Flashover

Chapter 4

There wasa lot Sophie couldn’t control about the day. But she refused to dig through some of her most embarrassing high school memories. That and she couldn’t let anyone connect any dots that might lead to more questions about her brother. To her knowledge, Houston had never met Crispin. Yet once again, she’d found him easy to talk to. Why him of all people?

She marched around her truck. Seven parking meters begging for payment reminded her she had exactly ninety-two dollars on her. Sixty that stayed in the truck and thirty-two in her purse. She should have made time to grab her safe or at least her old family photobook from her house. And she hated the thought of her grandma’s sewing machine surviving an earthquake but not a fire.

Her eyes burned. This time not from the air quality. As long as her horses were safe, she could rebuild everything else. That was, if she had enough insurance coverage.

When she stepped closer to the meter, she stumbled. She reached out for the closest meter, but it was Houston who caught her.

“Okay there?” His breath tickled against her neck as he inspected her with a frown.

“Sophie Lamb, is that you in the flesh?” Betty Adams had her usual shoulder length hair cut into a shorter bob, and her peppered gray hair was now a polished black color. Her husband, Robert, was right beside her and looked the exact same as usual—spray-tanned and wearing an outfit color-coordinated with his wife. Today his salmon-colored polo matched the flowers on Betty’s blouse.

“We were so worried about you.” Betty let go of Robert’s arm as he held tight to the three boutique bags he had in his grip.

Robert bobbed his dimpled chin. “We’d heard the fire had the old Valley Ranch in its sights.”

Betty tsked. “It’s Sophie’s place now.” She placed her hand toward Houston. “We’re the Adams.”

“Houston James, Jude County hotshot.”

“Yes, I see that.” Her gaze bounced between Houston and Sophie as if waiting for more. “My husband, Robert, and I went to school with the previous owner’s family. Though I assumed the Whites would have claimed the ranch as theirs. Their loss is Sophie’s gain, I suppose.” Her penciled eyebrows lowered. “Though I will say, it’s still a bit confusing how you inherited the place. I haven’t heard the entire story.”

Neither had Sophie. She wasn’t entirely sure how Crispin had arranged for her to get her dream property either. But it could have only been him. There were no other possible connections. “I’m afraid we really need to go talk to the sheriff right now.”

“That family claims everything else in this town. It’s time for new blood,” Robert grumbled, completely ignoring what she said.

Houston shifted. “It was nice to meet you, but?—”

“They can’t claim me, hun, I’m all yours.” Betty patted Robert’s rounded stomach and then turned back to Sophie. “Have you had a chance to rename Valley Ranch, or are you keeping it the same for the time being? Little Lamb Ranch does have a nice ring to it, wouldn’t you say so?”

“I’ll have to get back to you on that. We have an appointment…” Sophie pointed to the police station and took a step, but Betty walked toward the horse trailer.

She stretched her hand out toward the window Frank just pulled his head away from. Sophie sent a glance to Houston. “Maybe it’s better if I stay out here, and you?—”

“I’ve also heard that your horses might be in the new movie.” Betty batted her lashes. “How exciting. If only I were younger. Right, hun? I’d be a marvelous movie actress.”

Robert nodded with a grin.

“To be in a movie would just be…” She rested her elbow on the back ledge of Sophie’s truck. “Perhaps…you could talk to the director for me? It would be a dream to meet Winchester Marshall.”

The sheriff’s car pulled in front of Sophie’s truck. Finally.

Sophie grimaced. “I really don’t have any authority on set.”

The wind picked up and sent Sophie’s ponytail dancing. As Houston spun around, his eyes set on the horizon, Betty’s gaze dipped to the flapping tarp in the back of the truck. The body peeked out of the tarp, and Betty shrieked.

The sheriff jumped out of his car. His hair only had a few stripes of gray, but he wore wisdom in the crinkles around his eyes. Sheriff was listed over his name tag that said Hutchinson.

He took one look at Sophie and Houston, then to screaming Betty. “Betty!”

She closed her red painted mouth, but her bottom lip trembled. “Is that a body? What on earth has happened?”

A man older than all of them pushed his walker their way on the sidewalk. “What needs to happen is for someone to move that there trailer.” He aimed his bony finger at Sophie’s horse trailer. “You’re taking up my parking spot.”

Betty shook her head as she centered one of the rings on her finger. “Gerald, there’s no time for that. Someone’s died, and we’re about to learn how and why.”

The sheriff crossed his arms. “No one is going to be finding anything out here on the sidewalk. It’s time to be on your way.”

