Cold Heart (7 page)

8

When Wildwood came into view they could see flames coming from the roof of the barn and smoke pouring out of the cracks around the windows and doors.

“Oh my God Carter ... Tucker.”

Lexi was out of the vehicle in an instant and running for the barn. Carter caught up to her and grabbed her arm stopping her short.

“Wait! Stop!” he yelled.

“No we have to get him,” she said.

“I will. You stay here, Call 9-1-1.” He said pressing his cell phone into her hand.

Then he let go and ran for the barn. Someone had put the wood latch across the door. He pulled it off and pulled the door open. Smoke poured out but he could see Tucker lying at his feet. He wasted no time, bent down and checked for a pulse. It was faint. He picked up the ninety pound animal and carried him as quickly as he could to the car and lay him on the front seat.

“I got them,” Lexi said.

“Good. Stay here, I’m taking Tucker to the animal hospital.”

“But ... I want ...”

“I’ll call you,” he said grabbing the cell phone she passed to him. “You need to be here.”

They could already hear sirens in the distance. Lexi could see Carter on his cell phone as he turned the car and raced down the driveway. She didn’t know what to do so she just stood there and watched her barn burn. It was only a couple of minutes until a fire truck and a pump truck arrived and the men immediately began hooking up hoses and spraying water on the blazing barn. Choking clouds of smoke filled the air and ash floated to the ground like great dirty flakes of snow.

Lexi went up and sat on her porch and watched the men work and wondered and worried about Tucker. It took several hours before the fire was under control. It was obvious from the beginning that they would not be saving the structure, the fire chief told her later, so they concentrated their efforts on making sure it didn’t spread to the Lodge or Cabins or any of the surrounding grass and trees. All that remained by morning was a smoldering mess where her barn had been but at least the fire had been contained.

“Any idea what caused it?” the Fire chief asked Lexi.

“I think it was deliberately set,” she said. “My dog was in there and someone had put the latch across to lock him in. He likes to sleep in their since my Uncle Max was killed so I always leave the barn door open.”

“Could it have been accidently latched?” he asked.

“No definitely not. It’s literally a two by four that has to be lifted into a couple of slots. I think someone locked him in on purpose,” she said. “And I have a pretty good idea who.”

“Really?” the Chief said. “Well we will be looking for a cause and I will see that the Sherriff is notified. I’m sure he will be out to talk to you.”

“Thanks,” Lexi said. “Please tell your men thank you.”

Lexi watched the fire trucks as they drove down the driveway. She wondered why she hadn’t heard from Carter yet. That must be good news she thought because if Tucker hadn’t made it he would have come back to tell her right away. No sooner had she had that thought than his car appeared in the driveway. He pulled to a stop and got out and began walking toward her. He was alone and looked tired. Lexi’s eyes began to fill with tears. Fearing the worst, she walked down the stairs to meet him. Now the tears were running down her cheeks.

“Oh no, Tucker ...” she couldn’t get the words out.

“He’s alive, Lexi,” Carter said. “But it’s too soon to know if he will make it. He inhaled a lot of smoke and it has done quite a bit of damage to his lungs and his airway.”

“But there’s hope right? We can still hope,” she was sobbing now from a mixture of relief and fear.

Carter walked closer and took her in his arms.

“Yes we can still hope,” he said holding her close. “Doc Walters will do everything he can.”

He let her go and Lexi stepped back.

“It was Mitch,” Lexi said, wiping her tears away. “I’m sure of it. He set the fire and I’m going to tell the Sherriff just as soon as he gets here.”

“We have no proof of that Lexi.”

“But the barn door had been latched deliberately,” she said. “Tucker hates him and if he were going to set the fire he would have wanted Tucker locked in so he couldn’t interfere.”

“Well that may be but we have no proof,” Carter said again.

“But we saw him on the road just minutes before we drove in here.”

“I know and I think you may be right, I just think we need to be careful. These men are determined and I’m beginning to think they are dangerous,” Carter said.

A more chilling and sinister thought began pricking at Lexi’s brain.

“You think they had something to do with Uncle Max’s accident don’t you?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “Did you tell the Fire Chief your suspicions?”

“Yes I did. I didn’t mention names though.”

“Good,” he said. “We need to think this through.”

Lexi was suddenly really weary and hungry.

“How about some breakfast Carter,” she said. “I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long night and I’m starving.”

“That would be great,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave Tucker until I thought he was stable. Some food would be good and then maybe a nap. After I go home and feed animals that is.”

“Thank you so much for doing that for Tucker,” Lexi said. “Come on. How does a big stack of pancakes sound?”

“It sounds wonderful,” he said following her to the stairs and up onto the porch.

The first thing Lexi did was to put on a big pot of coffee then she pulled a package of bacon out of the freezer and put it in the sink with some warm water to defrost it a bit. Once she was able to peel some slices off she put them in a big fry pan to begin cooking. Next it was onto pancake making. She knew the recipe by heart and in no time she had prepared batter and was firing up the griddle in the middle of her cook top. Carter watched in fascination.

“Coffee’s ready,” she said. “There are mugs in the cupboard to the right of the sink. Creams in the fridge, do you need sugar?”

“A little cream is just fine,” Carter said. He took two mugs out of the cupboard then he filled them both. “Cream or sugar for you?”

“Just cream,” Lexi said as she cracked several eggs onto the griddle where a half dozen or so pancakes were cooking.

“Oh that tastes good,” Carter said after taking a drink of his coffee. “It’s just what I needed.”

“Me too,” Lexi said taking a sip.

She got out cutlery and a couple of plates and then took butter and syrup out of the fridge.

“Would you mind putting these on the dining room table?”

