Ellen McKenzie 04-Murder Half-Baked (20 page)

I tried to peer through the smoke, hoping to see Dan. Instead we got Nathan.

“Anne, Marilee is about to collapse, and I’m really worried about the baby. Gina’s staying with them, but we need to move them. Only, where?”

Anne just stared at him. The idea that Leona might have been trapped in the house seemed to have been the one thing she couldn’t deal with. It was her husband, Howard, who took charge.

“Chief Dunham has agreed to take them to his house—
their
house.” He gestured vaguely in my direction. No wonder. If he knew my name, it had left him in the stress of the moment. And after all, we hadn’t been formally introduced. “As soon as Dan gets back, we’ll make arrangements.”

“Where did he go? We need to get Marilee.”

Anne finally came alive. “Nathan.” She grabbed him by the arm, pulling him around so he had to look at her. “Was Leona in the house?”

“What?” Nathan stared at Anne for a moment, looked into Howard’s face, then from him to each of us before he turned to stare at the smoldering wreck. “No. She couldn’t have been.”

“You didn’t see her?” Howard’s voice was low but intense. “Did either of the girls say anything about her?”

“No.” Nathan seemed unable to move, to do anything but stare at the house, which still threw white smoke and steam into the air. If Leona had been in there
…
I saw Nathan shudder. A strong tremor ran through me as well.

“They’ll start looking as soon as they can.”
Dan was back. He rested his hand on my arm and squeezed. “In the meantime, I
put out
an alert for her. If she isn’t
…
we’ll find her.”

“We need to move Marilee and her baby, Dan.” I had never heard Aunt Mary’s voice so shaky, but she was right. There was nothing we could do for Leona.

“We’re going to, Mary, right now.” He draped his other arm over her shoulders and gave her a light hug. She blinked a couple of times but managed to keep the
gathering
tears from falling. Dan turned to me. “Whose car did you bring?”

“Mine.”

“Good. Can you
take Marilee and the baby? Gina,
too?”

I nodded, too stunned to speak. Leona. Like Nathan, I was having a hard time tearing my eyes off what was left of the house. Instead of tears, I felt my stomach lurch. Was she really
…
I swallowed hard, forcing the bile that was collecting in my throat back down into my stomach where it belonged. I was not going to be sick. Not right now. I had people who depend
ed
on me and I had to concentrate on their needs. Like, where was I going to put them? Did I have enough beds? Sheets? Clean towels? Coffee?

Dan put his arm around me and pulled me close. “Are you all right with this?”
His tone was low, for me only, and it was delivered with a soft kiss that landed on the side of my neck.

I nodded. “But, Dan,” My voice was as soft as his had been. “Do you really think Grady might
…
is Marilee really in danger? Is that why
…
?”

“I think it’s possible. But if you’re scared, if you don’t want to do this, I’ll find someplace else. ”

He studied my face, waiting for an answer. I knew, as sure as I had ever known anything, that if I said “no, I’m scared, I can’t do it,” he would make other arrangements and would never say he was disappointed in me or make me feel guilty. I looked over at the car where Marilee sat with
her
new baby. I looked at Anne, who smiled at me expectantly. Maybe Dan wouldn’t be disappointed with me, but I would be. I took a deep breath and said, “Of course they’re coming to our house.”

“Did I ever tell you I love you?” That went into my ear. I barely heard it above all the noise, but I heard it. I whispered back
,
“I love you too.” The words warmed me.

“See you at home later.”

Home. Later. Probably much later, and home was going to be much
more crowded
.

“Okay.” I did a little mental shoulder squaring and turned to face the group. “Nathan, go get the girls. I’m parked down the street; I’ll pull the car up as far as I can. Let’s get them out of here.” I hoped he heard where I planned to park because he was already halfway to the squad car.

“You’ll need food,” Aunt Mary stated. Her voice didn’t sound so thin; her chin came up and
I could see her jaw set. She had started to plan.
Leona would not be forgotten, but there was a task to be completed first, people to feed.
“Susannah, you and Neil can take me home. We’ll pack up the dinner leftovers and some blankets and things and bring it all back to your mother’s.”

“Good. Nathan can help me.” Anne looked over at the squad car. Nathan had disappeared around the passenger side. “If I can tear him away from Marilee.” She turned back to look once more at the house. “Everything’s gone. Baby diapers, toothbrushes, clean clothes; there’s nothing left for anyone. We’re going to have to get on the phone and start collecting.”

Everything gone. For all of them.
They’d had little enough, but this! How would they even begin to rebuild
?
I took a look at Aunt Mary’s face, listened to Anne’s crisp voice, and got out my car keys. We’d start at my house, with pot roast and a bed.

“I’ve got to get back to the council meeting.” Howard had released Anne. He gave her an approving nod before he turned to Dan. “We’re having a heated argument over water fountains in the park. I’ll try to change the subject to donations for these ladies.” He lowered his voice and almost whispered to Dan. “Let me know about Leona.
This doesn’t sound one bit good.”

“None of this sounds good.” Dan’s voice was also low, but I heard what he said. And what he didn’t say.