Gerald rose on his scuffed white tennis shoes. His walker tipped forward a bit too far. “I don’t see a dead horse back here.”

“Gerald Eugene. Hush!” Betty fluttered her wrist at the man. “We’re not talking about a dead horse, but a dead person.”

Four other people had now gathered at the front of Sophie’s truck. Great. More gossip.

A young woman with her hair pulled into a braid snuggled her infant baby closer to her chest. Beside her was a suited William, the bank loan representative. Of course, he’d be the one to see. Hopefully, this wouldn’t reflect on her application.

The young woman spun around with her baby and almost hit a lanky teen who shoved through the crowd. When the boy looked up, a familiar gaze locked onto Sophie and turned stormy.

“Lewis.”

Houston’s shoulder brushed past Sophie as he stepped toward Lewis. “Hey, you.”

The teen’s eyes bugged at Houston. He dropped his skateboard onto the sidewalk and flew past Gerald, clipping the older man’s shoulder.

Gerald gripped his walker. “You all are witnesses. He keeps trying to knock me over. Arrest that delinquent. You saw him this time, Sheriff!”

The sheriff turned to Houston. “I assume you had a run in with Lewis too?”

Sophie leaned against her trailer. Poor Marley, what had her nephew done now? Her friend would be devastated.

Houston said, “We found him and two others, ignoring evacuations and setting off firecrackers near the fire.”

“Probably Finn and Preston. Those two are trouble.” The sheriff sighed. “If Lewis could stay clear of them, he might have a chance to get off my radar.”

Sophie dipped her head. “I tried to help him by giving him a job, but I had to let him go. Being late I could overlook, but stealing…” Especially without repentance.

“You should have filed a report on that. Let’s hope none of those young men had anything to do with the reason you called.” The sheriff gestured toward the front of Sophie’s truck. “It’s time for everyone to move along.”

She wanted to go after Lewis, but the teen had already disappeared behind a building.

“I am moving along.” Gerald shuffled past. “Moving farther along than I wanted because of how she parked that there truck.” His neck wobbled as he shook his head. “Back in my day, elders were given respect.”

“I’ll be by when I can, Gerald. I’ll help you unload the dog food from your truck.” The sheriff spoke to Gerald but stared down Betty and Robert.

Betty’s heels clicked against the pavement. Closer. Not further away, as directed. “Sophie dearest, if you found that body…” She pressed her hand to her chest. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. If you need anything, or someone to talk to, I’m only a call away. You have my number, right?”

As if Sophie wanted to give her more fodder for gossip. I’m not the one who screamed when I saw the body.

“Thanks, Betty.” The sheriff sent a glare toward her husband. “I’ll take it from here.”

Robert jostled the bags on his arms and steered his wife away. “Come on, darlin’, let’s go get you one of your favorite coffees.”

Once everyone was gone except Houston and Sophie, the sheriff walked over to the truck and lifted a section of the tarp. A brief grimace showed before he masked his expression.

He twisted his mouth to the side. “I’m afraid the entire town will know too much all too soon. Especially if Robert’s taking her to the coffee shop. Wish I could have gotten here quicker.” He glanced at Houston. “Could you help me unload the body on the gurney and wheel it down to the coroner? All my other officers are out right now. The fire’s not the only thing hitting the town hard. Burglaries. A wreck. And an assault. It’s been a mess.”

Houston’s gaze first went to Sophie, filled with something she couldn’t quite read. “Of course.”

“Sophie!” Marley’s voice had Sophie searching for her friend.

Marley waved from the road from the driver’s seat of her white van with flowers painted on the sides, along with the name of the florist shop she helped run.

The sheriff gave his chin a nod. “You might as well warn Marley for me that I’ll be by her house sometime to ask Lewis some questions.”

“Will do,” Sophie said over her shoulder as she hurried across the road.

Marley’s curls had been pulled into a knot on her head, but pieces of hair had come loose around her neck. Sophie couldn’t miss the dark shadows under Marley’s eyes.

Marley twisted the ring on her thumb. “Please tell me you’ve seen Lewis.”

Sophie pointed behind her. “He flew past on his skateboard. But I’m afraid he’s long gone.”

Marley leaned her head back in the seat. “It’s official. He hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you.” Though he did more than likely hate Sophie, since she fired him.

A car honked behind Marley, and Sophie waved the red car around.

Marley’s knuckles were white as she gripped her fuzzy steering wheel cover. “Maybe I shouldn’t have taken away his cell phone and his beloved four-wheeler for stealing your money? Maybe then I could reach him about the evacuation.”

