Familiar Fire

by Caroline Burnes

  Colin looked at the minister with obvious contempt. “Maybe the problem isn’t the animals.”

  “That is enough.” Lyte glared at the man. “I won’t be criticized by you,” he turned to Kate, “or you. I have a right to protection. I want that dog removed and now.” He snatched the court order from Colin’s hand, checked to make sure it was signed and handed it to Kate. “Do your duty,” he said.

  “Certainly.” Kate grinned. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a quarter. “Colin, call up Buster at the newspaper. I think he’ll want to cover this story.”

  “What?” Lyte was furious. “No newspaper. That is completely unnecessary. Are you trying to crucify me in the press?”

  “A person sure of his case wouldn’t be worried about a newspaper story,” Kate said silkily. “You’ve got a right to have the dog taken, and the public has a right to know about it. I’m certain Ms. Redfield will want to organize a campaign to save this dog. She is such an animal lover.”

  Lyte crammed the court order into the pocket of his suit coat. “Never mind,” he said to Colin. “I want to think this through. The dog will be there.” He stalked away.

  “Good work, Sheriff,” Colin said. “I didn’t want to take Jake’s dog. Ouzo has always seemed harmless enough to me. He’s conniving. Anyone with a brain can see that, but he isn’t mean.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” Kate said. “Thanks, Colin.” She strolled across the street to her office. She hadn’t felt so effective in a long while.

  Chapter Seven

  Kate walked into the meeting of Silver City merchants and elected officials and took a seat against a wall. Glancing around, she saw that everyone who was anyone in town had come. Evelyn Winn and Alexis Redfield were seated side-by-side in the front row. Seemingly, they’d gotten over their argument about Jake and the interior decorating. In concession to Alexis’s passion for pastels, Evelyn was even wearing a powder-blue skimmer with a buttercup-yellow scarf. They were exquisitely color-blended.

  Kate watched them bend their heads together and whisper. She could tell by the nodding of Alexis’s tiny mint green pillbox hat and Evelyn’s dark curls that each agreed completely with whatever the other was saying. After the venom they’d spewed at each other, their making up was curious and Kate made a note of it.

  Jake was nowhere in sight. He’d called her from a house near his old ranch. He’d taken Ouzo out there, hoping to track down one of the Double J’s previous ranch hands. Jake was hunting for someone he could trust to care for Ouzo for a few days until the heat blew over and the. minister realized how foolish it would be to pursue his vendetta against the dog.

  Almost as if she’d conjured him up, Reverend Lyte entered and stood at the back of the room. His gaze swept everyone there, halting for a moment on the oblivious Alexis Redfield.

  Kate was closely watching Lyte as the door swung open and several men she didn’t recognize entered. They were dressed like high-powered executives, from their tailored suits to their hand-cobbled shoes. They exuded power and money, and she leaned back against the wall to watch the show. These were the men from Dandy Diamond Casino. They were all dark-haired and olive-complected, and Kate admitted to herself they were walking stereotypes of mafiosi.

  Roy Adams banged a gavel to bring the room to order. The city council was seated in a line at the front of the room, and the strangers took seats, flanking the council on the left. “We’re here to talk with the representatives of Dandy Diamond Casinos,” Roy said. “This company wants to come into Silver City and they’re offering some mighty fine incentives to get the city to agree to work with them. And, as we can attest, the gambling business has been good for Silver City. Real good.” He paused. “Now I’ll let Bobby Cochran, the legal representative for the casino concern, tell you a little about their plans for Silver City.”

  The man who stood up beside a slide projector and giant flip chart was darkly handsome and well versed in his presentation. Kate listened as he flawlessly presented a strong case for the city to embrace the new casino concern. Still, in her mind, the town had enough casinos. More than enough. Silver City was becoming a mockery of what it once had been.

  On the other hand, it had been slowly going bankrupt, she reminded herself. Once the silver rush wore off and the thick veins had been tapped out, Silver City had begun to fade. The glory days were over, and in the late 1970s, the city had been in dire shape. The historic buildings were abandoned and rotting into the ground. That was when the first casino had opened.

