Dangerous Season

by Lyn Cote

  Megan paused beside Audra, tying her apron strings behind her back. “Morning.”

  “Same to you,” Audra said, handing the guy his bag and taking his payment. She smiled and he walked away.

  “Aren’t you going to tell me that I shouldn’t have come?” Megan taunted with a mischievous grin.

  Audra just shook her head.

  “I called Mom last night and told her I had a job here,” Megan said.

  “What did she say?” Would their mother think that Audra was trying to make Megan take sides in their cool, silent and painful standoff?

  “Nothing.” As if guessing what Audra was thinking, Megan chuckled and walked around the counter out into the sunlight to start working.

  A young couple stepped up to Audra’s counter. They ordered lattes, fresh-squeezed orange juice and brioches and paid over fifteen dollars for their continental breakfast. As Audra ran the couple’s credit card through the machine, Brent slouched in through the front gate. Why was he here so early? Audra nodded at Brent as she gave the customer their receipt to sign.

  He edged around the counter. “Hi, Audra.”

  “Hi, Brent.” Audra thanked the customer and gave him his copy of the receipt. “You’re here early.”

  Brent leaned close. “Dad was really steamed at you last night.” Her cousin sounded pleased. “I enjoyed my dad being mad at someone else for a change. Thanks.”

  At that moment, Chad walked through her gate.

  Audra cringed. I don’t need another scene in front of customers.

  Brent and Chad spotted each other almost simultaneously. Chad’s walk turned into a swagger. “Hey, jerk,” he greeted Brent at the counter.

  “Hey, dipwad,” Brent responded.

  “That’s enough out of both of you,” Audra snapped.

  Ignoring her reprimand, Brent smirked. “Someone called my dad to say you already been to the sheriff’s office this morning for setting fire to your foster mother’s house.”

  Chad lunged for Brent.

  Audra leaned over the counter and with the long-handled metal spoon she used to stir some of the taller frothy drinks, tapped both of them sharply on the head. “This is a place of business,” she growled. “Chad, are you here for something besides trouble?” She tossed the spoon onto the tray of mugs waiting to be washed.

  Chad rubbed the top of his head. “Tom wants two mocha lattes to go.” He dragged out a five and put it on the counter. “Don’t do that to me again.”

  “Don’t start fights at my café and you’ll be safe from me,” Audra said, a little surprised at herself for tapping the boys. But they were acting like children so she’d treated them that way. She didn’t say that, however; it would amount to pouring gasoline on a fire.

  “Brent,” she demanded as she started the mocha lattes, “do you want something besides irritating me?”

  Snubbing her and Chad, Brent wandered over to Evie and began talking to her.

  Audra leaned over and murmured to Chad, “I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t—”

  “Cool it.” Chad cut her off. “I’m cool. You’re cool. The sheriff made it right.”

  Puzzled, Audra finished Tom’s order in record time and sent Chad on his way. What had the sheriff made right?

  She glanced up and froze in place when she saw Gordon Hamilton and a pretty blonde strolling in through her gate. They were heading straight for her. For a nanosecond, Audra considered running away and hiding. Why did Gordon have to come here today?

  “We’ll have two coffees and two croissants,” he said in a cool impersonal voice, already reaching for his wallet.

  She hadn’t seen Gordon up this close…for years. Audra’s hand trembled as she reached for two mugs. Still as dark-haired and devastatingly handsome as she remembered, he hardly acted as if she qualified as human. She might as well be part of the coffeemaker. But what did I expect from him? She lowered her eyes. If he could ignore her, she could ignore him.

  “Hey, Gordon,” Brent called, walking up the porch steps.

  Audra’s hands turned clammy. Did Brent know who Gordon was, had been to her? Would he say something and cause a scene?

  Gordon turned. “Hey, Brent. Come over and say hello to the new Mrs. Gordon Hamilton.”

  Keeping her head down, Audra finished pouring the coffees. Now she knew how the phrase “being steamed” came about. She was steamed right now. So Gordon hadn’t come here just to buy breakfast. He’d come to flaunt his new bride. Or am I just being self-absorbed? Maybe he didn’t think of her anymore at all. I don’t think of you any more, either, Gordon. But you didn’t need to come here this morning. I would have heard about your bride sooner than later.

