Opal Fire (15 page)

CHAPTER 20

Seconds later, I burst through the door so hard, I was sure I broke it.

I ran across the street and called Leo.

That’s when the mustache man decided to make another appearance.

He was coming toward me at a brisk pace and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about him was familiar.

I also couldn’t stop shaking.

Inching backwards, I hung up when I got Leo’s voicemail and called dispatch. The words tumbled out as I told Betty that I needed an officer right away at the coroner’s office and please hurry, hurry, hurry. I heard her call it in before I clicked the phone off.

It wasn’t long before the Citizens on Patrol showed up. Jed held up his police scanner and said, “Whatcha got, Mrs. Chief?”

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped.

“Sorrrryyyy. Geez,” said Jed.

Ned, Jed, and Jeb surrounded me and the mustache man stopped, then turned and went the other way.

Wow, these guys weren’t useless after all.

Ned swayed a little bit, his lazy eye on the fritz.

“Has he been drinking?” I asked Jed.

“Na. Still drunk from last night.”

Of course.

Jeb lit up a cigarette.

We all stood there a moment, Jeb puffing away, avoiding eye contact.

“So, what’s the problem?” asked Jed finally.

“You know, I think maybe we should wait for Leo,” I said.

“Why? We can handle it.” Jeb hiked up his jeans and sniffled.

“It’s not that.” Yes it was. “I just think the chief will want to take a look first. He likes to be in charge, you know?”

“I do, do I?” said Leo, his voice amused.

I turned around. “I didn’t hear you pull up,” I said.

“I was just getting coffee when you called. Parked in back.” He managed to look warm and sun kissed even when it was twenty degrees outside. My Irish skin was envious.

“What’s going on? Betty said you hung up before you gave any details,” Leo said.

I looked at the CoPs, then at Leo.

“Hey, guys, give us a sec?” Leo said.

“Sure thing, chief,” said Jed.

“Is he gonna make out with her right here on the street?” Jeb muttered.

“Am I?” Leo asked, his tone smooth as leather.

“I want to show you something,” I said.

“Kinky, Stacy,” he said.

His playful tone vanished when he saw Mr. Sagnoski, realized that I was the one who found him and that Kathy’s corpse was missing.

“What in God’s name do you feed this mutt?” Derek asked when he picked me up. “He’s passing gas like a trucker on a burrito binge.”

“It’s not that bad,” I lied.

“Why is he here?” said Cinnamon. She packed up a few things I thought we might need for this pow-wow and met me at the coroner’s office.

“Hey, it’s my car,” Derek said.

“Yeah, well I could do without the bitching, thanks,” Cin said.

“Stop it both of you. I need Cin, because Chip might talk to her, and Cin, I need Derek because he has a working car and a recorder.”

Tony was aligning the front end of Cin’s Trans Am after Mario played chicken with the snowdrift.

“Well why do we need the dog? You can’t bring him into the hospital,” Derek said.

Oh, but I had a plan.

I filled Cinnamon in on the scrying session, the necklaces, and Mario. I didn’t know what, if any, connection there might be but those necklaces looked an awful lot alike. Gus had filled them both in on the coroner and Kathy’s missing body while I was giving my statement to Leo.

At the mention of the scrying session, Derek shot me a sideways glance and said, “What are you talking about, Voodoo? Because I got an aunt who’s into Voodoo and that’s some scary shit.”

“Now can I hit him?” Cin asked.

I poked her.

“It’s not Voodoo and I don’t have time to explain it.” Mostly because I didn’t know how.

“Hey, invite him to the inn for dinner one night. Birdie can explain everything,” Cinnamon smiled wickedly.

“You chicks are nuts, man,” Derek muttered.

I couldn’t argue with that and since we had arrived at the hospital, Cin didn’t bother.

“This will never work,” Cinnamon said as we walked through the doors.

“Trust me,” I said to Cinnamon. “Lyn looks up to you. She’ll do anything you ask.”

“What about the nurses?” Derek asked.

“Once we sail past the front desk, it shouldn’t be an issue,” I said, feigning confidence.

Lyn’s head was dipped into a book when we approached the front desk.

She looked up and I swear, if she had a tail it would have wagged. “Hi Cinnamon. Gee, I tried to call you direct about the kid in 227, but I didn’t get you so then I tried Stacy but her phone wasn’t working and did he steal from your bar? Because I hear that Everclear is—”

Cinnamon halted Lyn. “It’s okay, Lyn, really.”

Lynn looked relieved and then she said, “Hey is that Thor?”

“Yep,” I said. “Thor’s a certified Canine Good Citizen now. We thought he’d cheer Chip up.”

Derek beamed at Lyn.

Lyn’s eyebrows danced up and down as she shifted from one foot to the other. “Oh. I see. Gee, I think I’d have to clear this with someone.” She shuffled through some paperwork.

“Already done,” Derek said flashing a manila folder, is if it contained some top secret documents.

Thor sat down, perfectly still, showing off his fake CGC tag we pulled together from a key ring Cin had in her purse.

“Oh, well, okay then. Come to think of it, I did hear something about implementing a special program for the patients. Studies show that animals reduce stress.”

“Thanks!” I said and we hurried away.

Since Thor refused to ride the elevator, we climbed up the stairwell and shuffled down to 227.

Cinnamon ducked into the room, shutting the door behind her. Derek, Thor, and I waited in the hall.

Fifteen minutes later Cinnamon stalked out, nostrils flaring.

“That little cockroach. When he gets out of here, I swear, I’m going to put him right back in because my foot will be planted so far up his ass, he’ll need a surgical team to remove it.”

“So it went well, then?” Derek asked and I grabbed her hand before she could punch him.

“What happened?” I asked.

