Murder And Salutations Part 17

"Sorry, I got tied up with something. I hope you weren't waiting too long."

"Five minutes," I admitted. "So what have you been doing? And why are we in your truck and not your patrol car?

"I took this afternoon off," he said.

"With a killer loose in Rebel Forge?"

"This couldn't wait till later," he said.

As he started driving, I said, "Is there any chance your dear, sweet wife has any chocolate cake lying around?"

"If she does, she's better at hiding things than I am at finding them. Would you like me to stop someplace for you?"

"Honestly, I'm in the mood for some pizza and some cake, but it can wait. Right now all I want is to get home and relax. Bradford, that was my turn back there." My brother had completely blown past the path that led to Whispering Oak.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing"

"Listen, big brother, you're going to cancel whatever it was you had planned. I'm not in the mood for any surprises this evening."

"Then you're not going to be very happy," he said softly.

"We're not going to your house, are we? I'm fine on my own. Honestly. Just take me home."

"That's what I'm doing," Bradford said.

I turned around and pointed. "It's back there, remember?"

"Not anymore," he said, "What do you think I've been doing all afternoon? Sara Lynn, Lillian and I moved you out of Whispering Oak, including Oggie and Nash."

"You what?" I screeched. "I wasn't even finished packing."

"We took care of it for you," he said. "I'm sorry, but your car's still parked there. I'll take you over to pick it up tomorrow."

"I can't believe you did this." It was just like my family, b.u.t.ting in and offering help when none was needed.

"Believe it," he said. "It was Sara Lynn's idea, and I wasn't about to say no. She had a good time, and it seemed to get her mind off her problems, so be gracious, would you?"

"Maybe I did overreact a little," I said. "It really did help her?"

"The only thing that would have made it better would have been if you were there, too, but part of the kick for her was doing this as a surprise for you."

"Okay, I'll be gracious," I said. "But it's going to be a stretch."

"Did you think that was a news flash? I've known you longer than anybody should."

He paused at the gate of my new place, then punched in a set of numbers. As he drove in, he chose a path I hadn't seen earlier. "Do I have my own entrance?"

He laughed. "I guess in a way you do. They can't even see you come and go at the main house. I think it was designed that way on purpose. You've got more privacy than anybody needs here. The way it was situated, it wouldn't surprise me if they couldn't even see your lights from the house."

"I like that," I said.

"I knew you would." He stopped in the trees just before we got to the cottage. "Listen, we all worked really hard on making the place feel like home. It would help if you could smile once or twice, even if you're not feeling it."

"Got it. Fake it till I make it."

"Jennifer, you know what I mean."

I wanted to pat his shoulder, but my wrist really did hurt. I doubted it would be healed by the time I would have been evicted, so my family really had helped me out. I just wished it would have been at my bidding and not theirs.

As Bradford pulled up in front of the place, Sara Lynn and Lillian came out to greet us.

"Surprise!" they shouted.

"It's that, all right," I said. "You all really shouldn't have. It's too much."

Sara Lynn hugged me, and I noticed that she was being careful of my wrist. "Nonsense. We were happy to do it. It looks lovely," she added.

"I can't wait to see it. How do my roommates like it?"

Lillian smiled. "You're kidding, right? There are so many places to swoop down from, they both think they've gone to cat heaven."

I walked inside and took it all in. They'd done a marvelous job, even adding fresh flowers to the small dining table in the kitchen. "Those are beautiful," I said as I saw the skillfully arranged roses, baby's breath and ferns.

"Thanks," Bradford said.

"You picked them out?" I asked.

"Hey, I'm not completely without taste."

Lillian and Sara Lynn looked at me, but n.o.body said a word. Bradford said, "I don't get any respect in this family."

I kissed his cheek. "Thank you, it was thoughtful of you to bring me flowers."

"Okay, it was Cindy's idea, but I picked them out. Well, I picked them up, anyway. She ordered them and had them waiting for me at the florist."

We all laughed, including Bradford. Lillian asked, "Would you like some company tonight, or would you like to settle in by yourself? You won't offend us if that's your preference, I promise you."

"I'd love to have a housewarming party," I said. "Just not tonight. My wrist's aching, and I just want to grab a bite and go to sleep early."

"That's fine," Sara Lynn said. "We'll do something next weekend, once you've had a chance to settle in."

Lillian nodded her agreement, then said, "There's a pizza in the oven, and we took the liberty of stocking your refrigerator. I hope you don't mind."

"No, I think I can live with that," I said, smiling. Okay, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing being the baby of the family. Sometimes it was nice being pampered.

I walked them outside, and Bradford said, "I'll pick you up bright and early."

"I'll let you come get me on one condition," I said. "We go get my car so I don't have to rely on the kindness of strangers to get back and forth from work."

"You're calling your dear, sweet brother a stranger?" he asked.

"Bradford, I've known a lot of people in my life, and they don't come any stranger than you."

Lillian and Sara Lynn laughed, and the three of them got into the pickup and drove off. I went back inside, feeling good about my family, and what they'd done for me. Nash was on one of the beams in the kitchen, swishing his tail as he watched me. "So, what do you think?"

