Gem Stone (26 page)

"Thank God they did. Wouldn't have gotten out otherwise. The kids decided to sleep in the living room. After being taken from their rooms the last time, they didn't want to be alone in their rooms or to be separated." John shrugged. "Doris and I let them."

"Good thing, for all of you." The fire chief walked back over to speak with his men, leaving the sheriff alone with John.

"John, I'm sorry. I'd never thought this would happen."

His voice flat and hard, John said, "Nope. You didn't, but the kids did. I told you about the big SUV. I warned you that the men, whoever they are, weren't going to stop until this was over."

"I know. I set up the deputy watch out front for tonight." He spun around. "I haven't heard from him yet."

"Then you'd better make finding him, a priority. For all you know your deputy is either involved…or he's dead."

Danny closed his eyes. "I hope not. He's just a kid." Danny pulled out his radio and checked in with dispatch. "There's still no sign of him. We have men out looking for him now."

"I pray he's fine." John straightened his back and groaned. "I've called the insurance company and gotten some of their staff out of bed. The adjuster will be by in the morning. Hopefully I can grab a shower and a few hours of sleep before then."

"After your meeting with the adjuster, come by the office and I'll bring you up to date on what we find out tonight. I double checked with the Dayport Sheriff and confirmed he still has the two men."

They walked over to John's truck where John reached into the back of Bessie and hauled out a pair of work boots. "Can't drive in bare feet."

He opened his truck door. "You'd better get to the bottom of this…like now." John hopped into his truck, fired it up and they left before Danny could come back with a response.

Good thing.

He didn't have one to give.

T
he knock on the door woke Gem up. She yawned and looked around. Floor. Beds – two of them, stared back her. She frowned. Memories rushed in. She twisted around in a panic.
Mark. Reid. Hotel room
?

Thank God. She sagged back. She was in the same spot as when she'd gone to bed.

The knock came again.

She stood up and padded to the door and opened it just enough to see who was there.

John stood at her door. He frowned. "I thought you were in the other room?"

Heat climbed Gem's cheeks. She opened the door wide enough that he could see the other two, sound asleep, and her rumpled bed on the floor. "I may never sleep alone again," she admitted softly, staring down at her sock feet.

"Aye. Doris's not handling it that well either." He nodded to the boys. "Maybe we should let them sleep. I was going to call them for breakfast, but…"

"Yeah." Gem studied the sleeping males. "We didn't go to sleep very easily."

"What about you?" John's gaze studied Gem. "Will you go back to sleep?"

Gem shook her head. "Not likely. As much as I'd like to."

Turning to look toward the parking lot, John added, "Do you want to come for breakfast or wait a bit?"

Gem thought about it for half a second then realized what she'd have to wear. "I guess we're not allowed into the house yet, are we? I really need clothes. I can't go into a restaurant like this."

She could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he considered the options."

"How about this? Doris and I will eat, then we'll go to the house and gather up some necessities. By then the boys will be up and we'll get you three fed."

"Sounds good. Maybe I'll try to go back to sleep."

John nodded sagely. "You'll probably drop right off."

Not likely but she'd do a lot to avoid upsetting this kindly man who'd become such a stable part of her life. "I'll see you in a bit then."

"An hour at the most."

Gem returned to her bed and crawled back in.

"What was that all about?" Mark poked his sleepy head out of the covers.

"John." She rolled over and propped herself up on one arm to face Mark. "He's going to grab a bite to eat with Doris, then go to the house and find us some clothes." She thought a moment. "Damn. I should have asked for an update on Misty. Maybe she can come home. If not, we should ask to go visit her."

"The doctors said another few days. Hey, I'm starving. I could really use breakfast."

Gem grinned. "And I just turned some down."

"
What?
They could have brought it here?"

"You were asleep, remember?" She lay back down and crossed her arms under her head. "You know, I was thinking..."

"Uh, oh, here it comes! What's rattling around in that empty head of yours?"

She was feeling too rested to take offense at his comment. "Everything goes back to the one location where I took the photos. I think we should take another look. There has to be something to explain what's going on."

"With or without the meddling adults?"

She grinned. "John's okay. Don't know about the sheriff and his slowass ways. Wonder if he found his deputy?"

"Hope it wasn't Barry that's gone missing. He's all right." Reid sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes. "How's a body to get any sleep around here with you two gabbing?"

"Ooops. Sorry." Gem watched Reid stumble to the bathroom. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't worry. He's just not a morning person."

Gem refocused on thoughts about the creek. "I doubt we'll see any evidence of a spill anymore…but maybe they left something in the area around it?"

"Yup. But when can we go? I'm sure there's going to be a hell of a lot of things that John and Doris are going to need to deal with from last night. Wonder how bad the house is?"

"I hope we don't lose everything because of water or smoke damage."

Reid must have stepped into the shower because they heard water running. An appealing idea, although her hair was still damp from last night's wash up.

"We could tell them what we want to do," she said. "Maybe even take a deputy along."

The shower stopped at the same time there was a knock on the door. Gem went to answer it, again.

