In Hot Water (18 page)

“I don’t have that answer.” She didn’t tell him about her conversation with Gail. It seemed Eric, Walt, and John had been right about Chief Rogers. Still, she didn’t want to endanger Gail’s life in case she was wrong.

“We’re investigating. I’ve got my money on Barney’s grandson. The boy has been headed in the wrong direction for some time. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to imagine the kid could’ve visited his grandfather while he was up here and left the drugs behind for safekeeping. Maybe even meant to kill the old man. Maybe Barney found out what Chip was doing and threatened to turn him in.”

Stella thought about the young man she’d spoken with at the coffee shop. She knew a young, handsome face didn’t make him innocent. She couldn’t see into his heart.

“How do you plan to establish that Barney’s death wasn’t an accident?” Chief Rogers asked her.

“I have the detonator, and I know what type of explosive was used.”

“You have
proof
?”

Stella started to respond, but her radio and cell phone went off. She called the firehouse.

“There’s an accident on Pepper Lane,” Tagger told her. “A car hit a power pole. People are injured and trapped inside. Chief—it’s Banyin.”

S
tella drove with her siren on and her gas pedal to the floor. By the time the rest of the fire brigade had reached the scene, she’d changed clothes and had a chance to survey the situation.

“Tagger, have you called an ambulance and paramedic unit?” The radio crackled around her voice, masking the fear and emotion that charged through her.

“Yes, ma’am. How does it look?”

“Not good. Banyin and her husband are both unconscious. The power pole landed on top of the car. Live wires are snapping across it like a net.”

“God bless her, Chief.”

“Call the power company. If they can’t have someone out here in the next few minutes, call Elvis Vaughn. I want these wires cut right away.”

Stella stood a safe distance from the old brown Chevy that she’d seen Banyin drive to the firehouse dozens of times. She hoped Banyin and Jake were okay. She didn’t like standing there, doing nothing, waiting to find out.

When the people at the coronation saw the members of the fire brigade head out the door at the high school, everyone followed. Cars and trucks began parking everywhere along Pepper Lane. Their passengers spilled into the night to see what was going on.

“Power company on the way?” John asked as he reached Stella’s side. He already had the Jaws of Life in his hands.

“I don’t know yet. If they don’t have a truck nearby, Tagger is calling Elvis Vaughn. There’s nothing we can do until they get here.”

People pushed closer, gaping like it was the Fourth of July as the power lines sparked. Questions flew as everyone speculated on what would happen to the couple in the car.

“Chief?” Tagger called back. “The power company is thirty minutes away. I can’t find Elvis right now. I’ll bet he’s at the bar.”

Stella turned to Rufus, who was in his bunker coat and helmet. “Do you have your uncle’s number at the bar?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Call him. See if Elvis Vaughn is there. We need his help with these lines.”

“Okay.”

Eric reappeared beside Stella. “This looks bad. There must be something you can use to move those wires.”

With John and Rufus beside her, she couldn’t tell him that she didn’t want to endanger her volunteers that way.
Come on, Elvis.

“He’s there, Chief.” Rufus held the phone away from his ear. “Willy says he’s in no shape to drive. Should I go get him?”

“No. Have Willy find someone to bring him down here. We can’t wait for the round-trip.”

“I’m going to move this crowd back until someone gets here to do it,” John told her. “Chief Rogers is on his way too.”

“We’ve got Hampton and Bradford in turnout gear.” Stella nodded at the two part-time officer recruits. “Let them handle it, John. I might need you up front at the car once Elvis gets here.”

“I could move those lines for you, Stella,” Eric insisted. “They wouldn’t do anything to me.”

Stella muttered, “I don’t think people want proof of life after death tonight, Eric. Thanks anyway.”

Jake regained consciousness inside the old Chevy and started pounding on the window. He stopped after being shocked a few times.

Before he could touch anything else Stella went as close as she safely could to the car that was covered in live wires and yelled, “
Live wires!
” at Jake, and hoped he understood. She could see his head and face were bleeding. The Chevy was too old to have airbags.

“I think he understood.” Stella stayed where she was near the car. She cautioned the rest of her volunteers to stand back. “We might have to use the hot stick.”

“Hot stick?” Eric asked.

“We got one last year from the electric company. They’re nonconducting. When they’re used correctly with linemen’s gloves they can withstand thirty-five thousand volts.”

“Sounds better than a broomstick. I have an idea how I could help without people knowing a ghost is involved.”

Jake was trying to wake Banyin. She wasn’t responding. Stella needed to make a decision. Banyin and her family were her top priority.