  Out in the yard, Evie and Megan were clearing a table together. Did Megan recognize Gordon? Audra’s skittish heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t stop her face from blazing. Ignore me, Gordon. I prefer it that way. But she knew she was lying to herself. She deserved his respect and at the very least common courtesy. But obviously she was expecting too much.

  Brent shook hands with Gordon’s coolly stylish bride.

  “Darling, this is Brent Ramsdel. He grew up almost next door to us in Kenilworth. He and his dad just moved up here last fall full-time. Right, Brent?”

  Audra didn’t hear Brent’s reply because of the buzzing in her ears. Gordon handed Audra a ten-dollar bill to pay. Careful not to touch his fingers, she completed the transaction. He turned away without once making eye contact with her. She tried to slow her nervous heart.

  Fortunately, a line of customers appeared then, all clamoring for her attention. How much nerve did it take for Gordon to act as if he and Audra had never met?

  Gordon and his bride sat down. Evie walked past him and the situation twisted and cut and entangled Audra like brand-new barbed wire. Did Gordon even have a clue? How could a man have a heart clamped so tight?

  Later that morning, Keir pulled up in the alley behind Shirley’s house and got out. Lord, help me find some clues. Please. He’d just finished assuring Ollie that he’d asked for help from the state in investigating both the fire at his place and now here. Ollie had taken the fire in stride and was just glad that all that had to be replaced was the Dumpster. Primarily he’d been grateful that the sheriff had been there to help his grandson. Keir had felt better after talking to Ollie. But here he was now at the scene of a second fire. The back of the three-story white frame house was scorched and only a pile of soggy blackened wood was left of the back steps and porch. He wrinkled his nose against the same acrid stench he’d encountered at Ollie’s the morning before.

  Deputy Trish Franklin, in a flimsy white overall and gloves, was there painstakingly working through the taped-off blackened crime scene. She straightened and turned toward him. “Sheriff, come here. I want you to see this.” She motioned him over to the place where she’d been probing the detritus with a stick, nudging apart ash and debris. “See?” After he reached her side, she pointed down to a handful of coins, which looked like blackened pennies.

  He squatted down to give them a closer look, then glanced up questioningly.

  “If you go back over my report from the first crime scene, you’ll note that I found a handful of pennies at the first fire. I mean, I didn’t think anything of them, either, just marked them down. I thought someone just lost them behind the convenience store. But twice?”

  He stared down at the pennies. He remembered seeing the pennies yesterday. Pennies? Pennies? A coincidence? Or a clue?

  FOUR

  Sunday morning had dawned bright and clear, the third great tourist morning in a row. It was too bad that Keir’s grim mood didn’t match the good weather. He paused to take off his sheriff’s hat on the top of the steps of the Winfield Community Church. Two days into this year’s tourist season and he already had two suspicious fires. Would he be lucky, he thought sarcastically, and get a third today?

  Pressure tightened his jaw. Through the open church doors, the old organ played a welcoming prelude
, beckoning him. He needed some of God’s peace this morning.

  Behind him came the sound of rapid footsteps and breathless voices. Audra Blair and Evie, hand in hand, were running around the corner and up the steps to the white clapboard church. From above, the church bell pealed the call for the early seven o’clock summer service. The pair of latecomers reached the top step and came even with him. He knew he should proceed inside and slip into his usual back pew, but the sight of them held him in place.

  Innocence in person, Evie wore a white summer dress. Audra had elegantly clipped her long blond hair up and wore khaki slacks and a blue T-shirt with lace at the neck. She looked good.

  Evie squealed, “Hi, Sheriff!”

  Caught red-handed gawking, he nodded his head politely and moved away. “Good morning, Evie.”

  Evie grabbed his hand and tugged it. “Sit with us.”

  Keir’s eyes swung to Audra’s. There he saw the same reluctance he knew must show in his. “I’ll see you afterward, Evie.” He tried to gently slide his hand from her grip.