  Kate’s mother, Anne, had hung onto Kate’s grandmother’s saloon and dance hall as long as she could, but she’d been forced to sell it. Kate remembered how her mother had cried as she signed over the deed. And Anne had promised Kate that the sacrifice would be worth it, that they’d have a life where they could find happiness. And then Anne had up and disappeared. With all the money. Except for ten thousand dollars she’d left on the kitchen table. But what was a girl of sixteen to do with ten grand?

  Kate had managed.

  Now she almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Jake, his amber eyes drawn with concern. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “You?”

  “I’m fine. Ouzo’s over at your office. I put him in one of the holding cells for good measure.”

  “What?” Kate lowered her voice instantly as several people turned to look at her. “He’s in jail?”

  “I had to, Kate. It’s just for the meeting. I couldn’t find any of the ranch hands and there was no one else I trusted to manage him. To be honest, I don’t trust that dog at all. He senses that there’s trouble brewing, and I swear he relishes the idea. I think he’s up there now planning a way to make things worse for me.”

  “I can’t keep a dog locked in jail,” Kate protested.

  “Sure you can. I took his dog food over. Besides, it may do him some good.”

  “Jake, you honestly can’t believe that dog is capable of connecting the punishment to his crime.”

  Jake was deadly serious. “Kate, that dog is capable of anything. He can solve these fires, if he gets a mind to. And he can also send me to the insane asylum. Either you keep him or I…I don’t know.”

  Roy Adams’s gavel banged on the desk and he pointed it at Jake. “You’re report is next, Chief Johnson. Until that time would you show our speaker some courtesy.”

  Jake slipped into a chair behind Kate. She felt his fingers on her neck, a soft, easy massage at just the place where the tension was the worst. She wanted him to continue forever, and she also wanted him to stop. Why was it that everything about Jake put her in a state of conflict?

  She listened to the casino lawyer begin to sketch the Dandy Diamond Casino’s future plans for Silver City. The DDC wanted to build a theme park and a discount shopping mall. Not to mention at least two golf courses. As the man flipped through the architectural plans, Kate began to grow alarmed. Soon nothing of Silver City would be left Nothing. It would all be one big gambling theme park. It sounded as if the DDC even had its goals set on acquiring existing historic properties.

  “You can get over any idea that you’ll ever buy the Golden Nugget.” Alexis Redfield was on her feet. “I own the Nugget, and I have no desire to sell. Not for any amount of money. Not now, not ever.”

  Cochran, the DDC lawyer, gently put his pointer down and glanced at Roy Adams. The mayor shrugged. Kate felt Jake’s hand grow slack against her neck. He was caught up in the tension that suddenly filled the room. She leaned forward to better see Alexis’s expression—stubborn and unrelenting. The lawyer’s face was a guarded mask. Roy Adams had gone beet red. Kate felt a glimmer of intuition.

  “It isn’t prudent to discuss the details of a real estate sale before such an…interested audience,” the lawyer said to Alexis. All of the other DDC representatives remained completely impassive.

  “We aren’t discussing details, because there won’t be a sale!” The mint green hat th
at sat atop Alexis’s blond chignon bobbed dangerously.

  “As I said,” the man replied smoothly with a dark glitter in his eyes, “this isn’t the place, Ms. Redfield. I’d be delighted to speak with you after the meeting.”

  Kate was about to stand up when she felt Jake’s hand on her shoulder.

  “Be still,” he whispered.

  “He’s threatening her,” Kate whispered back.

  “No, he hasn’t uttered a single threat.”

  “But he is. I see it clearly.”

  “I do, too,” Jake answered, “but he’s done nothing overt.”

  It was the truth, but Kate’s every gut instinct screamed at her that the lawyer was a dangerous man, one who would do whatever it took to get his way.

  “What are your plans for the Golden Nugget?” Kate asked.

