But why was she in Moonstone? Spying on Peter in the grocery store? Did she need something from him?
John sat back in a cold sweat. What if Brendan assumed Dolly had been staying with Peter and Crystal and hired somebody to torch the cabin as some sick warning for her to come home? Maybe Crystal hadn't been the target.
* * * *
At dawn on Thursday John headed up the stairs to the kitchen. He filled a basket and left, but at the second floor landing he met Leonard, who carried a shoe shine kit and two pairs of shoes with muddy soles, which made John do a double-take.
He hefted the basket and lied, “Breakfast for the crew out at the barn.”
Leonard scowled. “You couldn't wait for me to make you and Peter omelets? I'm making the kind with hashbrowns and bacon strips cooked inside, with melted Wisconsin cheddar cheese. With pancakes made from Door County wheat I special ordered, and homemade wild blueberry syrup from our local berries.”
Peter had told him Leonard used to run a restaurant long ago. John was salivating, but he had work to do. “Long day ahead, and it looks like you've got to clean your shoes. Where ya been to get so muddy?”
Leonard's bushy eyebrows pinched together. “These are Peter's.”
Dead end. Peter would of course have muddy shoes after tromping around the cabin last Sunday night. “Leonard, I need your help. Has Peter ever mentioned a Brendan Kane?”
“Of course. Peter is the godfather of Mr. Kane's child.”
John almost dropped the basket. “So he met Dolly at the baptism?”
“No. I've been told she takes ill a lot.”
“She drinks?” That could be a reason she'd avoid Peter, knowing that Peter's mother had been rumored to be an alcoholic. John couldn't fathom Dolly as a drinker, but he didn't know her six years ago. “What else have you heard?”
“They say she has two personalities. Peter has made the healthy decision to stay away from their trouble. Excuse me, I must polish these shoes and begin breakfast for Peter.”
“Sorry to keep you.”
Dolly Kane had insisted on being called O'Toole. Two personalities. Had she set a fire and not remembered it? Maybe she had thought Brendan was staying with Peter and decided to scare him with the fire.
But what about Crystal's ex-boyfriend, Randy Mellen? Or the Durkins, mad at her about flunking their son? John had a lot of leads to track down. Starting with Dolly telling him the truth.
* * * *
At the farm the rising sun cast a pink stain on new snow. John found Dolly's and Finn's tracks to the road. He groaned. She'd called somebody. John hadn't confiscated her cell phone. Dumbo.
He fishtailed back to the obvious place they might be—the auto body shop, located on the west edge of town. He smiled when he looked through the big window and saw Dolly and Finn.
With food basket in hand, John hurried inside. He intended to admonish her, but Dolly jiggled a baby in her arms. John's insides turned to jelly. He spotted Finn on a chair in the corner waiting area. Glad for the diversion he plunked the basket on the table. “Dig in, Finn.”
Finn flung open the basket lid. “Wow!”
John helped the boy take out cheese curds, blueberry muffins, and orange juice.
Dolly smiled over the top of the baby's head. “That was really nice of you, John Hall.”
There was something about her saying his full name that made him pause in whatever he was doing or thinking, as if she were giving him a recess from the hurly-burly inside his head. Her eyes were the color of the feathers on a bluejay's belly. She looked like a Madonna, a damn sexy one in her gray sweatshirt and glossy hair inviting his touch.
“Baby-sitting?”
“This is Hank. I volunteered to baby-sit while his mom takes one of those baths we mothers never get time for. Hank's dad is fixing my car.”
“What happened to it?”
“I left the door ajar. The light wore down the battery. David's putting a charger on it and checking all my fluids.”
He led her by the elbow behind a snack rack for privacy. “You're about to run away. Why?”
“You were nice.” She kissed the top of Hank's head.
Heat tickled up John's neck. “What's wrong with nice?”
“I didn't want to get you involved.”
“In stealing chickens and a quilt?”
“I borrowed the quilt.”
“Why?”
“Because it was cold in that cave.”
