Chapter 4
FOUR
S ometimes quiet didn’t hush the thoughts in Eddie’s head. He hopped out of his truck and glared at the spot in the mayor’s drive where he’d last seen Bianca almost forty-eight hours ago. No, that wasn’t true. She’d been in his dreams last night. Except, opposite of reality, he hadn’t rescued her from the masked arsonist.
“Rice.” His chief waved him over to where he stood behind two wooden barricades in front of the steps leading up to the mayor’s house. This time, they weren’t covered in a carpet overlay.
When Eddie swung his leg over the caution tape, Macon tilted his chin toward where Mayor Gregory Harrelson and Police Chief Conroy Barnes stood outside the entrance. “Thanks for coming. Once the police chief is done speaking with the mayor, I want us to meet with him. We need more of the story. Things aren’t meshing together perfectly yet.”
Eddie pointed to the front door of the mansion. “What does the arson investigator think?”
Macon inhaled. His broad shoulders rose and then fell. “Your statement was enough to rule it deliberate, yet we have no further clues on who or why, unless you can give additional ones.”
The wind blew, and the scent of smoke hit Eddie’s nose, even though the fire had been put out nearly two days ago. “What did the security cameras reveal?”
Macon squinted at one of the cameras placed above the front door. “There’s no actual footage of the guests arriving at all. If you hadn’t been there, I’m not sure we would have gotten the exact location of the fire inside so quickly.”
Eddie swallowed. Would Bianca have still seen the supposed bribe and followed the arsonist? She would have been trapped and hurt without him to help her.
Macon’s gaze swept over the property. “That night, the police took names and questioned everyone, but no leads.”
The mayor and the police chief stepped down toward them.
Gregory was dressed in a silver button-down shirt complete with black suspenders. He stuck out his hand to Eddie. “Thank you, young man. I heard you were the first on the scene.”
“It’s Eddie Rice, sir.”
Gregory kept shaking his hand.
Eddie’s phone buzzed in his pocket, but he ignored it. “I’m the one wanting the grant for the rec center.”
Gregory squinted. “Ah, yes, I see that now.”
Eddie stiffened. The mayor hadn’t even recognized him. Not a great sign for the youth center.
Conroy, the tallest of the men, eyed the uninvited crowd that hovered behind the gated driveway. “Can you recap that night for us, Rice?”
Eddie crossed his arms. This was not at all what he’d hoped he and the mayor would be discussing the next time they spoke. “After the speech, you and one of your guards left the ballroom. Once you exited, I saw a handoff of some sort between a security guard stationed at the door and a man. When the pair followed you through the doorway, I worried you might be in danger. In precaution, I trailed behind.”
Gregory frowned.
“When I got to an empty hallway, I smelled smoke. I opened the first unlocked door to check to see if they or you had entered.”
The mayor trailed his fingers along his mustache. “You need to be awarded for your keen eyes. I thank you for your dedication to my well-being. Not everyone is on my side about Last Chance County’s future.”
Conroy shifted and sent Macon a look Eddie couldn’t quite read.
Eddie smiled. “Well, sir, my good deed could be awarded to the kids of this city.” When the mayor didn’t grin, Eddie cleared his throat. “As I peered inside what I assumed to be a storage room, other than the smoke smell, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I spotted a man with a lighter.”
“You saw him?” Gregory pulled out his phone and checked his screen.
Eddie heaved out a breath. If only it were that simple. “He wore a masquerade mask, so we never saw his entire face. Only that he wore a black suit.”
Gregory sighed. “The masquerade masks sounded like a grand addition to the night when Janice brought the idea to me.” He turned to the police chief. “It’s obvious who’s behind this. My campaign funds are nowhere near where they were projected to be. Roger Pointe is responsible. He tried stealing my supporters, however my team found a way to outsmart him with the auction. But now he’s broken the law to try to stop me again. And the voters think that he’s the right man for our town? If only the news would report the entire truth.”
