Blaze Read online

  “Well, I would,” she said, “but I’m not so sure he’ll care.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because he’s seventy-five,” she said. “And he’s been considering selling the place, but, at the moment, it’s pretty much his pension.”

  “Interesting,” Blaze said.

  “Or you could buy it,” she said with a cheeky grin. “And then I can rent it from you.”

  “You probably only rent it a few weekends a year,” he scoffed. “Under your current theory, what would I do with it the rest of the time?”

  “The community college rents it for classes,” she said, “everything from painting to music to English lit readings. I’ve often thought about buying it, but I just don’t really want more businesses to handle.”

  “You’ll need a business manager if you get into too much more.”

  Things got busy really quickly as the florist arrived, opening up the rear door of her van, and the flowers were collected, placed in the back, and she took off again, and she was no sooner gone than the landlord showed up.

  He got out of his truck, took one look at the glass and frowned. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had any damage like this,” he announced. “It’s hardly worth notifying my insurance company.”

  “If you know somebody who can do glass work,” Blaze stepped in, “the pieces of glass can be removed from the frame and just a new pane put in.”

  “But they can’t do that while the frame is in there, can they?”

  “In theory, they might be able to. It depends what tools they have.”

  The landlord reached out a hand. “I’m Donnie. Who are you?”

  Blaze smiled, introduced himself and said, “I’m Dex’s son.”

  “That makes you Enid’s boy,” he said with a big grin. “You’re a fine sight for sore eyes.”

  “Thank you,” Blaze said. “I know my dad’s happy to see me.”

  “You were sidelined in the military for a medical discharge, weren’t you? Didn’t I hear something about that?”

  Aware of Camilla’s sudden look, he nodded. “Yes, things went wrong on a mission. It took a couple years to get back on my feet.”

  “I bet,” Donnie said. “Glad to have you home though. Have you figured out what you’ll do while you’re here?”

  “Nope, not a clue,” he said with a grin. “Now back to this glass.”

  “Yeah, Scottie’s Glass. He fixes all kinds of things, including windshields. He’s an auto glass guy, but, in a small town like this, you know, one has to do what one can, so he tends to do windows too. He could order me a new window but …”

  “Well, we can certainly clean up all the shattered glass, but then it leaves an open pane,” Blaze said. “It’s a hot summer day. Maybe that would be okay for a day or two. The other thing is, if Scottie came and took a look at it, got some measurements, he probably could fit it with a new piece of glass in the morning.”

  “Maybe. I’ll give him a shout,” Donnie said, muttering. He walked back to his truck and pulled out something, and he searched through what looked like an address book.

  Camilla whispered, “He’s old-school.”

  “That’s all right,” Blaze said. “People move forward in technology at their own speed. And, if they don’t ever make it, they don’t ever make it.” She looked at him in surprise, and he just smiled. “I have great respect for the elderly.”

  “Good,” she said. “Very few do.”

  He looked around and said, “So does anybody call the law over this? You called the florist and the landlord, but does anybody call the police?”

  “What’s the point?” Donnie asked. “I’ll stop by and tell them somebody threw a rock through the window, and he’ll write up an incident report, but we don’t have any suspects, and they’re long gone now.”

  “True,” Blaze said. He motioned at the footprints in the lawn. “There are footprints around.”

  “Yep, but we’ve all walked through here by now,” Camilla said, “and I’m sure Lizzie’s bridal party did too.”

  Blaze nodded. “Too bad if they did because some of these prints would help identify the suspect.”

  “You still need a suspect to match them up to,” Donnie said. “Scott’s coming and taking a close look in the morning. He does have glass, and he might be able to fit one in.”

  “Perfect,” Camilla cried out. “I do love to hear that. That’s the thing about small towns. Everybody tends to help each other.”

  Blaze wondered about that because somebody from a small town had done the opposite—but why?

  Donnie turned back to Camilla and said, “Hopefully this should be done before your deal on Sunday.”

  “Right,” she said. “It needs to be. The bride is already pretty upset.”

  “Did you ever check that the kitchen dishwasher was working?”

  Her face fell. “No, I never did.”

  Blaze followed along behind them, his gaze looking at the huge space. It had been partially set up for the wedding rehearsal, but a lot of the tables and chairs were still in place for general usage. In the back was a large kitchen with two fridges and a couple stoves. “Do you rent this out for any type of event?”

  “We’ve had everything from pet grooming classes to cooking classes in here,” Donnie said. “There aren’t many spaces like it. And, as Camilla here knows, since she arranges the only conventions in town, this is the largest space available.”

  “It is, indeed,” she said. She marched to the dishwasher, played with the knobs and then turned it on. Immediately they could hear water running through it. She switched through several different cycles and then opened it. “It looks like it’s working,” she said. “Did you get somebody in here?”

  Donnie nodded. “But they didn’t send me an invoice, so I wasn’t sure if he’d done any work or not.” He stared at the dishwasher critically. “It doesn’t have too many more years in it.”

  “As long as it doesn’t die on one of the days I’ve got it rented,” Camilla said, chuckling.

