Dangerous Season

by Lyn Cote

  “I’m glad you’ve come to see how well your daughter’s doing.” Hal launched his first salvo.

  Lois greeted her brother, ignoring his jibe. “How do you like Winfield year-round, Hal?”

  Audra gave Tom a few coins in change.

  As Tom and Chad started to turn, Hal noticed Chad and gave the teen a black look.

  “What’re you looking at?” Chad taunted.

  Tom shook Chad’s shoulder again. “Stop looking for trouble. Come on. We have work to do.” Tom drew Chad away with him down the flagstone path.

  “Is there something I should know about that young man?” Lois turned to watch Chad leaving.

  “He’s been setting fires around town,” Hal said.

  “That’s not proven,” Audra said quietly, firmly. “I wish you wouldn’t add to the gossip, Uncle Hal.” She began making his usual morning order, a tall coffee with double cream. Unfortunately, seeing him argue with her mother reanimated her fear over her uncle’s volatile state. Maybe I should call Keir.

  Her uncle ignored Audra. “Lois, it’s about time you showed some support for your daughter.”

  Lois pursed her lips. “Let’s not dig up the past, Hal. Audra has my complete support in her new venture. I think she’ll be very successful.”

  She had her mother’s complete support? Audra pondered this earthshaking news.

  Hal disregarded Lois’s comments. “It’s time you started acting like Audra’s mother, not some distant relation that doesn’t care—”

  “Hal, you never change,” Lois snapped. “Do you ever listen to anyone but yourself?”

  “Lois, do you ever think of anyone but yourself? The way you’ve treated Audra is awful. You should thank your lucky stars that you have your two daughters—”

  “Hal, I grieved over losing Sarah, too, but Audra isn’t Sarah and I’m not you.”

  Audra listened to this exchange with growing unease. It was always the same, this bickering between her uncle and mother. At least, it had been ever since Audra’s father and Hal’s daughter Sarah died, and Evie was born. If it weren’t so distressing, it would be droll, almost comical. She handed her uncle his cup.

  He ignored her except to hand her two dollar bills. “Lois, you just don’t get it, do you?” He shook his head and marched away like the admiral of the fleet.

  “And he wonders why both his wives left him,” her mother murmured, gazing after him, and then turned to Audra. “Is there anything I should know about this Chad? Or is that all in my brother’s twisted mind?”

  My brother’s twisted mind. Audra’s mind repeated this. Maybe she wasn’t alone in worrying about her uncle’s mental state. Not meeting her mother’s eyes at first, she wiped the glass counter. “Chad’s Shirley’s foster son. He did have a record of setting fires before he came to live with her last year. But he’s done nothing recently.” Audra met her mother’s eyes. “There were two fires last weekend—”

  “I know. I read the local paper last night. Do you think Chad set them?”

  “No, I don’t,” Audra stated, keeping eye contact with her mother. “I know the sheriff questioned Chad, but didn’t charge him. Brent and Chad are at odds. I think he’s just a convenient suspect for Uncle Hal.” And everyone else.

  Lois nodded. “Very well. Your uncle has never been a good judge of character. How much do I owe you?”

  “Nothing.” The question sizzled embarrassingly through Audra. “My pleasure.”

  With the coffee and biscotti in one hand, Lois slipped a five-dollar bill from her pocket and onto the counter. Before Audra could object, she moved away. Over her shoulder, Lois called, “Oh, by the way, when can Eve spend an afternoon with me?”

  Audra opened her mouth but no words came forth. Her mother had never invited Eve to visit her alone. Audra swallowed, swallowed again. “When would you like her?”

  “How about Wednesday afternoon? Megan can bring her home for lunch.”

  Audra nodded, feeling as if she had missed a step while running downstairs. What was going on with her mother?

  With a wave, Lois turned away. Halfway down the flagstone path, she paused to have a word with her granddaughter. Evie beamed. Lois patted Evie’s cheek. Motioning Evie to join her, she sat at a table to drink her coffee. After Lois finished her light breakfast and departed, Evie ran up to Audra. “Mama, Grandmother Blair says I’m coming to visit her! On Wednesday! Don’t forget, okay?”

