twins. Ah, almost. Paige initially missed her target since she couldn’t see where she was going. “Honey, you’ve got your hair on all wrong. You’re gonna hurt yourself.” Candace attempted to fix Wonder Woman’s wig, but it wasn’t happening. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be at the American Legion Hall?”

  Sally motioned for her wife to come to her. When Candace peeled her twins off her legs and crossed the room, it was to pleas that Paige and Gage be allowed to play with the pens sprawled across her desk. While Candace didn’t explicitly give them permission, she didn’t tell them no, either.

  “What’s up?” Candace asked her wife. “Something wrong?”

  “Yeah. I think something might be wrong.” Before Candace could express her fear that one of the children needed the hospital, Sally shoved her phone in her wife’s face. “Tucker showed this to me earlier. He says that some kids are planning something bad for tonight.”

  “What in the…” Candace snatched the phone out of Sally’s hand and scrolled through some conversation. I don’t get technology very well, but I know some mischief when I see it. “What is this? They’re talking about Paradise Valley?”

  Sally turned to Tucker, who looked to the floor. “Tell your other mom what you’ve been telling me.”

  Tucker looked up at Candace long enough to wipe some old tears from his eyes. “That’s a chatroom for a bunch of kids who like fire stuff. I think they might be connected to the barn fires, but I don’t know for sure!”

  “Tell her about what that message from tonight says.”

  “It’s… they’re gonna…” Tucker choked on his words.

  “Breathe, son.” Candace knelt down on one knee, hand on her son’s shoulder. “Take it slow, and tell me what they’re gonna do.”

  He swallowed a lump in his throat. Naturally, it gave him the hiccups. The violent kind that knocked a kid on his ass if he weren’t careful. “Some kids have come in from the city. They say they’re gonna light city hall on fire, and they’re telling people when to come by to watch.”

  “City… hall?” Candace looked up at Sally, who shrugged. “You sure about this?”

  “That’s what it says. It’s happening at eight-thirty.”

  Candace glanced at the clock. It was ten after eight, and city hall was a few blocks away.

  “Shit.” As soon as the kids giggled at their mom’s cussin’, Candace grabbed her radio and told Peterson. “I’m gonna go check it out,” she said. “Meet me there if you can.”

  “Are you crazy? If there’s a real…”

  “I’ll inform the firehouse we have a credible threat.” Like the sheriff’s office, the firefighters were pulling a long shift that night. At least every other year there was a sizable fire somewhere on Halloween, not to mention the medical problems everyone and their dogs had that time of year.

  Candace turned to her wife. “Get the kids home. It’s far enough away from city hall.”

  “Don’t you do something stupid, Candy.” Sally grabbed her wife’s arm before she walked by. “What about that guy in there?”

  “You fine back there by yourself, Sam?” Candace called.

  “Never better, deputy!” he called back.

  “He’s fine. I’ve gotta go. You guys have gotta go home.” Candace kissed her wife on the cheek and grabbed her jacket. “Save some candy for me, would ya? I’m gonna need it.”

  She knew what would happen if she stayed behind and suffered the consequences. Sally would beg her to stay behind and to not go by herself into the Halloween night. If I had been listening to her since I swapped careers, I would still be slinging slop at the
high school. She’d be working a job so we could afford a tiny two-bedroom house and we’d be lucky to afford one of our kids. Everything they had was possible because Candace dared to follow her gut several years ago. She hadn’t made it this far on luck alone. It had been fate. Like she chose to believe Sally was fate. Their kids were fate. Finding out about a possible fire that night was fate.

  Because city hall wasn’t a random target out in the middle of nowhere. It meant business. I know for a fact that security guard works the place at night. Poor Joe Roberts was a nice guy who made some extra money sitting in the city hall for most of the night. Every once in a while a few high school kids got drunk or high enough to try to tag the place with spray paint. Or some angry constituent threw a bottle at a window. Maybe someone with something to hide attempted to break in, but that was rare. The point is that one man sitting around is enough to deter bad ideas. Most of the time. What time was the arson supposed to happen? Eight-thirty. Hm. That was around the time Joe took a break, wasn’t it?

