The Black Sheep and the Princess

by Donna Kauffman

  She didn’t even try to mentally calculate what that was going to do to her start-up costs. At the moment, she was too busy getting mad. In fact, the longer she stared at the charred remains, the angrier she got.

  “What the hell are you doing out here?”

  Chapter 17

  Kate spun around, rag still clamped to her face, to find Donovan standing several yards down the slope, soot streaked, and not very happy. The heightened emotions of the past few days, coupled with the rage building inside her at this latest violation of her property, all fused together in that moment to form one huge outburst of fury. “What the hell am I doing out here? I’m surveying the ruins of my goddamn cabin, that’s what I’m doing. I’m trying to figure out who the hell wants to do something like this to me and what the hell I ever did to them to deserve it. That’s what I’m doing out here. I’m trying to figure out who to hunt down and pin to the nearest tree until they tell me what in God’s name this is all about.” She threw her spare rag at him. “That’s what I’m doing.”

  He caught it in one hand and was in front of her a heartbeat later. It wasn’t until he’d pulled her into his arms that she realized there were tears on her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.

  She pushed at him, not wanting his sympathy. At the moment, the anger felt good, energizing, as though she was finally coming out of a long daze and taking action. “I’m pissed, is what I am.”

  He let her move back a space, but kept his hands on her arms. “That’s good. Just don’t let it make you do anything stupid.”

  “Thanks. I heard the sirens, so I knew it was only a matter of minutes before the place was swarming with people anyway.”

  “More people doesn’t lower the chance of something else happening. In some cases, chaos is a good distraction.”

  “I wasn’t going to stand in the cabin like some helpless idiot and watch.” She slipped from his grasp and turned back to the cabin. “Did you find anything out? Do you have any idea how it was set, or what they used? Any evidence that you can track back?”

  “Not yet, I can’t get close enough. I don’t have the right gear. The fire marshal will collect whatever evidence might be in there. I’m not equipped to do much more than look from a distance.”

  “I’m betting the marshal is also from Ralston. Maybe he’s like the rest of them and not particularly interested in helping me figure out who is doing this.”

  “Maybe,” Donovan agreed, which didn’t make her feel better in the least, but was better than building false hope. “I plan on keeping a close eye while they take a look.”

  “Well, the cabin didn’t just spontaneously combust—” She paused, looked at him, then down at his ankle, remembering the gun he’d had strapped there yesterday. “Did it?”

  “No, I didn’t have rounds of ammo stockpiled in there, or anything. The most combustible thing I had was a few cans of beer,” he said, but with a dry smile.

  “Sorry, I was trying to consider all possibilities,” she said, “as someone I know is trying to teach me to do.”

  He nodded his approval. “There was no thunder or lightning either, so I think Gilby and the authorities will have to look at this as at least a possible arson, no matter how much they do or don’t like you.”

  “What if they don’t connect it to the vandalism? They could just say the evidence is inconclusive if they wanted to. God, now I sound like a bigger conspiracy theorist than you do.”

  Donovan didn’t respond to that. Instead, he said, “What I want to know is why torch the place now? Why the sudden surge in action and the escalation of damage and risk from graffiti this morning to this. If it hadn’t been for the rain, this could have easily caught and taken out the whole camp.”

  “Do you think they knew it wouldn’t do more than burn the one building?” She turned back to him. “Or do you think they were trying to burn down the whole place?”

  “That they didn’t start with your cabin at least indicates it’s not you they intend to harm.”

  “But it was your cabin. If they’ve been watching me, then maybe someone saw you move your gear in there last night.” She shuddered, remembering how she’d been nonchalantly wandering about the camp grounds last night, sitting like a big fat duck on the end of that dock. “They had to hear the drilling and hammering when they sprayed the shed. Maybe your gear was the target.”

  “I thought of that, too. It’s definitely a possibility, but it seems a huge risk just to shut down the security setup. It can still be installed.”