Conroy held up his palm. “There’s currently no useable evidence that Mr. Pointe has done anything wrong.”
Gregory ran his thumbs underneath the front side of his suspenders and then gripped the elastic fabric. “He never should have run against me. He’s not even been here long enough to know what Last Chance County needs. Obviously, I must weed through my security guards. Can we do anything else to find the arsonist? What was the man lighting on fire?”
Eddie’s phone vibrated again in his pocket. “A dress a mannequin wore.”
Gregory’s brows pinched together. “Was it the red or black dress?”
Bianca’s dress had been a deep red. And for some reason, that was the only color that popped into his mind. “Uh…I’m not sure which he lit first…” Eddie’s phone buzzed another time, and he slid his hand into his pocket and rejected the call. “How much of the auction donations were damaged?”
Gregory’s face went slack. “Nearly half. The rest, we’re waiting to see if they have smoke or water damage.”
Which meant less additional money for the children of the town. The grant would cover the remaining down payment, but they’d need more.
Someone hollered from the driveway, and Conroy’s radio crackled on his belt.
Conroy lifted his chin. “My team has been dealing with the movie protestors, and we’re seeing if this has anything to do with the Jane Doe body your team found earlier in the week. But I promise, Mayor, that we’ll get to the bottom of the fire and?—”
“Still no information on the Jane Doe?” Gregory shifted his feet. “A murder really doesn’t help my reelection campaign.”
Pulling up the woman’s body flashed in Eddie’s memory. Rescue squad had been called out to where a couple of hikers had found a dead body in a ravine. The forest surrounding Last Chance County had not appeared postcard worthy on that morning.
Conroy gave Eddie a look. “Like I said, anything else about the arsonist could help give closure to the woman’s family if they’re connected.”
Eddie slid his hands into his pockets. “Square and dimpled jaw. Probably around five ten. Masked. Black suit. Walked with a bit of an uneven gait. But I stopped focusing on him when Ms. Pearl got hurt by the suspect.”
Gregory shook his head. “The poor dear. The news didn’t get her story right either. I never should have okayed that film. I thought I was doing the town good. Hoped to lower the townspeople’s taxes. But now I’m not sure the added revenue is worth it if it brought in criminals. The sooner they wrap up the filming, the better.”
Conroy stepped closer inside of their formed semicircle. “Sir, so far none of the protestors have done anything except picket. We have no evidence this was about the movie.”
“Then you haven’t seen all the litter that had the environmentalists knocking on my front door,” Gregory mumbled.
Macon motioned for Eddie to continue.
Eddie’s phone vibrated in his pocket for the millionth time. Probably the kids on his baseball team. They were going to have to discuss what waiting patiently meant again. “The smoke got thick fast. That’s when I made the decision to get Ms. Pearl out and worry about the fire later. I hit the door handle with some kind of axe that had been in a crate.”
A gasp flew from Gregory. “Not the hammer replica signed by Chris himself? It could have brought in close to a million.”
Macon placed his hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “Famous signature or not, it seems to have saved Eddie’s and Ms. Pearl’s lives.”
Gregory paled but had the decency to paste on a smile. “Which I’m entirely grateful for. Things would have been far worse if Bia Pearl had died on my watch.”
Only the movie star matter, it seemed.
“Thankfully, nobody died.” Conroy gave the mayor’s bodyguard, waiting a few paces away, a chin nod. “Sir, the sun is hot. Would you like a drink?”
“Excellent idea.”
After Gregory was escorted inside, Eddie followed both chiefs into the house.
Eddie pulled out his phone. Twenty-two messages and five missed calls. A few from rescue squad members, but most, like he’d thought, from his youth baseball kids. One from his mother?—
He stopped. What in the world?
He swiped past her message and opened the one from Zack Stephens, his closest firefighter friend, who had sent him a news link. It was a picture of Eddie and Bianca. The two of them staring into each other’s eyes. It had been cropped in a way that hid her wound and their location. And reality.
