Familiar Fire

by Caroline Burnes

  “What were you doing at Evelyn Winn’s?” he asked.

  “Investigating. How did you know I was there?” She knew the answer as soon as she asked. “She called you, didn’t she?” It instantly burned her that Evelyn Winn had called Jake to complain about how she was doing her job as sheriff.

  “She was upset. She said you treated her like a suspect instead of a victim.”

  “I’m not altogether sure which one she is,” Kate said hotly. She didn’t like the spark in Jake’s eyes. Not one little bit

  “And Alexis, too? She’s also a suspect?” A grin teased the corners of his mouth.

  “Maybe. I haven’t ruled anyone out. There’s motive there, except I’m not certain exactly what it is,” she admitted. She glared at Jake. “Why are you grinning like a gambler on payday?”

  “When you left the fire scene this morning, I was one confused man. Now, though…” His grin widened. “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

  Kate started to speak, then clamped her mouth shut She took a breath. “I am no such thing.”

  “Yes, you are,” he said, nodding.

  “You are an egotistical fool,” Kate said slowly. “If you’re twisting all the facts on the fires in this way, it’s no wonder you haven’t solved any of them.”

  Jake’s expression spoke volumes.

  “Don’t patronize me,” Kate warned.

  “I wouldn’t think of it.” He took a step toward her. “In fact, I’m willing to forget this entire conversation. Let’s just pick up where we left it this morning when Roy Adams interrupted us.”

  Kate backed up a step. “Jake…” She’d given their kiss a lot of thought, and it wasn’t going to happen again. No matter how tempted she was. “Stop.” She lowered her chin slightly. “I can’t explain how that happened this morning.” She decided to risk the truth, or at least a smidgen of it. “I can only tell you that it scared me.” She saw that she had his attention. “I thought I’d grown up, that I’d matured and become more… controlled.” She could hear the tremor in her voice and she wanted to curse her weakness. Even after all these years, she wasn’t truly done with Jake Johnson. But that was something he didn’t need to know. Not ever.

  “Kate, we have to talk about things. We were kids fifteen years ago. We acted rashly. And we both assumed too much. But we can talk—”

  “No.” Kate spoke the word softly, but its impact was like a slap. She met his gaze. “We can’t talk about this. Not now.”

  “We have to talk about this.” Jake’s amber eyes were compelling. “We have to talk about a lot of things.”

  Kate felt as if the past were rearing up behind her and snatching at the back of her heels. There were too many mistakes in the past. Too many bad decisions and bad behavior. And she could tell that Jake wanted to pull all of it out and examine it.

  “I can’t,” she said.

  Jake took a long breath. “Okay. Now isn’t a good time for this. But later, Kate. You can’t run forever.” He turned and walked out of the sheriff’s office.

  JAKE’S MIND WAS CHURNING as he hit the streets of Silver City. He didn’t care that Kate had hassled Evelyn and Alexis. A little hassling was probably good for both of those women. Though they weren’t on his list of suspects for the arsons, he knew they were both capable of troublemaking. He’d had some casual dates with Evelyn. Mostly, she’d initiated the meetings by calling him up to discuss sprinkler systems, which she obviously hadn’t installed. He’d had dinner once with Alexis. She was, after all, an interesting woman. But when he’d discovered that neither of them made his heart rate increase or his curiosity kick in, he knew he was wasting his time. They had been women to spend a few hours or share a meal with, nothing more.

  Jake sighed. How was it possible that two women were chasing him, and the one woman he wanted was running as hard and fast as she could in the opposite direction?

  The look on Kate’s face troubled him. The prospect of a talk had simply frightened her to death. The emotions that he evoked frightened her. In the future plan he’d been sketching in his head, this was not a good thing. The whole plan depended on his ability to get Kate to talk about the past. Their past and any other thing that might bear on their future.

  In truth, he didn’t have a clue of what her life had been like for the years she’d been away from Silver City.

  The more he thought about it, the more clearly he saw that her life had been a series of traumas in her teenage years. Kate had loved her grandmother with the pure love of a child. From the bits and pieces Jake remembered of the old lady, she was a pistol, one of the proverbial night ladies with a heart of gold—except that no one knew for an absolute fact that Kitty McArdle had ever sold her pleasures. She had run a cathouse, that was a historical fact. She’d been a singer and dancer and had entertained men with a stage presence and a flair that showed she loved her work.

