Arson in Cherry Hills Read online

  Timothy pulled his hand away from his sister’s and stepped closer. “Can I pet her?”

  “Sure.” Kat glanced at Nikki and hastily added, “If it’s okay with your mom.”

  “She won’t mind,” Carmella piped up, following in her brother’s footsteps.

  The children crouched down on either side of Matty. Their fingers barely grazed Matty’s fur as they bestowed her with a few tentative pats. Matty arched her back, her silent approval for them to continue.

  Apparently Carmella had her mother pegged correctly. Nikki looked in their direction, but she turned away just as quickly, seeming not to care that the kids had defied her order to wait in the car.

  “I don’t understand,” Nikki said to Lonnie. “Somebody set our house on fire? On purpose?”

  Lonnie offered her an apologetic nod. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

  “Who would do such a thing?” Nikki cried.

  Lonnie clapped Andrew on the shoulder. “Detective Milhone here is going to answer that one. He’s with the Cherry Hills Police Department, and he’ll be looking into the arson.”

  Andrew flashed his badge at the Jeffersons. “As soon as I conduct a walk-through with Lonnie, I’ll want to get your thoughts on who might have a grudge against you or your family.”

  “I can save you some time and answer that right now,” Kevin said. “We don’t know anybody who hates us enough to burn down our house.”

  Beside him, Nikki stood as still as a statue. When she realized Andrew was waiting for her response as well, she jerked. “I don’t know anything,” she said.

  The hair at the nape of Kat’s neck tingled. Was it her imagination or was that a guilty flush creeping up Nikki’s neck?

  Lonnie clapped his hands together, prompting Matty to prick her ears. “All right, Detective Milhone. You ready to go in?”

  “Ready when you are,” Andrew replied.

  “How long will you all be?” Kevin asked.

  “We shouldn’t take more than a couple hours,” Lonnie replied. “Regardless, you might want to start looking for other accommodations tonight. The house isn’t in danger of collapsing, but there is some smoke damage.”

  Kevin gave Nikki’s shoulders a squeeze. “You want to go pack up some stuff?”

  Nikki stepped away from him. “No. I don’t have the stomach to go in there right now.” She pivoted sideways and swept her arms toward the minivan. “Kids, say goodbye to the kitty. It’s time to go.”

  Carmella stood up. “Where are we going?”

  “We’ll have to stay at the Cherry Hills Hotel for a while.” Nikki drew in a shaky breath. “At least for the night.”

  “A hotel.” Timothy jumped to his feet and bounded toward the minivan. “Cool!”

  Nikki hung her head as she shuffled after the children. Kat’s heart went out to her. Nikki obviously didn’t think the idea was nearly as cool.

  Matty’s tail twitched as she watched her new friends depart.

  Kat reached down to pet her. “What about you? You ready to head home?”

  In response, Matty began trotting across the yard. Kat tried to guide her toward the sidewalk, but Matty aimed for the blue house instead, making a hard left when she reached the other side of the hedge.

  Kat started to stop her, then she remembered seeing movement back here earlier. Perhaps she could take a quick peek around, just to satisfy her curiosity.

  Hoping the residents wouldn’t give her grief for trespassing, Kat held her breath as Matty led her down the side yard. The hedge only extended a few feet beyond the back of the house, leaving a clear path between their backyard and the Jeffersons’. But there was some overgrowth in this area. If someone wanted to hide here, they could do so very easily.

  Except, no one was anywhere near the hedge. Assuming Kat hadn’t been mistaken, whoever had been here earlier was gone now.

  Kat turned around, anxious to get back onto public property now that her mission was complete. But Matty had other ideas. The tortoiseshell plopped her hindquarters onto the grass and threw her left hind leg into the air as casually as if she owned the place. Then she shoved her foot into her mouth and began licking furiously.

  Kat crouched down beside her. “You get something on your paw, baby?”

  Matty didn’t respond, too busy nibbling her toes.

  Kat leaned closer. Sure enough, she spotted a wad of purple chewing gum stuck to the bottom of Matty’s foot.