Houston’s words about Lewis in the woods had Sophie saying, “Something tells me he knows about the evacuation already.”

Marley’s face blanched. “Why? What has he done now?”

“The sheriff said he’d be by later to chat. I would help you look, but…” Sophie stuck her head closer inside the window. “We found a dead body at the ranch. That’s why I’m here instead of taking the horses straight to the set’s livery. We had to bring the body to the sheriff because of the fire.”

Marley blinked her blue eyes at her. Twice. “Like…a real…”

Sophie shuddered. “Yes.”

“Girl, are you okay? I can’t even…” Marley’s eyebrows shot up. “We as in Lewis? Did he have anything to do…you said he ran off?”

“No, a hotshot firefighter who came to the house to make sure I’d evacuated helped me.”

Marley pressed her hands to her chest. “At least that’s good. Why did I ever tell my brother that watching Lewis for a year during his deployment would be super easy? What I need is a full body massage, and what do you say about moving to the beach? They need horse whisperers down there too, right? Please say you’ll move with me. Let’s just start over.”

She nearly laughed at that offer but glanced over her shoulder at where Houston had been standing. “I’m sure starting over won’t erase all your problems.”

Or the past.

“I’ve got to see if Houston needs help and then get my horses away from the fire. Rain check? Oh, how did the flower delivery go to Kathryn? Or did you chicken out and only talk to her assistant?”

“Stupid fire,” Marley mumbled. “I managed an ‘I adore your movies’ to her before my mouth stopped working, and her assistant took the bouquet. Kathryn did say that the flowers were the yellowest roses she’d ever seen.” Then Marley narrowed her eyes. “But don’t think you can change the subject. Who’s Houston?”

Sophie’s cheeks should not be heating right now. She dusted off Marley’s van window seal. “The hotshot firefighter. Remember? He helped get my horses loaded and with the other thing.”

Sophie didn’t need to look at her friend to know she was inspecting her. The woman had a knack for reading Sophie’s mind, even from the first day they met at Marley’s horse-riding lessons. “Right. Sure. So, I’m gonna need a rain check for that entire story with the cute hotshot firefighter.”

“There’s not much to tell.”

Marley gave her a wide grin. “So, he is cute.”

Sophie rolled her eyes as Marley cupped her hands under her chin.

Another car honked behind Marley. “Better go. Call me immediately if you see Lewis again. And don’t ignore my call later. I deserve to be on the listening side of a juicy story for once. I’m tired of Betty making up stuff about us selling the wrong kind of tulips. Hey, let’s do dinner at my house at six. I’ll make fajitas.”

“Sounds good. But you’re going to be disappointed. There isn’t much of a story to tell.” Or at least that’s what Sophie kept telling herself. The knot in her stomach seemed to have a different viewpoint.

As Sophie walked back toward her truck, her phone dinged. Due to smoke from the fire, the director was no longer reshooting the last scene. Sophie was free to come get her horses at her convenience.

She paused on the steps of the station and returned a text to Cosmos asking if she could leave all of her horses in the set’s barn for a bit longer. Hopefully, after the fire had been extinguished, she’d still have a ranch to go home to.

She pulled open the door to the police station just as the sheriff ran past, flipped on his car siren, and pulled away. Sophie prayed that wasn’t a foreshadowing of the rest of her day.

* * *

“Do you want the good news or the bad?” Houston said as he met up with Sophie by the police station’s door. The front receptionist had her ear pressed to the phone and her attention locked on her computer.

Sophie slipped her own cell into her back jeans pocket. “Some good would be great right about now.”

The half smile made him wish he had better news. “You can go back home.”

Her smile grew until it made her beautiful eyes light up. She started toward him as if to what, hug him?

His pulse pounded in his temples.

But instead, she rocked backward and crossed her arms over her chest. “The fire’s gone, then?”

He cleared his throat and pointed to the doorway. “Not exactly. I’ve just got off with my commander. The wind has changed direction. Which means you can return home to grab your important stuff that we didn’t have time for earlier. It’s a tentative return, not official.”

Not yet. He didn’t want to get her hopes up.

She raised her chin. “And the bad?”

Houston shrugged. “You’re stuck with me for a while longer.”

She pushed her ponytail over her shoulder. “Oh.”

Was that a good or bad response? Or maybe both? “I have to assess at ground level. See if the mandatory evacuation is still needed.” And to oversee her departure if she couldn’t stay.

A crease formed across her forehead. “Can we go now? I don’t want to keep the horses cooped up longer than necessary. Or do I need to give a statement about the body?”