“Nathan’s going to follow Ellen home and stay there until I can get a squad car to sit in front of the house.” Dan raised his voice so everyone could hear, but he looked directly at me. “Anne, he can help you after Neil brings Susannah and Mary back to our house, but I don’t want Marilee alone. Or alone with just Ellen. I’ll get a car over there as soon as I can.”

He might just as well have come right out and said he thought Grady had set the fire but he hadn’t gotten what he wanted, which was Marilee, and that he wasn’t through trying. It sounded way too much as if he thought Grady would somehow find her and
when
he did
… That thought sent a surge of bile down toward my stomach where it threatened to come right back up. Not now, I told it. I might be sick with fright, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it. I rummage
d
in my pocket for my car keys, wondering if I needed someone to walk with me while I retrieved
my car
. I looked down the street, trying to
gauge
how
near
I could
drive
without being immobil
ized
by emergency vehicles. Not very
near
. There was a tangled knot of them, making it impossible to see more than half a block. A figure appeared around the back of a fire truck, coming out of the gloom of the dim street lights into the glow of flashing emergency lights and the roar of noise still surrounding the ruined house. Another firefighter? Only this figure wasn’t wearing a heavy coat and boots.

“Look.” I grabbed Dan and pointed. “Look.”

Everyone turned to stare
,
but no one said a word as the figure walked up to us.

“Holy shit,” Leona said, “what happened here?”

I
t had taken awhile, but everyone had finally been rounded up and transported to my
house
,
where they were sitting in my kitchen eating pot roast. Even Leona.

Everyone had gathered around her, alternating between exclamations of relief that she was alive and demands to know where she had
been
. She muttered something that sounded like “cigarettes” while she stared at what was left of the house. She didn’t say anything more for a long time, ignoring the barrage of questions everyone threw at her, looking from the fire trucks to the paramedics, then back to the house.

Finally she looked at the crowd around her, not seeing the one person she was concerned for. “Did Marilee get out okay? And the baby, is he all right?”

“Yes,” Anne said, “They’re fine, thanks to Nathan. Only we didn’t know where you were, and we were afraid
…”

Leona didn’t seem to hear Anne. “What happened?”

Surprisingly, it was Susannah who answered. “They think it was arson.”

“Arson.” She shook her head as if in disbelief. “What’d he
…
,
”
h
er eyes shifted as she looked from Anne to the rest of us
,
“
whoever
, use to do that? It looks like
…
something you see on TV.”

“We don’t know yet.” Howard’s face was grim. ”But we’re going to find out.
Leona, we’re glad you’re safe. Anne, I have to go. Try and get home before morning.”

That was
all
we got out of Leona. She listened while Anne explained the plan, watched silently while Nathan struggled to install the car seat base in my car, then claimed a seat on one side of it. Now she sat at my kitchen table, along with everyone else, eating pot roast while never taking her eyes off of the baby
,
who
lay
in his
infant car seat
close beside his mother’s chair.

Marilee poked around on her plate, but very little got to her mouth. Leona, on the other hand, consumed everything put in front of her.

“This is great.” She looked up and smiled. Unfortunately, her mouth was still full. “Only thing that would make it better
would be
a little something to wash it down.”

Aunt Mary turned from the stove where she was still dishing up plates. “You have a full glass of water right there. But I can put the coffee on.”

“Actually, I was thinking of something a little stronger.” She looked around hopefully. “Something to help calm my nerves. It’s been a pretty stressful day, you know.”

“Then I’ll make tea.” Aunt Mary’s tone left no doubt that was as strong as any beverage was going to be this night. “There’s nothing like tea for stress. The English have known that for years.”

If I hadn’t been so distracted, I would have laughed. However, I was still trying to figure out who was going to end up in which bed, how I was going to come up with enough nightgowns and toothbrushes, and if
my house was
in imminent danger of
being
burnt down. I thought about the wine bottle, chilling nicely in the refrigerator. Leona had a point.

“My mom wants to know if you need any blankets or anything.” Neil and Susannah walked in, cell phone still clutched in Neil’s hand. “She thinks Susannah should come over to our house tonight. We have a guest room.” He added this last bit of information somewhat hastily, probably because of the look on my face.

“Pat’s got your wedding dress spread all over the bed in there, but she says she can fold it all up,” Susannah
added
. There was a lot of amusement in her tone. “She says
,
what else do you need
?
”

“Toothbrushes for openers. And diapers, but I don’t suppose she has any lying around.”

Neil laughed. “I don’t think so, but we could run out and get some. Toothbrushes, too. Make a list.”

“No.” I was really tempted. I had no idea how long it had been since the baby had been changed, and I knew Marilee needed personal things as well. At least I could provide those. “I think we’d better wait and see what Anne and Nathan can dredge up. Besides, Dan made it clear he wanted us all to stay put until he
sent
someone over here.”