Dang, here they were again with her trying to flip him on his ass with words. When she shook her hair, his nose caught a whiff of lilacs. Another recess. He re-focused. “Peter is your son's godfather, for cryin’ out loud. What is it you want here?”
Tears trickled onto her cheeks. Confused, John took the baby so she could compose herself. He didn't expect the sweet smell of the baby's head or the way he wiggled. “Let me help you.” His head warned him against this tack. “What's making you so scared?”
“Everything. I'm mixed up. I think I like camping, for starters.” She used her sweatshirt to wipe her eyes. She had a buff belly, the kind he imagined kissing in the darkness with stars blinking overhead. “Finn's never been camping until now. Every kid should go camping, don't you think?”
That was disconcerting. It was even more discombobulating when Hank squealed and grabbed John's nose. “You can't be crying because you love camping.”
“Brendan doesn't. I'm bad, John. I took off to embarrass my husband. To make him want to finalize the divorce.”
“Has he been unfaithful?”
“Since I was pregnant with Finn.”
“Was that why you weren't at your son's christening?”
“No.” Horror dulled her eyes. “I had the flu but he insisted on going ahead with the christening because Peter was in town, and a big party had been planned with photographers so that he could show off the baby in the media.”
The scenario turned John's stomach. “Does Peter know about Brendan's affairs?”
“Not unless Brendan told him.”
“Do you have proof of the infidelities? Seems like a divorce could happen quickly.”
“I felt icky about hiring a private investigator to spy on my husband.”
“So you ran away. I still don't understand why.”
“Brendan has this idea that we should stay married until Finn is eighteen for the sake of appearances.”
“I hate to tell you this, Dolly, but some men are like that. And I'm sure he loves Finn.”
“He never sees Finn. He's always gone. I used to be gone. But I can't do one more fundraiser dinner while a nanny raises Finn. And I can't make Brendan's multi-tasking world work for me anymore. I can only do one thing at a time and that's be there for Finn.” She blubbered quietly into a tissue. “I'm a big fat failure as a modern woman. Do you know what's supposed to be in a woman's purse these days?”
“Lipstick?”
“A cell phone, an electronic calendar, music devices, a laptop, flash drives to everything. I've never even been able to figure out how to use my phone to text my husband.”
John was a whiz at electronic devices but he passed on the opportunity to lord that over her. “So you came here thinking Peter might help you, but you chickened out? You thought he'd take Brendan's side?”
“Yeah.”
John glanced at Finn. The boy was humming loudly, happily, taking a bite of everything.
Baby Hank puckered toward a crying jag, so John blew playfully on his face. Hank grabbed John's nose and giggled.
“You're good,” Dolly said.
“Just my ego. No kid's going to cry on my watch.” He realized how intimate this was, him holding a baby and Dolly sharing her soul. He handed the baby back. “Maybe you should meet with Peter and stop living in caves.”
“It's too late. Please, just let me drive away with Finn.”
“Stay. Peter and Crystal will understand.”
“No, they won't.” She hugged Hank as if he were her own.
/> “Why not? Because you stole their quilt?”
“No. Because Finn burned down their cabin.”
~—~—~—~ ~
[Back to Table of Contents]
* * *
Chapter 5
John grabbed a chair so Dolly could sit with the baby. “Your little boy couldn't've done anything bad.”
“I've told him not to venture far but he does it anyway. He came running home the other night scared. He said he got a gas can from near the barn. He was going to bring it home so we could have lots of fires to stay warm. While spying in a cabin window he said he slipped and fell, and he ran.”
That confession made John swallow. He glanced at Finn in the corner. The boy was still humming. “The fire woke Peter around ten, after they'd gone to bed.”
“Finn came home before that, as it was getting dark, maybe seven. Fires can smolder for a long time before they take off.”
“Yeah, but this was gas. It'd go fast. Let's go back to the farm. We'll look around, see what Finn says.”
“No.” Her eyes held a warning.
