A Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade 03 - In Hot Water (14 page)

“I don’t have time for this.” Stella went to her bedroom. “I have to get dressed and meet Gail at the site again this morning. I don’t know what’s going on with the Falk family. Between finding Chip and his friends with drugs, and being kidnapped and threatened by his father’s driver, I’d say there’s a problem. Excuse me.”

Stella took her time showering and getting dressed. As usual, the hot water tank ran out before her shower was finished. She shivered and dried off quickly, pulling on jeans and a sweater before she found a clean pair of coveralls.

It wasn’t her problem that no one wanted to hear the truth about what she’d experienced. Her head was still sore that morning. She knew she was lucky to be alive. If Eric hadn’t been there—even though he’d held off on doing anything useful until the last minute—she might’ve been hanging out with her ghostly friend as a ghost herself, waiting to see if the cabin was going to be destroyed.

She was righteously angry at the supposed PR nightmare John had labeled her misadventure from last night. She wanted to circle her wagons and get Gail on board with what they’d seen yesterday, from the cocaine to the driver. With both of them on the same page, Stella knew she’d be less likely to be the butt end of the problem.

She brushed her hair and pulled it back from her face before she made sure her cell phone was in her pocket and her radio was clipped to her belt.

“Stella?”

She jumped and dropped her jacket on the floor. “I thought we had an agreement about coming in my room while I was dressing.”

“I have my eyes closed.” His blue eyes
were
shut, although that didn’t make her feel any better.

“What do you want that couldn’t wait a minute?”

“You have another visitor. Chief Rogers is pouring himself a cup of coffee in the kitchen.”

“Great,” she angrily muttered. “What does
he
want?”

C
hief Rogers had also helped himself to some donuts too. His police uniform was tightly creased. Not a graying blond hair was out of place. His tanned face showed some wrinkles as he smiled, his pale blue eyes fastened on her face.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” He sat at the table. “Quite an adventure you had last night.”

She looked around the room. “Where’s John?”

Walt grimaced. “
Somebody
sent him away.”

“He had other duties,” Chief Rogers said. “He couldn’t hang around here all day consoling you.”

“I’m running late, Chief.” Stella put on her jacket and grabbed her bag. “I should be out at the investigation site. If you’ll excuse me . . .”

He didn’t look fazed by her words. He lazily bit into a donut. “Fresh. Mine are usually stale.”

“I was coming back from the grocery store last night when everything went down. Would you like some defrosted mini-meals to take home with you?”

“I’ll take some,” Walt chimed in.

“I heard what happened.” Chief Rogers took a gulp of his coffee. “I think everyone in the county knows by now.”

“Chief, I
really
have to go. I can meet you somewhere when we take a break, if you like.”

“This won’t take a minute. Please sit down, Ms. Griffin.”

Annoyed, but not wanting to make their relationship worse, she sat. “What is it, Chief Rogers?”

“I know you don’t owe me any explanation about what happened last night. Still, I’d appreciate hashing out the details with you.”

Stella sighed and ran through what had happened
again
. She did it with a quick glance at her watch and hasty words. There were no details, just the facts.

“Sounds bad.” Walt whistled through his teeth and glanced around the room. “Did you have any
help
with that?”

“You’re lucky to be here,” Chief Rogers said. “How’d you manage to get away?”

“They didn’t tie me up securely. I got my hands free. They weren’t great fighters.”

“I understand you identified one of the men as Barney Falk’s driver. You know he’s also Mr. Falk’s bodyguard.”

“If I were him, I’d hire someone else.” Hero had been barking outside the door, probably wanting his breakfast. She let him in. The dog took one look at Chief Rogers and began growling at him.

Walt patted him on the head. “It’s okay. I won’t let him do anything to Stella. If he does, you can bite him.”

Chief Rogers barely noticed Hero. “And he and his accomplice were warning you off giving the state your actual findings at the site of the fire. Is that correct?”

“Yes. Is this an interrogation?”

“No. This is one Sweet Pepper officer to another. What do you think he was talking about?”

“I’m fairly sure I found cocaine yesterday in the sofa. It might go along with the cocaine drop that trapped those boys on Dead Bear Trail.”

“Did someone tell you we have a drug problem in Sweet Pepper?”

“No one had to tell her, Don,” Walt quipped. “It’s obvious.”

Stella could see anger and hostility taking form in Chief Rogers’s tough face. The cold blue eyes were much less friendly and his tone had grown aggressive.

“I don’t want to fight about this,” she told him. “I’m not with the police. I don’t know any more than what I told you. You’ll have to put in the rest of the puzzle pieces.”