Doris held out a large plastic bag and a cardboard carryout holding three large cups of coffee. "One outfit each and some coffees to jumpstart your systems. I have to go check you out of the hotel. John's down at the fire station and will join us at the house. Try to be ready in ten minutes. There's breakfast in the lobby."

Gem smiled brightly. She didn't care what clothes had been selected. As long as they were clean and they fit, she was good. "Thank you. This is great. We'll be downstairs in a few minutes."

There was no time for the other two to shower, but after getting dressed, they trooped down to the lobby and found a small table laden with muffins and a Keurig Coffee Machine. What was even better was that coffee and snacks were included in the cost of their room. The three selected their coffee refills and tanked up while Doris took care of the paperwork. Not long after, she came over to join them.

"Ready?"

Mark handed her a Morning Blend Coffee and popped the last of his muffin in his mouth before snatching another. Reid followed suit. Gem shook her head and walked out with her coffee and a half eaten muffin in her hand. She'd love another one but wasn't going to make a pig of herself.

"Ha. You're just sorry you didn't grab a second one yourself." Reid took a huge bite and snickered at the look on her face.

"Here." Mark nudged her arm. "Take half of this one."

"Really? Don't you want it?" Startled, she glanced from the muffin to his face and back again. She took it from him.

"She could've grabbed a second one," protested Reid as he watched the two of them.

"No, she couldn't have. We grabbed the last ones so we'll share."

Reid rolled his eyes and broke off a decent-sized piece of his, then handed it over. "If it's too much, give it back."

Gem grinned and helped herself.

After they'd walked out to the truck, she caught Doris's curious look. As the guys got into the back of the truck, Gem asked her about it.

Doris patted her arm. "I'm just happy to see that events have brought you three together. Stronger and happier."

"Yeah, they have, at that." Gem pondered the turn of events that had brought them to this point. Despite all the negative, that was a huge positive. "Speaking of which, what about Misty? Will she be able to come home?"

"Yeah," Mark said. "She should be with us."

"Except our home might not be the right place to bring her at the moment," Doris said quietly. "If we're here though, then she should be able to be with us too."

"We are going to be able to stay here – aren't we?" Panic hit Gem's stomach, making the muffins toss around like a passenger on a roller coaster. Could Creepers have had something to do with the fire – to get them back to juvie? Did anything make sense?

"I haven't heard if we can move back in yet." Doris sighed. "I just wish I knew who was after you kids."

"Yeah… Me too," Mark said. "Maybe the doctors are in on this mess?"

Reid groaned. "If we start that, then we have to look at everyone."

"That's exactly what we should be doing." Mark faced him, a puzzled look on his face. "And we need to go about this more logically."

"How's that?"

"We should be doing a timeline, printing off the photos and sending them to people who might be able to decipher what all this means – like the other sheriff, from Dayport. He seemed on the up and up."

"And do
what
with the list?" Reid scoffed. "We already know who we've seen involved here. We've already told the sheriff and nothing much is being done here. We have to widen the circle and consider other people…"

"Wasn't Creepers here the day you took the photos?" Mark asked.

Gem turned to look at him – understanding slowly dawning. "Yes, he was. I had to meet with him over that stupid cheating incident. And who knows about the next day?"

"He was, because he spoke with John that morning about Misty." For the first time, Doris popped into the conversation.

"And he was here yesterday…and then we had a fire last night." His forehead creased. Mark added, "What's the chance he has some connection to the two men we spotted in Dayport? If there was…"

"Hey, I could try to do some more research once I get to my computer, if the power hasn't been affected at the house," Reid said.

"
If
there's power and if there are working computers left. Who knows what disappeared overnight." Gem couldn't help the bitterness coating her voice.

Doris shot her a worried look. "Do you think people went in overnight? That someone might have taken our things?"

Gem didn't want to alarm her, but nodded. "If someone wanted to find something, definitely. But they already got my photos and flash drive so there'd be no point."

"Unless they wanted to make sure, and snatched her laptop too," Reid piped up.

Mark snorted. "That's just being anal."

Reid spun on him. "How does any of this
not
sound anal? Those guys were representing themselves as the government, you know. EPA only, I know, but we all gotta agree, government people
breathe
out their butts."

He was right. Gemma added, "Creepers runs our home project. And has a high position back at juvie. Isn't he the director or something? Does that make him government too?"

Reid and Mark stared at her. Reid shrugged, "So?"

"Something to consider after his weird threat last night…about not wanting anything else bad to happen. Just sayin…" Gem shrugged.

"He might not have lit the fire,
but
if he had something to do with it, the smart thing would be to have been back at juvie, where he'd have an alibi when it happened," Mark said slowly, thinking it through aloud.

"And remember what those two thugs said back in Dayport?" Gem interrupted, "I forgot the exact words but something about 'look closer to home'? Could he have meant Creepers?"

"Easy to hire more goons like the two we caught in Dayport," Reid said. "No shortage of them around."

"I really don't like the way this conversation is going." Doris drove the truck around the final corner and up the long stretch of road to the house. She gasped once, then fell silent.

Everyone fell silent.

Charred siding, ashes, broken windows and the front left corner appeared to be completely scorched, right up to the roofing. Even from a distance, everything reeked of smoke.