  Audra took pleasure from her daughter’s excitement. Were things about to change between her mother and her? The recent cavalcade of friends and family paraded through her mind. Her pleasure dimmed. Her fears over who might be setting the fires and why prickled the hair on the back of her neck. Maybe she was crazy. Was she the only one who suspected Hal?

  At the third fire of the tourist season, Keir watched the gray-and-black smoke billowing skyward. And did a slow burn, too. Nearly two weeks had passed since the first two fires. He’d dared to hope a third wouldn’t occur. Now in the early-June evening, Keir stood back as the firefighters finished putting down the fire on the grounds of the Blair lakeside summer home.

  Fortunately, the target of the fire had been the garden shed not the main house. Keir glanced to the rear deck, which overlooked Lake Superior. That must be Lois Blair, Audra’s widowed mother, watching the firefighters. She wore white slacks and a tailored navy-blue blouse and stood aloof with her arms crossed. How would she react to this? After all, Ramsdel was her brother. Anything was possible.

  “That’s it,” the local fire chief called to Keir. “We’ve soaked everything. Let it cool and then you can begin your investigation.”

  Keir nodded and said thanks. He then turned and headed toward Lois. He needed to get all possible information from her first. Another factor intruded on this investigation. The more he tried to stay away, the more incidents drew him to Audra and her family.

  Now he was here to question her mother about a fire. From Tom and from general comments he’d heard around town over the past seven years since Audra came to live with Shirley, Keir knew that there was some kind of breach between Audra and her mother. All this zipped through his mind as he approached the tall slender blonde. He mounted the steps up to the deck. “Mrs. Blair, I’m Sheriff Harding.”

  “Sheriff.” She offered him a cool, manicured hand. “Please sit down.” She motioned him toward one of the two nearest green-and-white-striped padded chairs.

  Keir settled into one as Lois sat in the other. He pulled out a notebook. “Mrs. Blair, I promise you I’ll make a thorough investigation of this fire.”

  “Do you think the same person has set all three?”

  He shrugged. “It’s too early to tell. All three fires have nothing in common except that all three have been set in Winfield.”

  “That young man, Chad Keski, did some yard work for me here this afternoon. I believe he’s set fires in the past?”

  Chad being on scene here was unwelcome news to Keir. But he couldn’t avoid the unpleasant. “Do you know that he had something to do with setting your shed on fire?”

  Lois Blair eased back in her chair. “I don’t know. But I do know that he evidently didn’t want to do the simple mowing and raking job for me. That’s all I wanted him to attempt his first time here. I decided I’d better do the flower beds myself.”

  “If he didn’t want to do it, why did he?”

  “I think that man, Tom…” Her brows drew together.

  “Tom Robson, my stepfather?”

  “He’s your stepfather?”

  Keir nodded.

  “I guess that’s how it is in a small town.” She waved a dismissive hand. “Tom’s your stepfather, Shirley Johnson’s sweetheart, and Chad’s employer.” She paused. “I think Tom pushed Chad into doing my yard work.”

  Keir let the part about Tom being Shirley’s sweetheart go by. “Why would Tom make Chad work here?”

  “I don’t know. You know your stepfather better than I do.” The woman shrugged. “But I got t
he feeling it was something along the line of ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.’ Tom said he didn’t have enough work to keep this Chad busy. Now my daughter did tell me that Chad had set fires before he’d come to be Shirley Johnson’s foster son.”

  “Yes, that’s right.” He didn’t like acknowledging this but it was, after all, common knowledge.

  “However, you don’t think he’s the one setting these new fires?” Her eyes narrowed at him.

  “I don’t have any evidence linking Chad to either of the two fires.” Or anyone else. “It’s too early to say what I’ll find out from this crime scene. Now, is there anyone other than Chad that you can think of that would have motive and/or opportunity to set this fire?”

