Framed to Death (A Faith Hunter Scrap This Mystery Book 4) (21 page)

“You two stay here while I sort this out. Last thing you guys want is to get caught by the man trying to set one, or both of you, up for murder.”

TWENTY-SIX

My nerves were raw by the time I made my way through the slow traffic and reached Polished. I hoped Hannah was still there and didn’t find the hang-up call I’d made too unnerving. I didn’t want her to know I was coming. What was I going to do if Daniel was there? I fingered my phone, wishing Ted would’ve picked up. He needed to get a cell he’d answer even when on duty. For all I knew, he had one and hadn’t given me the number. I mulled over calling the station but if Mitchell was on duty, he was more likely to arrest me and tip Daniel off at the same time. Daniel would be out of Eden, and likely the country, before I’d get Mitchell to trust me.

I slowly drove past Polished. Through the windows, I watched Hannah and Charlotte clean, and a conversation began playing in my head. Charlotte had said she was going to the game tonight. What made her change her mind?

I decided on parallel parking in front of Scrap This so people saw my car. I opened the console between the driver and passenger seat and pulled out the report Mrs. Barlow made about the fire calls, along with her chart of who went in what vehicle. The last person on the majority of calls was Daniel Burke, the volunteer who lived closest to the station. Granted, the man probably didn’t hang around his house all night, but why was he consistently the last one to show up at the station when there was an out-of-control bonfire? Every other type of call, Daniel was the first one at the station.

I called Ted again. Still no answer. His voicemail clicked on. “It’s Daniel Burke.” It was the shortest message I ever left Ted.

While I wanted Dawn and Andrew out of my way, I also wanted them safe. I couldn’t rely on Andrew saving himself and Dawn if trouble showed up there. The only person I could count on right now was Karen. She had a vested interest in this, and wanted solid proof her cousin had nothing to do with Chad Carr’s death.

Karen answered on the second ring. “Mrs. Barlow told me you chatted with her, then took off like Dianne was handing out free baked goods and coffee.”

“I got a text from Dawn about going after evidence.” I quickly explained the outcome of that situation.

“I’ll head over there and interview them,” she said. “Be careful.”

“The volunteer fire squad always attends the game in case anything happens. I figure I’m good for a couple of hours,” I said.

Charlotte tapped on my window.

“Have to go.” I ended the call and rolled down the window.

“Did you break down or run out of gas?” Charlotte asked. “You’ve never parked out front before.”

“I need to talk to Hannah.”

The smile slipped from her face. She cast a look over at her store, wrapping her arms around herself. “How about we talk in Scrap This? It’s a little chilly out here.”

“It’s important I speak with her.”

“You have to get through me to talk with Hannah.” Charlotte opened the car door.

“Okay.” I knew my voice sounded hesitant. I wasn’t quite sure why Charlotte wanted privacy; I hoped the trust I placed in my friend wasn’t my downfall. I unlocked the door to Scrap This and entered, with Charlotte tagging along behind me. After she was inside, I locked the door. No sense taking any chances on unwanted visitors.

“Hannah wasn’t with Brandon and Felicity the night Chad Carr died. She was with Daniel Burke.” I wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter.

“No, she wasn’t.”

“Yes, she was. Hannah told me.”

“Hannah lied.”

“What?” This twist was making my head hurt. “Why would she lie? She told me you’d kill Daniel if you knew she snuck out to see him.”

“Felicity texted me that Hannah had snuck into Brandon’s room through the window.”

“How do you know Brandon didn’t text you on his mom’s phone? Maybe he was covering for his best friend.”

Anger flashed in her eyes. “My daughter wasn’t with Daniel that night. Felicity didn’t like leaving Brandon alone. She wanted to know if it was all right if Hannah just stayed there with him because she had an errand to run.”

“The errand being getting evidence from Made With Love.”

“Yes.”

“And the kids followed her there?”

Charlotte sighed. “Yes.”

Daniel Burke had been the last one at the fire. Hannah lied to me to give Daniel an alibi.

Charlotte looked around the store, a confused look on her face. She sniffed a couple of times. The smell of smoke wafted toward me. Where was it coming from?

I rushed into our employee lounge to check if someone left something in the toaster oven. While the smell still lingered in the air, it wasn’t as strong. The smoke wasn’t coming from Scrap This.

Polished. I ran for the front door, finding it open and Charlotte gone. Smoke billowed from the nail salon, an orange glow snapping from inside the building. Charlotte ran into her store.

I dialed 911 and told the dispatcher about the fire.

“Stay on the line please,” the pleasant voice said.

“Can’t. Two people are inside.”