  “Yes, but replacing the equipment slows things down.”

  Donovan didn’t say anything to that and fell silent for a long moment as he appeared to mull things over.

  “I agree with you. It just seems a lot to go from spraying words to setting a building on fire,” she said.

  “Unless they saw me putting up the cameras and realized that instead of spooking you, all the vandalism did was make you bring someone on board to try and stop them, or possibly catch them.”

  “I didn’t exactly bring you on board.”

  “They don’t know that.”

  “Whoever the hell ‘they’ are.” She took a deep, calming breath, which only made her start coughing. She brought the rag back up to her face and looked at the smoking remains again. She tried to imagine what it had taken to make someone do this. “It still seems like a pretty sudden change in tactics to me. I just don’t get it.” Then she remembered the call she’d made. “I talked to Shelby.”

  Donovan’s eyebrows lifted at the news, but before he could say anything, the trucks rolled in. “We’ll talk about that later when we’re alone.”

  Kate nodded in agreement as doors opened and firemen poured out in full gear, faces set, their attention focused on the smoking cabin. Donovan moved toward them with Kate right beside him. “Follow my lead here, okay?”

  “Lead? What are you doing now?”

  Kate didn’t notice the police SUV that had pulled in behind the trucks until Gilby appeared from behind the second one. Despite the fact that she’d wanted his attention on the matter all along, instead of being relieved, his appearance just unnerved her all the more.

  He was somewhere on the far side of sixty, with a military-style flattop that would probably be graying on the sides if not buzzed down to the skin. Of average height and slender, he walked with the swagger of a man sporting a far bigger frame. Even with the overcast skies and late hour of the afternoon, he wore his mirrored sunglasses. It was all Kate could do not to roll her eyes.

  “What seems to be the situation here?” he asked. He directed the question at her, but not before giving Donovan a quick once-over. Gilby might appear like a self-important asshole, mostly because he probably was, but he’d been a fixture in Ralston for a very long time. Somehow Kate didn’t think he missed much.

  “Someone torched one of my cabins,” Kate said flatly. She’d gone to him before and had more or less received a patronizing pat on the head. She wasn’t going to pull any punches today. She was angry, and she wanted this to be taken seriously.

  “Did you see someone set fire to the building?”

  “No, sir. But—”

  “Then let’s not be hasty about pointing fingers and making accusations.”

  Donovan spoke. “The cabin has been empty and unused for several decades. There were no combustible materials stored inside, and although it has been raining, there have been no lightning strikes. The grounds here have been under an almost constant barrage of vandalism, which Ms. Sutherland has duly reported to your office. What would your professional assessment of the situation be?”

  Gilby turned to face Donovan. “Are you questioning me, son?”

  “I’m merely asking for your view on the situation. What else might we be dealing with here, if not arson?”

  Gilby slid his glasses into his front pocket and hitched up his pants. But no amount of adjusting was going to put his stature on the same level as the very imposing Donovan MacLe
od. As angry as she was, Kate had to stifle the urge to smile. Gilby might be able to “little lady” her, but she doubted he’d get around Donovan.

  “And who might you be, son?”

  Kate tensed, but Donovan seemed as relaxed as ever. “Donovan MacLeod.”

  If he remembered Donovan from the past, it didn’t show on the sheriff’s face. “And your relationship to Ms. Sutherland?”

  “Concerned friend.”

  “I see.”

  Kate wondered what was going on behind those flat, brown eyes, but, to his credit, Gilby didn’t give much away. “Well, Mr. MacLeod, there can be any number of other possibilities, including, but not restricted to, insurance fraud.”

  “Insurance fraud?” Kate spluttered. “But I’m not even the—”

  “How long do you think it will take the fire marshal to assess the situation?” Donovan smoothly cut in.

  Gilby clearly didn’t like Donovan’s unruffled demeanor. “Roger will be out here in due time. Now, I need to go talk with some of the fine young gentlemen here who have come to handle this situation. I’ll talk with both of you when I’m done.” He didn’t wait for their response.

