Arson in Cherry Hills Read online

  Arson in Cherry Hills

  A Cozy Cat Caper Mystery

  Book 19

  Paige Sleuth

  Copyright © 2017 Marla Bradeen (writing as Paige Sleuth)

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Marla Bradeen.

  This book or portions of it (excluding brief quotations) may not be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher/author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), actual businesses, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If this ebook copy was not purchased by or for you, please purchase your own copy before reading. Thank you for respecting this author’s work.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  OVERDOSED IN CHERRY HILLS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CHAPTER ONE

  “This is nice, huh?” Andrew Milhone said, squeezing Katherine Harper’s hand as they strolled along the sidewalk.

  “It sure is,” Kat agreed. She breathed in the crisp, April air. Sunny but still early enough for there to be a slight chill, it was the perfect morning for a walk.

  Although, she considered, they weren’t walking so much as creeping at a snail’s pace behind Matty. And the curious yellow-and-brown tortoiseshell had made it infinitely clear she wasn’t in any hurry. Every two steps she found something interesting enough to stop and sniff, whether it be a sidewalk crack, a bush, or even a simple blade of grass.

  “I’m glad you suggested this,” Kat said, watching as a bird alighted two yards away. The bird cocked its head and peered at Matty with one beady eye. Matty hunkered lower into the grass, her gray-striped tail cutting back and forth like a scythe. “We should do this more often.”

  Andrew unlaced his fingers from Kat’s and ran his hand through his sandy hair, pushing back the piece that kept falling into his eyes. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

  Kat stilled, his tone putting her on alert. “Oh?”

  “I’m having dinner with somebody tonight.”

  The ground shifted beneath her. “Dinner?”

  “Yeah. She texted me yesterday, asking if we could get together.”

  Alarm bells rang in Kat’s head. She? Although they had never discussed it, Kat had been under the impression she and Andrew were dating exclusively. He had never mentioned an interest in seeing other people during their eight months together. In fact, they had both exchanged ‘I love you’s only a couple months ago. Could he be tired of her already?

  Andrew grabbed her hand and gripped it tight. “Oh, no, it’s not a date.”

  “Okay,” Kat said, although her stomach was still somewhere near her feet.

  “She’s my sister.”

  “Wait.” Kat twisted to face him better. “Your sister is in Cherry Hills? You mean the half-sister you’ve never met and didn’t even know existed until several years ago?”

  Andrew nodded. “She emailed me yesterday asking if we could get together. She flew into Seattle to check out some master’s program at U-Dub, and since we’re only a couple hours east she figured she might as well spend the weekend here.”

  “Huh.” Kat took a moment to process that. “What is she studying?”

  “Psychology. Or maybe it was pharmacy.” He pursed his lips. “Philosophy?”

  Kat laughed, the last of her tension fading away. “So basically you have no clue.”

  “Hey, I was too focused on the fact I’d get to meet her.”

  “Is she staying at your house?”

  “No, Alyssa—that’s her name—booked a room at the Cherry Hills Hotel.”

  “Alyssa,” Kat repeated, turning it over in her head.

  Matty’s nose twitched as the bird finally took off. The feline tracked its progress into the sky, then turned her attention to inspecting the bushes again.

  Andrew kicked a stone on the sidewalk. “Her train to Wenatchee should have gotten in late last night, then she was going to cab it to Cherry Hills. Did I tell you she’s from Boston? I guess people there are used to not driving anywhere. Anyway, she wanted to do lunch today, but I’m on duty until five. But I still want to keep this casual and not turn it into a big Saturday night affair. I was thinking of taking her to Jessie’s. It’s homey, relaxed, nothing unpronounceable on the menu. I don’t want this to feel like a big deal.”

  “Not a big deal, right.” Except, in Kat’s opinion it was a very big deal. And judging by the uncharacteristic way Andrew was babbling on, he obviously thought it was a big deal, too.

  That wasn’t a surprise given their history. Kat and Andrew had both grown up in foster care until they’d graduated high school close to sixteen years ago now. At the time, neither one had any siblings they were aware of. But that didn’t stop Kat from dreaming about a big sister to confide in, someone with whom she could share all her hopes and fears. Sometimes she’d wanted it so badly her yearning had left a physical ache in her gut.

  And now Andrew was living her dream. Well, maybe not exactly, but close enough that she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy.

  But this was about him, not her, she reminded herself.

  “Well,” she said, smiling at him, “I think that sounds nice, even if I was kind of hoping we could get together tonight.”

  She waited for Andrew to invite her to join them for dinner, but apparently her hint had been too subtle. “I’m meeting her right after I get off work,” he said. “I figure we’ll finish supper by eight at the latest. Then maybe you and I could hang out.”

  “You mean like a debriefing.”

  “I suppose you could call it that.”

  Matty had grown bored and was now inching farther down the sidewalk. Kat and Andrew fell into step behind her.

  “Well, sure,” Kat said. “I can do a debriefing. Besides, I’m curious to learn more about this mysterious sister of yours.”

  “Me, too.”

