Shot Through the Hearth

by Kate Carlisle

  He began to walk up the ramp, but stopped and turned. “Who’s Stephanie?”

  “Let’s keep going up to the next level. I’ll show you.”

  As we reached the second floor of the Ecosphere, the tendrils of the Stephanie vine brushed against Mac’s legs.

  “What was that?” he demanded, jumping back.

  “That’s Stephanie,” I said, laughing. “She’s a fast-growing vine and seems to move toward anything human.”

  “That’s freaking weird.”

  “Yeah, it’s weird. But it makes sense when Julian explains it. Something about its DNA causes the plant to react to human pheromones. Apparently it’s attracted to our breath, too. There’s a bunch of other details Julian talked about that I couldn’t begin to explain to you, but he’ll be giving Ecosphere tours starting tomorrow.”

  “I’ll sign up for that. I want to hear all about Stephanie. And the rest of this place, too.”

  I gazed at him fondly. “You’re already plotting your next book, aren’t you?”

  “You bet I am,” he said, still snapping pictures as he explored the second floor. “This place is wild. It’s inspiring all kinds of murderous thoughts in me.”

  “I’m so happy for you.” I laughed and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go check out the roof.”

  The top of the tower was open to the sky and provided a 360-degree view as far as our eyes could see. With the full moon and star-studded sky, we could easily see the acres of rolling hills and woods that bordered Rafe’s property to the west. Turning toward the eastern rise, I could see the three giant wind turbines Rafe had erected over a year ago. The blades weren’t moving now and I knew that the engines had been deactivated while Rafe experimented with a safer, bird-proof technology.

  To the north, I could just make out the tip of the lighthouse three miles up the coast. “Isn’t this great?” I said. “You can see the whole world from here.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Mac said. “You’re beautiful.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed me, and for a long time we just stood and enjoyed the view and the cool night air.

  “I’m surprised there aren’t more people inside this tower tonight.”

  “Most of the people here tonight have come for the food and drink.”

  “Ah. You’re probably right.” He laughed, then suddenly jolted.

  I jumped back out of his way. “What happened?”

  “That,” he said, pointing toward his foot.

  Glancing down, I saw him holding off the precocious Stephanie vine with his boot.

  “This is getting weird,” he said, then grinned. “But I love it.”

  I had to agree. After another few minutes, I said, “We should get back.”

  We tramped down the ramps to the ground level and, holding hands, walked back toward the party. I pointed to the giant air domes, set up last week and now fully inflated for the conference.

  “Let’s go check those out,” Mac said.

  I marveled at the massive structures. “Rafe described them to me a few months ago, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality.”

  “They’re huge,” Mac remarked. “They must be the size of a football field.”

  “I think they look like giant snowballs.”

  “Yeah, they kind of do,” he said, chuckling.

  I had peeked inside a few days ago, and just as Rafe had explained, the first dome was subdivided into smaller conference rooms suitable for the many different workshops and presentations.

  The second dome was set up like a theater, with rows of chairs for the major speakers and events.

  “These structures are so smart,” Mac said. “Pretty brilliant of Rafe to think of using them for the conference.”

  “They look futuristic, don’t they?”

  He nodded. “Sure do.”

  “We got a little mini-tour the other day,” I said, “and it was amazing. The air inside the domes is pressurized, so to get inside you go through two parallel doorways with an inner chamber that minimizes any loss of air pressure.”

  I glanced at him. “And with all the research you do, you probably know all that already.”

  He smiled and squeezed my hand affectionately. “I’ve been inside some of these domes so I’m familiar with them, but I still find the concept intriguing.”

  We approached the first dome. When I heard voices, I moved more quickly. “Hey, that sounds like Rafe. Maybe he’s giving a tour. You want to check it out?”

  “No,” he whispered, and drew me into the shadow of a live oak tree near the old barn. “It’s Rafe, but he’s arguing with his partner, Dillon.”

  “Are you kidding?” I squinted to see if I could make out the two figures. “They’re still arguing?”

  “Yeah,” Mac said quietly.

  Settled in the shadows, I could finally hear their words.

  “I’ve told you a thousand times, I’m not coming back,” Rafe insisted. “Stop bugging me.”

  “You lied to me,” Dillon said with hissing intensity.

  “I did not. I told you I wanted out. I trained my team to carry on without me. I signed everything over to you. Now handle it.”

  “I’m the money man,” his partner said angrily. “I handle the money. I don’t do the creative crap.”

  “Creative crap?” Rafe said quietly. “You mean, the crap that turned you into a billionaire?”

  Dillon waved his hand angrily, sweeping his words away. “Since you left, we’ve got over a hundred new patents to deal with. They’re all connected to ideas you came up with. I need your expertise to get those ideas into production.”

  “My team can—”

  “Screw your team!” Dillon cried. “They’re all a bunch of drones. They don’t have an ounce of innovative spirit. As much as it pains me to say this, we need you.”

  “It won’t work, man,” Rafe said, and he sounded exhausted.

  If he had been arguing with Dillon all this time, I couldn’t blame him for sounding dog tired.