  She pondered this, looking past him to the blue of Lake Superior rippling about two hundred feet behind him. “I’ve been in and out all day. I was here when Chad came and stayed while he did the work. And then I left again, had to run an errand in town. Could it have just been an accident?” she continued. “I smelled tobacco on Chad. Could he have just discarded a match or cigarette in some dry grass or leaves and it took time for it to ignite? That’s something a teenager would do.”

  “That might be possible.” But too much to hope for. “Anyone angry at you?”

  Mrs. Blair gave a dry chuckle. “Only my brother, Hal, but then I don’t think he really likes anyone but my daughter Audra.”

  Keir didn’t know what to make of this sardonic comment. Evidently Hal Ramsdel and his sister didn’t get along. But who did Ramsdel get along with? Ramsdel might dote on Audra, but from what Keir had observed, she didn’t appreciate it. “No one else with motive or opportunity?” he repeated.

  “Well, I said I was gone. The shed sits back from the road and my property is wooded. Anyone could come from the beach or road and if they were cautious, no one would see them. Plus I don’t have any neighbors very near. In fact, a jogger on the beach reported the fire on her cell phone.” She shrugged.

  So it was as bad as he’d expected. No obvious suspect. He rose. “Mrs. Blair, I’m going to start my investigation now. My deputy, Trish Franklin, may show up here in the future to do a follow-up. Please leave everything as it is until I tell you we’ve collected all possible evidence.”

  “Of course.” She nodded, dismissing him. “I’ll be calling my insurance company, but I’ll wait on you before doing anything else.”

  Keir strode toward his Jeep to get out his gear and begin combing the remains of the Blair garden shed for clues. Equal parts of irritation and eagerness surged inside him. The last thing he’d wanted was another fire. But this did provide him an opportunity to find clues to solve these cases. I need a clue, just let there be something to follow up.

  At the sound of a knock on Audra’s rear kitchen door, she jerked to a halt. She was nearly done cleaning up after another Sunday evening of pizza-making. Almost a week had passed since her mother’s garden shed had been set on fire. Each day had increased two conflicting urges in her. The first was her desire to be open with the sheriff about her uncle. The second was to steer clear of the sheriff.

  Finally, concealing her uneasy suspicion about her uncle having something to do with setting the fires had become an unbearable burden. So earlier this evening just before Brent had arrived, she’d forced herself to call the sheriff and leave him a message to call her. But had he come instead? Or maybe her nasty caller had come…Fear came, a single cold wet finger down her spine. “Who is it?”

  “It’s the sheriff.”

  Inside her, sudden relief tripped over tenseness and the two tangled together. Would she have the nerve to tell her suspicion about Hal to Keir? And if she did, would she feel better? Or worse?

  She unlocked the door and opened it wide. “Thank you for coming.” Her throat was dry. Her heart beat like a stammering child. Keir was in uniform as usual, but without his hat which often masked his green eyes. And for a moment his blatant masculinity held her in place.

  “I was passing by and thought I might as well just stop in instead of calling.” Keir didn’t meet Audra’s eyes as this altered version of the facts slipped out of his mouth. He could have called her. But instead, he’d parked his Jeep behind Shirley’s and walked here so he could escort Audra home. He had no business wanting to walk her home through the quiet moonlit alley, but here he was. “What did you want to discuss?”

  She took off her apron and hung it up. Underneath, she wore a light pink T-shirt and figure-hugging blue jeans. She turned away, rinsed out a washcloth and began wiping down the already clean-looking counter. He followed her every move, unable to hide how she captivated him. Fortunately, she was avoiding his eyes.

  “How is the investigation of my mother’s fire coming?” she asked.

  Disappointment flared inside him, disintegrating his unspoken hope that Audra wanted to see him as much as he craved seeing her again. The fire. He should have known it was the investigation that prompted her call. Of course. What else? Certainly not a desire to see him again.

  “The investigation of the crime scene is finished,” he said. Finished. But a complete bust.

  Three times, he’d gone over every inch of the charred remains of the shed and every inch of the yard and so had Trish. He’d come up with the fact that the fire had been ignited with a simple long-burning fuse, buried among lawn debris and nearby gasoline-soaked rags. Nothing more. Nothing that matched the modus operandi of the first two fires. And nothing to follow up. The third handful of pennies he’d found there had not helped, either.