“He just smirked at me, the little snot. He wouldn’t tell me how he got the booze or what he knows about the fire. But something’s up. I can feel it. He had to be the one to forge my signature. Maybe he even called in the order,” Cin said.

Of course, if that were true, someone else had put him up to it. He wasn’t even born when Kathy was murdered. So who was it? That’s what we had to find out.

“Okay. Plan B,” I said. “Ready, Thor?” Thor perked his ears up and his body followed.

Derek stood guard while my cousin and I attempted to shake some information out of Chip. She told me he had just turned eighteen, so I wasn’t concerned about corrupting a minor.

He was slapping his knee at the television when we walked in, oblivious to Thor slithering under the foot of the bed. I grabbed the remote and clicked the screen off.

“Hiya, Chip! How are the eyebrows?” I asked.

“Better yet, how’s your balls? Because when I get through with you—”

“Cinnamon,” I interrupted. “The kid’s hurt. C’mon. Lighten up.”

“What is this? Good cop, boob cop?” Chip said and then cackled again. His face was layered in salve and his shiny head had red scabs all over it.

“Well, yes that was the plan,” I said.

“Look, lady, I already told that one,” he pointed to Cin whose face boiled with rage. “I had nothing to do with the fire.”

I ignored the ‘lady’ comment and forged ahead.

“You were there that day, Chip. I saw you.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” He crossed his arms.

“This look familiar?” Cin said as she produced the jean pocket Thor had ripped off of him the night of the fire.

Chip scooted further back on the bed and kicked off the blanket. He studied our reactions, then relaxed and said, “So what. I was in the crowd with everyone else, watching. I should sue your ass for what that dog did.”

“You know, Cinnamon, I never thought of that.” I twisted my neck towards her.

Cin crossed her arms and said, “Hmm.”

“I bet someone could get in a heap of trouble for being so careless.”

“Mmm.” Cin nodded.

“I mean, say for instance, you’re a minor and you forge someone’s signature on a liquor order. Then say that liquor was traced to an arson.”

“Interesting,” Cin said.

“Hey, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even work Thursdays,” Chip said. He smirked and cocked his head.

“Then how do you explain your handwriting in Cinnamon’s name on the liquor order?” I asked and Cin held it up.

Chip licked his lips. “That’s not my handwriting.”

“Well the lab tech at the police station says differently. Helps to be tight with the chief.” I narrowed my eyes.

Chip’s pink face lost a bit of color as his head trailed from Cin to me.

“Yep,” she said. “Good thing you filled out this application when you applied for the job.”

“We had the handwriting analyzed, Chip. Guess what we found?”

Of course, none of this was true. Even if Amethyst had a lab, which it doesn’t, that would take weeks. But I was banking on the fact that Chip was as dumb as he looked.

Chip snatched the papers and tore them up. Then a switch flipped and he must have recalled a recent CSI episode, because he shook his head and said, “You two are full of it.”

I leaned away from the bed and caught Cin’s eye. “Guess we can’t fool him.”

“Guess not,” she agreed.

It was a shame that Chip wasn’t as dumb as I had hoped. Things might have gone much smoother for him if he were.

In my pocket was a stick of pepperoni I had asked Cin to bring along for Thor as a snack. I grabbed it, waved it low so he could smell it, then said, “Fetch,” as I tossed it onto Chip’s crotch. “What the?” was all Chip could get out before Thor’s front paws were on the bed, his mouth secured around the pepperoni Cinnamon brought and Chip’s own.

“Thor, hold,” I commanded.

“Get him off!” Chip yelled, and eyeballed the call button.

“Don’t you dare,” I said. “Don’t move, don’t scream, don’t even blink, because I only have to utter one simple command and you’ll be as smooth as a Ken doll. Do you understand?”

Chip nodded.

“Good. Did you sign that order form?” I asked.

Another nod.

“Why?” Cinnamon asked.

He shrugged.

“You don’t know?” Cin threw her hands up. “This isn’t helping, Stacy. I say we let Thor eat his snack.”

“Wait—there’s more, but...” he stopped.

“But what?” I asked.

“What if I accidentally say the command?” He looked at Thor.

“We’ll risk it,” I said. The kid was really sweating now.

He whispered the rest of the story. “When I got there on Wednesday, you weren’t there yet. I was sitting out back waiting for you to show up and this liquor distributor asks me to sign for an order. Said he was in a bind and couldn’t wait for you.” He glanced at Thor. “That’s all I know.”

“What was his name?” Cinnamon asked.

“I don’t know. Blue striped uniform, black boots. Not the regular guy.” His gaze was trained on Thor who was drooling all over Chip’s gown.

Cin leaned into Chip. “What else?”

Chip hesitated. Cin looked at Thor. “He hasn’t eaten in two days.”

“Okay, okay.” Chip licked his lips. “He flipped me a hundred for it. Then I figured since you weren’t around, I could swipe some bottles and no one would notice. I hid the case inside the dumpster and snuck it into the basement with the rest of the stock later that night.”

“Then what?” I said.

He tilted his head back and sighed. “I was at the top of the stairs and I tripped. A bottle busted, sprayed everywhere. I tried to clean it up, honest.” He looked at Cin who shook her head.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he said.

I was sure he meant it. “It was an accident,” I said.

We started away but before she opened the door, Cin turned to Chip and said, “You tell anyone about our visit, you will go to jail.” Then we walked out to meet Derek.

“That explains how the fire climbed to the main floor. Maybe we just got in the way.” We were buckled into Derek’s car again, heading to Main Street.

Cin shook her head. “No one on my list has a uniform like that, Stacy.”

“Okay, fake distributor bribes a kid to accept a liquor order. But who lit the match and why?”