Shed given up jeans in the first two days, then gave up skirts, and that was the end of her traditional teacher clothes. Her shorts were barely decent, her tee tissue thin, and if this relentless heat didnt let up, she planned to walk around naked with no apology. Shed neglected to get her long hair lopped off, but that was only because shed been too busy to check out the local salons.
Two blocks later, she paused at Griffs place. Naturally, this early in the morning it was still locked up. She didnt expect to see him. It just seemed to be a knee-jerk reaction-walk by the ice cream place, remember that kiss. Remember his sitting on the veranda, feeding her Griffs Secret, making her think about other seductive secrets he might offer.
To the right woman.
Under the right circumstances.
He was a player, she reminded herself. A womanizer. An uncommitted, lazy, adorable scoundrel. There wasnt a soul in the town whod suggested anything else.
Truthfully, it was his lazy scoundrel persona that rang her bells. It had been so long since a man rang her bells that she couldnt believe it. Somehow, though, she couldnt manage to believe his reputation. Something wasoff. He kissed like trouble. He looked at a woman like trouble. She didnt doubt that he was trouble.
But a sixth sense still warned her that he was not what he seemed.
Like everything else in this town.
Another block later, she opened the door to the police station, which had become as familiar as Louellas. The same Martinet Martha guarded the front counter, gave her the same two-second acknowledgment, then barked, Chief, someone to see you! at the top of her impressive vocal range, same as before.
And Herman Conner, after a few moments, clomped out of his office, hitching up his trousers, with the same refrain. How many times do I havta tell you- And then he spotted her. Sighed.
You gonna visit me every day this week?
Not every day. But I just-
Come on in, come on in.
Youre busy. Phones were ringing. Printers clacking.
Not too busy for you, sweet thing. We need to get your mind satisfied so you could finally put all this to rest. He motioned to the same scarred-up wood chair he had before. Im having coffee. You gonna be here long enough to have a mug?
I could kill for a cup.
He sighed again. Not a thing to tell the sheriff, honey.
She propped a peace offering on his desk. Cinnamon muffins. Fresh.
He opened it, smelled. All right. I admit it. There is good in you. She got the coffee. He got the muffins. She opened up the satchel and pulled out her faded copy of the police report.
Not this again, he said.
I just have a few more questions. She leaned over the desk with her copy of the investigation report. It was only three pages, and that included signatures and dates and times and addresses. The actual information related to the investigation was sparse-which was why shed read and reread it until her eyes crossed. At the very end of the report, you wrote, no reason to connect this to the other arson fires. That kept jumping out at me. What other arson fires?
Youve been on the computer again, havent you? That, or watching Law and Order reruns. Everybodys an expert on the law these days.
Im sorry to be such a pain, she said, real apology in her voice, but not moving until shed heard an answer. He sighed and eventually got around to responding.
You know, its been twenty years, but if I recall correctly, thered been a rash of vandalism fires, stretching maybe a year or so, before the one at your place. But there was no relationship, like I wrote. There was no one killed in the other fires, no property damage that remotely compared.
Still, was there any similarity with my familys fire? Likewas the same accelerant used? Or were those fires set in the same time of day? Any connection at all?
The similarity you need to know, sunshine, is that the arsons stopped after your daddy died. For a whole three years, there was no other fire except for old Samuel Wilsons trying to cook after his wife died. So this is probably not an avenue you want to pursue. It only points to your daddy all over again.
That hurt. She admitted it. Still, she said softly, So youre surethere was no similarity in the other fires?
To be honest with you, sweetheart, I dont remember now. I just remember studying the thing at the time, concluding there was nothing in common with the other prank-type fires. If youre doubting I know how to do my job-
No, no. She hurried to look penitentand to push the other cinnamon muffin his way. Being a teacher, she had a half-dozen ways of locally researching the past fire, all of which she still intended to pursue-but thered be no real way to get closure without Sheriff Conner on her side. If she had to grovel, she was more than willing to grovel. Im just trying to understand, sheriff. It was so devastating to my family-
And to everyone in this town. Now-you got any more questions?
Just one teensy one. She motioned to the partial sentence on the second page. The report says the fire started outside our back door. Actually, it says, west of the back door.
Okay. And you think that means what? the sheriff asked with a look of fatherly patience.