  But no one, not even the men in town known for their bragging, even hinted that they’d shared Kitty’s pleasures. Still, people in Silver City remembered her as a bawdy woman.

  Kate had carried that stigma. Then her mother, Anne, disappeared with a gambler.

  Kate was left alone. Left with a legacy her classmates were more than willing to throw in her face.

  And Jake’s response had been to blithely assume that Kate would want to spend the rest of her life in Silver City because he was there.

  It was a remarkably self-centered view, and now that he was aware of it, he wanted to talk. He had to make her understand that it was youth and that single-minded ability to focus on one thing that had made him so pigheaded—a character trait they shared. She had assumed that leaving was the answer to her problems. Jake had finally learned that staying or leaving didn’t matter. There wasn’t a simple solution. Not for him and not for Kate. And no one was solely to blame.

  He could tell by Kate’s expression only moments before that she blamed herself for many things in the past. Well, Kate was going to have to share that blame. Whether she liked it or not.

  He deliberately walked past the Golden Nugget. Alexis Redfield had done a good job with the place, but the thought of Kate in Alexis’s lair made Jake grin. At least until he saw Cal, one of his firemen, rushing toward him. Jake’s heart sank.

  “Jake! Jake!” Cal was calling when he was still fifty yards away. “You’d better get to the firehouse and fast. The animal control officer is there and he’s going to take Ouzo. He has a warrant!”

  “A warrant!” Jake had never heard of a warrant for a dog’s arrest. “For what?”

  “It’s that minister, the one whose church burned. He said Ouzo assaulted him.”

  Jake could see that Cal was truly upset. Even though Ouzo had stolen Cal’s dinner—more than once—the fireman seemed to have a soft spot for the black thief. “Lyte?”

  “That’s the one,” Cal said, drawing abreast of Jake. “He came up like the wrath of God. I know the animal control officer, Colin. He didn’t want to come for Ouzo, but that reverend wasn’t going to let it go. I finally said that I didn’t have a key to your iron gate. They got all the way up there and Ouzo met them, fangs bared.”

  “Great.” Jake had never seen Ouzo growl at anyone, but the dog would pick that particular time to show a little assertiveness toward humans. Ouzo had the most unique sense of timing—when to do exactly the wrong thing.

  “Colin didn’t want to push the situation once I pointed out that the fire station was public property but that you paid rent on the apartment, which made it private property.”

  “Good thinking,” Jake said. He and the fireman had begun to walk quickly toward the station.

  “He said he’d be back with a court order to get in the apartment.” He looked at Jake. “What are you going to do?”

  For a split second, Jake didn’t have a clue. But the answer came to him, crystal clear. “I’m going to take Ouzo to a hideout.”

  “I was already thinking along those lines. How about my place?”

  Jak
e considered it. “No, they might think to search the houses of all my firemen, and if they found Ouzo there, it might get you into trouble.”

  “I don’t mind getting into trouble. Not when a dog’s life is involved.”

  “Did they say they were going to kill him?” Jake couldn’t believe this. It was a nightmare.

  “That minister said he was going to make certain Ouzo was destroyed. He called him a menace to society and a danger to anyone walking the streets.” Cal hesitated. “What exactly did Ouzo do to him, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “He peed on his leg.”

  “He…peed?” Cal’s eyes were wide. “He actually peed on the minister’s leg.” A slow grin spread over his face. “I like that, Jake. I like that a lot. If anybody ever deserved a free watering, it’s that Reverend Lyte.”

  They turned the corner and Jake ducked back. Theodore Lyte was standing outside the fire station as if he were guarding the place.

  “He thinks you’re going to try to spring Ouzo,” Cal said.

  “And I certainly am,” Jake admitted. “As soon as I think of a plan.”

  “Times a-wasting, Jake.” Cal checked his watch. “If they find Judge Harvey, they could get that court order and be back in the next fifteen minutes.”

