by Deborah Camp
Spying a kerosene lamp sitting beside the fish fry kettle of oil, she went to it. She opened the small drawer in the base of the lamp and removed two wooden matches. Shoving over the kettle so that the cooking oil spilled onto the ground, she struck the matches against the lamp and tossed them, lighting the oil slicked grass. Then she sent the lit lamp crashing against the back door of the cabin. Tongues of flame licked up the dry wood. Glee consumed her and it was all she could do not to throw back her head and chortle at the moonless canopy.
“Karma, bitch,” she bit out, as she raced for the cover of the trees. Fire was sort of pretty. Would it be such a bad way to go? Maybe Trudy the Mind Snatcher would find out.
If you’d kept your nosiness to yourselves, none of this would have ever happened. You’ve turned a moment of tit-for-tat into a death march. Happy now?
She melted further among the trees and deepest shadows. Mosquitoes whined around her ears and tried to land on her face. She swatted at them, her eyes straining to peer ahead for the strip of road where she’d left the truck . . .
Trudy? Snap out of it, dear. Trudy!
Ethel? What are you doing here?
A bucket of cold water splashed inside her head. Trudy sat up in the rocker, blinking, touching the front of her blouse because she was certain it would be wet. It wasn’t. She wasn’t. Flattening one hand to her forehead, she looked around for Ethel, certain that she’d just heard her. No ghostly Ethel, but she heard crackling and an acrid scent burned her nostrils.
Outside, someone yelled, “Fire!” Her nerves sparking like live wires, Trudy bounded up from the rocker and whirled around. Dark gray smoked curled up from under the back door. The kitchen was already filled with it. The front door popped open and Adam Beckell waved her toward him.
“Come on! Come with me!”
Galvanized, Trudy ran to him and out onto the porch just as Levi sprinted into view. He had her in his arms in a split-second.
“You okay? Someone torched the back yard.” He guided her off the front porch, down the steps, and toward their car, parked a safe distance from the cabin. “Wait here. I’m going to help fight the blaze.”
“What? Who?” she asked, her mind still groggy.
“Joshua and our security guys.” He pressed her back against the car as if sensing she needed something solid to hold onto. “You’re okay, right?”
“Yes.” She met his worried gaze and nodded as she ran a hand down his heaving chest. “Go on.”
After he’d raced away and around to the back of the cabin, Trudy’s mind cleared and she stared in horror at the thick gray cloud rising up from the back of the cabin. Flickering, orange light pulsed around the edges of the structure. Men shouted to each other. The horses in the adjoining pasture whinnied. Chickens clucked fretfully.
Recalling the connection she’d made with whoever had started that fire, Trudy pushed away from the side of the car and surveyed the area, worried that the arsonist could still be hanging around and watching her that very moment. But, no. She had been heading for the road and a truck parked there. Taking a minute to recall as much detail as she could about the experience, Trudy made mental notes of the woman’s attire . . . jeans, gray and pink athletic shoes . . . the reference to “karma” again . . . and how Ethel had pulled her out of the woman’s head to make her aware of the fire.
“Thanks, Ethel,” Trudy said, glancing up at the sky.
The puzzle pieces inched closer and the picture came together. Everything jived, connected. But was she right? Absolutely right? She’d trained herself not to say a name until she possessed no doubts. But if she and Levi were thinking of the same person –
Lights came bouncing down the lane, followed by a rusty red pickup, its bed full of people. It stopped behind their cars and the group – mostly men – jumped from the vehicle and raced around to the back yard. Several held buckets. Others had blankets and tarps. Trudy guessed that they were the relatives who lived nearby. Trudy walked across the yard and eased around the side of the cabin, careful to stay out of everyone’s way. Acrid air closed up her throat and she coughed as her eyes filled with tears.