Well, Im not sure. But I remember our house. We shared a garage wall with the house next to us. And that my dad had a shop on that side of the garage. He liked working with wood, so he had stuff out there, like lacquer and varnish and mineral spirits and all that.
Im still listening.
WellI had no concept when I was a little kid, but now, it seems pretty obvious why the whole downstairs exploded. Why the fire was so fast and awful. Because of the chemicals my dad had in the garage.
Herman Conner took the last bite of muffin. Okay.
But my dad would never have deliberately started a fire near those products, would he? That wouldnt have made any sense at all. The belief was that he wanted the insurance money. But he loved us. I cant imagine in a million years why he would have started a fire where all those accelerants were around. It would have been asking for an explosion. And hed never have done anything to deliberately harm my sisters or my mom-
Lily. Honey. Weve been over this. He was despondent. Hed lost his job. He wasnt thinking rationally.
But isnt it possiblethat the fire might have started in the house next to ours? But that ours went up so fast because of the stuff my dad had in the garage? I mean, do you know who lived next door? What happened to them? I dont remember at all-if that house burned down, too, or if anyone was hurt there, or anything else. If there could have been a connection Lily could have sworn she caught a flash of alarm in the sheriffs eyes, yet his voice was as calm and patient as before.
Aw, sweetheart. You got eyes full of hope. But there was no one in that house. Itd been for sale for several months. There was fire damage there, too, a course, but nothing like what happened to your place, where the downstairs fire took off like hell in a fury. Pardon my French. You were all trapped on the second floor. There was no one on the other side of the garage wall to be hurt.
So. You think thats a dead end, she said carefully.
Something had changed in his expression. His posture was a little stiffer, his eyes more guarded. Or maybe it was her imagination, because his tone of voice never changed. I think, if you want to come back here every single day youre here, ask more questions, pursue anything on your mind, honey, then thats what you should do. Lets get this off your mind so itll never come up again. I admit, if I were your daddy, Id be advising you to let it go, that its not good for you to dwell on something you can never make right. A tragedy is a tragedy, honey. You already went through it. No point that I can see in reliving it yet again. But you do whatever you need to do. I wont get mad. Thats a promise. He added, Particularly if you keep bringing me Louellas cinnamon muffins.
When Lily left the station, the temperature had risen to one hundred and thirty-at least. Virginia had hot summers, but nothing like this. She battled the humidity straight to the ice-cream store-which, she told herself, had nothing to do with seeing Griff. It was about saving her life.
The place was wallpapered with kids, some slurping ice cream, but not all. Lily recognized the phenomenon. With school out for the summer, the kids too young for a job needed a hang-out place. Griffs was clearly it.
Two boys were manning the counter, with a third visible in the back, doing washup. Griff seemed to choose employees who looked as if theyd recently been let out of juvenile detention-lots of tattoos, lots of metal on their faces, lots of attitude. The one Lily had come to know-Jason-seemed to half-live there.
You looking for Griff? he asked when she made it up to the counter.
Well. It doesnt look as if hes here-
Hes here. Hes just locked up.
Locked up?
Jason nodded his head toward a far steel door. Hes in the vault. Its where he makes the ice cream. Nobodys ever allowed in the vault, but I can let him know youre here-
Before Jason finished the comment, Griff appeared from beyond the locked steel door. As if expecting her, he turned and located her in two seconds flat. That slick, wild kiss on the dark veranda was suddenly between them as if it just happened.
Possibly, shed have had the good sense to run out the door, if he hadnt crossed the room too quickly for her to take that option.
Possibly, shed have had the good sense to run out the door, if he hadnt crossed the room too quickly for her to take that option.
I dont want to interrupt you, she said immediately.
You wont if you come back with me. Im right in the middle of something.
Jason just said no ones allowed back there?
No one is, he agreed, and motioned for her to follow him.
All right, all right, so she had more curiosity than could kill any cat. After a word with his kids, Griff led her into the so-called vault. You can test one of the new flavors Im experimenting with, he said.
She tasted. Then tasted again. The flavor had some peach, some pecan, some vanilla bean, some unique and tantalizing other flavor. She took another spoonful, thinking that when she left this darned town, she was going to be fatter than a pig.