Playing With Fire Read online

  Stella quickly found out that standing on the sidewalk was a bad way to go unnoticed. Ricky Junior and Lucille came out of the café and pushed her for information. Not bound by any feeling of confidentiality, she told them what Ricky Senior had confessed.

  “That can’t be true,” Lucille cried. “He would never do such a thing.”

  “Don’t worry, Mom,” Ricky said. “We’ll fight this. Was Dad’s lawyer in there?”

  “No,” Stella said. “He was alone. He said he didn’t want a lawyer. He wanted to tell what happened.”

  Ricky raged. “This is stupid. They can’t get him for what happened to Deputy Chum. He was at the café.”

  “They have him for what happened forty years ago. I’m sorry, Ricky.”

  That conversation brought out several other people who wanted to know what had happened. It made Stella regret her decision not to leave right away. She hadn’t minded telling Ricky Junior and his mother what was going on, but she didn’t plan to share information with people from the café and the barbershop.

  “I have to go,” she finally said, getting in the Cherokee. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

  Before she left, she tried calling Walt to let him know what was going on. There was no answer at his home or his cell phone. She decided she’d put off telling Eric long enough. She might as well go back to the cabin.

  Eric was back from wherever it was that he went when he disappeared. He was singing show tunes from old Broadway musicals—his favorites were Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. Hero watched him work in the kitchen.

  “I have a great recipe in mind for the contest this year,” he said as Stella walked into the cabin. “I came up with the idea for candied stuffed peppers. We’ll take a whole pepper, clean it out, dip it in a glaze, and then fill it with something sweet. Maybe a chocolate mixture. Or maybe we should dunk the pepper in chocolate and then fill it with a marshmallow mixture. What do you think?”

  He seemed so happy that she hated to say anything about what had happened that morning. Still, he was bound to find out. Either Walt would tell him or he’d see it on TV. At least he’d hear it from her this way.

  Eric’s smile had disappeared by the time she’d focused on him again. “What is it? Did you ask Ricky about what happened?”

  “Chief Rogers arrested Ricky for your murder before I could talk to him.”

  The cabin shook a little with his anger. “That’s ridiculous. Ricky couldn’t kill anyone. He always had my back.”

  “That’s true, to an extent, Eric. Let’s sit out on the deck and I’ll tell you what he said.”

  They looked out over the river and rocked as the sweet, cool wind blew down from the Smokies. Stella told him exactly what Ricky had confessed to. Eric didn’t get angry again. He stared blindly out at the trees.

  “Are you okay?” she asked when she was finished.

  “Yes. At least I know what happened.” His gaze came to meet hers. “Thank you.”

  “Ricky might not have had anything to do with what happened to Chum. I suppose he’ll go to prison for Shu Carriker’s death. He might serve some time for covering up what happened to you.”

  “I suppose that’s possible.”

  She put her hand on his. It was like a projection—her hand went through his, leaving only that strange feeling of static electricity lingering. She knew he could be solid when he wanted to. She wished she knew the trick of being able to touch him when she wanted to.

  “You can talk to me about this,” she said. “You don’t have to keep it bottled up.”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like it will affect anything. It doesn’t matter how I feel about it.”

  “Of course it does. You still have feelings. You get angry and excited—mostly angry.” She laughed a little to try to ease the tension. “You have to be angry now, but the cabin isn’t shaking.”

  “I’m not angry.” He got up and walked to the rail that rimmed the deck. “I was a fool to think I could push the world to be the way I thought it should be. The world pushed back.”

  “Okay. So your feelings are hurt. Ricky betrayed you. He knew what happened and didn’t say anything. We might never have found your bones, except for the fire.”

  He turned and faced her, his arms folded across his chest. “And would that have been such a terrible thing? I wish it hadn’t happened. The truth does me no good, Stella.”

  “We’re back,” her mother’s voice called out as she entered the kitchen. “Stella?”

  Stella glanced in that direction. When she looked back, Eric was gone. She sighed. Sometime she was going to have to ask him if she couldn’t see him but he was still there, or if he had a secret hiding place.

  “Out here,” she told her mother.

  Barbara, Sean, and Doug all joined her on the deck.

  “What’s that you’re working on in the kitchen?” Barbara asked as Hero continued to bark at Doug.

  “Quiet, Hero,” Stella said. “It’s the contest recipe for the festival. Something about stuffed peppers, except they’re sweet. Don’t ask me yet. I’m not really sure.”

  “I didn’t know you’d learned to cook while you’ve been here.” Barbara sat down where Eric had been.

  Doug and Sean disappeared back into the den to watch TV. Stella knew that her father had told her mother she was thinking about staying in Sweet Pepper.

  “I guess I’ve been inspired by peppers.” She wondered what her mother would have to say on the subject.

  “I guess you have.” Barbara looked into her daughter’s face as only a mother can. “Your father said you’re thinking about staying here.”

  There it was. “I said it had some benefits. And that I like being chief.”

  “You could be chief back home. You’re already up in rank, and you have years to go.”

  “There are too many people in front of me. I won’t see chief in my lifetime. I’m sure Dad told you the same thing.”

