Backfire (6 page)

“Yes.” Jay blew out a ragged breath. “It’s hard being stuck here. A friend came with me to see this part of Alaska. It had been a childhood dream. We’d already been here a week when he had to go home a day early. I decided to stay. It’s so beautiful here I didn’t want to leave. I had just gotten my life back together, too, after my suicide attempt. Have a great job back in Texas and now I’m not sure I can even go back to work there when I’m finally recovered. My family is on their way to see me, but they can’t stay here as long as it’ll take for me to get stable enough to move.” Jay closed his eyes.

“Let us know what we can do to help,” David said. “I don’t live in Juneau, but I have a lot of friends and family in the region, and I’ll make sure they know you’re here. We’ll be your family while you’re in Alaska. Whatever you need.”

“Thank you.”

David thought he might have heard tears in Jay’s voice.

Tracy turned to him then, a soft smile edging into her lips. The look in her eyes stirred his heart, the intensity there surprising him.

Not wanting to overtire Jay, they said goodbye and headed back to the seaplane dock.

“Your chariot awaits,” Billy said with a flourish, winking at Tracy.

“Seriously? You’re flirting with her?” Jealousy stabbed through David. It wasn’t his place to be jealous. He couldn’t believe he’d scolded Billy in front of Tracy like that. Thankfully, Billy seemed to shrug it off, holding up his hands in a “no offense” gesture.

David didn’t think Tracy had noticed his reaction or Billy’s attention and, for that, he was grateful.

On the short flight back to Mountain Cove, David could feel the tension coming off her. In the short time he’d spent with her, he’d gotten to know her better and knew he couldn’t push her to tell him what she was thinking. She didn’t like to be controlled or manipulated.

David had decided to sit up front with Billy to let Tracy have some time to herself, as much as one could have in a small seaplane. He was the one to pay attention to Billy’s stories and this time Tracy was the one who barely listened.

“Had a fire up north in the Kenai Peninsula again. They called in extra crews.”

Billy’d had to bring that up.

David rubbed his jaw. “You know I don’t do that anymore.” Not since Natalie had died. If he had quit earlier, stopped traveling to fight the wildland fires, she’d still be alive today. He believed that to his bones. So he’d quit fighting wildland fires for the Forest Service and joined the Mountain Cove Fire Department, and he’d never seen a wildfire again. It had been too little, too late.

But he wouldn’t go back to doing something he loved. The guilt wouldn’t let him.

“I need your help.” Tracy’s words pulled David from his self-recriminations.

After her persistent rejection, David wasn’t sure he believed her. But he wasn’t about to turn down this opportunity. “Whatever I can do. Name it.”

“We have to convince the police that there is a potential killer out there. I cannot believe any of this is happening. I need to find Jay’s attacker myself. Draw him out.”

That wasn’t the kind of help he could give her. And he wouldn’t even if he could. “I know you’re frustrated, and I’ll do whatever I can to help, but you have to let the police do their job. You don’t need to go looking for trouble.”

“If he’s here, we have to find him before it’s too late. Before someone else gets hurt.” She stared out the window. “Because of me.”

David couldn’t help himself. He reached behind him and grabbed her hand. Held it. Squeezed. And Tracy didn’t throw up her wall and pull away. “I know I already told you to go into WITSEC. It’s not that I want you to go. Believe me, I don’t. But maybe it’s for the best.”

“I can’t leave now. I won’t. But I didn’t think I’d have to convince the police like this.”

“Guys. You need to see this.” Billy’s voice called David’s attention forward.

Smoke billowed in the distance.

“You don’t think that could be a wildfire, do you?” Tracy asked.

“No.”

David’s pulse jumped and he pulled out his cell. He was assistant fire chief, but still worked shifts—twenty-four hours on, two days off—and should have been on today, but he’d taken it off to see Jay, so he shouldn’t expect a call. But still, a text about what was going on would have been appreciated.

The fire crews responded to a couple of thousand incidents every year, most of which were EMS calls, and only a few were fires. House fires, apartment fires. Buildings in town. A few brush fires. No blazing wildfires like what they showed on the news in different regions of the country. The Tongass National Forest was a temperate rain forest and it was simply too wet here. The fires they did see usually involved the thick underbrush burning beneath the surface, smoking mostly. No tree crowns. So, no, this couldn’t be a wildfire.