  Glancing up and down the street, Jake saw the black cat in the window of the sheriff’s office. “I know who can help. Stay here and make sure no one gets Ouzo.”

  Jake rushed into the sheriff’s office. “I need your help,” he said to Kate. “It’s Ouzo. He’s in trouble for what he did to Theodore Lyte.”

  Kate didn’t hesitate. “We can hardly let Ouzo take the fall for something that needed to be done a long time ago.”

  Jake grinned. This was the old Kate. The girl who’d stolen his heart.

  “Familiar,” Kate said. The cat instantly hopped from the desk to the ground. Kate lifted him and held him at the window. “See that bad man over there? Do you think you can distract him a bit while we get Ouzo over here?”

  “Meow.”

  Kate put him down and watched as he hurried across the room and out.

  “That’s amazing,” Jake said. “I never would have believed a cat could be trained to do anything, much less such a complicated task.”

  “The first thing you’ve got to learn about felines in general, Jake, is you can’t train them. They do whatever they. want. You just have to figure out how to make them want to do what you ask.”

  “And how, exactly, did you do that?”

  Kate laughed. “I don’t have a clue. Let’s go.”

  By the time they got to the street, Familiar was already circling the minister’s legs.

  “Scat!” Theodore Lyte snarled. “Get out of here. I hate cats.”

  Familiar moved between his legs, rubbing and purring.

  “Get away!” Lyte stomped his foot, but Familiar paid no heed.

  “Get away from me, you furry rodent.” Lyte drew back his foot and kicked. His shoe hit only thin air. Familiar was already circling his other leg, purring loudly.

  I don’t like this guy. Not a bit. I always thought that religious practitioners were supposed to love the creatures of the world. I thought it was in their creed to show tolerance and kindness. Kicking a cat—or at least trying to—doesn’t fit in with any religious doctrine I’ve learned about.

  But, for a cat of my consummate skill, it is quite enjoyable to toy with this clumsy humanoid. Though he snarls and kicks, he’s too slow and dumb to be able to hurt me. Hah! I’ll bet he has trouble getting into his pants. He probably has to sit down so he won’t fall over. I mean this guy has no sense of balance.

  I can’t believe I’m dodging flying feet to save the hide of that renegade Ouzo, though. That pretentious, troublemaking mutt. The irony of this situation is that Ouzo IS a menace to society, and he delights in chasing my fellow felines up trees. I can only justify helping him by noting that I never met a cat who couldn’t use a little exercise. And Ouzo, like the good minister here, isn’t smart enough to catch a cat So he’s a nuisance, like the minister, but no real danger to the felines of Silver City.

  Oops! he almost caught me with that kick. I swear, I can’t believe this! Cars are beginning to stop! I know it must look like he’s dancing on the sidewalk. Yeah, that lady in the blue Volvo is stopping. She’s getting out, and her face is white with anger. This is getting better and better.

  How about if I dodge left, then fake right. Heh! He kicked his own leg! Here comes the Volvo lady, and she’s about to puncture the sidewalk with her high heels she’s so mad. Man, dig those plaid green-and-orange leggings!

  I think my job is almost done. I saw Kate and Lovelorn Jake sneak across the street and head to the back of the firehouse. Another ten minutes and they should have Ouzo on the road to freedom.

  “HEH! YOU!” ALEXIS Redfield had left her car in the middle of the road and traffic was beginning to pile up behind it. She stalked toward the man who’d blatantly been trying to kick a poor stray cat to death. “I’m talking to you,” she said, poking a long, orange-sherbet-tipped fingernail into his chest.

  “That cat was trying to trip me.” Theodore Lyte squinted his eyes against the glare of Alexis’s outfit.

  “That cat was trying to get some affection. I could hear him purring all the way out to my car.” She whipped a notepad out of her matching sherbet patent-leather purse. “Name, address and phone number.”

  “What?” Lyte glanced at the cars where at least twenty curious people were now watching him. Some of them wore very angry expressions.

  “Your name, address and phone number. I’m going to report you for animal cruelty. You are a blight on this community.”

  “I, madame, am a minister. I am the Reverend Theodore Lyte,” he said, drawing himself up to his full height of six feet.