  “What business is it of yours?” Alexis responded, rising to her feet again.

  Roy Adams intervened. “Kate’s family owned the place a long time ago.”

  The lawyer gave Kate a brilliant smile that never touched his cold eyes. “Our plans aren’t definite, Ms.…” His eyebrows shot up. “Sheriff.”

  “I see,” she said. “You want to acquire the property, but you don’t have any plans for it?” She let the question float. “That doesn’t strike me as very sound business.” She leaned back in her seat, content with the dart she’d hurled.

  The other members of the DDC were whispering together. One of them wrote something on a pad.

  “I think you’re on their blacklist, Kate,” Jake whispered.

  “I hope I’m at the top,” she answered. There was something about the representatives of the DDC that made her believe they were little more than common crooks. Or uncommon crooks who did their dirty deeds with such sophistication that they were hard to catch. Suddenly the series of fires began to make sense to her. The pattern that had pointed so clearly at Jake could also perfectly fit the future plans of the DDC.

  Roy Adams and Betty Cody were both members of the city council. Perhaps the fires had been used to intimidate and influence them to vote to accept the DDC’s offer. If the DDC was trying to influence a real estate deal, it might be smart to implicate Jake first, so that his credibility would be shot.

  Lester Ray sat on the far side of the room, and ever since the fire in his saloon, he’d been very subdued. He was a blustering man who liked to pick public fights and who had vowed to block any attempts to bring more casinos into Silver City. The big casinos with their free liquor were eating him alive.

  And the Reverend Theodore Lyte was the biggest opponent of gambling in Gilpin County.

  Kate heard Lyte clear his throat in the back of the room and prepared for a fifteen-minute sermon on the evils of gambling.

  “Reverend?” Roy Adams said, acknowledging him. “Make it short. We aren’t in church.”

  “And neither am I,” Lyte pointed out. “I can’t be there, because it’s burned to the ground. Are the DDC investors aware that Gilpin County has an arsonist on the loose?” He smiled. “So, do you really want to invest in a city that seems to be burning to the ground, day by day?” He glared at Jake. “Maybe it’s time we heard from the man who claims to be our fire chief.”

  Jake-stood up. “What is it you want to hear, Reverend?”

  “Oh, a list of suspects would be nice. You don’t have that for us, do you?”

  Jake’s hands tightened at his sides, and Kate briefly closed her eyes. The worst thing would be for Jake to lose his temper. That would be the very worst.

  “I don’t have a list of suspects. And there’s no common thread to link the crime scenes.”

  “Except that—” Reverend Lyte shut up when Kate stood up beside Jake. She didn’t say a word, but her eyes dared him to accuse Jake in public.

  “My investigations show that the arsonist or arsonists are very sophisticated,” Jake continued. “The state lab has examined all of my evidence. In the three fires in which a timing device was used, all of the devices were extremely complex and required a great deal of knowledge. Whoever set those fires knew quite a bit about the process. Our biggest hope is to trace the pieces of the timing device to the manufacturer. We’re in the process of doing just that.”

  The entire room had grown completely quiet. Kate watched the faces of those she considered the key players. There was every chance that the arsonist was sitting in the room. It was an opportunity she had to use wisely.

  Roy Adams was staring at the top of his desk. Betty Cody was fighting back tears. Across the room, Lester Ray was looking at the ceiling. Only Reverend Lyte was willing to meet her gaze, and she locked with him in a battle of wills.

  When no one else spoke, Jake continued. “The gasoline fires would appear to be the work of a different arsonist, but I’m not so certain. I think it’s the same person and he or she is merely trying to cover their tracks.

  “As for the fire at Evelyn’s Boutique, that was started by a different arsonist.”

  Roy Adams leaned forward. “You’re sure of that, Jake?”

  “Very sure,” Jake answered. He glanced at Evelyn. “Whoever started that fire didn’t intend for the building to be destroyed. It was set as a warning.”