“Fly closer, Billy. Let’s see what’s burning.”

David sent a text to his chief asking about the fire. When they got close enough to Mountain Cove, Billy circled around for a closer look.

“The grocery store. Oh, no!” Tracy sucked in a breath. “Veronica... She said she was working today. It’s happening...”

“What’s happening, Tracy? What are you talking about?”

She pressed her face into her palms. “It’s happening all over again.”

SEVEN

T
racy couldn’t believe the devastation she saw as David parked his truck at the curb across the street from the grocery store to keep out of the way.

When Billy had landed the plane, Tracy had climbed into David’s truck without even questioning what she was doing. Her car was parked at the dock, as well. But she knew as a firefighter, David would get into the middle of things, and she had to be there, too. Had to find out what had happened. If anyone had been injured.

If they had, Tracy would take it as proof that she had brought more trouble to Mountain Cove. And if that was the case, how could she live with herself? On the plane, David had demanded to know what she’d meant when she’d said it was happening again. So she’d told him about the fires Santino and his gang had started to target the people he viewed as his enemies, and the murders. Santino was a pyromaniac. But the details of her own personal trauma she’d kept to herself. The details of Derrick’s death. It was too hard to talk about any of that.

David had listened, frown lines growing deeper. They hadn’t left his face. Nor had he said much to her, but to be fair, he’d spent most of the time on the phone trying to reach someone for details. She didn’t want this to be all about her, but she would still like to know what was going on. What he was thinking.

She climbed out of his truck and followed him across the street, sticking close; though she wasn’t sure he even remembered she was there. Emergency vehicles had taken over the parking lot of the small grocery store. Fire crews had already put out the fire, and the acrid smell of recently doused flames lingered in the air.

An ambulance was parked there, too, its lights flashing, but there did not appear to be the usual urgency of emergency personnel rushing to save someone. That could mean one of two things. No one had been inside who needed medical attention. Or they were already dead. Dread soured in her stomach. She followed David past a fire truck and then he turned to face her. He seemed torn about what to say or do.

Tracy didn’t know what to say, either, her own fear curdling with the hurt and pain of this loss in her stomach.

“Come on.” He took her hand.

She thought he would lead her over to where some officers and firemen were talking. Instead he positioned her near a couple of cruisers, out of the way of the chaos.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I need to go, and you need to stay here.”

“I want to go with you.”

“It’s not a good idea. Just let me find out what is going on—what happened. If this looks like arson or an accident. Find out if anyone was hurt.” He grimaced and then his gaze pierced hers. “Trust me on this—you need to stay here. You should be safe. Plus, I can find you when I’m done. Okay?”

Tracy nodded. Her need to argue would only keep him from where he needed to be. She watched him trudge over to the authorities and hoped he could find out what she wanted to know, too. From here she could see what she hadn’t been able to earlier: the store had been so damaged by the fire, it would likely have to be completely rebuilt.

There wasn’t anything that could be salvaged.

Too many unbidden memories surged to life in her mind and heart, but Tracy didn’t want to lose it here and now, in front of the onlookers across the street. She’d already done that in front of David twice now.

No more. She had to keep it together.

Across the street the crowd watched in dismay. Tracy scanned it for familiar faces and she saw a few but didn’t know their names. Medics came around from the other side of one of the three fire trucks and into her view, heading for the ambulance with a body bag. And it wasn’t empty.

Tracy rushed forward to meet them. “Who is it? Please, I need to know.”

“Ma’am, step out of the way,” one of the medics said.

A police officer grabbed her arm. “You shouldn’t be here. Please leave the premises.”

The burn of tears singed her eyes. “Who died?”

“Ma’am, we won’t know anything until there’s an investigation. Please cross the street and stand with the others or get in your vehicle and leave.”

Oh, Lord, if it’s possible, please let this be an accident. Please let this have nothing at all to do with me or with Santino’s gang.