“No pressure, I promise. I have a confession to make. I was hired by Peter to find out who set the fire.”
“So you lied. You're not a cowboy?”
“I run a ranch.” He considered the whole truth but couldn't do it. “I'm a volunteer firefighter, too. I need to talk with Finn. Maybe he saw somebody. Maybe that was the noise he heard.”
Hank slumbered on her shoulder. Dolly finally nodded. “I'm with Finn the entire time you question him.”
“Of course.”
He drove them out to the farmstead where they first finished breakfast in the hay loft. John suggested Finn might bring his hen, Wrigley, out of the coop for a visit. The silkie chicken pecked at muffin crumbs from Finn's hand, which made them all laugh.
Finn said, “Mama, I like living with chickenth.”
John wondered how Peter's friend could sire this child then miss times like this.
He jumped when a knock resounded from the door. When he opened it, Peter and Crystal stood in the morning sunlight in their coats, carrying luggage. John blocked the doorway.
Peter grinned. “We're moving in.”
“But it's not ready.”
Crystal, with her long, auburn hair in a ponytail, looked pale. “I need to be with my animals. Please.”
John had no choice but to let them in. They halted when they saw Dolly and Finn. Finn held Wrigley. Dolly and John exchanged a glance.
Peter cocked his head at John. “Anything you want to tell me, Boze?”
“They're...” John introduced Dolly and Finn as O'Tooles, not Kanes. He saw no recognition on Peter's face. “I found them camping in an old logger's cave at the back of your farm.”
Finn warbled, “He thaved us. Want a muffin?”
Crystal's mouth gaped. “You were camping? In this weather?”
Dolly nodded. “It's fun.”
“I froze,” Finn said. “But mama got a big blanket.”
John looked around in horror, then remembered the quilt was still in his car.
Crystal stepped forward to pet the chicken. “Where are you from?”
Dolly said, “We're in-between.”
“You're homeless? With a child?” Crystal flashed pleading eyes to Peter.
“And we're homeless,” Peter said, laughing. “How about a trade?”
John panicked at what was unfolding. “No. They can't live at the North Pole.”
Finn brightened even more. “We can live with Thanta?”
Crystal nodded. “You bet. You can stay at Santa's big house while you and your mom look for a place to live.”
Peter crowed, “Perfect!”
“Hold on,” said John. “What about Henri and Felicity? And Leonard?”
Peter said, “Leonard's been treating me like a little boy. Now he'll have a real one to cook for.”
John saw disaster coming at him like a missile.
Crystal hugged Dolly. “Moonstone doesn't allow homeless people. We have too much heart. Please accept our offer.”
John dragged Peter outside. A rental truck loaded with furniture waited. John groaned. “I'm not living in the mansion with her and the boy.”
Peter's dark eyes searched John's. “What's going on?”
“Nothing.”
“You think I'm a dumb shit? You found this woman and her boy, and now something's going on between you.”
“Not that sort of thing. I'm just...” A dumb shit, lying to my best friend. “I'm going to help her get on her feet then get rid of her. Then get back to the arson case for you.”
“Have you told her about your past?”
“No. I told you I don't care about her.”
Peter leaned closer. John could feel the man looking into his soul. “What's wrong with her, Boze? Have you come up with another lame list like you do with every woman who might be perfect for you?”
“I'm working on it.”
Peter left him to lumber through melting snow to the back of the truck. “So you haven't told her about Afghanistan yet?”
“No.”
“Get that out on the first date. Women who are worth anything will understand. You have to play fair, Boze.”
John opened the truck's back panel doors. He pulled out a straight-back kitchen chair. “I'm not ready to settle down.”
“You're not ready to admit you're not a whole man. You don't have to save this woman and her boy. You can relax. We're not in a war. She seems mighty strong and can take care of herself. Or is that what scares you? You won't feel needed?”
“What the blue blazes—”
“I saw the way you looked at her when we barged in. You think I'm an idiot?”
John's head hurt. “Do you know who they are?”