“On his way out to another emergency, the sheriff said for you to text him the pictures you took on your phone, and he’d get in contact with us as soon as he could. Hopefully, the fire didn’t touch the gravesite at your ranch. He also mentioned it would take the coroner a while to figure out details about the body.”

Back in the truck, silence remained until they hit the “Come Back to Ember” sign. “So…” Her voice was hesitant as she moved her hands to ten and two on the wheel. “Was it hard training to be a hotshot firefighter with your obvious experience with fire? Facing your fears, I guess is what I’m asking. And…it’s okay if you don’t want to answer. I did say we had enough problems in the present to not…well, you know. But technically, you becoming a firefighter has to do with the here and now. Plus, you probably get asked that a lot.”

Houston pulled his collar away from the scars on his neck. “Rarely actually.”

“Really?”

“I mean, my brother Macon questions my sanity. And his wife Natalie still wants to pull me in for counseling. She’s a therapist—and whose family I learned riding from. But no, most of the time, people, once they get over the shock of how I look, they sidestep my scars.” Sidestep him. “Well, adults more than kids.”

“Do Macon and his wife have kids?”

“Not yet. The kids I meant were my old youth group.” They’d seen the real him, not what his body looked like.

“I bet you were good with them, the kids.” Her voice lowered to match the hum of the truck engine.

“Thought I was.” Houston repositioned his pack nestled in the floorboard between his legs. “The fire provided me a second chance at life, and I wanted to share how God had redeemed me. Doors opened, and I became the youth pastor at Last Chance County Church.”

She frowned. “What happened that made you come here instead? I don’t think it’s only because you wanted to know how your brother’s job worked.”

Sophie always had been too observant. Houston crossed his arms. Smoke drifted above the tops of the branches out the front windshield. Not exactly the good sign they needed for Sophie to fully return home.

Sophie drummed her fingers on top of the steering wheel. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want. I know what it’s like to have God veer you from yourplan.”

Yourplan. As in Houston’s plan. Not God’s.

Was that what he’d been doing?

Houston sighed. “I tried to help one of the families of my youth group kids. While I was at their house, the mother…well…later she lied and said I came onto her. She was very vocal about my accused actions, and the elders wanted to avoid a scandal. But I’m pretty sure they had been searching for a way to give my job to the pastor’s newly graduated son.”

“Sorry, Houston.” Sophie checked her rearview mirror. “That sucks.”

It did. Houston leaned his shoulders back. “But God has provided a temporary job for me to help save for seminary. Then I’m sure He’ll provide a new church job.” Until Houston got to help people spiritually again, he’d make sure they were safe physically.

The road curved out of town, and the treetops were no longer swaying. No burned sections were visible from the road. The crew’s dug fire line had held.

In the valley below, Sophie’s ranch came into view. And the leaves and ground remained a comforting green coloring.

“It’s still there,” Sophie whispered.

As they passed under a welded arched sign that read, Valley Ranch, Houston leaned forward in his seat. Now it was up to him whether or not she could stay.

She pulled the truck to a stop in front of her house and turned off the engine. The pillows resting against the wooden porch swing gave a come and sit allure, but the sudden bending of the treetops lining the valley made his stomach tighten.

Wind plus the smallest spark could produce an entire sea of flames. What if the firebreak doesn’t hold?

Houston unbuckled first. “I’m going to check for any damage.”

She hopped out of the truck. “I’m going to release the horses.”

Houston pivoted. “Let’s wait on that.”

The last thing he wanted to do was chase after Frank while riding Peanut for a second time today.

“If that’s your way of saying we’re not staying and I need to go dig out my safe from under the bed, message received.” Her shoulders hunched as she headed for her porch.

He closed the truck’s side door. “I’m not sure of anything yet.” The haze in the air hadn’t cleared up much since they’d left. The wind blew at his back, which was a little too much déjà vu. He stared at the tallest pines in view along the plateau on the barn’s side of the property.

The fire had changed directions. Hadn’t it?

He paused by the bottom of her porch and watched the branches sway and bend toward the house. The exact same way they had when he’d knocked the last time.

“Oh, no!”

Houston spun around, too slow to catch the rectangular black object. Her phone hit the concrete step beside his boot. He picked it up. “I think it’s okay. Nothing’s cracked.”

“Finally, something’s gone right.” When she lifted her head and smiled, he realized too late he should have already stepped back.

They were too close.

With her face right below his, he could count every faint freckle along her hairline. She had three on the right and two darker ones on the left. There was even one faded freckle beside her nose.

Houston swallowed. She had been pretty in high school, and still was, but she was so much more than her appearance.