  “He did,” Barbara admitted. “But it’s more than your job, Stella. It’s your life and your home. You never thought about moving before.”

  “This is different. I kind of like it here. I know I wasn’t supposed to. It just happened.”

  Barbara took her daughter’s hand in hers. “I know you better than to think you’d be swayed to stay here because of the Carson money.”

  “You’re right about that. If anything, that whole family legacy thing would be something that would drive me away. I’d be staying despite that.”

  “Then what is it? Yes, you’d be fire chief, but at substantially less money than you make as a captain in Chicago. Is it the man you’re dating?”

  Stella thought about Zane. “No. I like Sweet Pepper. I like the mountains. I don’t know. I feel like I should stay—sometimes. I don’t know yet. I haven’t made up my mind. I thought you should know.”

  “You don’t have to go back the same time we do. Ignore your father. You wouldn’t want to fly back anyway. You’ve got the Harley.”

  “It’s not Dad.” Stella grinned. “Well, not only him. Everyone else is constantly asking me how much longer I plan to stay.”

  “Don’t make a rash decision,” her mother counseled. “Take your time. Once you give up your job, it will be hard to get back.”

  “That works both ways,” Stella assured her. “They want to make someone fire chief here who doesn’t want the job. That’s not good either.”

  “Never mind that. Make the decision for yourself.”

  “I will, Mom.” Stella was suddenly inspired, thinking about their lives. “You know how you went to Chicago and found your life? Maybe I’m doing the same thing, but backwards from the way you did it.”

  “Maybe.” Barbara smiled but there were tears in her brown eyes.

  “Don’t worry so much about me. Whatever I decide, it’s not
the end of the world, is it? Let’s go have some lunch. I’m starving.”

  “I’ve wanted your father to try Scooter’s Barbecue,” Barbara said. “How about that?”

  “Sounds good. Let me take Hero out for a few minutes and we’ll go.”

  Barbara agreed, going to tell Sean and Doug where they were eating. Stella put Hero’s leash on and left the cabin for a short walk in the woods.

  Eric kept his place, perched on the deck rail, watching Stella and Hero walk around the trees that led down to the river.

  Did that mean Stella was staying in Sweet Pepper?

  Eric was almost too scared to think about it. He’d convinced himself that he could handle her leaving. It was too painful to let himself think it could be true—that she might not leave.

  • • •

  Lunch was good at Scooter’s. Petey was there waiting tables. She switched with one of the other waitresses so she could have Stella and her parents.

  There was more barbecue, hush puppies, and fries than there normally would have been. Scooter Mason, a large balding man wearing a greasy apron, came out to shake hands with Sean, Barbara, and Doug and then insisted the meal was on the house.

  “You make sure you don’t take our fire chief home with you, Barbara,” he said jokingly. “We like her where she is.”

  “I don’t have a plane ticket, Scooter,” Stella told him.

  “Good.” He called for Petey. “Get these fine people some banana puddin’—and don’t spare the whipped cream. I’ll see you all again, I hope. Thanks for visiting.”

  Stella had never seen so much banana pudding or whipped cream on one plate. “I don’t think we can eat all of that,” she told Petey as four dessert plates arrived.

  “That’s why they make doggy bags, Chief,” Petey said. “Scooter said not to skimp. Enjoy!”

  Most of the banana pudding was going back to the cabin with them, along with some hush puppies and extra barbecue that Doug couldn’t eat.

  After the rigorous practices they’d had recently, Stella had given the fire brigade the day off—unless an emergency came up.

  Instead, she took her parents and Doug to Cades Cove, a historic park in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a lot of driving, but the scenery was worth it.

  They walked through what was left of an old town where the residents had been forced to move to create the national park. There was a church and cemetery, some old homesteads, and they were even lucky enough to see some deer and a few black bears along the way.

  Sean and Barbara enjoyed the adventure. Doug slept through most of it, jumping up when they all yelled, “Look at the bears!”

  On the way back from the park, they stopped at one of the usually crowded whitewater rafting spots on the river. “The water is low because it’s been dry this year,” Stella explained.

  “We used to come down here when we were kids,” Barbara said. “When I could sneak away from the mansion anyway. My father didn’t like me going out at all. He would’ve pitched a fit if he’d known I was here.”

  “It sounds like fun,” Sean said. “Why was Ben afraid for you to be here?”

  “He was always worried I’d get hurt. There were a few accidents every year. I think because I was an only child, my mom and dad were a little overprotective.”

  “Tell me about it.” Stella rolled her eyes and laughed. “My mom and dad were the same way. Still are, come to think of it.”

  “Not my parents,” Doug chimed in. “With eight of us in Catholic school, I think they were hoping to get rid of one or two of us.”

  They all laughed at that and Stella punched redial on her cell phone to try Walt again. Still no answer.

  “Where does he live?” Sean asked. “I don’t want our last night here to be filled with you trying to call your friend every five minutes. Maybe we could stop by his house.”

  Stella put her cell phone away. “You’re leaving tomorrow?”

  Barbara nodded. “It’s been fun, but we have to get back. And since I can see you have a decision to make about staying here, I think we should go. It’s been a nice visit.”