The officer assisted her to the edge of the parking lot, after which Tracy crossed the street and stood with the crowd. Some of them asked her questions. But she had no answers other than she knew that someone had died in the fire, though she kept that to herself. The community was small enough there was likely at least distant family or friends of the grocery store’s employees or customers, whoever had died, in this crowd. Sharing that news wasn’t Tracy’s place, but surely they all had eyes and could see for themselves.

Finally she saw David emerge from around the charred walls of the building, shaking his head. The serious look on his face told her the fire had hit him as hard as if the attack had been personally aimed at him. Maybe all fires were personal to David since he was a firefighter. Or perhaps the fact that someone had died because of a fire put that odd mixture of anger and pain on his face.

She rubbed her arms, feeling those emotions herself. But what she couldn’t know, and desperately wanted to find out, was if David blamed her.

Still watching David, she wanted to go to him, to cross the street and find out what he knew. He turned his attention from the burned-out shell of a grocery store to the emergency vehicles and then searched the parking lot.

He had to be looking for her. His eyes scanned the crowd and found her. He put his hands on his hips and she gave a little wave. When he started toward her, she decided that was her invitation, and after letting a couple of rubbernecking cars go by, Tracy crossed the street to meet David.

“You scared me half to death,” he said. “I told you to stay put.”

“A police officer told me differently and practically hauled me across the street himself.”

Another frown from David. “Sorry about that.”

Tracy didn’t care. “Who was in the body bag?”

“Veronica was in the back of the store and succumbed to smoke inhalation. The fire didn’t get her, but the smoke did.”

The shaking moved from her knees up her body. She couldn’t do this in front of everyone.

“Tracy, are you okay?”

“Of course not. Someone is dead.”
Oh, God, please let it not be because of me. Because I’m in Mountain Cove. Please don’t let this be a message to me.

David ran both hands through his hair. What she saw in his eyes nearly did her in. He didn’t even have to say it. Nausea swirled in her stomach and she bent over.

Hold it together. Hold it together.
Veronica wasn’t even family.

“What else can you tell me?” After everything she’d told him, he had to understand what she was asking.

“I don’t have any answers for you. I don’t know anything yet.”

“But will the police believe me now?”

“If this was arson, I think Winters will have to listen now, speed up his investigation. Mountain Cove will have to be put on alert.”

“Of course this was arson. What else could it be?”

“Tracy, you’re jumping to conclusions. We don’t know that yet.” He gently squeezed her shoulder.

Even David didn’t believe her. All Tracy wanted was to be alone. To process the fear and pain and sorrow by herself. But before she did, she needed to ask him the question burning inside.

“If it’s arson, will you blame me? Because if I’d gone into WITSEC, then Veronica would still be alive.”

* * *

David gripped her arms. He needed to make sure she heard him loud and clear. “Of course I won’t blame you. You shouldn’t blame yourself, either. No matter how this happened, it isn’t your fault. Nobody else blames you, either, Tracy. Or will blame you, that is, if it’s arson that’s related to this Santino guy.”

When he knew she’d heard him, he released his grip.

He could see in her eyes she didn’t believe him. But they needed to have this conversation elsewhere. He had a feeling that Winters would come for her now, to ask the questions he hadn’t been willing to ask before. David didn’t want her to answer him when she was in this frame of mind.

“Let’s get you back to your car. I’ll follow you home and you can move your stuff in with Jewel.” He’d decided to take a more direct approach and insist she move out of the cottage. How could she disagree with him now? Maybe he was being presumptuous, but he couldn’t imagine Jewel would have it any other way.

“I’ll think about it. But this is Jewel’s busy season. She might not have extra rooms.”

If Tracy couldn’t stay in the B and B with Jewel then she could stay with his grandmother. Both Cade and Heidi had gotten married and moved out of the family home, wanting a place of their own. David had even considered moving back in with his grandmother because he hated that she lived alone. Or was it more that he hated that
he
lived alone?

As he studied Tracy, she once again stirred that forbidden longing in him. He didn’t want to live alone anymore. Except he couldn’t afford those kinds of thoughts, especially when Tracy was in danger. Especially when there had already been an attempted murder and possibly an actual murder, if the fire was declared arson and Veronica’s death was classified as a homicide. He was certain Chief Winters couldn’t keep this to himself much longer.