  “And now you’ve got this ridiculous conference,” Dillon said sarcastically. “And this stupid foundation of yours. Are you kidding me? You’re actually giving money away to people whose ideas we could’ve monetized. What’s wrong with you?”

  “What’s wrong with me?” Rafe sounded incredulous, and then he started to laugh. “We don’t need the money, Dillon.”

  “Speak for yourself.”

  “We’ve both made enough money to last a few hundred years. How much more do you need?”

  “As much as I can get,” Dillon groused.

  “Damn it, Dillon. You promised you would stop the gambling.”

  “I just do it to blow off steam,” he fumed. “It’s got nothing to do with anything. What I’m talking about is the big stuff. What if the company stock goes down? What if you get sick? You can’t be giving all this money away.”

  “It’s going to good causes.”

  Dillon ran his hands through his hair, clearly frustrated. “You always were a do-gooder.” It was definitely not a compliment. “It’s not like you can single-handedly save humanity. Just give it up and come back to work.”

  “You’ve never even tried to see it my way.”

  “Your way sucks.” Dillon started to walk away, then turned and stormed back. Poking his finger at Rafe’s chest, he said, “You’re an idiot. And that little country bumpkin you call your fiancée is a total joke. She’s as dumb as you are.”

  “Don’t you ever—” Rafe grabbed Dillon’s shirt and hauled him up off the ground. For a long moment the two just stared at each other. Then Rafe dropped him and Dillon stumbled backward.

  “What is wrong with you?” Dillon said, tucking his shirt back into place. “You used to be a class act. You dated the most beautiful, sophisticated women in Silicon Valley. Now you’re living on a
farm with freaking cows and a milkmaid for a girlfriend. You’re an embarrassment.”

  Rafe’s voice dropped to a threatening whisper. “If you ever talk about Marigold like that again, I will kill you.”

  “Marigold.” Dillon shook his head in disgust. “Even her name is dumb.”

  Rafe took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Do us both a favor and walk away, Dillon. Leave now. Go home. And don’t come back here.”

  “I don’t have to come back here,” he said scornfully. “But one of these days you’ll come crawling back to the company and I’ll slam the door in your face.”

  “Where’s my sledgehammer when I need it?” I muttered, and started to rush forward. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “No.” Mac managed to grab my jacket and dragged me back into the shadows. “Leave it alone, Shannon.”

  My hands were bunched into fists and I was so furious, there had to be smoke coming out of my ears. I watched silently as Dillon stormed away. After a long moment, Rafe walked slowly back to the cocktail party.

  “Did you hear what he said about Marigold?”

  “Yeah. I heard him,” Mac said. “And I heard the lethal fury in Rafe’s voice. He’ll make sure the guy doesn’t come back here again.”

  “What a horrible person.” I paced back and forth in the small shadowy space under the live oak tree, wishing I could do something to avenge my friend. “If Rafe lets him back into the conference, I will personally kick his butt.”

  “Rafe’s butt or Dillon’s?” he asked.

  “Both.” I bared my teeth and growled like an irate mama bear.

  “Whoa,” Mac said, holding up both hands. “Easy, girl.”

  I shook my fists in the air. “I can’t help it, I’m so angry. He’s a complete jackass.”

  “That’s not being very fair to jackasses,” Mac said, and I recognized that he was trying to diffuse my rage.

  It was working, sort of.

  “Sorry,” I said, blowing out a breath. “But wow. How did Rafe ever get partnered up with that guy?”

  “It’s a mystery,” Mac said.

  “I’ll say,” I muttered. “I wonder if he always upsets everyone he comes into contact with.”

  “He’s lucky Rafe is such a good guy,” Mac said, still watching Dillon’s retreat. Finally he said, “Let’s get back.” He held my hand a little more tightly as we walked back to the party.

  * * *

  * * *

  Despite all the turmoil we had seen and heard, I managed to get a good night’s sleep and woke up early the next morning, anxious to get started on the barn raising. I arrived at Rafe’s at seven a.m.

  Since it had been touted as one of the first big events of the conference—after the introductory remarks and cocktail party of the night before—there were bleachers set up in the field next to the wide concrete slab that was the site of the new barn, and several hundred people were already sitting and waiting for things to happen.

  Sean was in charge of wrangling the fifty workers we had hired for today. I found him on the far side of the concrete slab with Carla and Wade. As I walked up, Sean handed me a cup of coffee.

  “Thanks, Sean,” I said gratefully. “I owe you big time.”

  Carla snickered. “Emily’s got a whole catering table laid out near the air dome. He had to walk about forty yards there and back to get that for you.”

  “Hey, I had to hold two cups all the way over here. I could’ve spilled coffee, but I didn’t.”

  “You’re a real hero,” Wade said.

  “Don’t mind them,” I said with a laugh. “I appreciate the thought, no matter what.”

  Sean nodded at me. “You’re welcome.”

  It felt good to shoot the breeze for a few minutes with the three people who had been with me from the very beginning. I had gone through grammar school and high school with all of them, and when I took over my father’s company, they all came to work for me. Each of us had been through plenty of highs and lows since then and had managed to survive and thrive. I truly trusted them with my life.