With the mayor’s fountain spraying behind them, it almost looked like a romantic getaway postcard picture with her hand in his. All the blood and smoky ash had been photoshopped off her face.
Another message popped up on his phone from Scout, one of the boys on his ball team.
Scout
Scarlette says you’ve got some explaining to do at practice.
Eddie groaned as he scrolled through the next texts.
Practice is at five p.m. Right?
You’re late!
Are you coming?
Scarlette says you’re a chicken for not coming.
Then he opened the one from his mother.
Mary
When did you move to Last Chance County?
Eddie gripped the phone in his palm. So much for staying below her radar. He wished his mentor had been a garbage truck driver or a dentist. Someone less likely than a firefighter to hit the news. Maybe then Eddie would have had a job where his mother couldn’t locate him after ten years.
Ten years after she had given him up. Freely.
Macon pivoted back to Eddie. “Everything all right?”
Eddie shoved his phone in his pocket. “Nothing to worry about right now.”
Macon narrowed his gaze and then glanced at his own phone.
Great. The last thing Eddie wanted was for his chief to see the news. The article he’d seen yesterday had only focused on Eddie’s heroic actions. It didn’t exactly say “team” for the fire station, which was the award the station had received. Or was supposed to have received at the auction before the chaos.
But instead, Macon’s arms went slack at his sides. “It’s Tuesday, right? What time is ball practice?”
Eddie ran his hand over his hair. “Uh, now, sir. But I got someone to cover for me before…”
Macon waved him off. “You can’t be late for your first official head-coach practice.”
Eddie shrugged. “If I show up with you, sir, then it will more than make up for it.”
Macon smiled and crinkles appeared around his eyes. “I have to let go of the reins on coaching.”
He had been the ideal coach. But Macon and his wife Natalie were expecting their first child soon. Plus, Eddie had promised to watch over one of the players, Will, while Will’s father couldn’t, so it had seemed like the logical step to move Eddie from assistant coach to head coach—until one factored in his lack of experience.
Macon raised his hand to Conroy. “You good without Rice for tonight?”
Conroy lifted the notebook in his hand. “If you think of anything else, just call.”
Macon hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Get out of here, Rice. Those kids need you. Who else is helping you out this year?”
Eddie winced. “Zack, when he can. Eli is trying it out tonight.” The man who, in a roundabout way, had gotten Macon’s brother Houston’s old job as youth pastor—before Houston had left to be a hotshot firefighter in Montana.
Macon only nodded. Apparently, no hard feelings over the past. Must be nice. “No matter who’s your assistant, you’re going to be great for those kids.”
Eddie hoped so. Had promised his old foster brother he’d be there for his son. To give the kids hope—something Eddie and Joe hadn’t had when they’d been his players’ ages.
Once Eddie hopped into his truck, he drove toward the ballpark on the south side of town—the park that needed everything from a paint job to reliable bathrooms. At least they had willing kids who wanted to play—or wanted someone to show them some attention.
Eddie tightened his grip on the steering wheel. How he wished someone had rounded him up to play ball when he was younger. Instead, he’d found unworthy activities on the street.
He pulled into the parking lot, right next to Eli’s SUV. A group of boys sat on the bleachers outside of the field, around Trenton, one of the boys with a cell phone, who the kids called Tank even though he looked more like a stork with his thin arms and legs.
Eli wore a striped polo and khaki shorts. Every strand of his hair seemed gelled into full obedience as he stood on the pitcher’s mound, being coached how to throw the ball by Scarlette, the team’s youngest and its only girl. And whose brother, Scout—one of the few who truly loved the game—was digging his worn tennis shoes into the batter’s box dirt.
Scout shifted his stance and dropped his bat onto little shoulders that resembled his grandmother’s more than the boy cared to acknowledge. But size didn’t disprove the ability to endure hard things. “Come on, Scar, let Preacher-man pitch. Eli knows how.”