“There’s a squad car parked out front.” That was the first I’d heard out of Gina in awhile. I hadn’t noticed she’d left the table. I wondered if she had been looking out the living room window, watching for Grady’s flamboyant truck. I’d been thinking about doing the same thing, but if Dan’s squad car was out front, I could forget about Grady, at least for now. Besides, how could he possibly know
…? T
hat was easy. By now, the whole city council knew Dan had taken the girls to our house
. S
o did half the fire department, the emergency services people, everyone either Anne or Nathan contacted for donations
… H
e could find her
, b
ut you
ha
d to be half-witted to burn down the chief of police’s house. Or break into it. Half-witted or desperate. Damn. I couldn’t rule out either one. How had this happened? One minute I had nothing more pressing to worry about than a wedding that wasn’t going the way I wanted and a few escrows that mostly were. Now I had a houseful of homeless people, one of whom was brand new, and whose mother was being pursued by his father, who thought nothing of
torching
a house to get to her. That thought made me break out in a cold sweat. The thought of a policeman outside my door was only slightly consoling.

“Has that policeman had dinner?” Aunt Mary was already reaching for a clean plate.

“I
ha
ve no idea.” There was a ghost of a smile on Gina’s usually serious face. “Shall I go ask him?”

“Well, someone needs to find out. Neil, you go ask him. There’s plenty here, and he can stand guard over us in the kitchen just as well as out on the street.”

The sound of the front doorbell made me jump. My coffee mug jerked, and hot coffee sloshed over my hand. “Damn.”

I started to push back my chair
,
but Aunt Mary was already handing me a napkin. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.” I mopped up the mess, thinking I didn’t need one more person in my already crowded kitchen, but that I’d have to answer. Maybe it was one of Dan’s people coming to tell us that Grady had been caught and was on his way to jail.

It was a policeman, all right, but the only thing he brought was a healthy appetite.

“Hi, Ellen.”
Gary, the policeman, strutted into the kitchen with the confident air of an old friend.
“Sure is nice of you to invite me to dinner. I haven’t had more than a snack since lunch.”

He wasn’t alone. Neil followed him in, carrying a huge carton box. “Where can I put this?”

Anne was right behind him,
lugging
a box of her own. “This thing is heavy. Can I put it down here?” She gingerly set it down on the floor in front of the stove, abandoning it to bend over the car seat
and
coo at the baby.

“Well, look at you, all scrunched up. You’re going to slide right out of there.”

She started to pull one end of the blanket up, as if to better cover him, but Leona got there first. She almost pushed Anne aside in her rush to pick him up. “Here, I’ve got him.”

Marilee looked stricken as she watched Leona pull the blanket up over the baby’s feet, cradle him in her arms, and start walking him around the kitchen.

“Leona, “she began somewhat tentatively, “I don’t
think
—
”

Leona ignored her. She started to bounce him up and down, making little crooning noises, a rapt expression on her face.

It happened so fast that it froze
us
all in our seats. That, and the fierce possessiveness with which she held him against her.

Nathan broke the spell.

“Hey, big guy.” He walked over to Leona, slid one hand under the baby’s head and took him out of her arms. “The last time I saw you, you were kind of smoky smelling.” He leaned over the baby and sniffed. “You don’t smell so great right now, either. I think you need your mom.” He very tenderly placed the small bundle in Marilee’s outstretched arms. She clutched him tightly to her, glaring at Leona.

Nathan smiled down at her, and his hand hovered for a moment, as if he were going to touch Marilee on the cheek. Instead, he let his finger run lightly down the cheek of the child.

Leona stood very still; her eyes blazed, boring holes in Nathan’s back. Her gaze shifted to Marilee, anger and resentment ready to boil over. It was only when she dropped her eyes to the baby that her expression changed. The hunger in them was pitiful. And scary.

The baby started to squirm, his face red
dened
, and his mouth opened. His lungs were fully developed and he did his best to prove it.

“He’s crying.” Marilee looked terrified, but she still held him close to her.
“What should I do?”

“Feed him.” Aunt Mary and Anne spoke together. Aunt Mary was at the sink, scraping plates and loading the dishwasher; Anne rummaged through the boxes. “Look. Diapers. A little big, but still
…
and a little nightgown and a blanket. Thank God for people who donate.”

“It’s pink.” Nathan picked up the nightgown and held it up. It was adorable. It also had pink rosebuds all over it. “So’s the blanket.”

“It won’t scar him for life.” Anne pulled more stuff out of the box, held it up, examined it, and started putting it in piles. “I promise not to tell him, when he’s fifteen, that we put him in a pink nightie the day he was born.”

The cries coming from Marilee’s arms were getting louder. She looked around wildly. Leona headed for her, but Aunt Mary got there first. “Let’s get him changed and then you can feed him. It’s too soon for your milk to be in, but he needs the colostrum. You are going to breast-feed, aren’t you?”

Poor Marilee looked as though any references to breasts had, in her experience, nothing to do with feeding a baby. “I guess.”

Anne paused in her unloading, and she and Aunt Mary exchanged glances. Aunt Mary shrugged; Anne sighed. A spot was cleared on the table, the baby laid out on it, and the necessary functions started. The baby screamed louder. Leona hovered over their shoulders, clucking at him, telling them the diaper was too tight, the nightgown too big,
to take
care
with
the cord, demanding that they let her do it.