Joshua, wielding a garden hose, had extinguished the fire on the back door, but the door was a goner, nonetheless. It was a black rectangle hanging crookedly by one hinge. The little porch and steps were charred lumber and ashes. Beckell and Thompson tossed buckets of water onto glowing tufts of grass. Levi stomped at embers and little flames with his boots. His face was streaked with perspiration and soot. Joshua’s once white shirt was now gray and clung to his sweaty torso. The little fire brigade went to work with them to smother the rest of the flames and douse the yard with water.
Joshua aimed the hose at the last vestiges of inferno, reducing it to soggy ash. “I think we licked it!”
Levi stopped stomping and looked around. He spotted Trudy and gave her a thumb’s up. Then he reached out and slapped Adam Beckell on the shoulder. “Thanks. You guys went above and beyond tonight.”
Joshua turned off the water. He spoke in Cherokee to his relatives and hugged a couple of them.
“Are you okay, Trudy?” Levi asked. “Did you inhale any smoke inside the cabin?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Did anyone see her? The woman who started the fire?”
“No.” His face fell. “She tricked us. If it had been daylight, we could have tracked her. She double-backed to the cabin to set the fire. When we smelled the smoke, we knew we’d been snookered.” He rested a hand over his heart. “Scared the living hell out of me. I thought . . . well, I’m glad you’re okay.” He closed the space between them and hugged her.
“Did you see her, ma’am?” Adam Beckell asked. “You seem certain that it was a woman.”
“Oh. Yes, I am.” She inched back from Levi. “I didn’t actually see her.” She glanced at Levi. “I was with her for a few minutes, though.”
His eyes sharpened on her. “Tell us.”
“She’s wearing light blue, faded jeans that are ripped at the knees. Fashionably ripped. And she had on a pair of gray tennis shoes with pink racing stripes and pink laces. She’s still angry and has it out for psychics. She was thinking something about how . . . oh, how did she put it? An impulsive tit-for-tat moment has led to this blood bath and it’s our fault. We’ve caused it. Now karma is getting even.”
“You should share this with the police,” Joshua said, joining them. “Whether they believe or not, they should know this.”
“Oh, we will,” Levi assured him. “We’re doing everything possible to corral this woman and stop her rampage.”
“Sir, we should get back inside. We’re targets out here,” Thompson said, his gaze moving rapidly and worriedly over the surrounding woods.
“Right. We should head back to the Belladonna.” Levi slipped his arm around Trudy’s shoulders. “I’m glad your family came to our rescue, Joshua.”
He smiled, his teeth contrasting even more against his soot-darkened skin. “They’re good about that.”
“You should follow your own advice, Joshua. Be careful. She knows where you live, my friend.”
“Oh, Joshua. I hope we haven’t brought trouble to your doorstep.” Trudy reached out a hand to him and her fingers slipped down his soiled shirtsleeve.
“You didn’t. This woman already knew where to find me. If she is from around here, then my whereabouts are no mystery to her. I will let the police know about this incident.”
“You have the police officer’s number?” Levi asked, already reaching for his cellphone.
Joshua waved him off. “I do. I’ll phone Lt. Moore after I see you off.” He motioned for them to walk ahead of him. “It’s been a much more eventful night than I’d imagined.”
Trudy and Levi laughed at his understatement as they walked to the car. The two security guards flanked them, waiting for them to get into their car before they headed for their own sedan. The red pickup was already gone.
Inside the car, Trudy rolled down the wi
ndow. “Thank you for the reading and the delicious dinner.”
Joshua placed his hand on hers where it rested on the window ledge. His touch was as warm and comforting as his dark-eyed gaze. “Next time, no fireworks.”
She chuckled. “Good night, Joshua. Do take care, please?”
He stepped back from the car so that Levi could steer away from the cabin and onto the dirt road. They were quiet as Levi retraced the circuitous route back to the main highway. Once they were on a paved roadway, Levi relaxed his death grip on the wheel and released a sigh.
“What a night.” He glanced her way. “When I smelled the fire, I couldn’t get back to the cabin fast enough.”
She rested her hand on his thigh. “Nobody is hurt. Joshua has to replace his back door and that’s all. It was brazen of her, though, wasn’t it? Attacking when she knew all three of us were there. And you know she saw the guards outside, too. But that didn’t stop her. She wanted to send a message, and she did.”