“Allen!” Stella called back to the volunteer. “Get the hot stick and gloves off the back of the truck.”

John advanced toward her as Eric told her his plan.

“I don’t know what you have in mind, Chief,” John said. “If it’s what I think, you can’t do it. Even if you are able to separate the lines they could still turn back on you.”

“We have to try something,” Stella said as Allen brought her the hot stick.

“Chief,” Allen also protested. “You can’t do this. One line, maybe. There are at least three up there. Let’s wait for Elvis.”

Rufus yelled out, “Chief, Willy says Elvis is too drunk to work with sewer line much less electric line.”

“I guess we’re up,” she whispered to Eric. “Step back,” she yelled at Allen and John.

Stella put on the linemen’s gloves—she’d had more training with them than anyone else in the group. She picked up the bright orange hot stick and stepped toward the car. At the same time, Eric moved beneath the wires. Half of his body was in the car, the other half sticking out the top.

“Ready?” he called out.

“Yes.” Stella used the hot stick to hook the first line and move it off the car. John had been right. Like a dangerous snake the wire twisted back and would’ve hit the car on the hood, but Eric was there to catch it. Together they moved the wire a few yards away from the car. “Two more to go,” Stella said as much to herself as Eric.

“We can do this,” he said.

Eric picked up the second line at the same instant that Stella grabbed it with the hot stick. There was no noticeable time lapse between them. As they moved the wire to the street the crowd was applauding and encouraging her.

Stella took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding and her hands shook, but she managed to move the last wire from the car to the street with the help of Sweet Pepper’s first fire chief.

John and Allen wasted no time getting in the car. Jake’s door opened easily. Rufus helped him out of the Chevy.

Banyin, on the passenger side, was a different story. She was still unconscious. Her door had been damaged when the car had hit the pole. John stepped in with the Jaws of Life and pried the door open. JC and Rufus peeled the metal away from the opening so John could reach Banyin.

“She’s okay,” John called out. “We have another problem.”

Stella joined him. “What’s wrong?”

“Her water broke. She’s gonna have the baby.”

“Tagger? Where’s our ambulance and paramedics?” Stella shouted on the radio.

“About twenty minutes away,” he replied. “Is Banyin okay?”

“She’s fine, as far as we can tell,” Stella said. “But she’s going into labor.”

Banyin woke up with a dozen faces staring at her. “My head hurts. What are you all doing here?”

“Keep still,” Stella said. “You were in an accident, and you’re going to have your baby.”

As though she’d suddenly realized it, Banyin let out a loud wail. “What’s wrong with me? It feels like I’m ripping apart.”

John grinned. “Welcome to motherhood. Now lie back and let’s hope the paramedics get here in time to deliver this baby.”

“What about Doc Schultz?” JC asked. “We could get him. Probably have him back here before the ambulance.”

“Go!” Stella flipped him the keys to the Cherokee as she took off the linemen’s gloves and put down the hot stick.

They leaned back Banyin’s broken seat and made her as comfortable as they could.

“Maybe we should put her on the street,” Kent suggested as he cleaned her cuts with a first-aid kit.

“I think it will be easier with her on the car seat.” John put on latex gloves.

“Have you ever delivered a baby?” Eric asked Stella.

“Yes. Twice.”

“Did you say something, Chief?” Rufus asked, standing beside her.

“Yes. We’re not going to need the pumper. Kent, when you’re done over there, you can take it home. Royce and Bert, you stay here in case we need you.”

Kimmie said, “Chief, I can get a couple of blankets so Banyin doesn’t have to have her baby with the whole town watching.”

David agreed as he held Hero and Sylvia from investigating the scene.

“Good idea,” Stella said. “Then you and David take the dogs back to the firehouse. Will you take Hero home with you tonight?”

“Sure, Chief,” David agreed and then led the dogs back to the pumper.

Banyin gritted her teeth. “We were on our way to the hospital. I want something for the pain. I don’t want to have my baby in the car.”

Stella came in close. “Don’t panic. That baby is going to come no matter where you are. We’ll get through it. Take my hand.”

Banyin had another contraction, and Stella took the latex gloves John handed her.

“I’m going to make sure everything’s okay,” she told Banyin. “Let’s see how close we are to delivery.”

Stella timed how close the contractions were—less than a minute. “Let’s hope JC can find Doc Schultz.”

“I thought he didn’t practice anymore.” Jake winced as Banyin’s fingernails made impressions in his hand.

“He doesn’t practice, but he’ll help now and again with an emergency,” Allen said.