  “You’ve decided to stay then?” Doug asked.

  Stella shrugged and turned on the Cherokee’s engine. “I’m not sure yet. Walt doesn’t live too far off the main road on the way back to the cabin. I’ll stop in there. Then no more cell phone until you guys leave. What time is your flight?”

  “Nine forty-five tomorrow morning,” Sean said. “That way we’ll be back home by lunch and have some real food.”

  “Okay. But you’re not keeping me from making a decision about Sweet Pepper,” Stella told them. “I can decide what to do with you here too.”

  “We know,” Barbara said. “We should get back. We know you’ll make the right decision for you, one way or another.”

  “If you stay, the Harley comes home,” Sean said. “No pressure.”

  “Thanks.” Stella navigated the Cherokee past the dry riverbed as it curved and crossed under the road.

  She turned off on Walt’s rutted road about twenty minutes later. Everyone held their door handles and made grunting sounds as the SUV bounced up and down through the runoff ditches and rocks.

  “What a place. Not much money in retiring as police chief here,” Sean said when they finally stopped in front of Walt’s rebuilt cabin.

  “The view in back is worth all the trouble getting here. He wouldn’t want to mess that up by building a real house,” Stella replied. “That, and Walt’s famous hard apple cider. If he’s here, we’ll have some.”

  There was no sign of Walt, or his battered old pickup. Stella looked in the kitchen window and saw a coffee cup on the table. He may have recently left, or he’d been gone for hours—there was no way to know without going inside. She wasn’t feeling that desperate yet.

  “Probably nothing,” she told her passengers. “I left a note on his door. He’s in and out all the time. He usually can’t find, or can’t figure out how to use, his cell phone.”

  “It’s bothering you anyway,” Sean said as she got back in the vehicle.

  “I’m used to having him at my beck and call, I guess. He could be out hunting or fishing, for all I know. He was a little cryptic about proving that Ricky Senior wasn’t guilty when I saw him at ladder practice yesterday. I’m sure I’m worried about nothing.”

  Chapter 28

  Walt’s disappearance continued to bother Stella as she and her parents got ready for the tour guide’s dinner that night.

  Myra Strickland had been kind enough to extend an invitation for the dinner to Sean and Barbara. Stella probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise since they were leaving the next morning. Doubtless, Ben had something to do with the invitation.

  Stella wore red and black. Her red sweater was a light knit that had seashell shapes worked into it. Her black dress pants tapered down to her black, heeled boots.

  She thought about putting her hair up but decided against it. The thick red strands had something against being pinned up. Maybe it was because they spent so much time under a helmet.

  Barbara wore a royal blue dress that complemented her naturally rosy complexion. Sean wore a white shirt and blue sport coat. They didn’t match exactly, but Stella smiled and took a picture of them with her cell phone before they left the cabin.

  Doug had decided to stay home and eat the rest of the hush puppies and barbecue that had been left from lunch. “You guys have a good time. I want to hang out and see if I can catch the Cubs on TV this evening.”

  “Don’t even think about polishing off the banana pudding,” Sean warned. “It better be here when I get back.”

  Doug laughed. “If it disappears, the ghost probably ate it. It wasn’t me.”

  Stella tried to look around the room in an inconspicuous way. She hadn’t seen Eric since she got back from Cades Cove
. She hoped he wouldn’t take Doug’s remark as a reason to do some ghostly prank. She had a feeling that he wasn’t too far away.

  They took the Cherokee to town. Stella tried calling Walt again as soon as she reached the main road. There was still no response.

  She saw John as he was coming out of the police station at town hall. He was heading for his patrol car, probably on duty that night.

  “I’m going to stop for a minute,” she told Barbara and Sean. “I’ll be right back.”

  She pulled the Cherokee next to the patrol car and got out to walk around and talk to John. They had plenty of time to get to dinner at Myra’s old Victorian home. Maybe John had seen or heard from Walt today.

  “Chief.” John nodded when he saw her. “Something up?”

  “Probably not.” She glanced at her parents’ interested faces looking out at them. “I haven’t been able to get in touch with Walt all day. Have you seen him around?”

  “No. But I’ve been busy helping the game warden. He had some illegal hunting going on. Was there something in particular you needed Walt for?”

  She explained what Walt had said at ladder practice about proving Ricky was innocent. “I was at his place earlier today. It was hard to say if he’d been home or not.”

  John shrugged. “I’m sure you’re right. It’s probably nothing. I think sometimes he wanders around the mountains for a few days at a time. Maybe that’s what he meant about proving Ricky was innocent. Walt says he does his best thinking when he’s off by himself. Did he mention anywhere or anything in particular he thought was going to help Ricky?”

  “No. It’s probably nothing.”

  “Want me to check on him?”

  “That would be great, if you have time. You know him and his haunts a lot better than I do. I have the tour guide dinner tonight.”

  “I thought you were leaving Sweet Pepper with your parents.”

  She evaded his gaze by watching two people walk by on the sidewalk. “Maybe.”

  He smirked. “Are you staying, Stella?”

  “I don’t know yet, John. I’ll decide soon. I know it affects you too. I’m sorry the decision has been a long time coming.”