  She groaned. “Well, this day just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The articles Kat located online suggested she try anything from baby oil to peanut butter to help dissolve the gum embedded in Matty’s paw. Since she had neither at her apartment, she left Matty to chew on her toes while she headed to the Cherry Hills Food Mart.

  There weren’t many people out for a Saturday afternoon. The usual weekend shoppers had evidently abandoned their household responsibilities in favor of enjoying the sunny weather. Kat couldn’t blame them.

  She grabbed a hand basket and maneuvered to the beauty section. After locating the baby oil, she navigated to the other side of the store. But her mental shopping list disappeared in a poof when she turned down the peanut butter aisle. Nikki Jefferson stood several yards away, her expression blank as she stared at an assortment of jars. She reminded Kat of a zombie.

  Kat cleared her throat to announce her presence. Nikki jumped before blinking her eyes into focus.

  “Hi, Nikki,” Kat greeted. “You might not remember, but I was at your house earlier. We weren’t officially introduced. I’m Kat Harper.”

  “The woman with the cat, I remember.” Nikki’s weak smile only emphasized how washed out her complexion was—a byproduct of her shock, Kat presumed. “Thank you for letting Carmella and Tim play with him.”

  “Her,” Kat corrected. “But you’re welcome. They were very gentle.”

  “They’re good kids. And talented. You should see Carmella dance. She has this grace about her that I never had. She’s amazing to watch. Her movements are so fluid, like she . . .”

  Kat listened with one ear as Nikki lauded Carmella’s dance skills. Talking about her daughter had an instant effect on her demeanor. Her hands had become animated, and some of the color had returned to her cheeks.

  “That’s where we were when the fire happened,” Nikki was saying, “at one of Carmella’s competitions.”

  “Ah.” That explained the girl’s leotard and makeup. “Did she win?”

  “Her team placed second.” Nikki beamed, her voice infused with pride. But her face fell just as quickly. “My poor children, homeless.”

  Kat fiddled with the handles of her shopping basket as tears filled Nikki’s eyes. She wanted to offer her some words of comfort but couldn’t come up with anything less trite than ‘at least no one was hurt’ and ‘good thing most of the house was spared.’

  Nikki swiped at her face with the back of her hand. “Sorry I’m such a wreck.”

  “It’s no problem. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

  “I’ve never felt so . . . displaced.” Nikki fumbled in her purse before pulling out a tiny packet of tissues. She peeled one off the bundle. “All my work is gone, you know. After you left Kevin went inside to look at the damage with Lonnie. My sewing machine, my work for Carmella’s dance troupe, all the materials I had purchased—it’s all ruined.”

  Kat’s chest felt hollow. “I’m so sorry.”

  “The idea that somebody would hate us so much as to burn down our house . . .” Nikki broke off, pressing the tissue to her lips as though to hold back her grief.

  “Do you have any idea who might have done this?” Kat asked as gently as she could.

  Nikki whipped her head from side to side. “No. I don’t know anybody who would do such a thing.”

  Kat rubbed the back of her neck, recalling the sense she had gotten earlier that Nikki was holding something back. She was getting that same sense
now.

  “You’re positive?” she pressed.

  “Well . . .” Nikki tapped her foot on the floor before hunching closer. “I didn’t want to say anything with Kevin around.”

  “Say what? Do you have a suspect in mind?”

  “A suspect.” Nikki frowned. “That sounds so clinical.”

  “Use whatever term you want then, but if you know something, you need to tell someone.”

  “Well, see, I’m not sure if it was him.” Nikki nibbled on her lower lip. “This is so terrible. For me to even think it is so, so horrible. Kevin would be so upset if he knew.”

  Kat stilled. “You think Kevin might have set that fire?”

  “What?” Nikki gasped. “No! Of course not.”

  “But you have an idea who might have.”

  Nikki twisted the tissue in her hands. “I don’t really want to accuse him if he’s not involved.”

  “Accuse who?”

  Nikki swallowed hard before her eyes skidded away. “Walker.”

  “Who’s Walker?”

  “Walker Jefferson.” Nikki practically whispered the name.