Banyin let out a loud cry. The crowd that had been waiting to see if the baby would be born there caught their breaths at the sound.

“Where’s the ambulance, Tagger?” Stella asked him on the radio.

Petey answered. “Sorry, Chief. There was another accident. They had to stop on the way. The injuries were more serious. I don’t know when someone will be there.”

The Cherokee squealed on the turn coming to the scene. JC yelled at the people in the crowd. “Get out of the way—doctor coming through.”

Chief Rogers had helped Clyde Hampton and Nancy Bradford try to clear a path for the vehicle, but it was taking too long.

JC almost lifted Doc Schultz out of the vehicle. “She’s over there.”

“Of course she is,” the doctor remarked. “Otherwise everyone would be turned in the opposite direction, wouldn’t they? I’m old, not stupid. Get out of my way.”

Doc Schultz was in his eighties, his wispy white hair standing on end. He was medium height with a round body and spindly legs.

“Doc!” Chief Rogers greeted him. “Glad you could come out.”

“What a night for this baby to be born,” Doc Schultz complained. “Why is it that this always happens when the weather’s bad? I’ve probably delivered five hundred babies—all during awful weather.”

The old doctor was known for his constant complaining. He’d been the only doctor in Sweet Pepper for the last fifty years. The closest clinic was in Sevierville. The town had tried to recruit a doctor since Doc Schultz had announced his retirement, but no one was interested in working there.

“Get out of my way.” Doc Schultz pushed through the members of the fire brigade standing beside the car that were holding up the blanket that Kimmie had put in their hands. “What’s all that for?”

“We’re trying to give Banyin some privacy,” Allen told him.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Having a baby is the most natural thing in the world. I can’t get in here with you all standing around. Go fight a fire or something.”

Kimmie directed the volunteers. “Move back a few feet.”

Doc Schultz looked disgusted as he got near Banyin. “You can worry about people seeing a woman give birth but not about an old doctor’s knees on this cold, wet pavement? I’m not into replacement surgery. Find me something to put on the ground.”

Royce scrambled to do the doctor’s bidding and returned with another blanket.

“That’ll have to do,” Doc Schultz said.

Banyin screamed again. “Get this thing out of me!”

“Calm down, young woman,” Doc Schultz said. “You’ve got a ways to go. Just lay back and rest. I’ll let you know when it’s time to push.”

Stella got out of the way. A tow truck was on the street waiting to take the car. John instructed him to cut his engine and be patient as he also kept pushing the interested crowd back on the street.

Chief Rogers joined Stella away from the group. “Nice work, Chief Griffin. Very creative. You know if you’d accidentally touched one of those hot wires, or let one of them fall on the car, we’d have a much different scenario right now.”

“Blowhard,” Eric dismissed him.

“There wasn’t another way,” Stella said. “Willy said Elvis was not only too drunk to drive, he was too drunk to handle these wires. Let’s hope the power company gets here soon.”

“We were interrupted at the dance.” He stared at her. “Did I understand you right? Did you say you have a detonator from Barney’s house?”

“That’s what I said. I wasn’t sure if I should give it to you or to Agent Whitman.”

“Maybe you
should
give it to Whitman since he’s down here,” Chief Rogers drawled. “But I’d rather see this case through myself, if you don’t mind.”

Stella wouldn’t have told him about the device if she hadn’t been willing to give it to him. “I have it back at the cabin. I’ll bring it to town hall tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.” He nodded. “I can’t figure why anyone would want to kill Barney. I sure don’t understand what’s up with the cocaine. I’ll never believe he was involved in that.”

“I didn’t know him as well as you,” Stella said. “Maybe he needed the money. It can get expensive living an extravagant lifestyle with your son running for state representative.”

“I guess that’s true. My gut tells me that there’s more to it.”

“What about Falk Jr.’s driver? Did the police get anything out of him?”

“No. Junior bailed him out. Maybe he and Chip are both working to protect their drug trade.”

Banyin yelled again from the interior of the car. People from the surrounding houses on Pepper Lane began to bring out urns of hot chocolate and coffee for the crowd.

“Looks like we kept the party going, just moved it out of the gym.” Chief Rogers grinned. “I gotta get going. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Stella agreed.

“And thanks, Chief Griffin.” Don Rogers touched the brim of his costume hat. “I’m beginning to think there might be a way we can work together after all.”

Smiling, Stella repeated her orders for the pumper-tanker to go back to the firehouse. There was another loud scream from Banyin that made everyone pause. In the silence, they all heard her baby’s first cry. A loud cheer went up from everyone on the street.