That Old Flame of Mine (7 page)

“I was just telling her the same thing,” Ricky added.

“The two of you don’t really believe this place is haunted, right?” She glanced between them. “I don’t believe the ghost of the old fire chief is haunting this place.”

Ricky and Elvis Vaughn burst out laughing, Vaughn guffawing so hard that tears came to his rheumy blue eyes.

Ricky recovered first. “Maybe you can make peace with him and he’ll let you stay, Chief.”

“Yes, sir. That’s the way to do it. It ain’t never happened before, but seeing as you’re the new fire chief and a mighty fine-looking woman to boot, maybe that old rascal will play nice for a change.”

Stella really didn’t like that plan. She hoped he’d actually checked the house. Maybe she should call someone from outside Sweet Pepper for help.

“You know, I was friends with Eric for a long time.” Vaughn shook his head. “A real lady’s man. At least, all the ladies loved him. He never married. Guess he never met the right woman. He always talked about settling down and having a pile of kids, like his daddy done. That’s why he built this place two-story.”

“Well, thanks for your help anyway.” Stella shook Vaughn’s hand. “I’m not sure what to do now. I hate to move somewhere else since this is so close to the firehouse.”

“Just do like I said. I think Eric will give you a chance.” Vaughn pulled at his cap as a sign of respect and shuffled back to his van.

“There you have it.” Ricky’s eyes twinkled with humor. “Where did you say you saw Eric? I bet it was before you took a shower or something, right? That’s where I’d be if I was a ghost in a pretty woman’s house. No disrespect, Chief. See you later at Tory’s.”

When she was alone at the cabin, Stella changed the code on the security system. She looked around carefully, then went to sit on the deck, leaving the door open to the sweet breezes coming off the river.

“I’m going to get a second opinion,” she said. “I don’t believe in ghosts. Snakes are disgusting, but at least they’re real.”

A deep, very real-sounding voice replied, “That’s your prerogative.”

Chapter 7

S
tella stood up and looked around. There was no shadowy figure this time. Maybe ghosts couldn’t appear during the day?

No.

She wasn’t going to start believing in ghost myths. She didn’t know how someone was doing this, but she was going to find out.

“You won’t mind if I ignore you, I hope,” she said.

“No. That’s fine with me. You get kind of used to it when you have my particular medical condition.”

“And that is?”

“Dead.”

“Oh. A ghost with a sense of humor. Nice touch.”

There was a knock on the cabin door. “I hope you’re not trying to distract me. You can only play this game for so long before I find out what’s
really
going on.”

“I’m sure everyone has been pretty explicit about me and what’s going on,” the voice said. “But right now, you have a bigger problem.”

She braced herself. “What do you mean?”

“Elvita Quick and Theodora Mangrum are standing outside the door. Good money says they’re here to get you to judge the food at the Sweet Pepper Festival. Take the chocolate contest. You’ve had Flo’s chocolate and pepper cookies, right?”

Stella peeped between the blinds and saw the two elaborately dressed women on the front stairs. “Maybe you should talk to them and you could judge the
invisible
foods contest.”

“
Ouch.
I can tell you’re a city girl. You’ve got some sharp edges. Don’t I qualify as someone you should be kind and charitable to?”

Whoever was doing this was making fun of her. When she found out who it was, she was going to kick their ass.

She opened the door for the two ladies, each wearing an outrageous hat. “Ladies! I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Is there something I can do for you?”

Though they had different last names, they were certainly sisters or some other close relation. They were both short and stout with hazel eyes and little bow-shaped mouths. They wore almost matching purple dresses. One of them had on a red hat and the other, a blue hat. Both hats were decorated with birds and flowers.

“I’m Elvita Quick. And we’re so glad to make your acquaintance, Chief Griffin. This is my sister, Theodora Mangrum. We represent the Sweet Pepper Festival food contest. We’d be delighted if you’d agree to be one of our judges. The festival is only a few days away. It’s a big deal hereabouts.”

“I can talk for myself, Elvita.” Theodora smiled at Stella. “We’d love for you to judge one of our categories. We have ten to choose from.”

“That would be fun.” Stella was used to being tapped to help out at carnivals and to lead school groups touring the station house back home. “Won’t you come in for a few minutes?”

Both the women’s faces crumpled up a little like old apples.

“I don’t think so.” Elvita nervously eyed the open door.

“We’re very comfortable standing out here.” Theodora took a step back on the small porch.