“I don’t like people thinking or saying I don’t do a good job. It gets me riled up. People get the wrong idea sometimes. For instance—someone could speculate that
you’re
involved in this, Ms. Griffin. You were at the drop site on the trail and you allegedly found the cocaine in Representative Falk’s house.”

Walt let go of Hero. “Maybe you should bite him now, boy.”

Hero sat at Stella’s feet but had stopped growling.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” She reacted without thinking, all her wishes to work peacefully with Rogers out the window. “I was doing my job. You
know
that.”

Chief Rogers shrugged and got up from the table. “It’s how people could spin this whole thing that I’m worried about. I’m not saying you’re involved—beyond doing your job, of course. I’m only telling you what the
perception
could be.”

“Thanks for the warning.” The words came out of her mouth like she’d been chewing on rocks. “I’ll watch my back.”

She wanted to say more—a
lot
more. She had to bite her tongue and remind herself that she had to work with this egotistical, annoying man.

“I’ll be going now.” Chief Rogers put on his hat. “I think the cocaine is part of this too, but there may be something more. You take care, Ms. Griffin. I wouldn’t want anything untoward to happen to you again.”

Eric had sat silently on the stairs leading to the attic until Chief Rogers left. “You better watch that man. He’s got it in for you.”

“Really? You think?” She snatched up her keys. “You don’t listen to me at all, do you? I’ve been telling you about my relationship with him since I got here.”

“I thought it wasn’t as bad as you painted it.” He shrugged. “I’m glad you didn’t have to depend on him coming to your rescue.”

“I can kind of get the gist of what Eric is saying,” Walt added. “I’m telling you, Don Rogers is a good man. I think you scare him, Stella. That’s all.”

“John says he’s a good man too.” Stella shook her head. “I don’t know, Walt. He doesn’t like me because I’m a woman and not his pick for fire chief.”

“He’ll get over it. You’ll see. I chose him to succeed me,” Walt reminded her. “He’ll come out right in the end.”

Stella looked at her watch again. “I hate to kick you out, Walt, but I really have to go. Thanks for hanging around after John left.”

“Glad to do it.” He squinted, peering around the room. “Eric, take care, buddy. We won’t let you lose your cabin.”

Stella walked out on Walt’s heels with Hero following her to the Cherokee.

Eric also followed her without a second’s hesitation. “I know Chief Rogers wants John in your place. That’s not gonna happen now. He’ll accept it eventually.”

Hero jumped into the backseat an instant before she slammed the door to the Cherokee shut behind her. “I guess you
were
listening, at least part of the time.”

“We both know what happened last night,” Eric reminded her. “Your police chief might be involved.”

“I don’t know.” She started the engine and began driving down Firehouse Road. “He always talks like that. I don’t think he actually suspects me of anything. He’s probably just looking after his own butt. He might not be police chief much longer if people don’t trust him.”

“Looking after his own butt.” Eric smiled and shook his head. “I like that. You’ve brought some colorful language into my life, Stella.”

They let Hero out at the firehouse. Kimmie and David were taking him and Sylvia for their fire dog training in Knoxville. The two volunteers hugged Stella and told her how happy they were that she was safe. The dogs barked as they played in the parking lot.

“You let us know if there is anything we can do for you, Chief,” David said.

“I will. Thanks.” Stella thought about it. “As a matter of fact, I’m looking for recipes for the Sweet Pepper Festival.”

The two exchanged glances. “How many recipes do you want, Chief?” Kimmie asked.

“As many as you want to give me. They should be recipes with hot peppers in them.”

“Can we get them to you tomorrow?” David asked.

“Sure. That would be great.” Stella smiled. “Thanks.”

She left Hero with them and headed for Sweet Pepper. Maybe Kimmie and David would have enough recipes that she wouldn’t have to ask anyone else.

“Hero is really progressing in his training,” Eric said. “I’m not sure about Sylvia. She might be too timid.”

“You could be right.” Stella glanced at the dozens of election signs tacked up along the road. However this came out, she wasn’t voting for Barney Falk Jr.

The Cherokee took the high hill going into the Sunset Beach community like a champ. The Falk house had been the first on the right. Gail’s truck wasn’t there. Dozens of children and adults were standing around watching the backhoe pick up debris and load it into the bed of a large dump truck.

“What’s going on?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know.” Stella parked the Cherokee and jumped out. “Hey! What are you doing?”

The truck driver shrugged. “Picking up this burned stuff. Is there a problem?”

“Wait right there.” Stella ran to the backhoe and flagged down the operator. “What’s going on? You shouldn’t be taking this away yet. The arson investigation isn’t finished.”

The young man operating the backhoe stopped. “I’m only doing my job, ma’am. They tell me where to go and what to do.”

“Well they told you wrong. Let me see your work orders.”