  Kat didn’t miss the quaver in his voice. She set her leash-free hand on his arm and stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. “She’s going to love you.”

  He gazed into her eyes. “You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  He grinned, twin dimples appearing on opposite sides of his mouth. He pressed his lips against hers, but the kiss only lasted a second before Kat felt the leash pull against her fingers.

  She sighed and refocused her attention on Matty. The tortoiseshell had her nose tilted up, her whiskers twitching as though she smelled something. A bird or a dog was probably nearby, Kat figured.

  She likely would have stuck with that assumption if she hadn’t caught a whiff of something herself at that exact moment.

  She wrinkled her nose. “Do you smell smoke?”

  Alarm flashed in Andrew’s eyes. “Something’s burning over there.”

  Kat pivoted around, her heart lodging in her throat when she spied thick wisps of black ash rising into the air. It seemed to be coming from only a few blocks away—and it looked a lot more serious than a backyard barbecue gone wrong.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Arson,” the fire inspector who had introduced himself as Lonnie said.

  Andrew frowned. “You sure?”

  “
I still need to conduct a thorough inspection, but at first glance it’s pretty clear we’re looking at gasoline as our main accelerant. Someone dumped a hearty portion of it in the den.”

  “Just the den?” Kat asked.

  “That’s what it looks like,” Lonnie said. “Luckily the fire only spread to the dining room before we doused it.”

  Matty squirmed in Kat’s arms, but Kat held firm. This neighborhood was a few blocks beyond where she would normally take Matty, and she didn’t feel comfortable setting the animal down yet, even if she was on a leash. She was still shaken after witnessing all the commotion that went along with wrestling a fire under control. From the firefighters running around shouting commands at each other, to the growing crowd yakking in the street, her ears hadn’t stopped ringing yet.

  She hugged Matty to her chest. “Was anybody inside?” She hadn’t seen the firefighters carrying anyone out, but if someone had perished in the flames, the body might have been left in place until the medical examiner arrived.

  “Nope,” Lonnie said, “no casualties. Lucky for the Jeffersons, they’re out and about this morning.”

  Kat wasn’t sure how lucky that was. Perhaps if the family had been home the arsonist wouldn’t have targeted their house.

  “What about pets?” Andrew asked.

  Lonnie shook his head. “No sign of any pets.”

  Kat breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”

  “’Course, the garage window was shattered,” Lonnie continued. “Could be a cat or something escaped outside if there was one. But I didn’t see any food bowls or other signs of an animal living here.”

  Andrew glanced at the garage. “You said a window was broken?”

  “Yep. Come and have a look.”

  Lonnie led them around to the side of the house. The yard wasn’t very wide in this area. The dense, five-foot-high privacy hedge that demarcated the property line took up most of the available space. Through the thick foliage, Kat could barely make out the house next door, despite how it had been painted a dazzling, azure blue.

  Lonnie aimed his finger at the lone window built into the side of the garage. “See how this top pane was smashed in? Looks like someone reached through there to unlock the latch. After that, access to the house would have been a snap. That door inside leads straight into the kitchen.”

  Andrew looked at the hedge. “I can see why they chose this window. Nice, isolated spot. You’d be nearly invisible here unless someone happened down the street at the exact right time.”

  “Yeah, good luck finding a witness.” Lonnie paused. “Forgive me, but other than some harmless mischief here and there, arson is something I’ve never encountered during my thirty years in Cherry Hills. Am I correct to assume CHPD will be handling the criminal portion of the investigation?”

  “I’ll verify with the chief, but that sounds reasonable,” Andrew said.

  Kat stroked Matty as she eyed the people gathered in the street. The crowd had doubled in size in the past few minutes, word of the fire clearly having spread throughout the neighborhood. A young woman who couldn’t be older than twenty fiddled with her hair, her eyes trained on Lonnie and Andrew as they conferred about the broken window. Next to her stood an older woman who whispered in her ear while pointing in their direction. Unfortunately, Kat doubted either of them had been paying such close attention to this spot when the arsonist had struck.

  Lonnie held a plastic baggie out to Andrew. “You might want this. I recovered it from the dining room floor.”

  Kat peered over Andrew’s shoulder as he took possession of the bag, catching a flash of white and what looked to be a scratched-up friction strip inside the plastic. “Is that a matchbook?”

  “Sure is,” Lonnie replied. “Judging from where I found it, I’m banking whoever did this dropped it in their haste to get out before the flames cut off an exit path.”

  “There’s no logo on here,” Andrew commented, turning the bag over in his hands. “That’s going to make it more difficult to track down.”

  Lonnie chuckled. “Good thing that’s your job and not mine.” He rolled back on the balls of his feet. “You want me to take you through the inside? The place is structurally safe, so it’s in no danger of collapsing.”

  “That would be appreciated,” Andrew said.

  Lonnie waved him toward the front yard. “Let’s get you some protective gear and have at it then.”

  Andrew touched Kat’s elbow. “Sorry to leave you like this.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “You go do your job.”