It was probably a good thing he’d known about his brother’s crush, or Houston might have tried to date her back in school. That would have been disastrous for her, given the path he’d been on back then. Before the fire changed more than his appearance. God had showed him His gift of redemption.

A piece of hair flew in front of her face and dangled in her eyelashes.

Houston tucked it back behind her ear. His thumb brushed against her cheek, and she shivered. He lowered his hands as if to rub them along the goosebumps on her arms. “I really need to tell you why I sent Macon that day…”

But she stepped back and ran up the steps.

She opened her front door, her cheeks flushed. “If you don’t think I can stay, I’ll get my safe while you…”

She stood gaping into her house. At her gasp, Houston took the steps two at a time.

Glass shards shimmered along the hardwood. Her cabinet doors were open. Books and bills and placemats and bowls all scattered.

Someone had looted her house.

Not unheard of during an evacuation. The sheriff had mentioned burglaries today, but that didn’t make it easier to deal with. Houston stepped in front of her.

The person could still be here.

She pointed at the television hanging on the wallpapered wall. “They took a picture.”

He squinted at what could be an empty nail beside the television. A picture was what she noticed in the mess? “The photo could have fallen in the…”

Chaos. The entire day was chaos, and he had no words of wisdom. Where were all his years of experience with dealing with difficult situations?

She ran over the glass and checked behind the bookcase. Then under the television. “It’s not here.”

Confusion etched across her brows, but she sought Houston as if he could hold the answers. “Someone took the picture of my brother. It was the last one before Crispin left.”

A thud came from outside. It sounded like a vehicle door closing near the side of the house.

Then an engine roared to life.

Her eyes widened. “They’re still here.”

Houston beat her to the front door and turned the knob.

She put her hand on top of his. “I have a gun in my closet.”

No way was he letting her go outside without him. “You go get the gun. I’ll check outside.”

He opened the door in time to hear tires spinning on the loose gravel. He jumped down the steps and sprinted around the house. Headlights zeroed in on him.

The car barreled right toward him.

Houston leaped back, but the side passenger mirror of the tan car clipped the edge of his bad hip. His body spun in the air, and he hit the ground.

Pain hammered through him as he rose to his hands and knees. Rocks bit into his palms. The ache was nothing like it had been in the past. Nothing like his burns. Not even close to his complications from the bone marrow donation to his brother. But of course it was the same hip.

He pushed himself up.

“Houston!” Sophie’s hands landed on his shoulders. Then his cheeks. “Where are you hurt?”

Dust and gravel kicked back at them from the driveway. No brake lights from the tan car as it zipped down Sophie’s drive.

Houston stood on his feet. A trickle of pain buzzed along his body. He took one step, then two. He’d borne much worse before. “I’m okay.”

Or he would be.

He tightened his jaw and squinted through the dusty air, focusing on the car’s license plate. “8Tw99m. Hurry and call that number in to the sher?—”

“You call it in.” Sophie placed her phone in his hand and took off for her truck. “I’m going to follow that car.”

“You’re going to what?” The car took a right onto the road, and Houston caught Sophie’s arm as she turned for the truck. “Let the sheriff find him. He only took a picture of your brother.”

Tears pooled in her eyes. “Yes, a picture of Crispin. Why? What if the reason there was no body of my brother for me to bury was because he’s still alive? Somewhere. What if that person knows something? Somehow. Why would a burglar only take Crispin’s picture from everything in my house?”

Her face paled and her eyes pleaded. She stood there awaiting an answer he didn’t have.

He wanted to pull her against him. Hold her. Bring comfort. Instead, he moved his thumb over her skin. “Sophie…” He softened his tone for the girl who had begged him to do her portion of frog dissection. “Sometimes a body isn’t returned because there may not be much left to send home.”

She shook her head. “That first year he was gone, on Mother’s Day, I got the first of yearly coded postcards. Stuff written that only Crispin would have known about. He can’t be dead. It doesn’t make sense.”

She was right, it didn’t.

Her arm shook under his touch. The look in her teary gaze was filled with fear and hope and pure stubbornness. She would follow that car with or without him.

And no way did she need to drive this upset.

He dropped his hand from her arm. “Let me drive?”

She stepped back and nodded.

“Keys in the ignition. I’ll unhook the horse trailer.”

Once she was buckled and on the phone with the sheriff, Houston floored the truck down her drive. Maybe by the time they reached the road, he’d have figured out if his heart raced from adrenaline. Or because of someone else.

Like the girl who trusted him enough to hop into the passenger seat of her own truck.