David was ready to get her out of here and back to her vehicle. “Let’s talk about it on the way.”

When she didn’t follow he reached for her, but she shrank away from his touch and looked at the charred remains of what had been the grocery store. “It’s because I was there last night. Was with her. That’s why he did this.”

On second thought, David would drive her to the cottage. She didn’t need to drive herself just yet.

She finally allowed him to usher her around the edge of the parking lot and away from the dispersing crowd. Finding his truck, he opened the door for her, and because she appeared so shaken, he assisted her up onto the running board and into the seat.

“I need to check on Solomon,” she said. Her eyes were more blue than silver today and held his gaze. He could look at them for an eternity if ever given the chance.

In that moment he knew...

Nobody was going to get to Tracy.

They’d have to go through him first.

That sense of protectiveness burned inside him as never before, and he didn’t know why. Even as someone who saved people on a regular basis, he had never felt this kind of sheer, blind determination.

What was it about this woman?

With the surge of emotion, David had the need to reach out and caress her cheek, to reassure her, to somehow convey the depth of his commitment to her well-being. He certainly didn’t deserve her trust, but he wanted to let her know that he would protect her.

Something stirred deep inside—warm and unexpected, unwelcome and yet undeniable. He wanted to kiss her. Kiss the pain and hurt and fear away, if he could. And he had a feeling that kissing Tracy Murray could chase away his own pain, too.

Regardless, this was the wrong time and place. And not something David should even be thinking about.

Ever.

He didn’t deserve it.

And the awful truth of it hit him—he hadn’t protected his wife; he’d failed on that count. Who was he to think he could protect Tracy? But he had to try. He had no choice.

“My car is at the seaplane dock, which is pretty far from this side of town. Do you mind if we head to the cottage first?”

“Of course not.” That was his thinking, too. He shut the door and marched around the front of his truck, trying to shove away his errant thoughts until only one thought remained.

Protect Tracy.

Inside his truck, he started the ignition and then left the grisly scene behind them. Instead of going down the street in front of the store that was clogged with traffic and onlookers from town, he headed down a back country road that was little more than an overgrown trail but would cut across and connect him with the road again closer to the Jewel of the Mountain.

David quietly stared at the road, listening as Tracy tried to hide that she was crying. It was something he’d learned to do with his wife—he’d known when she was crying without even looking. And he’d also known when to give his wife space. Or when he needed to speak up.

But this time he didn’t have a clue. Of course, Tracy wasn’t his wife. Far from it. But he knew that sometimes a woman just had to cry. David didn’t want to interfere with Tracy’s process. He had enough anger and hurt inside for the both of them.

Veronica Stemson was thirty-four and had gotten divorced a couple of years ago. He thought she might have been seeing someone. Her mother was still alive, but her father had passed five years ago. She had one sibling still in the area. Funny how he knew so much about her. Come to think of it, maybe Cade had dated her in high school. That was what life was like in a small town—everyone was connected. A death like this was a huge loss for the community. A complete waste.

He squeezed the steering wheel until his knuckles grew white and then composed himself, if for no other reason than to keep it together while he was with Tracy. She had enough to deal with. Both of them lost in their grueling thoughts, silence hung between them, except for the noise his truck made as it bounded over the occasional pothole on the back road.

Because he knew how caring the community was, he didn’t doubt that Jewel would let Tracy stay at the main house. She was considerate that way. He might have had a thing for Jewel, even though she was a few years older, if he hadn’t met Natalie first and fallen madly in love with her.

If only he could let go of his own guilt for his wife’s death and move on with his life. Then he would be free to love again. But David was a loyal man, loyal to his guilt, and he had no intention of letting go of that. No intention of falling in love again.

He steered down the bumpy excuse for a driveway past the B and B to the cottage out back. Yes, she definitely needed to leave this cottage, which was too far from the house for comfort, especially with a dangerous man out there somewhere. And now a possible arsonist. That was, if the fire truly was about someone from Tracy’s past coming to Mountain Cove to seek revenge.