  For the last few months we had been studying barn-raising videos together. And a few weeks ago, Sean had returned from the real live barn raising in rural Pennsylvania. He had taken his own videos and given us a detailed tutorial in the art of raising barns.

  So today would be the real test.

  Our carpenters and workers had parked their trucks on the opposite side of the new barn site, away from the conference area and the bleachers. I recognized many of the workers—both male and female—and felt an air of excitement coming from them. I had a feeling that this was going to be a day that people would remember for a long time.

  Rafe walked over to get things started. “Welcome,” he began. “The barn raising is an important event for the conference because, well, first of all, I’m getting a new barn.”

  There were gales of laughter and Rafe was chuckling as he signaled for everyone to quiet down. “The other reason I’m excited to present this barn raising is that it’s a perfect way to demonstrate the uses of green technology and the supplies that are available to anyone who wants to make a small difference in the world.”

  The applause interrupted him, but not for long. He spoke for another minute and I was grateful for the kind words he said about our crew. When he’d finished and stepped away from the microphone, Sean and the rest of us moved quickly to the far side of the concrete slab, where all the side frames were stacked.

  Rafe managed to grab my attention for a minute. “Just wanted you to know, I’m going to get Marigold and watch the barn raising from the top of the Ecosphere.”

  “What a good idea,” I said, staring at the tower in the distance. “That’s the perfect observation spot.”

  “I think so, too.” He patted my back. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks, Rafe.”

  I jogged over to rejoin my guys. Over the last week, my crew had constructed the wood base for the side walls of the barn. They had taken ten-foot-long two-by-fours and screwed them horizontally into the foundation wall to create the base for the side frame. Once that base was secured to the concrete, we could hoist the large side frames and secure them onto the wood base.

  And earlier this morning, Sean had handed out assignments to all our workers, so all I had to do now was give the orders.

  I climbed a few rungs up my own ladder and Wade handed me the megaphone we used on big jobs like this. “Okay, let’s get started,” I said. “Thanks to everyone for being here today. First thing we’re going to do is lift this first frame up, hoist it over the concrete wall, and screw it to the wood base. Team number one, you know who you are, right?”

  “Yo,” a bunch of them shouted, and waved their power drills.

  The audience went wild with laughs and applause and we were off and running. It took that first team of twenty guys about fifteen minutes to complete the task. I was impressed, especially now that I could see that huge wood frame standing upright along the side of the barn.

  “Good work, you guys,” I shouted.

  Every one of my workers cheered loudly. It was a rowdy group, but I loved them all.

  “Ready for the second wall?” I cried.

  “Yo!” another team of twenty shouted from the other side of the barn, and I laughed.

  They repeated the same task on that side, and I marveled at their ease and speed. The momentum was amazing, and at this rate, we would be finished well ahead of schedule. Of course, I was especially pleased that we had built all the pieces beforehand and now we just had to put everything in its proper place.

  Suddenly the sound of a woman’s shocked screams filled the air, followed by several guys shouting and running to the other side of the barn.

  What in the world? I thought. I looked around, trying to locate my team to find out what was going on. I picked up the meg
aphone and yelled, “What’s happening over there?”

  Carla dashed over. “Tell everyone to stop working and quiet down. And then you have to come see this.”

  “So much for momentum,” I muttered. But after making the announcement, I scurried down the ladder and took off running around the massive foundation.

  “What’s wrong?” I demanded, out of breath from the run. I recognized the woman who had screamed. She’d gone to our high school but she was a few years older than me. She wore her hair in a ponytail pulled through the back of a navy blue baseball cap. “You’re Rochelle, right?”

  “Yeah,” she said, breathing heavily. “Yeah.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “Tha-that’s the problem,” Rochelle said, pointing a shaky finger toward the stacked wood frames where they touched the cement foundation.

  I stared, then took an awkward step backward. It was a problem, all right. There was no way this could be happening. No way.

  But it was most definitely happening.

  The first thing I noticed was the short, dark blond hair, then the black turtleneck sweater.

  Bile collected in my throat, but I managed to control my reactions. I had seen dead bodies before, maybe too many times, and it never got easier.

  And here was another one. He had been shoved facedown next to the remaining frames. A pile of loose lumber had been tossed on top of him for good measure, so not only did someone want him dead, but they wanted him buried, too, if only symbolically.

  It was Dillon Charles, Rafe’s mean bully of an ex-partner. He was dead.

  Chapter Four

  I wanted to kill him and now he’s dead, was all I could think as I watched Police Chief Eric Jensen hike soberly across the field to view the scene of the crime. If this was karma, I had to wonder whose it was. Mine or the dead guy’s?

  I was instantly remorseful for that self-centered reaction. This wasn’t the time to worry about my karma. This moment was all about Dillon.

  But speaking of karma, I glanced around, looking at faces. Was anyone else feeling guilty right now? After all, I wasn’t the only one who abhorred the guy. The man had made at least one other enemy last night besides me. Hallie had been mortified by him. And Rafe had been even more furious with Dillon than I was, as hard as that was to believe. Still, even unpleasant ex-partners or bosses didn’t deserve to be murdered.