Debatable. Eli knew less than Eddie about baseball, and Eddie hadn’t ever touched a ball until Houston had organized the team and gotten Macon involved last year.
Eddie shouldered the extra equipment bag from the bed of his truck. “Why aren’t you guys all warming up?”
None of the boys on the bleachers looked up from Tank’s phone. But Will, the freckle-faced boy with more shadowed circles under his eyes than bases on the field, said, “Hold on, Tank’s got a new girl, and he says she’s hot.”
Will looked nothing like his dark-complected father, Joe. Nearly blond, and blue eyes to match.
The only boy on the team who claimed to like books—Jacob, on Tank’s right—twisted his baseball hat around. “Except he magically can’t find her picture anymore.”
Ned, the wannabe comedian, leaned down by Tank’s ear. “Probably ’cause he made her up. No hot girls go to Southview Middle School.”
Tank rammed his elbow into Ned. “She’s real. And way hotter than your butt-ugly g?—”
“Hey now.” Eddie dropped the bag on the ground in front of the boys. Dust floated up, covering Eddie’s tennis shoes. “Is our appearance the most important thing?”
Will rolled his eyes. “Gotta be to you. Your new girlfriend’s hotter than a Carolina Reaper pepper.”
Hotter than …Eddie rubbed his forehead. This practice was going horribly wrong, but what came out of Eddie’s mouth wasn’t quite the top priority. “I don’t have a new girlfriend.”
Didn’t have time to even try to locate the right kind of girlfriend. One he might have an actual future with, who believed in what he did. His last girlfriend had claimed he was only the fun kind of man. Not the forever kind.
That wasn’t him anymore, though. Thankfully, God had straightened out his priorities.
“Sure you do.” Will reached for Tank’s phone. “Tank can find one of her pictures online. She’s everywhere.”
Eddie opened his mouth at the exact moment Scout, over in the batter’s box, hit a ball that thumped against his bat.
A second after, Eli groaned, grabbed his shin, and fell onto the ground.
Scarlette’s eyes bugged. “Uh, Coach?”
Eddie sprinted for Eli.
Eli held up a shaky palm. “I’m okay…I think.” He reached his hand out, and Eddie pulled him up to his feet.
Eddie steadied him. “Want to go sit in the dugout?”
As Eli nodded, Eddie helped him to the home team side dugout, where the other equipment bag sat, still zipped up. “Boys, the last one on the field runs laps after practice.”
“You can’t make us…” Jacob closed his mouth as the others ran to the gear bags and grabbed out baseball mitts.
Tank pulled out a ball. “I’m throwing with Will.”
Will shrugged. “As long as I’m not with Scarlette.”
Scarlette stuck out her tongue. “At least I can catch?—”
“Everyone, three laps around the bases. And if I hear whining, it will be seven.” Eddie eased Eli onto the bench. “Then make two lines at second. Scout, you get a ball and cover first and throw grounders to one line while…”
Another car pulled into the parking lot. A black car that looked like it belonged to Zack.
Finally, more help.
Scarlette waved her hand in the air as she ran past third base. “I’ll go to third.”
Eddie shook his head. “You’ll take some grounders. Tank, you’ll take third.”
Zack climbed out of his car and threw a baseball hat over hair that had already been lightened by the sun during their outdoor fire training.
Eddie whirled back toward some whispers on the field amongst the running foot stomps. “No more unkind words about our teammates or anyone else. And if I hear one more word about how hot someone is?—”
“Then it’s a good thing you weren’t at the fire station earlier.” Zack opened the gate and murmured to Eddie.
As the kids began their second lap, Zack put his keys and wallet on the bench and frowned at Eli. “What happened to you?”
Eli rubbed his shin. “Scarlette’s a good pitching coach.” His tired gaze found Eddie’s. “How did you get the kids to listen to you? It was chaos before you arrived.”
This wasn’t still chaos?