  “Yeah, and I’m Princess Grace of Monaco. Ministers don’t mistreat animals or children. It’s in the codebook.” She looked up at him. “I should know. My father was one.”

  “I’m in the middle of important business.” Lyte glanced at the firehouse. There was no movement there. Any moment now the good-for-nothing animal control officer would return with the court order and that mangy black bane would be taken off and exterminated.

  “Okay, Reverend Lyte,” Alexis said, tucking the notepad back into her purse just as the stalled drivers began to blow their horns in impatience. “I’m filing charges against you.” She walked over to where Familiar had found a place to sit in the sunshine. He gave a meek meow as Alexis approached. She scratched his head and tickled under his chin. “Sweet boy. You want to come live with me?” she cooed.

  Familiar gave her a purr, brushed against her leg and took off running around the corner of the fire station.

  “Not the grateful kind, are you?” Alexis spoke softly. “Surely you’re a male.” She went back to the minister. “You’ll get your court summons. And you can count on me to be there. If it takes a heavy fine and a few days’ jail time, you need to learn that you can’t mistreat helpless animals.” She walked back to her car and drove away.

  KATE GLANCED behind her just as Jake and Ouzo were disappearing from sight. Jake had the dog on a leash, but it looked as if Ouzo was directing their path. Under all that fur, Ouzo surely had the canine equivalent of Sly Stallone’s body. She grinned at the thought.

  Turning back to the scene on the sidewalk in front of her, Kate didn’t even try to suppress her chuckle. Theodore Lyte had unknowingly waded into battle with Alexis Redfield, and the woman had won, hands down.

  Kate watched as Alexis drove away. Theodore Lyte remained on the sidewalk as if he’d just been blasted by a laser beam and turned into a zombie. Knowing that she was adding insult to injury, Kate sauntered over to him.

  “How’s it going, Reverend Lyte?” she asked cheerfully.

  “What’s the statute on animal cruelty?” Lyte asked, still obviously frazzled.

  “Depends.” Kate frowned.

  “Depends on what?
” Lyte twitched as he asked.

  “Depends on who brings the charges, how much they care to make them stick, which judge you get and how many eyewitnesses there were to the event.” She smiled. “You wouldn’t be worried about trying to kick that cat to death, would you?”

  Lyte’s eyes widened. “I did no such thing. No such thing at all. I was simply trying to make it get away from me. It was diseased. It was foaming at the mouth. I was terrified it had rabies. I was only defending myself, and that’s not a crime.”

  Kate let her gaze shift to the street and linger on the place where at least twenty cars had stopped and witnessed the event. “If that’s the case, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of witnesses to verify how the cat was actually foaming at the mouth and how it attacked you. I couldn’t see any odd behavior in the cat from where I was standing, but I’m sure that of the forty or fifty people who witnessed the incident, a few will be able to verify what you say. Of course, there will be those who saw it the same way Ms. Redfield did.”

  Lyte was speechless.

  Kate continued in a pleasant conversational tone. “You know, I never realized that Ms. Redfield was such an animal lover. She has all that money, too. I think, Reverend, that you’d better change your attitude toward animals, and fast. Might I suggest a check to the local humane society. I mean it would show good faith and concern and all of that. A substantial check.” She nodded and started across the street to her office just as Colin, the animal control officer came driving up.

  “Sheriff McArdle, hold up a minute,” he called. He waved a document at her.

  Kate turned back. “Yes?”

  “I’ve got a warrant to search Jake Johnson’s apartment to take his dog.” Colin looked downright miserable. He cast a disgusted look at the minister.

  “What’s this about?” Kate asked innocently.

  “The Reverend, here, wants Jake’s dog destroyed. He said the animal was vicious and shouldn’t be allowed to live.”

  Kate turned disbelieving eyes on the minister. “Another animal attacked you? This is incredible. This time a dog? I’ve never heard of such a coincidence in all my life, Reverend. It makes me begin to think that maybe you’re doing something to these animals to make them want to attack you.” She gave it a full ten seconds for the implications to sink in. She turned to the’ animal control officer. “As unbelievable as it sounds, Reverend Lyte was just attacked by a cat. Right here on the street with at least fifty witnesses.”