  At that, he just sighed. “Another expense,” he muttered.

  “But one that makes you money,” Blaze said, his voice quiet.

  Donnie nodded but didn’t say anything else.

  They headed to the front, and Donnie locked the door. He walked to his truck and got in, gave them a light honk and drove away.

  Camilla smiled up at Blaze. “I really did enjoy dinner, so thank you. Now I’m taking the leftovers and that remaining bottle of wine and going home. I need a good night’s sleep. I have all of the table prep to do for Lizzie’s reception.” At his blank look, she just shrugged and said, “Have you ever been to a wedding?”

  He nodded. “Several of my friends.”

  “Were there like candles and flowers and ornaments on all the tables?”

  “Yeah, all kinds of stuff,” he said, “especially the front table where the wedding party sat.”

  “Exactly,” she said emphatically. “So I’ll make sure all those table toppings get made tomorrow.” She hopped in her Mustang and said, “Goodbye,” and she took off.

  He stood here for a long moment, his hands thrust into his pockets, wondering how he suddenly found himself all alone on a Friday night. He certainly hadn’t expected to take her home. But he hadn’t expected such a quick end to their night together. He looked around the parking lot, wondering if there were any cameras. He should have asked Donnie when he was here. But, from what Blaze could see, there weren’t any. Nor any security. In a big city that would never be allowed. Without security, the buildings would be covered in graffiti, and that cost a small fortune to clean up. He still didn’t understand why this building would have been targeted. He walked the perimeter again, surveying the area and the building itself.

  There wasn’t anything to really see, but it made him wonder. The center was the only place on the block, so it wasn’t like the rock-throwing was a random act. Somebody was here, walking down the street, and decided to br
eak a window—or the music or laughter or sounds of happy people had triggered an odd reaction, and the hoodlum decided to disrupt the wedding festivities. And that was possible too.

  It was dark, but Blaze wondered about the shepherd, and, since he wasn’t quite ready to go home, he got in his truck, drove to where he’d last left the food. It was gone. Good, he thought. He placed more food in the same spot and sat down on the ground, calling out to her. “Easy, girl. Come on. Isn’t it time to just come home? I won’t hurt you. I know you’ve had a pretty rough life.”

  He could hear the bush crackling off to the right, but he didn’t move. He just kept calling her in that same soft voice.

  Eventually he let his voice die away, and he sat here, leaning against the tree. Darkness settled in, and he sniffed the air. Just like she knew he was close by, he could smell her too. “I’d really rather you came and said hi,” he said. “I don’t intend to hurt you.”

  When he opened his eyes, golden eyes stared at him. He smiled. “Hello there.”

  The dog took one step forward, but, when a vehicle drove down the road, she bolted. Slowly Blaze climbed to his feet, knowing it was the end of that for the night. The vehicle had scared off Solo and had scared her off good. It was time for him to go home too.

  Still, she’d approached him, and that made his efforts all worthwhile.

  Chapter 6

  When Camilla woke the next morning, she checked her watch and groaned. It was only six a.m. She never woke this early. She lay in bed, realizing something had woken her. An odd howl drifted her way. She slowly sat up and walked over to the window. She could see someone fleeing in the distance, but they were too far away to see who it was. From her window she couldn’t see much but she swore she saw a dog slink into the trees… but as she peered closer she had to wonder if she’d mistaken it.

  Not liking this, she pulled on a bathrobe and stepped into slippers and cautiously walked downstairs. Her mom and sisters would be screaming at her for not calling the cops first, but, if somebody was running away from her house, she couldn’t imagine what she would find downstairs.

  As she arrived in the kitchen, she groaned to see one pane of her French doors shattered by a rock. One rock, and it was still inside on her kitchen tile floor. Her house had a Mediterranean flavor with all orange-gold tiles on the floors and its high ceilings. It had been her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother had loved spending most of her life in Italy with her many lovers, and, when she retired, she decided to bring that same flavor back home with her.

  Camilla stared at the rock, wondering why and how somebody had gotten in her yard. She had a gate across the driveway, so they hadn’t driven in. On that note, she finally found her feet and raced to the front door, flinging it open. But she’d missed seeing the vehicle, was too late, or there hadn’t been one, because the front gates were visible and nothing was parked outside them. She thought about where she’d seen the intruder running to—off in an angle to the side of her backyard where the cedar hedges were. Although she had partial fencing, the cedars did a good job of keeping the unfenced part enclosed. But she had noticed a couple hollows showing up. The last thing she wanted to deal with right now in the middle of wedding weekend was the expense of trying to fence the rest of her backyard—but also because it would mean likely uprooting the cedars there.

  She slowly moved back into the kitchen, wondering what she was supposed to do. Obviously she would talk to Scott. This was a little more serious than the window at the center—that broken pane had been high up; this one was level with her door handle; plus this was her home, not some rented center. And this was also much more directed at her. Finally she called the sheriff, not wanting to wake him, but, at the same time, she didn’t want to deal with this alone.

  “What’s the matter, Camilla?” The sheriff’s rough voice came on the phone.