  The little girl clung tighter. “Please,” she begged. “Please. I’ll be good.”

  The pastor’s welcoming words floated out to Keir in the clear air. Evie was making him feel like a monster. But surely her mother didn’t want them to sit as a threesome. What should he do in this situation?

  Audra touched her daughter’s arm. “Come on, honey. We have to get inside.”

  “Please, Mama. Please, Sheriff,” Evie begged, still clinging to him. He sent a silent plea to Audra for what to do. She looked past Evie into the church and his gaze trailed hers. He saw what she evidently did. A few people were looking back at them with obvious curiosity on their faces. The organist began playing the opening hymn.

  “Please,” Evie wheedled, her heart in her voice.

  Keir watched Audra’s resistance dissolve as her face relaxed and then she nodded. Evie beamed and held up both her arms. Keir reached down, swung the little girl in the white summer dress into his arms.

  Audra leaned close and whispered, “I need to talk to you. Afterward.”

  Frowning over what this could mean, he followed Audra to the first empty pew.

  Keir put Evie down and lifted a red cloth-bound hymnal from the holder. Standing on top of the worn maple pew, Evie claimed the heavy red hymnbook from his hand and held it unsteadily between the sheriff and her mom. Keir glanced at Audra in commiseration. Their sitting together would not be overlooked or taken lightly. How could they avoid people getting the wrong idea?

  Then, glancing at the stained glass window depicting Jesus blessing the children, Keir turned it around. Wasn’t Evie more important than what people said? Maybe it had been wrong of him to show this little girl attention whenever he stopped in at Shirley’s and allow her attachment to him to grow. But he hadn’t had the heart to deny her. She was a sweet little kid and craved his and Tom’s attention so much.

  Audra moved closer to Evie and to him. She glanced up at him and shrugged. Was she saying what he thought—that they would just ignore what other people thought? Brave woman. Gossip was Winfield’s most popular hobby. The heavy hymnbook wobbled in Evie’s hands so Keir claimed his half of the book. Audra gripped the other. Evie glowed and sang loudly and a bit off-key, “Holy, holy, holy…” He glanced at Audra. And what do you need to talk to me about, Audra?

  The hymn ended. Keir returned the hymnbook to its place in the holder and Evie sat down between them.

  Throughout the service, Keir fought two very different distractions. First was the dread that another fire would take place today. As yet, he didn’t know conclusively whether the two fires were related. What possible connection could there be between the two victims, Ollie and Shirley? And to make things more difficult, each fire had been set up and ignited in a different way.

  From outside the open window, the loud voices of a family of tourists discussing breakfast intruded. Keir picked up the church bulletin from the pew. He tried to listen to the scripture reading, but his thoughts wouldn’t let go. There was nothing to connect the two fires except for the fact that they took place in or near Winfield and some pennies were left behind. The pennies might be a clue or they might not be. He couldn’t take a stack of pennies as evidence, could he? I have nothing to investigate, nothing to follow up. No way to prevent a third fire. He crumpled the church bulletin before he realized what he was doing.

  Evie tugged the bulletin out of his grasp and flattened it on the hymnal, drawing his attention back to distraction number two, which was the pretty woman sitting just on the other side of Evie. Did Audra want to speak to him because she had more information about Chad or the fire at Shirley’s? He sneaked another sideways glance at her. She was sitting with her hands folded on her lap. For a moment, his gaze lingered on the delicate curve of her dainty wrists and her long slender fingers. He liked that she didn’t wear nail polish. He ran his gaze up her elegant neck to her determined chin.

  Beside him, Evie scribbled on the church bulletin, completely innocent of the significance others might put to the three of them sitting together at church. Evie silently showed him her drawings. Smiling, he reached over to point with approval to one of her more interesting scribbles. At the same moment, Audra reached over to smooth back her daughter’s long dark hair. Their fingers brushed. As if touching a hot stove, both jerked their hands back.

  Heat suffused Keir’s neck. He forced his eyes forward though the temptation to glance at her pestered him. The pastor at last ended the sermon with a final prayer. The organ pounded the opening chords of the postlude. Everyone stood and headed toward the door.