  “Do you think he was trying to sound intimidating?” Kate asked.

  “I think when Roger gets here we need to dog him like a shadow.”

  Kate turned away from the cabin and the firemen swarming around it with hoses and other equipment. “Why do you say that?”

  “Just a precaution. If Gilby is intentionally turning a blind eye out here, then we need to figure out whether the fire marshal might be inclined to do the same.”

  “Do you think he really didn’t recognize you?”

  “Hard to say, it’s been a lot of years.”

  But his tone made it clear that he didn’t think Gilby missed much either. She swore under her breath. “God, I’m just so sick of this, all of it. I decide to resurrect some stupid property that no one has wanted in years, and all hell breaks loose.”

  Donovan went still.

  “What?” Kate asked. “What did I say that I haven’t already said a billion times?”

  “Just making a possible connection.”

  “About?”

  “The timing. Maybe there’s something completely different going on here, something we didn’t even consider.” Donovan raked his hand through his hair, streaking more soot across his forehead and cheek. “Something we didn’t even consider because we were distracted by Timberline’s interest and Shelby’s interference with the will. Maybe those things were coincidental after all.”

  “What? Wait a minute…what are you thinking?”

  “I don’t know yet. I need to—” He stopped and looked past her shoulder. “Gilby.”

  Kate smoothed her expression and folded her arms across her chest as she turned to face the sheriff, fully prepared to do battle if Gilby so much as attempted to pat her on the head about this latest run-in, much less accuse her of anything. Insurance fraud, my ass. “Have you heard from the fire marshal?” she asked, deciding a preemptive strike might be best. “What is the status of the fire now?” She looked past Gilby and saw that the firemen were already pulling in their gear. The fire had pretty much played out by their arrival, so other than the continued plumes of thick gray smoke rising from the burned shell, there wasn’t much left to do, she supposed.

  “Fire is out. Damage assessment, along with probable source and cause, will be determined after Roger has a chance to go through it. Until then, we’re going to tape it off. That means no entry to you until we say so.”

  “So, you do consider it a crime scene, then.” She phrased it more as a fact than a question.

  “We don’t know what it is. But until we do, it’s off limits. To everyone.” He made a point to include Donovan in his line of vision, then after a moment, added, “You’re Donny’s boy. Didn’t recognize you at first.” Kate cut her gaze to Donovan, but there was no visible reaction to the statement.

  “Been a long time,” was all he said.

  “That it has. Any particular reason you decided to come back now?”

  He’d asked it casually enough, but Kate was pretty sure everyone standing there felt the undercurrent of tension. It was palpable. Like watching a potentially dangerous tennis match, she shifted her gaze from Gilby to Donovan.

  “Just helping out an old friend.”

  “Helping, huh?” Gilby took a step back and shifted his gaze up into the trees. “That your handiwork up there, then?”

  Donovan didn’t bother to look up at the camera he’d installed earlier that day. “It’s my field. New place like this, what with the recent vandalism, makes sense to secure it.”

  Gilby didn’t react to the slight censure in his tone when he’d mentioned the vandalism. “Your daddy always was good with a piece of mechanical equipment. Guess some of that rubbed off, eh?”

  Donovan simply raised a shoulder.

  A smile curved Gilby’s thin lips for the first time. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. “Long as his other habits didn’t rub off. One MacLeod spending every weekend in our drunk tank was enough. Seem to recall hauling you in there once myself.”

  If he was trying to get a rise out of Donovan, he was apparently going to have to work harder than that. Kate silently prayed he’d end this pointless pissing contest now.

  “You won’t have to worry about that,” was all he said.

  “Hope not. Saw plenty of your daddy.” He gave Donovan a once-over that was less than polite. “Don’t have much the same look. Voice is the same, though. That’s what triggered it for me. Guess you take after your mama.”