  “Jefferson?” Kat’s forehead furrowed. “Is he related to you?”

  “He’s Kevin’s brother.” Nikki played with the tissue for another moment before releasing a long sigh and letting her hands fall to her sides. “He was upset when their parents left Kevin the house.”

  “Are you saying they cut Walker out of an inheritance?”

  “Oh, they didn’t cut him out. They just left the house and the furniture to Kevin. Their money they divided equally.” Nikki dropped her gaze. “Except, there ended up not being much money, after funeral expenses and everything else.”

  “So Kevin basically got everything,” Kat mused aloud.

  “When you put it that way, it does sound pretty bad.” Nikki shoved the wadded-up tissue into her purse. “But it wasn’t Kevin’s fault. And I really don’t think his parents meant it to be a snub. See, Walker has always had a touch of wanderlust. He never settles down in one place for very long. And he’s never shown any interest in marriage or children. He’s a perpetual bachelor, I guess you could say. And in Kevin’s parents’ eyes, that made him irresponsible. I think they feared if they left him half the house, he would convince Kevin to sell, and they wanted it to stay in the family.”

  Whatever the motive of the elder Jeffersons, the mere fact that their sons had received disparate inheritances certainly struck Kat as enough of a reason to look more closely at Walker Jefferson.

  “When Lonnie told me the fire only damaged part of the house, Walker was the first person I thought of.” Nikki shifted her feet, a guilty flush creeping up her neck. “I know that’s a terrible thought to have about your brother-in-law. But the whole thing seemed rather symbolic. Like, maybe he wanted to make a statement by destroying what he thought of as his rightful half.”

  “Where is Walker now?” Kat asked.

  “I don’t know. Last we heard, he lived in Maryland.”

  “So Cherry Hills would be quite a ways for him to travel.”

  “Well, like I said, he tends to roam around a lot. And he hasn’t contacted Kevin since their mother died. That was almost a year ago.” Nikki shrugged. “Who knows where he might be now.”

  “He wouldn’t have called if he moved back to the area?”

  “After the way he railed at Kevin during the reading of their parents’ will?” Nikki grimaced. “I doubt it.”

  “Does Walker think Kevin had something to do with their parents’ decision to leave him the house?”

  Nikki’s fingers danced along the side of her leg. “Honestly, I doubt it. But he was so upset, and Kevin was the only relative alive to take the heat.”

  And take the heat he did, Kat thought. Literally.

  Nikki plucked a jar of peanut butter off the shelf and tossed it into her cart. Her eyes no longer looked dull, and she moved with an airy quality that hadn’t been present before. Her suspicions about Walker had clearly been weighing on her, and confessing to Kat seemed to have improved her spirits.

  Nikki added a squeeze bottle of grape jelly to her items. “That should be enough to keep the kids happy for a few days.”

  Kat surveyed the contents of Nikki’s shopping cart. She hoped Carmella and Timothy liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and prepackaged cookies, because it looked as though that might be the only thing on the menu in the near future.

  Nikki hitched the strap of her purse higher on her shoulder. “I should get going. I still need to stop by the crafts store before I head back to the hotel.”

  “You do crafts?” Kat asked.

  “Well, I’m trying to start a business making customized hair accessories.”

  “Oh, right. The headbands you mentioned earlier.”

  “I also make scrunchies and other types of hair ties. In fact, last month I landed some really good contracts for some of the girls’ sports teams at a few of the local schools. Except with this setback I don’t know if I can deliver. I might have to close up shop before I ever really began.”

  “If you do get back up and running, let me know,” Kat said. “I can always use more scrunchies.”

  “Really?” Nikki sniffled as a teardrop leaked out the side of one eye. “That’s so sweet of you.”

  Kat fidgeted, embarrassed over her role in restarting Nikki’s waterworks. “It’s nothing, really. I wasn’t lying about always needing scrunchies. Matty is constantly destroying mine. She seems to think they’re chew toys.”

  “Oh, my.” Nikki fished another tissue out of her purse. “And she seemed like such a good cat.”