“You bet,” Carter said.

He took the items she handed him out to the dining room. When he returned she handed him a plate with a large stack of pancakes, a couple of fried eggs and several pieces of crisp bacon. She had one for herself also. They carried the plates out to the dining room along with their coffee and sat down. After they had added butter and syrup they ate the first few bites with gusto.

“These are the best pancakes I have ever had,” Carter said.

“Well thank you though it is possible you are just really hungry,” Lexi said.

“No, I’m pretty sure they are the best,” he said talking with his mouth full. “Who would have thought that skinny little dimpled girl from San Fran would grow up to be such a good cook?”

“Well thanks, I think,” Lexi laughed. “I did go to Culinary School so that might have helped.”

“I know Max mentioned it,” he said. “He seemed pretty proud.”

“Really,” Lexi said. “That’s nice. I saw that my mom must have sent him my graduation picture. She sent him a lot of pictures. He had them all up in his room. Plus he had one of me and him from each of the visits when we used to come.”

“I was really sad when we stopped coming for visits and I didn’t see him again,” Lexi said. “We just always had so much fun.”

“So what happened do you think?” Carter asked, putting his knife and fork on his now empty plate and wiping his mouth with his napkin.

“I just don’t know. I could never figure it out and my parents wouldn’t talk about it and if I brought it up then I would hear them fighting later, so I stopped bringing it up.”

“Well you were really important to him, in fact ...” Carter was interrupted by the sound of a vehicle out front.

Lexi jumped up to go and see who it was and said “It’s the Sherriff,” she said.

“Now remember,” Carter cautioned. “Don’t name names just yet.”

Lexi opened the big front door and went out on the porch and down the steps.

“Good morning Sherriff,” she said. He looked familiar and she wondered if she had seen him somewhere before.

“Good morning,” he said. “You are Lexi Thomas I presume.”

“Yes sir,” she said.

Carter appeared beside her.

“Good morning Sherriff Montgomery,” he said.

“Morning Carter, nice to see you,”

The jaw dropping revelation rendered Lexi speechless.

“So I see you had quite a fire here last night,” the Sherriff said.

“Ah ... Yes ... yes we did and ... I believe it may have been deliberately set,” she said looking at Carter.

“Why do you think that?” the Sherriff said.

“Because someone deliberately locked my dog in the barn and put the latch across. He was nearly killed, still don’t know if he will make it and the barn, as you can see, has been completely destroyed.”

“Well that’s not very much to go on,” the Sherriff said. “But I will take a look around and see what I can find.”

With that he began to walk slowly over towards the barn. Lexi turned to Carter and punched him in the arm as hard as she could.

“Hey, ouch,” he said grabbing his arm and rubbing it. “What’d you do that for?”

“Sherriff ... Montgomery,” Lexi said. “You couldn’t have warned me?”

“Well I sort of did,” Carter chuckled a little. “I told you that you best not mention anything yet.”

“I don’t think this is the least bit funny, Carter Monroe,” Lexi said. “So is he his brother?”

“No, he’s just a cousin. But they are all thick as thieves. I’m sorry,” Carter said, looking very sheepish. “It’s just if you could have seen the look on your face just now.”

“Ohh,” Lexi said. Furious, she turned and marched toward the house, went inside and slammed the door.

After a few minutes, the Sherriff sauntered back over to where Carter was standing. Carter had waited to talk with him.

“Well I can’t see any evidence of arson but of course I will talk to the Fire Chief,” the Sherriff said.

He turned then and walked to the cruiser, got in and drove off. Carter banged the knocker on the front door.

“Lexi, can I come in?” he called.

“What?” she asked as she pulled open the front door.

“Please don’t be mad, I know it wasn’t funny,” he said. “I was just thinking that maybe you would like to go and see Tucker and that it might do him good to have you there.”

“Damn it Carter, don’t ever do that again,” she said. “I’ll get my purse.”

Lexi came back outside in a couple of minutes with her purse and the two headed off to the veterinary hospital in Carter’s car. It was only about a ten minute drive and Lexi was quiet during the ride. She wasn’t thinking about the relationship between Geoff Montgomery and Sherriff Montgomery. She was just thinking about Tucker and hoping that there was an improvement from earlier. When they reached the Clinic they both hopped out and went to the front door. It was locked. They peered in. The waiting room was empty as it was Sunday but there was someone behind the desk. Carter knocked on the door.

“Hi Carter,” the young woman said as she opened it.

“Hi Nancy, this is Lexi Thomas, Tucker’s mom.

That made Lexi smile despite her earlier anger. At that moment a man in a white coat appeared through one of the doorways. He was escorting an elderly lady who was clutching a little black dog.

“See you in a couple of weeks, Mrs. White,” he said.

“Thank you Dr.,” the woman said and kept going. Nancy opened the door for her and then locked it again.

“Carter you’re back already?” he said.

“This is Lexi,” Carter said. “Lexi this is Doc Walters. Lexi would like to see Tucker.

“Sure,” he said. He was in his mid fifties Lexi guessed. He led them to the back room where Tucker lay on his side in a large elevated cage. He was sleeping and a tube ran into his mouth and an IV into his front leg and his front feet were bandaged.

“We are keeping him sedated,” the vet said. He is on fluids and some IV antibiotics as he is at risk of infection from the damage to his lung tissues.”

“Why are his feet bandaged?” Lexi asked. “Did they get burned?”

“No, he must have been digging at the door and the floor trying to get out. He lost a couple of toe nails and his toes are cut up pretty badly,” the Vet said.

Lexi had gone pale and Carter put an arm around her shoulders for fear she might go down. She did not resist.