  He planted a quick kiss on her cheek and scratched the top of Matty’s head. “I’ll catch up with you tonight, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  But before Andrew could get anywhere, a gray minivan came honking down the street. The crowd parted to let it through. When it came to a stop by the curb, a slightly overweight woman with shoulder-length ash-brown hair jumped out of the passenger seat.

  “What’s going on?” she yelled, running toward them.

  Lonnie stepped in front of her, his arms spread wide. “Nikki, you’re going to have to stay back.”

  “Why?” She pressed her fists to her mouth, her eyes swinging from the giant monstrosity of a firetruck parked on her front lawn to her house. “Oh, no. Please, no.”

  She lurched forward, looking as though she might topple onto the driveway. Lonnie grabbed her arm before she hit the concrete.

  “Take it easy,” he said, steadying her with both hands.

  “Nik!” A tall, lean man dashed over from the minivan and wrapped one arm around Nikki’s waist. “Deep breath, hon. I’ve got you.” He blew his chestnut-colored hair out of his eyes and peered at Lonnie. “What’s with all the people?”

  Lonnie let go of Nikki and folded his hands in front of him. “Fire, Kevin. I’m sorry. We did what we could, but there’s still some damage. Most of the den is pretty well gone.”

  Nikki’s eyes widened. “All my headbands? Gone?”

  Lonnie screwed up his face. “Headbands?”

  “The stuff I was working on for Carmella’s dance troupe. I’m customizing their hair accessories. That’s my business, you know. I was almost done with the ones for the routine they’ve been practicing.” A strangled sound emerged from Nikki’s throat. “This will set me back a month. I’ll end up missing my deadlines for the school contracts. Who will want to work with me then?”

  Lonnie bowed his head. “Sorry, Nik.”

  Nikki sucked in a breath. “Our memories.” She clawed at Kevin’s arm, as though she were desperate to get a better hold on him. “Our photos, the kids’ photos—” She choked back a sob. “I kept them all in the den.”

  Kevin patted her back. “I know, hon.”

  She looked at him with wide, pleading eyes. “Do you think they’re okay?”

  “I don’t know. The important thing is we’re all safe.”

  “Dad!” A young girl who Kat put at around ten years old exited from the back of the minivan. She was dressed in a purple leotard and gold tights, her face fully made up. But the most striking part of her appearance was the sparkly gold headband holding her brown hair back. It made her eyes shine.

  “Hey, wait for me!” A boy who looked to be a few years younger than the girl exploded from the minivan like a bullet. He sprinted toward them with all the speed and enthusiasm of a puppy.

  The girl surveyed the activity before her eyes locked with Kevin’s. “What’s up?”

  “Yeah, Dad, what’s up?” the boy singsonged, latching onto Kevin’s thigh. His hair was the exact same shade as his father’s. “Did our house burn up?” He jumped up and down as he said the words, looking more excited than devastated by the prospect.

  Kevin draped his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Some of it, yeah.”

  “Cool.”

  Nikki spun toward him, her brows knitted together. “Timothy James, it most certainly is not cool.”

  Together, the four of them looked like
the archetypal all-American family. Father, mother, and a boy and girl to round things out. All that was missing was the white picket fence.

  The thought of fences drew Kat’s gaze back to the privacy hedge. She gave a start when some of the leaves seemed to shift. Was someone back there? She stared at the spot for another moment before shaking her head. It had probably just been a bird.

  “Carmella.” Kevin rotated the boy around and gave him a gentle nudge in the girl’s direction. “Take your brother back to the car, will you?”

  The girl didn’t move, a defiant look on her face. “Why?”

  “Because I said so.”

  Watching father and daughter stare each other down, the picture of the all-American family cracked a little. At least four-legged kids couldn’t talk back, Kat thought, dropping a kiss onto Matty’s head.

  But Matty wasn’t in the mood for kisses. She squirmed, using her paws to push Kat’s arms away. When she didn’t give up after several seconds, Kat relented and set her in the grass.

  “How did this happen?” Nikki moaned, tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared at the house.

  “I must have left the oven on after taking those blueberry muffins out this morning,” Kevin said.

  Lonnie shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault, Kevin. Or yours, Nik. This is a pretty clear case of arson.”

  Nikki gasped. “Arson?”

  “Somebody poured gasoline in the den,” Lonnie informed her. “The fire spread from there into the dining area, but the flames didn’t quite reach the kitchen. And the rest of the house is intact.”

  Timothy grinned. “Cool.”

  Nikki skewered him with a glare that had him retreating a few steps.

  Carmella took his hand in hers. “Let’s sit in the car, okay, Tim?”

  “Okay.” But before Timothy made it more than two steps, he caught sight of Matty. He stopped in his tracks, his eyes landing on Kat. “Hey, is that your cat?”

  “She is,” Kat replied. “Her name’s Matty.”

  “And you walk her on a leash?” He grinned, exposing a few gaps where his baby teeth had fallen out. “That’s way cool.”

  Kat returned his smile, finding it infectious. “Thank you. She likes it outside, and it’s the only way to make sure she doesn’t run into the street.”