  “Oh, she is, just mischievous.” Kat paused, an idea forming. “You know, if Carmella and Timothy need the distraction, I can always bring Matty by your hotel room for an hour or so.”

  “I’m sure they’d love that.” Nikki smiled as she dabbed at her wet eyes. “Come by anytime. We’re in suite two-twenty.”

  “Maybe I’ll swing by around five,” Kat said. “Does that work for you?”

  “Five would be perfect. The kids will be thrilled.”

  Kat didn’t think Matty would be nearly as thrilled. The feline wasn’t big on leaving the comfort of the apartment unless it meant a chance to explore the outdoors. But what other excuse did Kat have for popping in on the Jefferson family? And, after learning about Walker, she was itching to see them again—or at least, she was itching to see Kevin.

  She wanted to hear firsthand whether Kevin believed his brother to be as capable of arson as Nikki Jefferson obviously did.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  By the time Kat made it home from the grocery store, Matty had already worked most of the gum out of her paw. The tortoiseshell made sure Kat knew what she thought about being left to fend for herself by aiming a dismissive sniff in Kat’s direction when she strolled through the front door. Matty had undoubtedly assumed her human had forgotten about her when what should have been a five-minute errand ballooned into a thirty-minute quest for information.

  Kat tossed her groceries on the coffee table and slumped onto the sofa next to Matty, massaging the feline between the ears to make amends. “Sorry I’m so late. Can you forgive me?”

  Matty didn’t reply, but her other cat, Tom, came running out of the bedroom. The big brown-and-black feline meowed his standard ‘welcome home’ greeting as he rubbed against Kat’s ankles. His enthusiasm upon seeing her again always warmed Kat’s heart.

  “Hey, Tommy boy.” Kat patted her lap, and Tom jumped up to join her. “You missed out on quite an adventure this morning.”

  Tom’s eyes slipped shut as she stroked him. He didn’t seem to mind the fact that he’d been cooped up in the apartment while the rest of the household had been out and about. Tom thought the sole purpose of a harness was to torture unsuspecting animals, and he would much rather stay inside than endure such misery.

  “I’d never been that close to a major fire before today,” Kat told the animals. “It was rather
scary.”

  Tom looked up, giving her a long, measured blink. Matty, on the other hand, yawned and deliberately avoided Kat’s gaze. Kat would presume she was still sulking over being abandoned, except Matty never had been one to hold a grudge. In fact, she wasn’t one to dwell on the past much at all. She had probably already forgotten all about the fire.

  Kat, however, couldn’t stop mulling over it. Right now her thoughts were stuck on what Lonnie had said about gasoline being used as an accelerant. There were only a limited number of places where a person could buy gas. Did it make sense to assume a service station clerk might have taken note of someone filling up something other than a car tank? It certainly seemed like a lead worth investigating.

  She sat up straighter. “You know what? I’m going to go crazy sitting here until five. I need to get out and do some snooping.”

  She slid Tom off her lap, depositing him next to Matty. There was a bit of a skirmish as Tom rested his head against Matty’s back and received a slap for his efforts, but the animals had settled down by the time Kat slipped out the door.

  The closest gas station was an establishment called Fuel ’Er Up. Considering it was about equidistant from her place and the Jeffersons’, it seemed like as good a place as any to start.

  She pulled in, pleased to note only one other car on the property. Without any customers to tend to, the clerk on duty might be more likely to talk.

  She turned off her engine and palmed her keys, making a mental note of her pump number before heading inside. On the way, she scanned the canopy that stretched over the pumps in search of security cameras. She didn’t see any. Neither did she spot any around or inside the building. Evidently the owner didn’t expect to have to deal with much criminal activity here in small-town Central Washington.

  “What can I do for you?” the clerk said, swiveling on her stool as Kat stepped up to the counter. She was around twenty and wore one of the station’s unflattering blue-and-red-striped shirts. But what the shirt lacked in style, the flower barrette in her cocoa-colored hair made up for. With colorful pink and yellow felt petals, it added pizzazz to what would otherwise be an unremarkable ensemble.