“What message, precisely?”
“For us to leave it alone. Back off. That tit-for-tat statement has me intrigued.”
“Retaliation,” Levi murmured. “The murders are a form of payback.”
“So, each person she’s killed wronged her in some way.” She tapped her fingers on his jeaned thigh. “Like we’ve discussed before. She was given bad advice or told things she didn’t want to hear.”
He nodded and his gaze sought hers in the darkness. “We know who she is now, right?”
“Yes.” Trudy drew in a breath. “Sabra. But why? What set her off?”
“Those are the pieces of the puzzle that we’re still missing. Let’s go over what we know or, at least, what we think we know about her.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? We don’t know much about her. We can safely say that she has it out for clairvoyants.”
“And she was raised in Eureka Springs and visits here.”
“She believes in what goes around comes around. It’s like she’s put up with bad feelings for years and, like a volcano, she’s erupting and spewing all over the people she feels have done her dirty.”
“She’s getting more reckless,” he said, slowing down as they crossed into Eureka Springs proper. “It was ballsy of her to show up at Joshua’s. You think she followed us there?”
“Evidently. She must feel that we’re on to her, so she’s keeping an eye on us.”
“Hopefully, the state police are keeping an eye on her.”
“Well, they weren’t tonight. Or she gave them the slip,” Trudy noted. “Sabra strikes me as being smart and resourceful.”
Tourists were out in droves. The parking lots of restaurants and bars were full. Everyone was looking for something to do, somewhere to go. Eureka Springs was more of a homespun tourist place. Night life wasn’t its main attraction.
“We need to talk Rhema and Alan, but I say we have a chat with Perchance and Sunshine first,” Trudy suggested. “Let’s find out what they know or don’t know about Sabra. And I’d like to know why Perchance lied about her whereabouts on the night Glenn died.”
“Ah, right. And I wonder if they knew that Sabra and Chason were doing the mattress mambo?”
“The what?” She burst out laughing. “That’s a new one for me.”
“Oh, I’ve got a million of them.” He steered into the parking space of their cottage, switched off the engine, and turned to her, his eyes glinting in the semi-darkness. “Burying the weasel. Bumping tummies. Amorous congress. Storming the pink castle. Exploring Pusnarnia.”
“Stop! Please stop!” She held up her hands, palms out in an appeal. “Those are horrible. What’s wrong with ‘making love’?”
“I doubt that’s what Chason and Sabre were doing.” His grin was pure rakishness. “But, you’re right. We should meet up with the Galaxy girls. I’d wager that they know more than they’re even telling the police.” He waggled his brows, making her giggle again. “Especially about Sheriff Rockabilly.”
Chapter 17
Perchance’s house sat on a hill that overlooked Spring Street, one of the main thoroughfares. Crescent-shaped windows and a midnight blue front door decorated the front, along with intricate gingerbread painted gold and black against the pale blue of the house’s exterior. Levi glanced at Trudy and could tell by her wide, green eyes that it was exactly where she thought a children’s book author should live.
As they climbed the sixteen steps from the driveway to the porch, Levi noted the neatly manicured lawn and rosebushes that lined the robin’s egg blue picket fence. When they finally reached the porch, they found Perchance and Sunshine there, sitting in brightly colored metal chairs. An arbor of climbing pale pink and white roses supplied an aromatic backdrop.
“This place is absolutely enchanting,” Trudy said in way of a greeting. “It’s even more gorgeous up close.”
“Thanks.” Perchance stood and stretched her long, slim arms above her head. Her fingertips almost touched the sky blue porch ceiling. Her lilac colored blouse rode up to reveal her ribcage. She wore purple pedal-pushers. Toenails painted alternating colors of pink and purple peeked out from her quadrilles. “I bought it with my portion of our first royalty check. I’d admired it from the time I was a kid and told Sunshine that I’d own it one day.”