Peter pulled out a chair and began carrying it through the snow. “My guess is that's Dolly Kane and Finn. Brendan called me a few weeks back to keep an eye out for them. I've never met Dolly or seen Finn since he was a baby, but I put the pieces together.”
“You're going to tell Brendan they're here?”
“She's in your hands, not mine.”
“What the blue blazes—”
“You're repeating yourself. You can't even curse creatively anymore. Get out of your rut. You're a tough soldier. You found them. If you can't rely on your heart to help them, then rely on cold military procedures. That's how you've been living your life these past few years.”
“I've been busy saving the ranch.”
“No, I saved it. You're hiding on it. Do your cows keep you warm?”
“I'd love to break this chair over your head.”
Peter guffawed. “You'd lose face hitting an old, helpless man. Besides, I could whup your butt on my one leg.” He trudged onward in his awkward gait.
John lobbed at him with, “Dolly thinks Finn set the fire.”
Peter halted. “You believe it?”
“No, but I think he saw something that scared him enough that he's blocking it out.”
“Then find out what scared Finn. Once you do, arson is solved.”
John sighed. Peter had always been that way—common sense and action, and no whining.Within an hour Crystal and Peter had settled into their thirty-by-thirty nest next to the chickens as if they were college kids in their first apartment.
John drove back to Moonstone with Dolly and Finn. Yet again, they were together breathing the same air, attuned to each other's blink, sniffle, and sigh. He suspected Peter was gloating over it like some matchmaker.
When they arrived at the North Pole, Finn noticed Leonard Moline's face puckering. “Why doth he look like he thucked on a lemon?”
John shrugged. “Because he probably did while making you fresh lemonade and cookies.”
“Cool,” said Finn, trooping up the staircase with John and Dolly to the second floor bedroom where he jumped on a fluffy bed.
After John carried Dolly's things—including the purloined wedding quilt—to a guest
bedroom, Dolly rose on tiptoe to kiss John on the cheek. “Thanks, John Hall.”
He swiped at his tingling skin. “What for?”
“No man's ever brought me breakfast in a basket. You're nice.”
“Stop saying that darn word.”
She flopped back on the bed with a giggle. Her hair splayed out across a lavender bedspread. Her eyes soaked up the color. “It's an awfully big bed, John Hall.”
It was as if she'd shook him like a snow globe. He shouldn't be having these feelings for her. They had to be caused by seeing her with little Hank. She'd looked natural with a baby. She was a woman meant to have lots of babies.
He wanted to hang his hat on the bedpost and smell her hair again. He imagined the two of them with six kids, all elbows and giggles in the bed on a Sunday morning after bringing her breakfast. He'd teach their kids to ride...
He snugged his Stetson in place and left before he did something dangerous.
~—~—~—~ ~
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* * *
Chapter 6
John vowed to avoid Dolly from there on out. But a mere hour later, as he came in the front door after shoveling slushy snow, she raced into the foyer calling, “I can't find Finn! Is he with you? He's always taking off.”
“He's a boy. They do that. If you were home, where would he be?”
“Playing computer games.”
He led her into the nearby den. Nobody sat at the desk and computer. John smiled, though. He hadn't been in Special Ops for nothing. He picked up a small shoe on the loveseat, then signaled with a thumb behind the furniture.
“You're looking for Finn?”
Dolly faked, “Oh, I'm so worried. Where could he be?”
“He's not in here. So I guess I can't read him the Three Little Pigs and buy him cookie dough ice cream with sprinkles in the Jingle Bell Inn.”
Finn crawled over the back of the loveseat. “I'm here!”
Dolly's eyes lavished lavender thanks on John. “Nice job. But one problem. I don't see any children's books.”
“We'll make it up and draw the houses.”
John retrieved paper and colored markers from the desk.
They settled onto the loveseat with Finn between them. John did all the “Huff and I'll puff” refrains. While Finn drew a pig, John sketched the straw, sticks, and brick houses.
Men Of Moonstone Series Page 3