“I have some lemonade and fig bars.” Stella wondered what was wrong. Tory had told her to expect people to stop by for a visit once in a while. She’d given her the homemade fig bars—with bits of hot pepper in them.

“No. We’d like to. But no. Thank you all the same.” Elvita stepped back too.

“Is something wrong?” Stella asked.

“No, nothing at all,” Theodora answered quickly.

Stella had been standing in the doorway talking to them. The door suddenly slammed shut behind her, making her jump. She glared at the portal, then turned back to her visitors. Both ladies had already run down the stairs.

“I wouldn’t set foot in that place for all the tea in China.” Elvita righted her hat, which had flopped to one side during her flight. “
He
loves to tease us. He always did. It was fine when he was
alive
but now . . .”

Stella pushed the door open again. “Who? I’m the only one here.”

“It’s Eric Gamlyn. He was always a jokester. Loved to play pranks,” Theodora explained. “We won’t come in, but we would be glad to meet you elsewhere. And we would like to have you as a contest judge.”

“Is there a chocolate part of the contest?” Stella asked.

“Why, yes, there is.” Elvita stared at her sister. “It must be something to do with fire chiefs.
He
always judged that contest too.”

“Maybe it’s the chocolate.” Stella felt a faint chill shiver down her spine no matter how many times she’d reminded herself that this was still only a practical joke. There were no ghosts.

“Yes. Maybe that’s it.” Theodora wrote in her notebook. “We have you down for the chocolate and pepper contest, Chief Griffin. Thank you so much.”

“Please, call me Stella. I’m looking forward to it.”

The door slammed behind her again, making the wind chimes on the porch jingle. Both ladies jumped and gave little shrieks before they stuffed themselves back into their small car and sped out of the drive.

Stella went back inside. “You scared them away.”

“But not you,” the lazy, laughing voice said back at her. “I wonder why that is.”

“Maybe because I’ve been hazed by my buddies back home. Or maybe because thinking about what I’m going to do when I catch you makes me smile.”

She went out to the deck again and read the
Sweet Pepper Gazette
as she sat in the leaf-dappled sunshine. The voice was absent for the thirty minutes she was out there. Maybe that was the end of it.

Stella ate lunch then piled her few dishes in the dishwasher and made a list of some supplies she thought she might need. The ordeal ahead of her made her frown as she sat at the kitchen table.

It wasn’t like she had an arson investigator checklist or something. She was good at what she did—putting out fires and saving lives. She wasn’t as sure about investigating the cause of the fire that had killed her friend.

Thinking about that, she took out the old manila folder Tory had given her. They’d talked briefly about her first husband’s death. It had happened about forty years before, in a horrific fire. He’d fallen asleep while smoking and burned to death in his chair.

Tory believed her first husband, Adam Presley, had been murdered. The report said that it was an accident. No large-scale inquiry was ever made into the incident. Tory had investigated it herself for years. She had admitted to Stella that she was obsessed with it.

“I don’t know what you could do, if anything,” Tory had said one day at lunch. “I’d appreciate it if you’d take a look at the information I’ve collected.”

One thing at a time.
Stella put down the folder and tried to focus on what she needed to do at Tory’s house.

She scribbled a few notes on scene investigation that she remembered from the last time she’d walked through what was left of a house with Chief Henry. She also made a list of things she was going to need.

“You’re investigating Tory’s house fire for arson.” The disembodied voice made her jump a little.

“Aren’t we done with this?” she asked in irritation. “I have things to do that you probably wouldn’t even understand.”

“I investigated a few fires in my day. We didn’t have an arson investigator then either.”

“Yeah?” She stood up and walked around the room. “And what exactly did you do? Be specific.”

“I took notes and some photographs. I looked for the fire pattern to see where it started.”

“You could get that from
CSI
or any other cop show on TV.”

Laughter breezed through the cabin. “I’ve learned a few things that way. I found I can manipulate electrical devices.” To show off, he turned on the TV, stereo, and microwave at the same time. “It’s useful to scare people away.”

“Why would you want to scare people away?”

“This is
my
house. Why would I want strangers living here? At least you can hear me. This is the first time in forty years I’ve been able to talk to anyone.”

The voice was defiant, angry. Stella could feel the emotions running through her.

You’re getting sucked into this fantasy.

“Enough is enough.” She stamped her foot on the hardwood floor. “If you’re still here when I get back, I swear I’ll buy this place that nobody wants and let my volunteers use it for practice when we burn it down. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.”