“It had been turned into a bed and breakfast before Perchance bought it,” Sunshine said, standing to give Trudy and then Levi quick hugs. Her feet were bare and her toenails were painted gold. “It has four bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs.”
“I use the downstairs one as my office,” Perchance said, then motioned to the other two metal chairs, one painted bright red and the other plum. “We can sit out here and have some lemonade or go inside.”
“Out here is fine,” Trudy answered for them after glancing at Levi.
“Have a seat. I’ll pop in and get the lemonade,” Perchance said, heading for the front door. Levi got there in time to open it for her.
“Do you need help?” he asked.
“No, thanks.”
“Don’t forget the angel food cake and strawberries,” Sunshine called after her. She settled back into her chair with a bright smile. “I wasn’t sure if you two would still be in town or if you were already home in Georgia.”
“We’ll probably be here for a few more days.” Crossing her legs, Trudy set one to swinging, lazily. “I wish we could stay until they bring Billy out of the coma, but the doctors were vague about when that might occur.”
“I heard five to seven days.” Sunshine tugged on the spaghetti strap of her tie-dyed cotton crop top that she’d paired with denim shorts. “Did you see his grandma there at the hospital? I’m afraid she’s fretting so that she’ll have a heart attack.”
Levi spied Perchance through the screened door and he opened it for her, then took the refreshment tray from her and set in on a low, metal table. They each took a glass of lemonade and a small bowl filled with a slice of angel food cake covered in minced strawberries and whipped cream.
“My, oh my!” Trudy rolled her eyes in ecstasy. “You girls know how to put on a spread. This is delicious.”
Levi nodded, too busy chewing to speak, but he gave the sisters a wink of approval.
“I daresay, Levi Wolfe, you are the best looking man I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,” Perchance announced, flashing him a smile. “I would bet that you’ve never pined for female company.”
He almost choked, having not expected the compliment.
“You’d win that bet,” Trudy assured her. “But he’s so much more than a pretty face.”
Her smile melted his heart a little. He reached for a napkin from the tray and touched it to the corners of his lips. Talking about his appearance was flattering, but it always made him feel like a fraud because attractiveness was only skin deep. What people saw on the outside was far less important than what lurked on the inside.
“Let’s get down to some gossip,” he said, anxious to change the subject.
> The women fell silent, glancing furtively at each other.
“Gossip?” Trudy prodded, although she knew where this was headed because they’d discussed it on the way. “You go first, Levi.”
“Very well.” He pinned Perchance with a steady stare. “Why did you lie to the police about where you were the night Glenn died?”
Perchance straightened as if her backbone had become a steel rod. Bright pink spots bloomed high on her cheeks. “Who said I did?”
He took a drink of the sugary lemonade before answering. “I can’t recall for certain. It’s in the wind, though. I’ve heard about it from a couple of people. You know, when you fib like that, Percy, you make it worse. You made yourself look guilty, and we all know that you had nothing to do with Glenn’s death.”
Sunshine almost upended her desert bowl. She set it down to keep from having it crash to the floor. “Perchance would never harm Glenn – or anyone, for that matter! We both thought Glenn was precious. So kind. So very kind and soft-spoken.”
“No one was better at reading auras than Glenn.” Perchance arched her blond brows. “I’m thinking that might have been what got him killed. I believe that he read someone’s aura and that person didn’t like what he saw.”
“Yes, you could be on the right track,” Levi allowed. “But we digress. We were talking about you and your whereabouts that night. I believe you told the police that you were with Sunshine, and when that didn’t hold up, you claimed that you went to see a movie in Berryville, That wasn’t true, either. Right?”
Perchance scowled at Levi before heaving a weary sigh and turning toward her sister. “Let’s tell them, so they’ll leave it be and quit being buttinskis, shall we?”
Sadness clouded Sunshine’s usually sunny face. “Okay,” she whispered.
“I was with Billy Rocknell that night. More precisely, I was in bed with Billy. I was with him when he received the call from his deputy about the wreck. He left from here to go investigate it.”