He didn't comment, but he looked happy enough to be there. I was alarmed when I couldn't find Oggie, then I spotted one paw hanging down from the loft. The little rascal was already asleep on my pillow. Trust my cats to land on their feet, no matter what the situation was. I just hoped I'd do as well. The place looked smaller with my things there, and I wondered how I'd manage, but rearranging would have to wait for another night. For now, I just needed some peace and quiet.

I was jarred awake by a pounding on my cottage door, and for just a moment, I incorporated it into my dreams, imagining someone was driving nails into my car's roof.

From outside, I heard Bradford's voice, and realized it was real. The cottage was pitch black, and I nearly fell out of the loft as I climbed out of bed. My robe was on a nearby chair, and I hastily wrapped it around, me as I answered the door.

"Bradford, what's wrong? What time is it?"

"It's a little after three," he said. "Get dressed, Jennifer."

"Can you tell me what this is about?"

He looked so sad it nearly broke my heart. "Somebody just burned down Whispering Oak."

Five minutes later, we were in his squad car heading back to my old apartment. Bradford had supplied coffee for both of us, and I took a sip of mine, trying to wake up. I could see an orange haze in the sky, diluted by black smoke. "What happened? Do you know yet?"

He shook his head as he drove grimly through the night. "There will be time for that later. Right now they're just trying to put the fire out."

I nodded. "Will they be able to save the house?"

He shook his head. "I doubt it. It was blazing pretty fiercely by the time somebody called it in. It was an anonymous tip from a cell phone, and the voice was so distorted it could have been a man or woman."

"You're thinking it was deliberately set, aren't you?"

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"I'm here, aren't I? I doubt you'd drag me out of bed unless you were afraid of something like that."

"You're right, it's exactly like that," he said.

There were two fire trucks at the scene when we got there, and Jody-one of my brother's deputies- was keeping everybody but emergency crews out. Bradford stopped near his deputy and asked, "Anything new?"

He looked at me, then down at the ground. "Yep."

"What is it?" Bradford asked. "She's going to know soon enough."

"They found a body inside," he admitted.

Oh, no. As much trouble as I'd had with Barrett, I still didn't want to see him dead. Why hadn't he moved out a day early? For that matter, I was suddenly very glad that my family had relocated me and my cats.

"You okay, Sis?" Bradford asked me.

"No, but I will be."

He nodded, then said to Jody, "Keep everybody out of here."

"Including the press? Kyle Gaston was here from the newspaper, and when I told him he couldn't go back there, he started screaming about a lawsuit and freedom of the press."

"What did you do?" Bradford asked him.

"I told him when they started giving his newspapers away, then he could squawk about free press, but until then, there were safety issues."

Bradford smiled. "I bet he loved that."

"Yeah, well, you know."

My brother nodded, then drove on. The smell was worse than the smoke, though there was plenty o that. The fire department had managed to kill most of the flames, but every now and then I could see flare-up in the ruined sh.e.l.l of the place I'd just lived. One wall was partially standing, and the roof had collapsed in on it. Everything was blackened, and coughed from the smoke.

"It's bad, but believe it or not, you get used to it after a while."

"I don't think I want to," I said. My Gremlin was still parked in front of the house, but something was wrong. It wasn't until I was closer that I realized someone had broken out the driver's side window. "Did that happen in the fire?" I asked. "No, they had to move it pretty fast to get the fire trucks in. Sorry. I'll have it taken care of tomorrow. Today, I mean." trucks in. Sorry. I'll have it taken care of tomorrow. Today, I mean."

"It doesn't matter," I said. "Do you think they've moved the body yet?"

"No, they have to wait until the coroner gets here. Jen, do you have any idea who would do this?"

"Of course not," I snapped. "Don't react. Take a second and think about it. Who would want Barrett dead enough to kill him? We're working on the a.s.sumption that it was him until we get confirmation, since he was the only one left. I talked to the guy as we were moving your stuff. It's rough."

I thought about Barrett's girlfriend, Penny, and how volatile she could be, but that didn't make sense. He was moving in with her, unless Barrett had changed his mind. "He's got a girlfriend with a temper," I said. "Her name's Penny. That's all I know."

"Describe her," he said.

"She's pet.i.te, a blonde, somewhere in her mid-twenties."

"Penny Hale," my brother said. "It has to be her."

"You actually know her?"

"I'm the sheriff here, Jennifer. I know most of the folks in Rebel Forge. Let me make a phone call. I'll be back in a minute."

Bradford left me standing there, staring at the remnants of Whispering Oak. I hadn't lived there long, but I'd fallen in love with the place. I wanted to feel bad about the ruined building and all of the lovely furnishings that had been in it, but all I could think about was poor Barrett. We'd shared a connection, a spark that might have led to more if Penny hadn't barged back into his life when she did. As I stared at the house, the final wall collapsed, sending sparks and billowing clouds of smoke into the air. Bradford came back, shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "I just called Penny."

"How did she take it?" It was a telephone call that it must have been torture for my brother to make.

"She put him on the phone. Whoever that is in there, it's not Barrett."

"What? It couldn't be Jeffrey. He moved out days ago."

"Any chance he came back for something?" Bradford asked.

"It's possible, but Barrett told me he was gone for good. You don't suppose it's Hester, do you?" She was the landlady who had so unceremoniously kicked us all out, and while she wasn't going to get my vote for citizen of the month, she didn't deserve what she got.