  Evelyn Winn’s breath drew in sharply. “What kind of warning?” Tears sprang into her eyes. “Who’s warning me? About what? Oh, this is too much. Too much.”

  Jake shook his head. “I haven’t a clue, but I hope to soon.”

  “What about my church?” Lyte demanded. “Who would burn down a house of the Lord?”

  Jake shook his head. “Perhaps the fire was directed at you, Lyte, not the church.”

  There was a split second of silence.

  “But you are making progress?” Roy’s tone urged Jake to agree. “We are on the road to solving these crimes?” Roy glanced at the DDC representatives. “Up until this arson spree, Silver City was one of the safest communities in the United States. We have the lowest crime rate in the West. Sheriff McArdle has been able to deal with our criminals in a personal way.” He beamed at Kate. “We are a terrific little community.”

  “Quit fawning on those businessmen, Roy,” Reverend Lyte said. He looked them over one by one. “Has it occurred to anyone else that these fires started when the DDC became interested in moving to Silver City?”

  Kate almost gasped. Lyte had followed her exact thinking. She looked at him with new respect He’d not only thought it, he’d said it out loud.

  The DDC lawyer pointed at Lyte. “You, sir, had better watch your mouth. That statement borders on slanderous.”

  “Isn’t it true that a string of arsons will depress property values? You can hold that over the heads of every single Gilpin County resident whose property you want to buy.” Lyte’s tone shifted to something dark. “I can see you saying, ‘Oh, yes, your property is worth a million, but since no one wants to live in a place where they could be burned to the ground any night, we’ll give you half a million and you should thank us.’“

  Roy Adams’s gavel nearly split the table as he slammed it again and again. “Enough. That’s enough. Theodore, either sit down or Sheriff McArdle will escort you from this building. This is uncalled-for. Sit down!” He banged again.

  Silence descended over the room. Kate waited to see what would happen next.

  “Gentlemen, I can only apologize,” Adams said to the DDC committee. “This is an emotional issue, as you can see. There are those who oppose gambling on religious grounds—”

  “Amen!” Lyte shouted from the back of the room.

  Roy glared at him. “There are also property owners involved who want to keep Silver City the way it is. Change is always difficult. Let me hold a town meeting tomorrow night and present the positive sides of what the DDC could do for Silver City. I’m sure many of the citizens have no idea of the amount of money that would be funneled directly into our school system and our parks and library.”

  The DDC men rose in a single motion. Their faces were as blank as if they’d
just awakened from a long nap.

  Adams stood. “Thank you all for coming. This is something that needs a lot more discussion in the community. Meeting adjourned.”

  I am descended of ancient Irish kings, and where am I? Sitting in a jail cell like a lowly criminal.

  One of my ancient cousins, Baoh the Wolf, was incarcerated in the far reaches of Dublin Castle, along with his owner, a member of a noble Irish family who was forced to work as a highwayman to feed his starving family.

  The trial of Black Jack O’Flaherty and his dog Baoh drew the people from miles around. There was feasting and drinking and many a sad ballad written for Black Jack and his dog. It was not generally the custom to behead a man’s dog with him, but it appeared that Baoh the Wolf was a true accomplice, not just a canine side-kick. In fact, there are those in MY family who would say that Baoh was the brains behind the entire scheme. Baoh went to his death with all the dignity of his blood while the crowds sang a dirge praising his finesse at tormenting his English overlords.

  ‘Twas a historic moment. My point is this. Baoh lived a life of risk and adventure, and left many offspring behind in small villages all over Ireland. But in all of his years, he was never detained in a cement cell with a cold floor and not even a sofa to curl up on. When Jake returns, I shall make him pay, and dearly, for this indignity.

  JAKE CHECKED THE CELL, afraid for a moment that somehow Ouzo had pulled a Houdini act and escaped. But the tip of a black tail peeked lifelessly from beneath the bunk.

  “Come on out, Ouzo,” Jake coaxed.

  The dog refused to acknowledge his master’s presence.