The Fire Still Burns (9 page)

She glanced over the assortment of allergy medication, deciding between capsules or easy tabs when she heard something plop into the small basket she'd grabbed at the store's entrance.  Looking down, she saw a box of condoms.

“So you don't make the same trouble you made last time you were here,” a voice full of self-righteousness said from behind her.

Brynn swung around to find Doris Good staring her down with pure hatred in her dark eyes.  The look was the same as she remembered, but the woman had put on a good fifteen pounds over the last decade and her face was full of new wrinkles although she wasn't even quite sixty yet.  Brynn tightened her hand around the handle of her basket, suppressed fury clawing at her insides, begging her to attack.

She sucked in a calming breath, reminded herself to be the better person.  “I beg your pardon.”

“Well, you know how you are, Brynn Harlot.”  Doris smiled saccharine sweet.  “We wouldn't want any more little bastards born, now would we?”

“The name is Harlow.”  She corrected the older woman as the handle of her basket dug into her palm.  “And my son is not a bastard.  I know who his father is, and so do you.”

Doris's nostrils flared, her face reddened so intensely the color stood out starkly against her hairline where her forehead met with salt and pepper curls.

“Don't you dare tell Adam about that boy.”  She pointed her finger at her.  “You tried to ruin his life once, and I will not allow you to bring that abomination into his life now.  I know you were with him last night at Red's Tavern and if you're thinking Adam can help you to raise that little—”

“Who the hell are you calling an abomination?”  Brynn knew her question came out as an attention grabbing snarl, but she was too incensed to care.  She may have made mistakes in her life, put her faith in the wrong people, but there was no way anyone was going to call her child an abomination, no matter her personal sins.

“I'll say it loud and clear, Brynn
Harlot
, any child born to a whore is an abomination, and I'm warning you now to keep your filthy hands and your filthy child away from my son.  The best thing you ever did was leave this town with Calvin Wylie.  You shouldn't have come back.  Your kind doesn't have any place here.”

“Excuse me.”  A disembodied voice came from Brynn’s left.

Brynn turned toward the voice and noticed Doris snap her head around to see who had intruded upon their verbal sparring, their equally heated glares landed on a teenage girl with short dark hair, deep wine lipstick, multiple ear piercings and a red apron, obviously an employee of the store.

She held a box in her hand, shaking it a bit for emphasis.  “I found that cream you wanted, Mrs. Good, the one for that burning, itching sensation you’ve got going on down there in your nether parts.”

Brynn's mouth gaped open, her anger receded a fraction as she caught the sly grin on the teenager's face and realized what she was doing.  She nearly broke out into a chuckling fit herself as she watched the other discount store shoppers stare at Doris, all of them slack-jawed and dying to make a snide comment at the haughty woman's expense.

“I, I…” Doris sputtered, her face turned a deep shade of crimson as she looked at the small group of people who had formed around them sometime during their argument and were now covering their mouths with their hands or whispering to the person closest to them.  “Why, I never—”

“Uh-huh,” the teenager said emphatically.  “I found the exact kind you requested, the one that also helps with that foul odor you've been experiencing.  I can check you out now if you're ready.”  The girl smiled sweetly and waved with her free hand toward the register.

Brynn lost control and snorted, letting a few chuckles out as well.  The other shoppers joined in, letting their suppressed laughter escape in a thunderous explosion.  The sound of it rolled through the aisles, surrounding Doris Good like a cocoon.

“You!  I'll have you fired by the end of this day,” Doris declared, pointing a gnarled finger at the young girl.

“Whatever, hag.”  The girl gave a carefree shrug, smirking.  “My family owns this store, remember?”

“You're just like your sister.”  Doris growled, closing in on the girl, her hands clenched on her hips as she stepped closer, stopping just in front of her.

“Thanks, I take that as a compliment.”  The spunky teen faced down the older woman and lowered her voice so only Doris and Brynn could hear.  “Now, I suggest you leave this store and quit harassing my customers, before I yell even louder about the lice shampoo you just might have requested I find for you.”

Doris's mouth opened and closed several times in quick succession
¾
reminding Brynn of the guppies she'd had as a child
¾
before making a growling noise and turning on her heel, apparently unable to think of a retort.  She elbowed her way through the group of gawkers still laughing and whispering about the free show they'd just seen.

“Thanks.”  Brynn smiled at the teen who simply shrugged in response before turning away and leaving her to her shopping, or leaving her to the wolves she thought as she realized with Doris gone, the other shoppers were turning their attention to her.  The crowd had dispersed, but there were still quite a few sets of eyes on her and the whispered barbs were hard to ignore. 

Brynn quickly snatched a box of allergy medication and the few other items she'd come for, reminding herself that once she had enough money this town and all its inhabitants, including what was left of the Good family, would be nothing more than a bad memory.

Relieved to find there was no line at the checkout counter, freeing up the ebony-haired teen for a little question and answer session, she placed her items on the counter, checked the girl's name tag and swooped in.  “So, Riley, I take it you're not a member of the Doris Good fan club?”

“Not quite,” the spunky teen rang up her purchases quickly and efficiently, not making any further effort to carry on the conversation.

“I guess you're not much of a talker.”  Brynn pulled a wad of bills out of her pocket but didn’t hand any of them over.

“Nope.”  The girl looked pointedly at the money.

“That's a shame because I'd really like to know what dirt you have on the Goods.”

“Excuse me?”  Riley blinked.

“You hate the old woman for a reason.”

“Yeah, and?  So do you.”  She smiled devilishly.  “Of course, everybody knows your reason already.”

“Yeah, I know.  I'm the town whore.  Can we get back to you?”