I grabbed a scarf from my backseat, tying it around my mouth and nose, looking more like an ill-suited attempt at a bank robbery than a rescue. I wasn’t sure how much smoke the sheer material would block, but it was better than nothing. I gingerly reached for the doorknob of Polished. It wasn’t too hot.

Why hadn’t Hannah come out herself? Or Charlotte with her?

After drawing in a few breaths of clean air, I pushed the door open and went inside. A gasoline smell almost overpowered me and forced me to retreat outside. Fighting the instinct, I continued forward, squinting through the haziness of the smoke. Slumped over in one of the pedicure chairs was Charlotte, her head lolling to the side.

Something heavy struck my shoulder and the side of my neck. I screamed and pitched forward. Shooting my hands out, I broke my fall for a moment before I found myself facedown on the ground. A throb worked its way from my shoulder blades down to my wrists. I started to roll over, but a foot pressed into my back, keeping my face pressed to the floor. The scarf was untied. The smoke burned my lungs.

“I hate that it’s come to this.” Remorse filled Daniel Burke’s voice.

I eased my head a few inches from the ceramic floor and twisted my neck to the side. Pain arced down my spine.

He cradled a two by four in his arms. He spread his arms apart and the wood struck the small of my back, then he tipped over a metal shelving unit.

I covered my head as shampoo and conditioner rained down on me. Heavy bottles struck my arms and the unprotected parts of my head. Smoke and pain made tears course down my face. Where was Hannah?

I looked around the room as best I could. Two gas cans were near Charlotte, along with a box of matches. Small flames leapt past the lip of a metal trashcan.

“It won’t work,” I choked out. The police and fire department should arrive soon. I had to stall Daniel from unleashing the inferno he planned.

“Simple plans always work.” Daniel’s form entered into the mist.

“Then why do I know you killed Chad Carr and Charlie Powell?”

“I didn’t plan those,” Daniel’s disembodied voice reached me. “They gave me no choice. Chad said he’d tell the police about my side job helping failing businesses if I told them he sold Janie to the kids.”

“You mean arson for hire.”

“I was using my skills to help people. Not like Chad. He told me he wanted to start a new life and stop dealing. Chad lied. He was going to keep selling Janie. I had to stop him. And Powell…well, he had it almost figured out.”

“Talk to Ted. He’ll help you.” I tried to roll over, but pain arcing down my back left me immobile. Daniel poured gas onto the ground. I struggled harder. There wasn’t much time to get free. I hadn’t heard a sound from Charlotte. Had he killed her?

“You both know too much.” Daniel walked away.

Both. He didn’t know Hannah was in the building. I pushed and twisted with all my strength, ignoring the pain rocketing through my body. The metal shelf slipped from my legs. The good thing about the constant pain was it made me numb to it.

I had to find Hannah. Get her out of here.

Daniel returned wearing an oxygen mask, a small tank worn on his back. He dropped Charlotte beside me. He lit a match, flicking it toward the pedicure area. Flames crackled to life.

“Hannah. She’s here.” The words wobbled from my throat. I wasn’t sure if it was pain, smoke, or the soul-crushing truth that I was about to die that made me sound so pitiful and hopeless.

Daniel turned. “No, she’s not.”

Flames danced up the walls.

“I saw her. It’s why Charlotte wanted to talk at Scrap This.”

Daniel swallowed hard, horror passing over his features. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not. You’re going to kill her too.”

Hannah crept up on Daniel, a broom clutched tightly in her hand. She swung it at his head. “No one hurts my mom!”

Daniel blocked the blow, sending the broom straight into a gas can. It tipped over, spreading toward the controlled fire.

“Hannah, run.” All I wanted with every fiber of my being was to know Hannah was safe. Smoke filled my lungs. I coughed and inched out from under the board, heading for Hannah.

The building creaked and groaned. Plaster flaked from the ceiling. Snapping came from above my head. Beams and tiles bowed toward us, one of them directly above Hannah. I scrambled forward, desperate to reach her. “Hannah, the ceiling!”

Daniel braced his body over Hannah as tiles slipped from the metal grates above, raining down on them. Hannah reached for her mom. The gray smoke turned black. The crackling of the fire morphed into a roar.

Daniel rose to his feet, heading toward me. We were all going to die in here, unless I got us out of the impending inferno. I grabbed a piece of beam and heaved it at his head. It connected with a thwack, and he slumped forward.

I crawled toward Hannah and Charlotte, ignoring the spasms clenching my back. Quickly, I searched Daniel, figuring he brought something to help himself that I could use for us. I pulled out a small pack from his pocket. Fire blanket. I ripped it open, draping the thin silver blanket around Hannah and Charlotte.

“Keep it around you,” I said. “It’ll protect you from the flames.”