  Other people of the small congregation greeted them as usual but with assessing looks; however, no one could afford to linger. The early service accommodated those who worked on Sunday mornings in the summer. Florence LeVesque, Shirley’s neighbor, was the most obvious about assessing their threesome. On her way down the church steps, the older woman with her bronzed, lined face kept glancing back at them so intently that Keir hoped she wouldn’t miss one of the steps.

  Hoping he projected complete indifference, Keir escorted Evie down the steps. “I have to get to work,” he told her at the bottom.

  “You could come to my mama’s café and drink coffee,” Evie invited, swaying back and forth, making her cotton skirt flare.

  Audra replied with an undercurrent in her voice, “Yes, come with us and I’ll give you a cup of coffee.” He sized up her words against her expression. So she did want to talk to him, but she looked troubled. Guilt over involving her with Chad rose into his throat. But this might be about something else. He walked along beside Audra while Evie skipped ahead of them, reciting a children’s rhyme and avoiding cracks in the sidewalk.

  In an undertone, Audra explained, “I felt so guilty about Chad. Did Tom tell you he ran away because Friday night he overheard me asking them about his whereabouts that morning? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have meddled.”

  Ah, so she did want to discuss Chad. This did not make him feel any better. He made a vow right then. Never again would he involve a civilian in a case in any way. “Yes, Tom called and told me after I interviewed Chad at my office.”

  She glanced up at him, dismay darkening her blue eyes. “I felt awful. Like I caused—”

  “Don’t,” he cut her off. “Chad’s running away—” and maybe his setting a fire “wasn’t your fault. I should never have spoken to you. It wasn’t fair.” His conscience prickled. It was hard to admit that he’d gone to Audra only partly to shield Chad from unwarranted gossip.

  Because something about her drew him. Made him entertain thoughts about her he shouldn’t even consider. In the past, he’d avoided women, putting all his efforts into his career, and into burying his wild youth. But lately he’d grown to hate going home to an empty house every night. And certainly Audra was a woman any man would love to find waiting for him.

  Not just any man, his conscience mocked him. You.

  “When I tried to a
pologize to Chad, he said that you’d made it right,” Audra said. “What does that mean?”

  He forced himself back to reality. The recent scene with her uncle flashed in his mind. Audra looked—what? Unconvinced? Vulnerable? She looked as though she might be holding something else back. Did she suspect someone else or was all this just his mind working overtime? Or was she recalling Ramsdel’s calling him names? Did she believe any of the poison her uncle spewed around about him? She cast him one more uneasy glance. “Sheriff?” she prompted. “What did you say to Chad?”

  He stuffed his hands into his pockets to keep from touching her arm to reassure her. “I told him that you did it to keep people from suspecting him. And again, I’m sorry I bothered you.”

  She sighed. “I only wish I could have actually helped.” A gull swooped overhead, shrieking to its comrades. Keir, Audra and Evie reached her café. People were already milling around the locked gate. Audra pulled the key out of her pocket. The hungry-looking customers parted to make way for them as she led him to the gate.

  Audra unlocked the gate and Keir followed her in. He had to get his coffee, his alibi for following her to work. Audra must have come to church from here earlier because he could smell the already-brewed coffee. Behind the counter, she pulled on her apron and poured him a cardboard cup of coffee. Leaving two dollars on the counter, he nodded his thanks and headed away to his job.

  “Bye, Sheriff!” the little girl called and waved.

  Waving in return, he left them, putting aside the memory of brushing Audra’s fingers. He could not let himself become infatuated with Evie’s pretty mother. Audra and little Evie deserved someone without a past, someone her family could accept. Someone better with more to offer her.

  Feeling several layers of gloom settle over him, he trudged back to his Jeep. Another day to protect and defend. The only question was—how? The only answer was—wait.

  He lay on his bed, enjoying the feeling of being fully rested, fully satisfied. He hadn’t felt this good for a long time. The first two fires had come off just the way he’d planned. And that felt great. Now he just had to figure out who should be the target of fire number three. Easy choice. He grinned and felt even better. What type of trigger should he use this time?