Eddie shoved his hands into his uniform pockets. He needed to change into his shorts. “I’m not really sure. I think they just know that I’ve been where they have.”
Eli hung his head. “Since Zack’s here now, I think I’m going to head home and ice my leg.”
Please don’t quit. “I’ll check up on you later.”
Zack grimaced. “Maybe elevate your leg too? Do you need help out of here?”
Eli waved him off. “Nah, I’ll get there.”
Eddie patted Eli on his back. “Thanks for covering for me.”
“I would say anytime, but I might think twice beforehand.”
Eli hobbled to his vehicle, and Eddie whispered to Zack, “You sure you can’t help out more?”
He was going to need all hands on deck with this team.
Zack tossed a ball in the air. “Wish I could, but volunteering with the foster kids and time with Naya?—”
“I get it.” He now had a girlfriend. The forever kind of girl. “Thanks for when you can come.”
Eddie checked on the kids’ progress doing their warm-ups. Then on Eli, who had opened his driver’s-side door.
“Sorry, Eli,” Scout yelled from first base.
Eli waved and crawled into his vehicle.
At least one of the boys seemed to have had an attitude adjustment since he’d joined the team. Now for the rest of them not to base a girl’s worth on their “hotness.”
Speaking of…
Eddie grabbed a mitt. “Do I want to know why the squad called someone hot? Especially since most of the men are either married or in a relationship. Did someone actually catch fire?”
Zack pulled his hand back and rotated his arm over his shoulder. “Move your arm straight over your shoulder, Will.” Then to Eddie, he said, “No flames. It was mainly Izan and Ridge. Well, Ridge was mostly making fun of Izan, who dropped a sponge when a certain woman showed up in heels and a dress to the firehouse.”
Another car pulled into the parking lot. A small white one. Had Scarlette and Scout’s grandmother gotten a new one? She was one of the only family members who picked up their kids from practice. And she happened to have been friends with his grand-ma’am, a.k.a., his old foster mother.
How he missed that woman. Without her, he may never have been introduced to the Lord.
A ball went right underneath Tank’s mitt and between his legs.
“Get your mitt in the dirt, Tank.” Eddie leaned into the dugout fence that separated him and Zack from the fielders. “Who in the world came and spooked Izan? Please don’t tell me it was that girl he dated last month.”
Zack chuckled. “I guess her gum smacking and loud talking about how she needed Izan to take her out for lobster didn’t only bother me.”
A ball zipped under Will’s legs.
“Gum popping aside, she didn’t have the right priorities going on in life for him.” Eddie grabbed his own mitt and jogged out onto the field. “Jacob, you go to second. Will you’re at center.”
However, Jacob didn’t move. He only pointed, open-mouthed, at a woman wearing sunglasses and a strapless green dress, walking toward the dugout or bleachers—he couldn’t tell which exactly—in heels taller than their catcher’s helmet.
That was not Scout’s grandmother, Naomi.
“Whoa,” came Trenton’s breathy voice. “Now that’s one hot?—”
“Tank! Don’t you dare finish that statement, and run to left field.” Eddie lifted his sunglasses.
It was her. The woman he’d prayed for God to heal.
Scarlette came and tugged on Eddie’s elbow. “Coach, I thought you said you didn’t have a new girlfriend.”
“I don’t.” Answering was quicker than saying it wasn’t any of her business.
Scarlette sank her hand onto her hip. “Then how come Bia Pearl was in your arms on the internet and now she’s at our practice?”
Eddie swallowed.
Bianca slid her sunglasses on top of her head. Her hair shined under the sunlight like it was in a shampoo commercial. Her dress fit a little too perfectly, and her legs seemed a mile long in those heels that managed to walk over the gravel parking lot.
And somehow, he’d liked the floor-length red dress from the other night better. But that was hardly important.
He checked over his shoulder at his boys in the outfield. All gaped at Bianca.
Forget chaos. Practice had just gotten a lot more hazardous.