  “Somebody just threw a rock through my French door,” she said. “The kitchen floor is covered in glass.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah,” she said, her voice quiet. “And I don’t know if Donnie called you or not, but somebody threw a rock through the rec center last night too.”

  “Same person?” he asked, but at least he sounded more awake.

  “I have no clue. I did see somebody dressed all in black running off my property, but I couldn’t possibly give you a description except tall, thin and wearing all black. I didn’t see any vehicle. Why would somebody do this?” she snapped. “Like I need this headache.”

  “Of course you don’t,” he said in a soothing voice. “Did you piss anybody off lately?”

  “No more than usual,” she said, running her fingers through her hair. “And there’s not enough coffee in the world to make me look at this and feel good about it.”

  “I’ll get dressed and put on some coffee myself,” he said, “and then I’ll come on over.”

  “Fine,” she said and hung up. She tossed her phone on the counter, wondering why the security alarm hadn’t gone off. And then realized she’d been so tired last night that she hadn’t set it. She knew she wouldn’t forget it again. She put on coffee, and her phone rang.

  “Are you all right?” Blaze’s voice came through the phone loud and clear.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked. “You precognitive now?”

  There was silence on the end of the phone. “No,” he said, “my dad was just talking to the sheriff. And apparently your place got broken into?”

  “That’s an exaggeration. Somebody threw a rock through the French door. I thought for sure my alarms would have gone off, but I forgot to set them.”

  She could feel the disapproving silence on the other end. She frowned at her phone. “You can’t tell me off. I’m already telling myself off,” she said crossly. “One of us is enough.” And she hung up her phone. She needed coffee before she dealt with anybody else, so, if anybody called now, that was too bad—she wasn’t answering. As soon as she had coffee dripping and she could smell the aroma, she felt a little calmer. But her mind raced with questions as to why. And who?

  Finally she poured herself a cup and headed out to the front where she sat down on the porch bench. She had already opened the gate, figuring the sheriff would be here soon. Instead, a big black truck she recognized arrived. She stood, shaking her head, only now realizing she hadn’t even gotten dressed.

  Blaze hopped out. “Are you okay?”

  She raised both hands in frustration. “Outside of being pissed, yes, of course I am. Go ahead and take a look, see if you can make any sense of it.”

  And he disappeared in the house.

  She sat back down again with her coffee. She really didn’t want to deal with the sheriff either while she was in her pajamas. When Blaze didn’t come back out, she headed inside to find him sipping a cup of her coffee as he stared at the glass. “So, did you just come here for coffee?” she asked caustically.

  “No,” he said. “I want to know the connection between you and that center.”

  “Of course the connection is that I rent it,” she said, “but that has never been worth throwing rocks and breaking windows before. And why did the sheriff call you?”

  “The sheriff called my dad,” he said. “You won’t like the reason either.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because the sheriff talked to Donnie, and somebody else had called Donnie, once they heard about the broken window, and said they’d seen a black truck outside the place earlier when nobody was around.”

  She looked at him in confusion. “Of course. You were there.”

  “Exactly, and that was what this caller told Donnie. That I was there for sinister reasons.”

  “To break the window at the rec center?” She shook her head. “Why? What do you care?”

  “Exactly. I’m also tall and slim, and I wear a lot of black.”

  She looked at him in surprise, then noted he wore black jeans and a black hoodie. “You are, and you do,” she said, “but you’re not who
I saw running away earlier.”

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  “Your shoulders are bigger, and I would imagine you run more like an athlete, although I haven’t ever seen you run. This person sprinted but not like they were used to doing much running.” She frowned. “I don’t have a clue why I said that.”

  “Because first impressions are very important. I presume he wore a hoodie with the hood up?” He put his coffee down and pulled the hood over his head.

  She turned to stand behind him and nodded. “I was up in my bedroom, and I could see it.” She hesitated.

  He waited.

  “You’re going to think I’m crazy but I thought I heard a howl, like a dog warning me. That’s how I woke up. I know it’s probably my imagination but I might have seen a shepherd slink off into the trees on the other side from where the intruder had been. But it happened so fast, and it was hard to see in that light …”

  Surprise lit his gaze. “Interesting. It could have been Solo. Unfortunately for her, she was aptly named.” He motioned at the hallway behind him. “Come on. Take me to your room and show me the window and where he was running to.”

  She led the way upstairs and pointed out from her bedroom window where she’d seen the intruder. “You can still see his tracks somewhat.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Blaze went out the balcony and down the stairs that she had right there from her master bedroom.

  While he was gone, she changed into leggings and a long T-shirt. She picked up her coffee and headed back downstairs again, seeing the sheriff coming in through the front door. The sheriff looked at the truck and frowned.

  “Yes, that’s a black truck,” she said. “Yes, there was a black truck at the center last night. But it’s Blaze’s truck, and he was with me.”

  “It was mentioned to Donnie that nobody else was at the parking lot.”

  “Blaze and I left there, went for dinner at Mama Mia’s and came back again, and that’s when we found the rock smashed through the center’s front window.”