Lethal Literature

by Kym Roberts

  “That’s only the beginning. You realize that, right?” I asked.

  “Just bring it, Princess.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Good to know you’re up for the challenge.”

  I went back into the Barn and got my purse and keys. “I’m off, Daddy.”

  “Don’t get yourself into any more trouble,” he said.

  “Trouble hasn’t been my middle name since high school.”

  Daddy looked skeptical and I blew him a kiss.

  I went out and got in my truck, reached over, and unlocked the door for Cade.

  “Have you ever thought about restoring this old thing?” he asked.

  “Are you insulting my ride, Cade Calloway?”

  Cade held his hands up in the air in surrender. “No offense intended.”

  “Good. None taken.”

  I turned over the engine and it rumbled to life the way it always did. Except it had an additional snap, crackle, and pop I could feel in the ignition. “What the Sam Hill . . . ?”

  A thin trail of smoke snaked its way up through the shift housing where my hand sat on the gearshift.

  “Let me take a look before this thing blows up on us.”

  “Ha ha. Very funny, Cade Calloway.”

  Cade laughed and had his door open as I said, “I’m sure it’s just the clutch. I’m probably due for a new one.”

  He ignored me and squatted down to look under the truck as the gear housing started to sizzle.

  “Get out of the truck, Princess!” Cade yelled.

  “What? What for?”

  The man looked like he’d seen a ghost as he reached in and pulled my arm harder than was necessary. I pulled back, but Cade wouldn’t release me. Instead, he was yanking me across the seat like a crazy man.

  “Get out of the truck, now!” Cade yelled in my face.

  “Have you done lost your mind, Cade Calloway?”

  “There’s a bomb!”

  “A what?”

  Cade was done arguing with me. He grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me the rest of the way across the truck and out the door. Then he pushed me into the middle of the street just as an explosion ripped through the air.

  I landed on my face in the middle of Main Street with Cade on top of me.

  It was the last place I wanted to get intimate with my ex-boyfriend.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “Are you alive?” I yelled.

  “I don’t think I’m dead.” His voice seemed muffled in my ear, despite the proximity of his mouth.

  “Then could you get off me? I think I’ve eaten enough dirt for one day.”

  I felt Cade grunt more than I actually heard it, before he rolled off my back. I turned over and sat up. We were in the middle of the street and my truck was ablaze. I supposed it was a good thing that the spots to the left and right of it had been vacant. It gave room for parts to fly and flames to burn.

  My ears were ringing, but that appeared to be the only thing damaged by the explosion. At least to me. I leaned over Cade, who was staring up at the clear blue sky marred by yellowish brown smoke from my truck. The right side of Cade’s head was smoking with red embers that I immediately smacked out. “Are you hurt?”

  Cade blinked. “I’m not sure. Why are you banging my head?”

  I didn’t want to tell him his hair was singed nearly to the scalp on one side, the curls were straightened and looked like a frightened cat’s back on top of his head, and the left side looked completely normal. Then again, maybe his hairdo could pass for some type of funky Mohawk.

  Could politicians get away with a Mohawk on the East Coast?

  “Your hair was on fire.” I left out that for the first time in his life, Cade was having a bad hair day. A really bad hair day. The kind of day that probably negated every single one of mine combined.

  “Is anything else on fire?”

  “Not that I can tell. Can you sit up and I’ll check your back?”

  Cade did as I asked but groaned the whole time.

  There was very little left to the back of his shirt, but his skin looked fine. I rubbed it to make sure.

  “Are you feeling me up?”

  “I’m trying to make sure you’re in one piece.” If I enjoyed touching his perfectly sculpted back in the meantime, that was my business. “Nothing hurts?”

  “I’m having a hard time focusing on your voice, and the back of my head feels gooey,” he said.

  “I think you might have a concussion.” I looked at the back of his head. “And you’re going to need stitches or staples on your head.”

  “A what?”

  “A concussion!” I yelled.

  Scarlet appeared out of nowhere with Mary and Joellen right behind her, and they helped me to my feet. “O.M.W. are you okay?”

  “I think so,” I said, but by the way their heads leaned back, I may have been yelling without even knowing it.

  “Don’t mind me, I’m fine.”

  The four of us turned to Cade, who was sitting on the ground with his legs straight out in front of him. He waved and the corner of his mouth raised.

  No one moved until Joellen reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She’d snapped several pictures of our bedraggled mayor before Scarlet smacked her hand.

  “Make yourself useful and call 9-1-1,” Scarlet told her.

  “Princess!” Daddy came running out of the Barn but couldn’t immediately see us in the street since the fire was between us.

  “I’m here, Daddy!” I moved so he could see me and he came running out and hit me almost as hard as Cade had tackled me to the ground. I let him hold me as long as he needed to since I needed the comfort of knowing I was alive just as much as he did.

  “I’m fine,” I heard Cade say and Daddy released me.

  “What happened?” he asked as he approached Cade.

  “Cade saved me.”

  “Can you stand?” Daddy asked Cade.

  “I’m fine,” Cade repeated.