  “But you still don’t have any clear suspect?”

  “No.” He considered her. She looked ill at ease, very ill at ease. What’s up, Audra? “Why do you ask?” He spoke in a measured tone.

  She rinsed out the cloth again, washed her hands and then turned slowly toward him. “I’ve been uneasy….”

  “About?” He waited.

  “About my uncle,” she muttered, staring down at her feet.

  He followed her gaze. She was wearing thick-soled turquoise sandals that tied around her ankles. He became fascinated with her small toes, peeping out from the colorful cloth toe. He forced his eyes up. “What about your uncle?”

  She folded her arms in front. “It’s nothing concrete. Just a feeling I have that he’s near a…a breakdown of some kind.” She cast him a covert glance. “You know why he and Brent moved north, don’t you?”

  “I’ve heard rumors. Why don’t you tell me?” He rested a hand against the wall.

  The phone rang and the answering machine picked up, reciting her message. Audra looked unnecessarily alarmed. “I’m done here. Why don’t you walk me home?” She nearly pushed him toward the door.

  What’s going on with the phone call, Audra?

  She switched off the lights. The answering machine shut off and the caller hung up. Keir stepped out into the dim light as she locked the dead bolt on the door. The deep twilight of the summer, a lingering glimmer of daylight still on the horizon, closed around them. Streetlamps shone at each end of the block, leaving the middle in veiling shadow. They started walking side by side.

  Should he ask her why her phone ringing caused this quick retreat? Did it have something to do with the last time, that angry voice demanding Audra pick up? He tried to think of a way to ask this diplomatically and failed. Tell me, Audra. It’s better that way.

  He waited, but when she said nothing, he prompted, “So why did your uncle move north?”

  “He and his second wife, Brent’s mother, broke up a year ago.” Audra’s voice was quiet, subdued, concerned. “The divorce was messy and Uncle Hal had to sell stocks and property at just the wrong time for the settlement.”

  Why are you telling me this? “So he couldn’t afford two homes anymore?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Why did he choose to come to Winfield?” How did we get so lucky?

  “I think it’s something like making a fresh start. He took his insurance sales licensing tests and put
his remaining capital into the agency here.”

  “Okay.” He stalled, considering her comments. His footsteps crunched loud on the gritty pavement while hers made a soft padding sound. “Are you telling me you think that after all this, he’s headed for some kind of…breakdown,” he finished, using her words.

  “He’s always been outspoken and opinionated.”

  Keir could think of a few more pithy ways to put this.

  “But it’s worse now,” she explained earnestly. “He’s just so emotional about everything these days. His every response is over the top. It’s like he’s spoiling for a fight with someone. All the time.”

  This was not news to him. “Where is this leading, Audra?” Her distress broke over him in waves. He wanted to reach out and help her in some way.

  “I’m…I know this will sound nuts, but I was wondering if he could have something to do with these fires.”

  “Your uncle?” Her words, so unexpected, nearly floored him.

  “You think I’m crazy.”

  “No. I…no. I just never thought of him in connection with…why do you think he might be involved?”

  She hesitated, walking slower.

  He waited, matching her gait.

  “I probably am crazy,” she mumbled. She made a sound like a cat hissing. “When I think of my uncle, I don’t really see him lurking in alleys setting fires. But he…carries such anger and such a grudge against you.”

  Keir made the connection. “You think he might do something to cause me trouble now that I’m sheriff?”

  “I know it sounds stupid, doesn’t it?” She gazed up at him, her large eyes luminous in the low light.

  He fought to keep his mind on the topic at hand. “Not stupid really. Just unsubstantiated.”

  “I feel like an idiot telling you this.” She folded her arms. “But I’ve been so stressed about him….”

  “It’s understandable.” He touched her slender shoulder. “But I doubt your uncle is involved.”

  “I feel better hearing you say that.” She took a deep breath. “And I’m concerned about Brent. My uncle’s just so agitated all the time.”