There was no response—not that she’d expected one. He had to know that she was serious. It was one thing to bandy words with this joker and another to let him make her life miserable.

Stella picked up her notes, grabbed her helmet and saddlebags, then stalked out of the cabin. She knew she’d never make good on the threat. Maybe it would be enough to end the prank anyway.

Outside, she put on her helmet and started her bike. The sound of the engine startled some birds out of the tree next to her. Only a few more weeks and she’d be going home. She might have to stay at Flo’s bed-and-breakfast so she wouldn’t drive herself crazy if the harassment didn’t stop.

She rode into town and stopped at Potter’s Hardware on Main Street next to the Daily Grind Coffee Shop. She’d had coffee there a few times with different members of the town council, but mostly she was a morning Coke girl.

Valery Reynosa waved to her as she was writing daily specials on her white board outside the coffee shop. “How are you doing?” she called out. “I hope you’re settling in.”

Stella talked to her for a few minutes—she’d learned right away that people here thought it was rude to just wave and keep going.

Valery confessed that she was working on a coffee drink with hot pepper in it for the festival. “Don’t tell anyone,” she cautioned. “I don’t want anyone else to compete in that category. I’ve won the prize two years in a row because I’m the only one doing coffee.”

“I know this is important to the town.” Stella told her that she’d been recruited as a judge for the chocolate and pepper recipe contest.

“Maybe I should make chocolate coffee with peppers. We’re friends, right?”

“Are you trying to influence the outcome of the contest?” Stella asked with a smile. “I have a feeling that isn’t allowed.”

“No, of course not. I just like to win. It’s good publicity.”

Stella agreed and excused herself. She’d started toward the hardware store when Valery called out, “I hear you’re going to investigate Tory Lambert’s death.”

“Yes.” Stella went closer to her. Word got around quickly. She might not be able to ignore Valery, but she didn’t want to add to the rumor mill. “It’s a requirement when someone dies during a fire.”

Valery nodded, her pretty face turning sinister as she whispered, “I heard her son already filed for her life insurance. Can you imagine? She hasn’t even been buried yet.”

It was a harsh criticism but not one she hadn’t considered. “I have to go.”

“Good luck,” Valery called out. “I hope Vic didn’t kill his mother.”

Stella ducked into the hardware store. She didn’t want to get involved in a discussion that could be said to prejudice her findings.

She walked around the narrow aisles on the squeaky old wood floors and added to her shopping basket. The place smelled like paint, tool oil, and sawdust. She needed reflective tape, plastic containers, labels, a few flashlights, and some gloves. She had Tommy Potter add the cost to the account set up for her and paid for by the town.

Tommy glanced at her from behind the old-fashioned cash register that looked like it had been there since the store opened in 1939. “Going out to see what happened at the Lambert place?”

“Yes. It’s routine.” Stella signed her name on the credit voucher.

He snorted as he laughed. “If that’s what you want to call it. Around here, we don’t consider it routine when you kill your own kin.”

Obviously this was the accepted explanation for what had happened to Tory. “We really don’t know what caused the fire, Mr. Potter. That’s why we’re investigating.”

“Some investigation. Drag that sorry excuse for a son of hers down to the police station and beat the crap out of him. There’s your investigation.”

Stella nodded and smiled. “Thanks for your input. I’ll see you later.”

As she left the uncomfortable atmosphere of the old hardware store, Stella noticed she still had a little time before she had to go to Tory’s house. She got on her bike and drove down to the end of the shopping area and stopped again at the security and computer service company whose logo was on the system at the cabin.

“Chief Griffin!” Charlie Johnson, the owner of the company, greeted her. He was a tall, large man with close-cropped gray hair and glasses. He was good with computers, and he was friendly. The two didn’t always go hand in hand, in her experience. She’d had some trouble with her laptop when she’d first arrived in Sweet Pepper, and he’d taken care of it for her. “How is the world treating you this fine day?”

Stella chitchatted with him a little, glad he didn’t mention the fire. “Is there any way you could do a sweep of the cabin I’m staying in on Firehouse Road? This may sound silly, but I’m hearing voices up there. I was wondering if you could do some kind of electronic monitoring that could help me find out who’s responsible.”

Charlie nodded as though it was a request he heard all the time. “So what are you thinking? The house is wired? Satellite feed? Maybe you left the radio or TV on without realizing it? Ghosts?”