  Shit. This was thought out well, if true.

  Candace hopped into the cruiser but declined to turn on the lights and siren. She wanted to catch the little bastards in the act instead of merely scaring them off. If they have anything to do with the barn arsons, then I want them in custody. Rumor had finally spread that Dillon Musgrave wasn’t acting alone. The people wanted an end to the fires, yes, but they wanted those responsible to be held more accountable. Ever since that giant Columbia Gorge fire two years ago, wherein a teenager set off a firework during a burn ban and ignited one of the worst wildfires in recent history, people had been hesitant to let these things off the hook. It didn’t matter how old the culprits were or how sorry they felt. If they endangered one innocent life, hell was to pay.

  At least if I get there first, I control the situation. That’s what Candace told herself as she drove down a backstreet and utilized the cover of darkness to hide her intentions from a small group of teenage boys sneaking around the back of the city hall.

  Oh, she saw them. When she did, her shoulders hunched and her eyes narrowed in fury. Until then, it hadn’t been real. It was still rumor. Hearsay. A possible false alarm, which would require her having a stern talk with her son. At least it meant nobody was using her town as a playfield for fire and smoke. What was worse? Having a troublemaking, wolf-crying son? Or having a small team of kids heading out to cause more than a little mischief – they might kill someone, never mind the millions of dollars in property damages!

  There was no time to sit back and think about what to do. Candace wasn’t afforded the luxury of forming a game plan. The only way this ended was with immediate action. It was her vs. three… no, four, because that was definitely a shadow moving in the corner… teenagers that looked awfully familiar now that she was a little closer.

  Oh, yes, I recognize you four. Hadn’t they been in a car together recently? Speeding down her highway? Hiding something in the backseat that she naively took to be something like pot or alcohol and not, oh, accelerants?

  She killed the engine at the end of the street. Damn door squeaked, though, so she had to be careful getting out and closing the door again. Candace stayed low to the ground as she cut from the sidewalk and passed through a small gap in the bushes lining the city hall’s property. Old tape marked the spots for the biweekly farmer’s market in the parking lot. What a lovely reminder that she had more than a building – and possibly others – to save. She had the town’s history standing before her. She had a cultural landmark that served more than one function.

  No pressure.

  She radioed Peterson once more. He told her to stay put, which she agreed to do if it was safe enough. Since she was in the vicinity of the potential culprits, Peterson said he would radio the firehouse to be on standby. After that, Candace was on her own until either Peterson arrived in fifteen minutes or the kids skedaddled on their own.

  “Something this big needs an accelerant, dude,” the boy closest to Candace, a whole five yards away, said. “It’s not an old, dry barn that will go down on its own. If we light the thing on fire, it’ll barely make a dent before everyone shows up to put it out, and what’s the point in that? We promised people a show!”

  To prove how dumb these kids were, one of them whipped out his cell phone and took a selfie. “We’re going live as soon as the spectacle starts,” he said.

  One of the kids returned from the car parked on the same backstreet Candace had used. She was grateful she had parked the clearly marked cruiser a ways away. Hopefully, they wouldn’t see it. Especially since that kid brought with him a big red can of gasoline. Let me guess. That was either in their trunk or hidden beneath a pile of bags in the back seat when I pulled them over. Candace didn’t have time to beat herself up about it. The could haves, would haves, and should haves would serve as a reminder for future situations. For now, she needed to keep on her toes and prevent a catastrophe. That meant focusing. That meant not thinking about her own safety – too much – or what might happen should this oncoming fire get so out of control that her own family was endangered. The Greenhills’ house was a good half mile away. How quickly could something like this travel, though? There was enough wind that night an ember might fly to Florida Street and land on Sally’s head.

  No, no, Candace couldn’t think about that. She had to focus. Focus.

  “Accelerants are for wusses,” one of the boys, perhaps the driver of the car, said. “Screw that noise. I say we hurry up and get those rose bushes over on the corner. They’ll make nice kindling. Should jump straight to the front of the building, too, and we’ll have a great show.”

  “You think Dill will see it from his house?”