“My mom isn’t moving.” Coughs and gasps stole Hannah’s breath. “We’re going to die.”

“No, we won’t. I’ll help you bring her out. Make sure the blanket stays over her.”

“Daniel?” Hannah caressed the man’s cheek, grief and uncertainty contorting her features.

“Once you and your mom are safe, I’ll help him.” I didn’t want to kill Daniel, even though I put him out of commission for the time being.

Hannah placed an arm around her unconscious mom’s waist, wiggling her from the debris.

Moaning, Daniel’s hand inched toward Hannah’s wrist.

I hit his hand. “Don’t touch her.”

Daniel took off the mask and placed it on Hannah’s mouth and nose, slipping off the straps from the oxygen tank.

The door started to open.

“No!” Daniel screamed, gathering us toward him. The air whooshed into the building, churning up the flames.

Hannah curled her body into a tight ball, gasping for air. I held her against me. Daniel drew us further underneath his body, rearranging the fire blanket around us.

“I never wanted this,” he whispered into my ear. “I wanted to protect Hannah. Chad almost killed her best friend. He could’ve killed her next time. Save Hannah. I’ll get Charlotte.” Daniel lumbered unsteadily to his feet.

A figure crawled toward us. I squinted. Andrew. “It’s time to go, Hannah.” I pushed and prodded the sobbing girl toward the rescuer. Andrew clasped her wrists. He inched backwards, Hannah disappearing from my view.

The smoke grew heavier. I didn’t know how we’d ever find our way out the door.

Daniel picked Charlotte up and placed her in a rolling chair. Her body pitched forward. “Hold her. Roll her out.”

I kept one hand on the back of the chair and the other around Charlotte.

Andrew had returned, and now pushed and shoved items out of my way, making our path clear. Daniel snagged a fire extinguisher and squirted it in our direction. The flames leapt behind him.

The moment I stepped into the fresh air, water smacked me in the face, taking the little breath I had away. Screaming sirens bore down on us. They would save Daniel. He didn’t need to die. A wheel of the chair hit the groove at the front door. Charlotte tumbled out, and I took a nosedive over the chair, knocking the remaining breath out of me.

People ran toward us. I scrubbed at my eyes. Smoke and tears made everything blurry. Strong arms effortlessly lifted me up. Feet pounded away from the building, away from Daniel.

I saw Hannah with Dawn. Where was Andrew?

I struggled to free my legs. “Daniel’s in there. And Andrew. He saved us.”

“You ain’t in any condition to get either of them out, Faith.” Wyatt deposited me into the backseat of a car. “You got her, Ma?”

“She ain’t going nowhere, baby boy.”

Wayne tenderly carried Charlotte toward an ambulance pulling to a stop.

Wyatt, without any fire protection, headed straight for Polished.

“Mommy!” Hannah’s wail hit me in the heart.

Karen and Andrew were using the Buford’s plumbing hose to fight the fire. The fire trucks started pulling in. Chief Ridley jumped out of the ladder truck and stared at his son-in-law for a few moments. Ridley motioned to his crew. “Help them out!”

The volunteer fire department members gathered around the unlikely pairing of Karen and Andrew, training their hoses onto the flames threatening to destroy the whole shopping complex.

The flames danced from the roof of Polished over to Scrap This, then sashayed over to Home Brewed. A ladder truck from a neighboring town pulled in, sirens and lights going full force. Cars pulled into the lot. It looked like half the residents showed up at the fire from the game. Squad cars pulled into the parking lot.

“Is Scrap This locked?” Gussie asked.

“The front door is open.”

“You stay here.”

I knew what Gussie had planned. She was going to save some merchandise so my grandmothers weren’t financially ruined. I stood on unsteady legs.

“I’m helping too.”

Gussie looked ready to argue then nodded. “Let’s go.”

We ran for the building.

“What are you crazy women doing?” Ted’s desperate voice called out to us.

We ignored him and continued with our mission. People formed a chain in front of Scrap This and Home Brewed, waiting for the flow of items.

The neighboring town’s fire engine trained their water on Scrap This, while another town’s ladder truck arrived and aimed their hoses at Home Brewed.

Buses pulled to a stop at the end of the parking lot. Both football teams and sets of coaches charged out of the buses.

“Get the large items, but if Chief Ridley says git, you git. Got it?” Coach Rutherford said.

“Yes, Coach!” the boys responded in unison.

The other team pulled out blankets and bottled water from their bus and set up a makeshift shelter. One teen walked over to Hannah and draped a blanket around her shoulders.

Quickly, products and tables came out of Scrap This.

“The game,” I said.

“Community first, football second,” Coach Rutherford said. “What’s the point of being a winning team if the town we represent is destroyed in the process?”