  “I think he has a concussion.”

  The sound of sirens blared through town as the first fire truck barreled down Main Street.

  Betty Walker came out of the quilt shop and met Franz on the front porch. “Are they okay?” Franz asked.

  “They’re fine.” Scarlet waved them off.

  Customers and employees from the diner and the antique stores stuck their heads out their respective front doors, craning their necks to get a better look without risking being hurt in any further explosions. Liza Twaine, our local pushy reporter, shoved her way through the crowd and started filming what was left of my truck. The flames were licking at the sky at the height of their glory.

  It wasn’t every day an explosion rocked downtown Hazel Rock. I hated that I was involved in it, but I knew if one occurred, everyone knew it had to be connected to me. These people just didn’t draw this kind of action. Nor did Cade. In fact, the only kind of attention he brought to town was media coverage for charity events and accolades for good deeds—not bombings.

  I watched as Liza turned her phone toward Cade and started to zoom in. I immediately stepped in front of her view and bent over Cade. “If you can get up, we need to get you in the beauty shop before the media gets here.”

  “I’m fine,” Cade repeated.

  “Your hair isn’t.”

  Cade felt his head on the left side. “It feels fine to me.”

  Scarlet stepped up. “Trust me, you want me to take care of it.”

  Daddy wasn’t having any of our fussing over Cade’s hair. “The man is injured. Wait until the paramedics get here.”

  “The media beat them.” I pointed toward Liza stalking down the middle of the street.

  “I’ll take care of Liza.”

  “She’s not the only one with a
cell phone.” I turned to Joellen, who had her phone out videotaping my truck—the truck my Daddy had owned before I was born.

  The fire engine stopped in front of us with a deputy pulling up behind it. Once their sirens turned off, I could hear more sirens in the distance.

  “I’d like to get out of the middle of the street,” Cade said. It was his first sentence that was longer than a couple words, and we all took it as a sign that he might have a concussion, but that was probably the worst of his injuries. I grabbed an arm and Scarlet grabbed the other as my Daddy headed off Liza Twaine with a promise of a view of the action from inside the bookstore. The Barn would have the absolute best view of the burning truck of anywhere that wasn’t the middle of the street.

  I couldn’t believe she fell for it.

  Cade leaned on me, and for a moment I thought I would buckle. The man weighed more than he looked, especially when it seemed he was dead weight on my shoulders.

  “Your knees are bleeding, Princess.”

  “That happens when a man your size tackles a woman in the middle of the street.”

  “I think you got the worst of it.” Cade seemed upset by that.

  I tried to reassure him. “I think your hair got the worst of it.”

  Cade lifted his head toward the mirrors inside Beaus and Beauties. He blinked. Again. Comprehension came slowly. “Holy—”

  “Don’t say it.”

  Cade stared at his reflection in the mirror as we sat him in a chair. He went down with an “oof” from me and Scarlet.

  “If anytime was the time to cuss, now would be the time.”

  “My truck looks worse,” I told him.

  He stopped turning his head side to side and gazed up at me, his pupils completely dilated. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your truck.”

  “I’m sorry I put you through this.” I waved toward his head and brought his attention back to his disastrous appearance.

  Joellen popped in for a moment and snapped another picture.

  “O.M.W. Joellen. Is that the way you treat a hero?”

  “What?” Cade and Joellen said at once.

  I filled them both in. “If it wasn’t for Cade, I’d be out there . . .” I pointed to the smoldering remains of my truck—black smoke spiraling in the air as the fire hoses beat the flames into submission and exposed the charred remains. “Thank you for not letting that happen to me, Cade.”

  The voice from the doorway took us all by surprise. “I’d like to second that emotion,” Mateo said. Then he got down to the business of his job. “Before you clean him up, Scarlet, I’ve got a couple paramedics that’d like to take a look at him and a couple detectives who’d like to talk to him.”

  “Of course.” Scarlet pushed her sister and Mary into the back room as paramedics and a detective came into the shop.

  I moved over toward Mateo, who looked me over from the top of my head to my toes. “Dios mio, Charli. Your knees are bleeding.”

  “My knees are fine.”

  He bent down to take a closer look and pushed against my left knee.

  “Ow, dagnabit, Mateo, that hurts.”

  “I think they should look you over too.” He waved at one of the paramedics.

  “I’m fine.” I waved him off. The poor guy looked back and forth between us, but somehow my scowl won the day, not Mateo’s.

  “You’re frustrating.”

  “Likewise.”

  “What were you doing with Cade?” His question was nonchalant, but I could see the real question behind the act. He wanted to know if something was rekindling between Cade and me.

  I went with the truth. Sorta. “Scarlet called him and he volunteered to help move boxes. We were going to the fire department to pick up some more donations. It was a political move on his part.” I neglected to mention that I’d been headed to Ava’s house.

  Mateo nodded. “Tell me what happened with the truck?”

  “It blew up.”

  “The gas line caught on fire?”