  It was only because she was looking at him that Kate noticed the slight shift in Donovan’s demeanor. Just a slight hardening of the jaw, but she doubted Gilby had missed it.

  “I couldn’t say. I never knew her. What’s your estimate on getting a report back on this place? When is Roger due to arrive?”

  Gilby’s smile spread, apparently happy that he’d hit on a sensitive spot. Kate tensed, waiting for him to poke at it, but instead, he turned back to the cabin. “Few days, he’s…out of town at the moment. Place’ll probably be condemned, have to come down.”

  Kate sensed a different kind of awareness in Donovan and shot him a look behind Gilby’s back, but he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze went from drilling holes in the back of Gilby’s head, to the burned cabin. Something Gilby had just said had sparked another reaction, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what. No way was the cabin reparable, so it was no surprise it would have to be torn down and rebuilt.

  “I’ll expect to hear from you and the marshal as soon as he gets his report done,” Kate said, wanting nothing more than to expedite this little interlude so she could get Donovan alone and find out what was going through his head.

  “Is there anything else you need from us, Sheriff?” Donovan asked, apparently of the same mind as Kate.

  Gilby turned back to them and slipped an official police notebook from his chest pocket and flipped it open. “There are a few questions, yes. I’d like to get an official statement from both of you. We can do that here, or you can come down to Ralston with me.”

  Kate tried to mask her surprise. “Here is fine. What do you want to know?”

  “I’ll need to know what kind of insurance you have on this place, who your policy is with.”

  “You really think this is some kind of insurance scam?” Kate flung her arm out, trying to rail in her frustration and renewed fury. “You think I went around spraying my own trees with graffiti, too?”

  “Stranger things happen every day, Miss Sutherland.”

  “Have you done any follow-up at all to my report on the vandalism?” she countered.

  “Not much I can do. No other reported similar acts in the county.” He dabbed his pencil on his tongue, made a few notes. “You haven’t made any visual contact with intruders, have you?”

  Kate was dying to lift up on her tiptoes and peek over the edge of the pad, b
ut somehow managed to refrain. “No. No, I haven’t. But they sprayed my shed across the lake just this morning, then surprise, surprise, no sooner does Donovan move his stuff in, than one of my cabins goes up in flames.”

  Gilby looked up sharply, and Kate could feel Donovan drilling her, but it was too late now. “You say Mr. MacLeod was residing in the burned cabin?”

  “No, I said he moved in some gear bags. Nothing combustible, just cameras and surveillance equipment.”

  “Expensive equipment,” Donovan put in. “Someone has been keeping an eye on the property and possibly Miss Sutherland personally.”

  Gilby scribbled some more. “And you were residing where, specifically?”

  “On camp property,” he replied. “I haven’t stayed in the same place twice since arriving here several days ago. But I’ve kept Miss Sutherland under equally close observation.” Donovan held his gaze as if he was almost begging Gilby to go for the easy jibe.

  Gilby stared him down, but didn’t make any further notes or ask anything else, apparently not willing to be that predictable. He looked to Kate. “The insurance information, Miss Sutherland?”

  Kate groaned inwardly. She should have kept her mouth shut, as Donovan would no doubt tell her later. She wasn’t making them look good here. Now this. “I don’t hold the insurance policy on the camp property. My stepbrother, Shelby, does.” Not that the information wasn’t public knowledge that Gilby could find out on his own, but she hated handing it to him.

  Donovan mercifully stepped in. “Is there anything else?”

  Gilby kept his gaze fixed on Kate. “So you don’t stand to personally gain from any insurance claim that might be filed?”

  “No,” Kate said through gritted teeth.

  “Why is the policy with your brother? You do own the place, do you not, Miss Sutherland?”

  “The property is in the family,” she replied.

  Gilby eyed her, and she could feel Donovan’s gaze on her as well. She didn’t give any more information. Let Gilby work for it this once, she thought.