Opal Fire Read online

  Seconds later, I burst through the door so hard, I was sure I broke it.

  I ran across the street and called Leo.

  That’s when the mustache man decided to make another appearance.

  He was coming toward me at a brisk pace and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about him was familiar.

  I also couldn’t stop shaking.

  Inching backwards, I hung up when I got Leo’s voicemail and called dispatch. The words tumbled out as I told Betty that I needed an officer right away at the coroner’s office and please hurry, hurry, hurry. I heard her call it in before I clicked the phone off.

  It wasn’t long before the Citizens on Patrol showed up. Jed held up his police scanner and said, “Whatcha got, Mrs. Chief?”

  “Don’t call me that,” I snapped.

  “Sorrrryyyy. Geez,” said Jed.

  Ned, Jed, and Jeb surrounded me and the mustache man stopped, then turned and went the other way.

  Wow, these guys weren’t useless after all.

  Ned swayed a little bit, his lazy eye on the fritz.

  “Has he been drinking?” I asked Jed.

  “Na. Still drunk from last night.”

  Of course.

  Jeb lit up a cigarette.

  We all stood there a moment, Jeb puffing away, avoiding eye contact.

  “So, what’s the problem?” asked Jed finally.

  “You know, I think maybe we should wait for Leo,” I said.

  “Why? We can handle it.” Jeb hiked up his jeans and sniffled.

  “It’s not that.” Yes it was. “I just think the chief will want to take a look first. He likes to be in charge, you know?”

  “I do, do I?” said Leo, his voice amused.

  I turned around. “I didn’t hear you pull up,” I said.

  “I was just getting coffee when you called. Parked in back.” He managed to look warm and sun kissed even when it was twenty degrees outside. My Irish skin was envious.

  “What’s going on? Betty said you hung up before you gave any details,” Leo said.

  I looked at the CoPs, then at Leo.

  “Hey, guys, give us a sec?” Leo said.

  “Sure thing, chief,” said Jed.

  “Is he gonna make out with her right here on the street?” Jeb muttered.

  “Am I?” Leo asked, his tone smooth as leather.

  “I want to show you something,” I said.

  “Kinky, Stacy,” he said.

  His playful tone vanished when he saw Mr. Sagnoski, realized that I was the one who found him and that Kathy’s corpse was missing.

  “What in God’s name do you feed this mutt?” Derek asked when he picked me up. “He’s passing gas like a trucker on a burrito binge.”

  “It’s not that bad,” I lied.

  “Why is he here?” said Cinnamon. She packed up a few things I thought we might need for this pow-wow and met me at the coroner’s office.

  “Hey, it’s my car,” Derek said.

  “Yeah, well I could do without the bitching, thanks,” Cin said.

  “Stop it both of you. I need Cin, because Chip might talk to her, and Cin, I need Derek because he has a working car and a recorder.”

  Tony was aligning the front end of Cin’s Trans Am after Mario played chicken with the snowdrift.

  “Well why do we need the dog? You can’t bring him into the hospital,” Derek said.

  Oh, but I had a plan.

  I filled Cinnamon in on the scrying session, the necklaces, and Mario. I didn’t know what, if any, connection there might be but those necklaces looked an awful lot alike. Gus had filled them both in on the coroner and Kathy’s missing body while I was giving my statement to Leo.

  At the mention of the scrying session, Derek shot me a sideways glance and said, “What are you talking about, Voodoo? Because I got an aunt who’s into Voodoo and that’s some scary shit.”

  “Now can I hit him?” Cin asked.

  I poked her.

  “It’s not Voodoo and I don’t have time to explain it.” Mostly because I didn’t know how.

  “Hey, invite him to the inn for dinner one night. Birdie can explain everything,” Cinnamon smiled wickedly.

  “You chicks are nuts, man,” Derek muttered.

  I couldn’t argue with that and since we had arrived at the hospital, Cin didn’t bother.

  “This will never work,” Cinnamon said as we walked through the doors.

  “Trust me,” I said to Cinnamon. “Lyn looks up to you. She’ll do anything you ask.”