  I shook my head. “No. I mean I started the truck. There was this popping noise at the ignition and then smoke at the gearshift. Cade got out of the truck and looked underneath it. Then he popped back up and said there was a bomb and he dragged me out of the truck.”

  “A bomb?”

  I nodded. “A bomb.”

  “What kind of bomb?”

  I shrugged. “Not a clue.”

  “How did Cade know it was a bomb?”

  “That’s something you’ll have to ask Cade. I can tell you his answers are a little wonky right now.”

  “Like his hair?”

  I couldn’t help the smile trying to build. It was either grin or cry. I grinned. “Like his hair. Did you get a picture?” I really hoped he’d gotten a picture.

  “That’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Besides, it’s evidence in the case.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “Take my truck,” Cade said.

  “You trust me with your truck?” Cade loved his truck.

  “I trust you. I’m not sure I trust the universe around you.”

  “Was that a compliment or an insult?” I couldn’t tell.

  Cade thought about it for a moment. “I’m not sure.”

  Or maybe he just zoned off and then came back to us. He’d been doing that a lot, which was why we insisted he at least allow Mateo to take him to the hospital after Scarlet worked some fast magic on his hair. I didn’t see the point of a new style considering the staff at the hospital would be shaving the spot around the gash anyway, but Cade and Scarlet both seemed to think it necessary.

  Especially since Liza Twaine was outside on the porch interviewing Joellen about what she’d seen. Scarlet had made her little sister promise not to show the picture of Cade’s hair post-blast.

  Mateo got off his radio and turned toward Scarlet. “Is your camera system still down?”

  “O.M.W. I forgot about it. No, I got it fixed about a month ago. Do you think there’s footage of Charli’s truck blowing up?”

  “We’ll have to see.”

  Scarlet finished with Cade’s hair about the time Liza finished Joellen’s interview. The reporter tried to follow Joellen into the beauty shop, but Mary stopped her at the door.

  “Sorry,” she said in a tone that sounded like stick it where the sun don’t shine. “We’re closing early today because of the parking area being blocked by these hunky firefighters.” There were at least ten women in the shop; between friends and relatives, the place was packed.

  Liza tried to stick a purple pump in the door to keep Mary from closing it in her face, but when she saw Mary was undaunted by the thought of hurting her, Liza pulled her foot back just in time for the glass door to slam closed—Liza’s foot intact.

  Scarlet and Mateo headed for the back room and I followed.

  “You should stay with Cade,” Mateo said to me.

  “Joellen’s with Cade.”

  Mateo started to tell me something about it being police business, but I immediately set him straight. “That was my daddy’s truck that he gave to me. I have memories of moving to Hazel Rock in that truck. Memories of Daddy and me taking my mom to the hospital before she died. I learned how to drive in that truck.” I could have gone on and on, but I left those particular memories hanging out there for him to contemplate. “If someone blew up my truck on purpose, I want to see who did it.”

  Mateo didn’t like losing a battle, but with each point I made, Scarlet’s head bobbed up and then down in agreement, and he knew I’d see the video right after he left, anyway.

  “Fine.” He held his hand up to stop my forward progress. “But what we learn from the video does not leave this store room. Deal?”

  I nodded and Mateo looked at Scarlet.

  “O.M.W. do you really think I would share that inf
ormation?”

  Mateo raised his left brow.

  “Fine. You have my word.”

  We went to Scarlet’s office off the back room. It was as spotless as the rest of the business with a modern design that was the exact opposite of her vintage Airstream trailer she lived in behind the shop. Mateo and I sat in the two chairs in front of her desk as Scarlet pulled up her security system on her computer, then turned the large computer screen in our direction. She started the viewing at noon. The view was mostly of customers coming and going in front of Beaus and Beauties, but there was a clear view of the parking in front of the Book Barn and our front door. Scarlet fast-forwarded through Cade entering the store, followed by Daddy a short time later. She put it in real time as we saw Cade and I exit the store.

  I hadn’t realized Cade had put his hand on the small of my back, but Scarlet noticed it and looked for a reaction from Mateo. I peeked as well, but he just watched the screen as we loaded books in Cade’s truck and then got into mine. Moments later, Cade got back out of the truck and looked underneath. The near panic in his movements was obvious, and I found my heart racing just watching the events unfold.

  It was scary watching our near-death experience, and as I watched, I realized the two of us had been lucky no cars had been driving down Main Street at the time of the explosion. We could have survived the bomb only to become road pizza.

  Scarlet’s breath hitched as the truck exploded and Cade and I went flying through the air. We watched as the side mirror flew off the truck and struck Cade in the back of the head. It explained the cut and the concussion. Mateo wanted to watch until the fire department finished to see if there was anyone hanging around watching the entire incident, but we didn’t see anyone suspicious.

  “Can you start at six a.m. and go backward so we can see if anyone tampered with the truck after Charli parked it last night?”

  “Sure.” Scarlet did as he requested, but we soon found the nighttime footage more difficult to see. At about three a.m., however, a white pickup drove by the Book Barn Princess very slowly going eastbound. A few minutes later we observed the same truck going westbound on Main Street.