He handed her the documents. Stella opened the packet and read the papers. The address was correct. The work orders involved total cleanup and dumping the debris from the house.

“Who gave you this?” She kept reading.

“My boss, Phil Roth. He owns and develops this community. He built it all. He says go get the stuff, I go get the stuff.”

At the end of the work order was what Stella had been waiting to see. The signature at the bottom was Gail Hubbard’s. She had signed off, saying the investigation was over.

“I don’t care what your boss says,” Stella told him. “Don’t move this equipment again until I get back. Got it?” She showed him her badge.

He shrugged and turned off the backhoe. “Okay. It’s your skin if Mr. Roth gets mad.”

“I can take it.” Stella jumped back into the Cherokee and revved the engine before she took off down the road toward town.

“I can’t believe Gail would sign off on this.” She hit her hand on the steering wheel out of pure frustration. “We barely scratched the surface of what was in there. We have no idea what made that small explosion. How could she do that?”

“Maybe she was coerced. Maybe one of Falk’s men paid her a visit too.”

“Maybe so.” Stella stopped at the traffic light in Sweet Pepper on Main Street. “I guess I’ll drive to Nashville and pay her a call. I was scared too. We can’t let Falk Jr. get away with this because we’re scared.”

Stella’s cell phone rang. It was Brad Whitman. He wanted her to meet him at the coffee shop. She hesitated, almost too angry to talk to him before she had a good explanation of what had happened at the site.

She finally decided to see him right away since she was still in town. Maybe he should know what was going on. Stella made a U-turn into a parking lot to go back to the coffee shop she’d just passed. As soon as the tires hit Main Street again a flashing light came on from a Sweet Pepper police vehicle behind her.

“What now?” She pulled over into a parking space.

“Intimidation,” Eric said. “The oldest game around.”

Stella got out of the Cherokee even though she knew she was supposed to stay put.

It was Officer Richardson. He looked nervous. He scratched his fringe of black hair and pulled on his hat. “Chief Griffin.”

“Officer Richardson.”

“I observed you attempting to avoid the traffic light by making an illegal U-turn into the parking lot over there.”

“I wasn’t trying to avoid anything.” Even though she knew it was Chief Rogers reaching out to make her life miserable, she couldn’t let it go. “I sat at the red light until I got an emergency call. I could’ve put on my lights and siren and gone through it. You know that. What’s
really
up?”

Skeet Richardson’s chubby fingers scrawled a warning citation on his pad of paper. “Next time use your lights, Chief Griffin. I won’t ticket you this time. We have to abide by our laws, don’t we?”

Stella was mad enough to throw his warning citation back at him. She bit her tongue and held on to the warning, managing to keep her cool and even smile when it was over. “Thanks, Officer. I hope it’s not your home that’s on fire the next time someone stops me for something this stupid on the way to an emergency.”

Officer Richardson swallowed hard and tipped his hat to her. “Only doing my job, ma’am. I have to follow orders like everyone else.”

Stella stalked into the coffee shop after locking the Cherokee at the curb.

“It wasn’t his fault.” Eric stood up for Richardson. “He was only doing what his boss told him.”

“I’m a little tired of that excuse right now,” she muttered.

Brad Whitman stood at his table when he saw her. “Coffee?” he asked.

“I don’t think so.” She slammed the warning citation on the table. “I think Chief Rogers is trying to send me a message.”

He sat down again. “You cut him up, Stella. No one likes to look like a fool.”

“That wasn’t my priority after being hit in the head and kidnapped last night. I made a connection between the drugs that were confiscated off the trail and the cocaine I believe I found in Falk’s house. I wasn’t passing judgment on his ability as police chief.”

“I’ll talk to him, if you like.”

“No, thanks. I’ll handle it.”

“I hear the arson investigation has gone so well that the state investigator has signed off on it.” He sipped his coffee.

Stella took a seat opposite him. “Right. Because one day is enough to figure everything out. I think someone tried to coerce her like they did me.”

“She may have had a similar experience to yours last night,” Brad said. “Have you spoken with her today?”

“No. Not yet. Lucky we sent in some debris samples yesterday,” Stella said. “At least we have that.”

He shook his head. “Sorry. I checked. No samples were logged by the state arson investigator.”

“Come on!” Stella sat back in her seat. “That’s too much. How are we ever going to prove what happened out there?”

“I don’t know yet,” he admitted. “This all ties together. We have to figure out how. And I mean
we
as in the TBI. Don’t assume because the investigation has been called off that you’re safe, Stella. Stay out of this now. Work with your volunteers, and don’t worry about Falk’s death.”

“Has the coroner ruled if his death was caused by something fire related?”

“The coroner has ruled that the death was attributable to the fire. He won’t say anything more yet. I’m afraid there’s no help there.”