  “What about the nurses?” Derek asked.

  “Once we sail past the front desk, it shouldn’t be an issue,” I said, feigning confidence.

  Lyn’s head was dipped into a book when we approached the front desk.

  She looked up and I swear, if she had a tail it would have wagged. “Hi Cinnamon. Gee, I tried to call you direct about the kid in 227, but I didn’t get you so then I tried Stacy but her phone wasn’t working and did he steal from your bar? Because I hear that Everclear is—”

  Cinnamon halted Lyn. “It’s okay, Lyn, really.”

  Lynn looked relieved and then she said, “Hey is that Thor?”

  “Yep,” I said. “Thor’s a certified Canine Good Citizen now. We thought he’d cheer Chip up.”

  Derek beamed at Lyn.

  Lyn’s eyebrows danced up and down as she shifted from one foot to the other. “Oh. I see. Gee, I think I’d have to clear this with someone.” She shuffled through some paperwork.

  “Already done,” Derek said flashing a manila folder, is if it contained some top secret documents.

  Thor sat down, perfectly still, showing off his fake CGC tag we pulled together from a key ring Cin had in her purse.

  “Oh, well, okay then. Come to think of it, I did hear something about implementing a special program for the patients. Studies show that animals reduce stress.”

  “Thanks!” I said and we hurried away.

  Since Thor refused to ride the elevator, we climbed up the stairwell and shuffled down to 227.

  Cinnamon ducked into the room, shutting the door behind her. Derek, Thor, and I waited in the hall.

  Fifteen minutes later Cinnamon stalked out, nostrils flaring.

  “That little cockroach. When he gets out of here, I swear, I’m going to put him right back in because my foot will be planted so far up his ass, he’ll need a surgical team to remove it.”

  “So it went well, then?” Derek asked and I grabbed her hand before she could punch him.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “He just smirked at me, the little snot. He wouldn’t tell me how he got the booze or what he knows about the fire. But something’s up. I can feel it. He had to be the one to forge my signature. Maybe he even called in the order,” Cin said.

  Of course, if that were true, someone else had put him up to it. He wasn’t even born when Kathy was murdered. So who was it? That’s what we had to find out.

  “Okay. Plan B,” I said. “Ready, Thor?” Thor perked his ears up and his body followed.

  Derek stood guard while my cousin and I attempted to shake some information out of Chip. She told me he had just turned eighteen, so I wasn’t concerned about corrupting a minor.

  He was slapping his knee at the television when we walked in, oblivious to Thor slithering under the foot of the bed. I grabbed the remote and clicked the screen off.

  “Hiya, Chip! How are the eyebrows?” I asked.

  “Better yet, how’s your balls? Because when I get through with you—”

  “Cinnamon,” I interrupted. “The kid’s hurt. C’mon. Lighten up.”

  “What is this? Good cop, boob cop?” Chip said and then cackled again. His face was layered in salve and his shiny head had red scabs all over it.

  “Well, yes that was the plan,” I said.

  “Look, lady, I already told that one,” he pointed to Cin whose face boiled with rage. “I had nothing to do with the fire.”

  I ignore
d the ‘lady’ comment and forged ahead.

  “You were there that day, Chip. I saw you.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” He crossed his arms.

  “This look familiar?” Cin said as she produced the jean pocket Thor had ripped off of him the night of the fire.

  Chip scooted further back on the bed and kicked off the blanket. He studied our reactions, then relaxed and said, “So what. I was in the crowd with everyone else, watching. I should sue your ass for what that dog did.”

  “You know, Cinnamon, I never thought of that.” I twisted my neck towards her.

  Cin crossed her arms and said, “Hmm.”

  “I bet someone could get in a heap of trouble for being so careless.”

  “Mmm.” Cin nodded.

  “I mean, say for instance, you’re a minor and you forge someone’s signature on a liquor order. Then say that liquor was traced to an arson.”

  “Interesting,” Cin said.

  “Hey, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even work Thursdays,” Chip said. He smirked and cocked his head.