  “He doesn’t live in this town,” someone said with a snort. “So, doubt it.”

  “Still, we should do it for him. Our first bro to get taken down by the pigs. Come on, speaking of pigs, we need to do this before they get here.”

  Too late for that. Candace wasn’t waiting any longer. These kids didn’t look armed. Pocketknives, maybe, but no firearms. Still, Candace needed to be careful. There were four of them, and they weren’t literal children. Not to mention… they had gas, and matches, probably. Candace didn’t want either coming in her direction. Depending on how freaked out they got, this might end badly. For all of them.

  One of the boys looked defiantly at the other and uncapped the gasoline can. While the others begged him to reconsider – not because it was the thing to do, but the optics, man! – he dumped some liquid on the nearest rose bush. It’s now or never, woman. Get your ass in gear!

  “Freeze!” Candace leaped out of the bushes, her gun drawn and her stance wide. She was already a large enough woman to make some grown men cower. How would four teen boys feel? “Hands in the air! All of you!”

  With a yelp that echoed across Main Street, three out of four boys put their hands up. The only one who didn’t was the one with the gasoline can.

  “Put down the can, son,” Candace said. “It’s over. There are more cops on the way and the firehouse is right behind them.” Maybe that last part wasn’t true, but they would be at the word go. “Let’s head down the station and have a little chat about what’s going on here.”

  That last kid was not going down without a fight. Maybe the driver isn’t the ringleader, after all. Damnit. Candace had two options. She could try tackling the kid before he lit a match. But the kid with a phone had it on her now. Was he livestreaming? Lovely. No matter what Candace did, she was screwed.

  What was more important, though? Keeping her job, or keeping people safe?

  She wasn’t the type to shoot unless she felt she was in mortal danger. So she lowered her gun and attempted to show good faith. Not that it got her anywhere. Two seconds later, the kid dumped the can and pulled out a lighter from his front sweatshirt pocket.

  Here went nothing.

  Candace slammed into him, her heavy body tackling his to the ground. There was enough gasoline still in the can
that it sprinkled across her jacket and hat, the smell so profound that Candace nearly gagged. The other kids split up and ran in different directions. They probably would have gotten away, too, if it weren’t for the Sheriff’s car pulling up along Main Street.

  “Where the hell do you think you kids are going?” Peterson didn’t have to pull out his gun. One kid collapsed into a frightened fit of tears while the others took off in the same direction. Another deputy vehicle swung in front of them. Nobody was going anywhere.

  Including Candace, who was still on top of a kid who futilely beat against her shoulders. Not until Peterson approached did Candace finally get up and confiscate the lighter.

  Peterson chuckled. “Up to some wild mischief tonight, aren’t you, son?”

  Although this surely meant Candace wouldn’t get home until five in the morning, she couldn’t help but beam in pride. Not because of what she did, but because it meant another night her kids got to sleep in peace.

  Chapter 17

  SALLY

  The concept of “downtime” was a foreign one in the Greenhill household. There was always something to do. Someone needed cleaning up. Something needed to be cooked. And, God forbid, someone might need to go to the doctor because for the third time in as many months, they swallowed something they shouldn’t have. (That someone’s name was Gage, of course. Wait. Wasn’t it Paige that one time? Sally couldn’t keep track any longer.)

  Yet sometimes the stars aligned and Sally was gifted a relatively low-key day with her wife by her side, helping to manage the kids and make sure everyone didn’t collectively walk out into traffic while playing Frisbee in the front yard.

  Veteran’s Day happened to be the last hurrah of decent weather. Everyone was bundled up in sweaters, but the air was warm and there was no sharp breeze. Candace had woken up that Monday morning, still on work time although she had the day off, and decided it was a good chance to barbecue one last time before putting the grill and charcoal away until Memorial Day. When did these government holidays focusing on the military and patriotism become about making hamburgers and hot dogs in your backyard? Oh, if Sally thought long enough, she’d notice the correlation between a precious day off and spending time with one’s family. When she had four kids underfoot and a wife preoccupied with cooking, however, she didn’t have time to flesh out her shower thought.