Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
M ack squeezed her hand, and Lorna finally stirred into action, grabbing her purse and the car keys from the side table by the door. She turned back to Maisie. “Can you stay with the kids for me? They’re both already asleep.”
“Yes, of course,” Maisie said. “You guys go. We’ll be fine.”
“I’ll drive,” Mack told her as he ran out the door behind her.
It only took a few minutes to get downtown, and the lights and noise of the firetruck led them to the alley behind the shop. Mack parked as close as he could, then they were both out of the truck and running, splashing through the puddles made by the hose of the fire engine.
Three firemen were spraying down the back of the building where black char marks now soiled the red brick.
The fire appeared to be out, but there was a lot of smoke and some damage to the back of the building. A pile of ash and rubble was where the stack of wooden pallets had previously been.
“Oh no,” Lorna cried, then shouted, “Mocha! Here, girl.” Tears were already streaming down her cheeks. She couldn’t breathe. Not just because of the thick smoke in the air, but from the terror that the little dog had perished in the fire. “Mocha!” she screamed again, trying to get closer to the building.
Please God. Please God.
Smoke burned her eyes. She blinked against it as she scanned the alley.
A dumpster sat between her shop and the next one over, and she swore she heard a small bark coming from that direction.
“Mack! She’s there!” She pointed to the spot as she sprinted behind the firemen and dropped to her knees, trying to peer into the blackness behind the dumpster. She gagged at the scent of garbage and charred wood.
Mack was standing above her and shone the flashlight from his phone into the dark area.
Far back, against a filthy cardboard box, cowered the little dog, now almost all black with the soot covering her fur.
“Come here, baby,” Lorna cooed, holding her arms out and praying just this once, that the dog would come to her.
It let out a whimper and inched forward then paused as it stared at Lorna, as if trying to make a decision. Then it barked again and ran toward her, leaping into her lap. The dog was shaking as she cuddled it to her chest. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re okay,” she told the sweet pup as it burrowed against her.
Mack helped her up and hugged both her and the dog to him. “I’ve got you both,” he said into her hair as he pulled them tighter against him. The dog squirmed then licked her chin as one of the volunteer firemen, a guy who frequently came into the coffee shop and ordered a caramel latte with a triple shot of espresso approached them.
“We’ve got the fire out. Good news is that it was contained to the outside of the building. Did you have a bunch of wood piled up back here?”
Lorna nodded. “A big stack of wooden pallets. I was saving them to eventually take home and use to try to make a porch swing.” She didn’t know why she told him that detail. It didn’t matter. But her brain wasn’t quite processing things like it should.
I’m probably in shock.
“Well, sorry, but you’re going to have to save some new ones. Did you store anything else back here around those pallets?”
She shook her head. “No. I guess I had a little crate with a blanket and a couple of dishes for the dog, but that’s it. Why?”
“There was a pretty strong smell of gasoline, and the burn marks indicate the fire started around that wood.” He lowered his voice. “There appears to be some pour patterns on the patio too, suggesting this might have been intentionally set. Maybe some kids were screwing around back here. We’ll write up a report, and let you know what we find.”
Some kids? Doubtful. This had Lyle Williams’ name written all over it.
But she wasn’t sure if she should mention his name. If this was his retaliation for a slight rift at the school carnival, what would he do if she accused him of arson?
It took another hour before the fire truck left and all the bystanders drifted away. Ford and Elizabeth had shown up to offer support, but there wasn’t much for any of them to do. She’d checked inside the building, taking the dog in to get her some water, but everything seemed fine inside the coffee shop.
It wasn’t until much later that night, after they’d gone back to her house and given the dog a good bath and some fresh food and water, after Dodge and Maisie had gone home, and she and Mack had both showered and washed the scent of smoke from their skin and hair, that Lorna finally had the chance to tell him about the note she’d found earlier that day.
“It was in the petty cash box. The money was gone, and this was left inside.” She handed him the folded piece of paper.
He frowned down at the message. “Who the hell does this guy think he is?”
She let out a sigh but could only shrug in answer.
“Okay, this is pure bullshit,” Mack said, handing her the note back. “But it doesn’t help make sense of what happened tonight. If he thinks what’s yours is his, then why would he light a fire at the coffee shop?”
“It’s not about the shop. It’s just another way for him to show that he can get to me.”
“We need to call Knox in the morning. Show him this note and tell him about what happened at the carnival and our suspicions that Lyle started the fire.”
“I don’t know. It’s just going to make him even more angry, and I don’t know what he’ll do next.”
Mack couldn’t help thinking about all the things that had happened the day before as he and Zeus rode the fence line the following morning. He’d stayed the night, but slept on the sofa, not wanting to presume anything with Lorna, but needing to be there in case Lyle showed up in the middle of the night.
He was a little frustrated that it had taken so long for Lorna to show him the note. He understood, and they’d had a lot going on that day, but he wanted her to trust him.
Although he’d kept a secret from her as well. And he didn’t want to mention it until he knew if it amounted to anything.
All the talk about the moo monitors and cameras at supper the other night had given him the idea to plant one of the extra wildlife cameras in the alley behind the shop. After Lorna had taken the kids home after school the day before, he’d driven through the alley and hid the camera behind a potted plant where it would be able to capture any activity by the door. He’d hoped to catch Lyle in the act if he tried to break in again, but now he hoped it would show him who had started the fire.
He didn’t want to tell Lorna, or Knox, until after he’d had a chance to look at the footage. The camera had still been in place when they’d been there the night before, and he’d shoved it in the pocket of his jacket while Lorna was inside.
He’d planned to check the SD card when he got back to the ranch and had access to his laptop, but Duke was worried that a couple of cows had gotten out and needed him to run fence in the east pasture right away.
He spotted a downed area of fencing and swung off his horse to check it out. It was the only place he’d seen so far, and it didn’t look too bad. He shrugged off his flannel shirt—it was close to eight and the sun was already warming the day—and took his tools and some wire from his saddlebag.
They’d posted a sign on the door the night before that the shop wouldn’t be open until nine this morning, just to give Lorna a little more time to sleep and not have to rush in after everything that had happened with the fire. So, even with the repair, he figured he’d still have time to check the footage when he got home and if he found something to take it in to show Lorna before she left for the shop.
Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong that morning. Or maybe Lorna was just cranky because Mack had slept on the sofa the night before— like a gentleman —and hadn’t tried to sneak into her room. Or her bed.
Although, she was glad he had stayed. As much as she wanted to be able to protect herself, it still made her feel safer to know he was in the house.
Max had almost cried this morning when he woke up to find that she’d brought the little scruffy stray dog home.
“I got a puppy and a cow all in the same week,” he went around the house yelling. “I love my life.”
She’d been thrilled to see the way the dog had taken to her son, cuddling up in his lap and following him around the room, but the animal had still added extra time challenges to her morning with taking her outside, watching that she didn’t escape the yard, and setting her up with makeshift bowls of food and water. Thankfully, she already had a bag of dog food since she’d been feeding her at the shop for weeks.
Izzy had been up early and was already fussing, so she tucked her into the swing in the corner of the living room and ran into the kitchen to pack a quick lunch. Gertie was coming over to watch the kids that day, and she usually showed up a few minutes early. Lorna checked her watch. Ten minutes to nine.
She needed to hustle if she was going to get to the shop before it opened.
She heard the front door open.
“Gertie, thank goodness you’re here,” she said, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she walked into the living room.
But it wasn’t Gertie looming over Izzy as she swung back and forth in the swing.
Lyle turned to her, a familiar evil smile she recognized creasing his face, the one that had terror seizing her stomach and bile rising in her throat.