  “Then how do you explain your handwriting in Cinnamon’s name on the liquor order?” I asked and Cin held it up.

  Chip licked his lips. “That’s not my handwriting.”

  “Well the lab tech at the police station says differently. Helps to be tight with the chief.” I narrowed my eyes.

  Chip’s pink face lost a bit of color as his head trailed from Cin to me.

  “Yep,” she said. “Good thing you filled out this application when you applied for the job.”

  “We had the handwriting analyzed, Chip. Guess what we found?”

  Of course, none of this was true. Even if Amethyst had a lab, which it doesn’t, that would take weeks. But I was banking on the fact that Chip was as dumb as he looked.

  Chip snatched the papers and tore them up. Then a switch flipped and he must have recalled a recent CSI episode, because he shook his head and said, “You two are full of it.”

  I leaned away from the bed and caught Cin’s eye. “Guess we can’t fool him.”

  “Guess not,” she agreed.

  It was a shame that Chip wasn’t as dumb as I had hoped. Things might have gone much smoother for him if he were.

  In my pocket was a stick of pepperoni I had asked Cin to bring along for Thor as a snack. I grabbed it, waved it low so he could smell it, then said, “Fetch,” as I tossed it onto Chip’s crotch. “What the?” was all Chip could get out before Thor’s front paws were on the bed, his mouth secured around the pepperoni Cinnamon brought and Chip’s own.

  “Thor, hold,” I commanded.

  “Get him off!” Chip yelled, and eyeballed the call button.

  “Don’t you dare,” I said. “Don’t move, don’t scream, don’t even blink, because I only have to utter one simple command and you’ll be as smooth as a Ken doll. Do you understand?”

  Chip nodded.

  “Good. Did you sign that order form?” I asked.

  Another nod.

  “Why?” Cinnamon asked.

  He shrugged.

  “You don’t know?” Cin threw her hands up. “This isn’t helping, Stacy. I say we let Thor eat his snack.”

  “Wait—there’s more, but...” he stopped.

  “But what?” I asked.

  “What if I accidentally say the command?” He looked at Thor.

  “We’ll risk it,” I said. The kid was really sweating now.

  He whispered the rest of the story. “When I got there on Wednesday, you weren’t there yet. I was sitting out back waiting for you to show up and this liquor distributor asks me to sign for an order. Said he was in a bind and couldn’t wait for you.” He glanced at Thor. “That’s all I know.”

  “What was his name?” Cinnamon asked.

  “I don’t know. Blue striped uniform, black boots. Not the regular guy.” His gaze was trained on Thor who was drooling all over Chip’s gown.

  Cin leaned into Chip. “What else?”

  Chip hesitated. Cin looked at Thor. “He hasn’t eaten in two days.”

  “Okay, okay.” Chip licked his lips. “He flipped me a hundred for it. Then I figured since you weren’t around, I could swipe some bottles and no one would notice. I hid the case inside the dumpster and snuck it into the basement with the rest of the stock later that night.”

  “Then what?” I said.

  He tilted his head back and sighed. “I was at the top of the stairs and I tripped. A bottle busted, sprayed everywhere. I tried to clean it up, honest.” He looked at Cin who shook her head.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he said.

  I was sure he meant it. “It was an accident,” I said.

  We started away but before she opened the door, Cin turned to Chip and said, “You tell anyone about our visit, you will go to jail.” Then we walked out to meet Derek.

  “That explains how the fire climbed to the main floor. Maybe we just got in the way.” We were buckled into Derek’s car again, heading to Main Street.

  Cin shook her head. “No one on my list has a uniform like that, Stacy.”

  “Okay, fake distributor bribes a kid to accept a liquor order. But who lit the match and why?”

  “To frame me? Ruin my business? Monique is the only person who hates me that much.” Cin said.

  I considered this. “I don’t know. I’m still leaning towards a cover-up of the murder.”

  “But you said yourself, the body was there for more than twenty years,” Cin said. “Why now?”

  “Jesus Lord, who gave that dog pepperoni!” Derek said and covered his nose. “I’ll have to get this ride overhauled just to get the stank out.”