Surprise glinted in Riley’s brown eyes for a nanosecond before she let out a small chuckle.  “I like your attitude, no matter what anyone else 'round here says.  You're pretty cool.  Well, except for letting these idiots run you off.  That was lame.”

“Yeah, I've been told something similar.”  Brynn forced the memory of Adam saying nearly the same thing out of her mind.  “So how is it you know who I am from sight alone?  You can't be old enough to have been in the know when I left here.”

“People talk.  They show pictures.  It also doesn't hurt that the old biddies in here started whispering like crazy when you walked through the door.  The thing about nearly deaf old women is they whisper really loud.”

Brynn nodded her head in agreement as she forked over the money for her purchase.  “So, Doris doesn't care much for you or your sister.”

“I don't give a damn what she thinks about me or my sister.  Rachel was one of the best people she ever knew, she's just too stupid to know it.”  Riley’s statement came out venomous as she snatched the money, quickly making change.

“Rachel?”  Brynn recalled the name from her conversation with Chuck Davis and quickly tried to remember the girl's last name.

Chuck had placed her name on the top of the list of Zeke-enemies he'd emailed her after their meeting at the bar.  “Rachel Wood?”

“Yeah,” Riley’s eyes narrowed.  “How do you know her?”

“Chuck Davis told me about her last night.  He got into a fight with Zeke Good because of her.  What do you mean she
was
one of the best people Doris ever knew?”

“She's been gone for months now.  Chuck should have told you that much.”  Riley handed over the change, and crossed her arms over her meager chest.

“Where'd she go?”  Brynn pocketed the coins.

“She was pregnant and didn't have any money.  I don't think she went anywhere.”

“Then what—”

“I got customers to help, detective.  If you figure out just what happened to my sister, you be sure and let me know.”  She picked Brynn’s bagged purchases up from the counter and shoved them into her hands.

Brynn grabbed the bag, and started to ask the girl just what she was suggesting, but decided against it as a blond woman with a smug grin strolled up to the counter.  The woman tried not to look like she was snooping but failed miserably.  The glare in Riley's eyes wasn't very encouraging either.  Whatever the young girl thought had happened to her sister, she wasn't in the mood for sharing.

Brynn stepped out of the store, turned right and walked the short distance to her old high school.  A burnt circle of grass now adorned the middle of the football field.  She stared at the field where Zeke Good's jersey had recently disintegrated and rehashed everything she'd just learned.

Zeke Good had been having an affair with a young girl named Rachel Wood.  Rachel Wood had gotten pregnant.

Brynn curled her fingers through the chain link fence lining the side of the football field and rested her head against the warm metal.

Doris Good despised the girl and, assumingly, knew she was pregnant with a child who just might have been Zeke's.  Zeke was dead and Rachel was nowhere to be found.

Brynn turned and walked to her parked car, wondering just how far Doris Good would go to protect her sons from women she considered unworthy, and how far a woman scorned would go to seek revenge. 

~~~

“Brynn?  Hey, It's Adam.”

Brynn cringed and nearly dropped her binoculars as the sound of Adam's voice traveled from her cell phone to her ear.  “I know it’s you, Adam.  What is it?”

“Well, we're partners, aren't we?  We haven't spoken this whole day.  Shouldn't we be checking out some leads together?”

Brynn glanced at the time on her car radio and sighed.  She’d barely slept the night before, her day hadn’t started well and now after skipping dinner to trail a man well into the evening, she was tired and cranky.  “I'm busy on another assignment right now.  If anything momentous pops up in Zeke's case I'll let you know.”

“Another assignment?  What other assignment?”

“I'm tracking a possibly cheating spouse for a suspicious wife, not that it's any of your concern.”  She refocused her attention on the scene she’d been observing.  A roomful of guys playing poker. 

“Oh, well that's great.  My brother's killer is still out there and you're out snooping on people who have absolutely nothing to do with his murder or the arsons.”

Brynn rolled her eyes, laid her binoculars on the car seat next to her and took a deep breath.  “First of all, I'm a private detective.  Catching cheating spouses is mainly what I do and what pays most of my bills.  Second, I do have information in your brother's case, but you won't believe anything I say anyway because you're too busy protecting his memory, or your mother's memory of him or whatever.”  She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the headrest.  “I can't work with you when you're too busy working against me and, more importantly, against the truth.”

There was a highly audible sigh on the other end of the phone, and Brynn knew she'd hit yet another one of the man's many exposed nerves. 

“I know he wasn't perfect.  I know…something must have happened to make someone so angry.  I know, all right?  I know.”  To her surprise there was no out lash, no sharp barbs or snide remarks about just how shoddy her own character was.

She straightened back up, hope stirring to life.  “So you'll work with me, not against me?  Not instantly discredit everything you don't want to believe?”

“Yes, Brynn.  That's what I'm saying.  I've thought about it and you're right.  It's just so hard.  I want to defend him.”

Sadness tugged at her heart.  It was good he was starting to see the truth, but the part of her that had done everything in its power to protect him wished he didn’t need to.  “I know, it's human nature to feel that way, which is exactly why, if this were Los Angeles, or anywhere else for that matter, you wouldn't be allowed near this case, but this is Black Bear Gorge and their way of handling things isn't the norm.”

“It's weird hearing you say that.”

“Say what?”  She frowned.

“
Their
way.  Like you're not a part of this town where you grew up.”

“I'm not.”  She sighed, pain twisting her heart.  “Your mother made that abundantly clear when I had the misfortune of running into her today.”

“Tell me you're kidding.”

“Nope.”  She nearly laughed at the fear in his voice.  “I'm sure you'll hear all about it.”

“I'm sure I will too, and I'm sure whatever I'll hear will explain some of the looks I've gotten today.”