  I looked at Derek and a tiny bell rang in my head.

  “Derek, you’re a genius,” I said.

  “I am?”

  “He is?” asked Cin.

  “Yep, because I just figured out where it all started.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Thor grabbed a drink from the water fountain and I went to check in with Parker.

  He was reading the comics when I knocked on the open door.

  “Well if it isn’t the Angel of Death,” Parker said.

  “Not funny.”

  “Heard you had an interesting morning.”

  “You said a mouthful.” Literally. He was eating a sub.

  “Any new leads on the fire?”

  “No, but you have fresh copy and photos, plus I’ll get you the piece on the coroner’s murder.”

  “Any suspects?”

  “Not yet. I’ll have to check in with Leo.”

  “That reminds me. He called. Wants you to stop at the station.”

  Before I could take care of any other business, I had to pump out a story on the murder of the coroner. I sent it to Parker, then called Chance.

  “Tony has your Jeep, but I doubt it can be resurrected,” he said. “Then I think Leo wanted to scrape it for evidence.”

  “Thanks. Did you find my bag?”

  “Nope. Sorry.”

  Damn. “Can you give me a ride to the DMV?”

  “Anything for you, gorgeous.”

  The implication of his words hung in the air like spicy cologne as I dialed my credit card company. Turned out explaining a lost card wasn’t as easy as it seemed. After spinning on the merry-go-round of customer service, in which they claimed I would need the account number or access code on the back of the card to request a new one, to which I countered, but it’s at the bottom of the lake and I’m not a deep-sea fisherman, I hung up.

  Chance had the motor running when I walked out.

  “I’m starving. Mind if we grab a sandwich?”

  “That sounds great,” I said.

  Over ham and cheese melts and green tea at Muddy Waters, Chance listened to the theory that sprang to mind when Derek mentioned overhauling his ride. Cinnamon had everything lined up to do renovations on the bar, which might have led to tuck-pointing and sealing the brick in the
basement. If it looked like the structure was damaged in any way, old bricks might have needed to be replaced and the body could have been discovered. Perhaps whoever was responsible for the arson thought it might be easier all the way around if the place just burned to the ground. But it didn’t, so he or she snuck back in and filled in the three missing bricks.

  He sat back, thoughtful for a minute, and ran a napkin over his lips.

  “If Cinnamon filed all the paperwork to get the renovations done, there are dozens of people who could have access to that request. Contractors can freely bid on projects for historic buildings, although not all of them would get approved. Plus the office personal, city officials, and anyone on the historic preservation committee would have to vote on it for final approval.” He bit into a pickle.

  I sighed. If the renovation request is what set in motion the need to cover up the body, and therefore the reason for the arson, then I had to be getting closer to Kathy’s killer. And, I suspected, Mr. Sagnoski’s. The question was, how did I find out exactly who had seen the documents? And even if I gathered that information, how do I know the person didn’t talk about the job? Anyone could have overheard a conversation like that anywhere in Amethyst. The rumor mill was a 24x7 operation. So even if I got my hands on the list of contractors and board members who needed to approve the work, that did not mean the person responsible for Kathy’s death wouldn’t have heard of it.

  “Where do I start?”

  “Talk to Kirk McAllister, the building inspector. He’ll know every hand that touched that document.”

  I ran into Monique coming out of the DMV. She looked like she ran into a paint palette.

  “Well if it isn’t Susie Sunshine,” she said.

  “Hello Monique. I see you’re learning to color inside the lines. Good for you.” I brushed past her and gripped the handle when she stopped me.

  “I hear you’re investigating about what you found inside your cousin’s bar. Planning on printing all the gory details? Not a good idea.”

  “Who told you that?”

  Her white furry hat reminded me of a horny rabbit I had once. “A man who loves my company who is just young enough to please me, but not too young to get me arrested.”

  Derek. Now I had an excuse to let Cinnamon kick his ass.

  “Monique, when you start sleeping with my editor, then you can tell me what to print. Seducing the photographer doesn’t carry any clout. Didn’t they teach you that in slut school?”