Families are messy - 26

The detective turned to see who had spoken and smiled slightly. “Hello, Ms. Lamberti, nice to see you again. However, as much as I hate to point this out, from the sound of it neither you nor Mr. Fairchild seems to have been keeping that close an eye on him.”

“Well in all fairness,” she replied, patting Casey’s thigh to make him move over enough so she could sit down on the swing beside him, “we weren’t really called in until after the carbon monoxide incident.” She shot a look at Casey which asked him to back her up on that for now. He nodded in agreement.  

At that point the fire inspector excused himself to go inside the house and continue his investigation.

The detective pulled up one of the porch chairs and sat, asking, “Why do you think this is family related?”

Between the three of them, Casey, Marcia and Fairchild laid out their reasoning and the facts behind it.

“So,” the detective said when they had finished, “you were going to pull the classic mystery writer’s gambit and have all the suspects in one place, hoping one of them would what, confess that he was trying to kill Mr. Rothem?”

“I guess it sounds pretty stupid,” Casey replied, looking a bit sheepish.

“It does. That only works in detective stories.”

“We might get a chance to test if it works or not right now,” Casey said as he saw a car pull up and double park, the driver apparently oblivious to the fact that they were next to a police vehicle, or uncaring. Moments later another car came into view, pulling into the driveway next door to Casey’s house.

Darla reached the porch first, with Alma and Parker just seconds behind her. “Are you alright? I was watching the TV and saw the news and, and I was scared to death even though they said you were okay,” Darla exclaimed.

“The same here,” Parker said. “Alma insisted we come right over.” He smiled as his wife almost pushed Marcia out of the way so that she could hug Casey tightly.

When Casey managed to extricate himself from the unexpected embrace he said, “I’m fine, honest, other than a badly wrenched ankle and a house that’s going to need some major repair work.”

At that moment he saw Bing pull into a recently vacated parking place. He hurried over; telling Casey that Sammy had called to let him know about the fire.

“Called? Don’t tell me, Sammy had an early morning meeting,” Casey replied.

“Actually, a late night one; one of the joys of being a lawyer with well-to-do clients, they expect him to drop everything when they need his help. One of them called him in a panic because his kid had been picked up on a DUI. I guess Sammy spent the night getting him bonded out of jail.”

Fairchild shot Marcia a look which only she saw. She gave a tiny nod in return just as Casey’s cell rang.

Everyone knew immediately that it was Kathy from the shake of Casey’s head as he said, “I’m fine, honest… No you don’t have to come over… Yes I think I’m postponing the barbecue until a later date.” He glared briefly at Alma who just smiled back, not looking at all guilty. After he’d hung up, sighing in relief, he politely asked his family if they’d mind leaving now. “Despite all this,” he explained with a small smile, “I do have a business to run and I’m more than late as it is, and… damn, what the hell am I going to wear? I bet everything I own smells like smoke.”

“To say the least of the fact that you can’t get up the stairs to get to your clothes,” Parker said.

Marcia and the police detective looked at him, frowning. “I don’t remember there being any mention in the news reports of where in the house the fire was,” Marcia said quietly.

“Of course there was, wasn’t there sweetheart.” Parker turned to Alma, waiting for her to back him up.

“I really don’t know. I never saw the news. You dragged me out of bed to tell me we had to get over here, that there’d been a fire.”

There was a long, pregnant pause as everyone realized what had just happened.

“It was on the news,” Parker stated, trying to force conviction into the tone of his words.

“No it wasn’t,” Darla said very softly but firmly. “All any of them said, even on the radio, was that there had been a fire at the home of prominent jewelry shop owner Casey Rothem. I know. I was dressing as I watched the TV and switching between channels, trying to find out if Casey had been hurt.”

The police detective moved to face Parker. “Mr. Gordon, I think we should continue this at the station house.”

“Am I under arrest?” Parker asked, blanching.

“For the moment, no, I’d just like to ask you some questions pertaining to the fire and other incidents.”

Parker’s mouth tightened as he said, “Alma, call my lawyer. I want him at the station before I get there.” Then, with the detective beside him, he walked across Casey’s front yard to the police car.

Families are messy - 25

“This is getting to be a habit,” the EMT said, smiling slightly as he checked Casey over for damages. “It looks like other than the ankle you came through unscathed,” he told him moments later.

“I can’t say the same for my house,” Casey replied angrily as he watched the firemen begin rolling up the hoses.

One of the firemen came over to where Casey was seated at the back of the ambulance. Casey immediately asked if he knew what had caused the fire.

“It’s too soon to say for certain but first guess is that you had a faulty extension cord and too many things plugged into it. As far as we can tell there was a lamp going plus the radio and it looks like a space heater as well.”

“No way! First off I don’t own a space heater and if I did it’s for damned sure I wouldn’t plug it into an extension cord. Hell I don’t use extension cords if I can help it. There are plenty of outlets in every room.”

Instead of replying the fireman beckoned to a man in a suit to join them, telling Casey to repeat what he’d said to what turned out to be a fire inspector. Casey did while wondering why there was an inspector here so quickly. He found out when a police officer joined them, one of the ones he’d dealt with before.

The officer said, “You seem to be either very careless or very unlucky.”

Casey smiled wanly. “Or suicidal according to your reports. But trust me if I were I for damned sure wouldn’t go for death by fire.”

“Believe me, sir, I know this time it wasn’t a suicide attempt. One of your neighbors saw you coming back from walking your dog. I doubt you’d do that if you were planning on killing yourself.”

“So I’m just accident prone.”

“If what you told me is true,” the fire inspector interjected, “this was no accident.”

Scrubbing a hand over his face Casey nodded. “I know it wasn’t, but before I explain would it be alright if I made a call?”

“To whom?” the police officer asked.

“Ezra Fairchild. He’s—“

“I know who he is,” the officer said, the look on his face a bit sour as he handed Casey his phone.

* * * *

Fairchild pulled into the only available parking space left on the street, shaking his head at the media circus taking place in front of Casey’s house. It looked as if every television station had people there as well as the newspaper and at least one radio station. They would have been in Casey’s face with their microphones if two police officers weren’t keeping them at bay. That didn’t however keep them from shouting out questions.

Spotting Fairchild, Casey waved him over to where he was now sitting on the porch swing, one leg stretched out in front of him, well wrapped in bandages. Beside him were two men that he introduced as a fire inspector and a detective. Fairchild nodded to the inspector and greeted the detective by name. Then he asked to be filled in on what had happened.

Casey told the story one more time, starting from when Duke had awakened him at the ungodly hour of six a.m. to the moment the fire department had shown up to put out the fire. While he did the police managed to get the various reporters to leave by dint of pointing out that “Mr. Rothem would not be allowed to answer any more questions as this was now a police investigation.”

“And that’s about it,” Casey said in conclusion, “other than that the fire wasn’t an accident.”

Fairchild nodded, stepping close enough to ask him quietly if he’d told the police about the other ‘accidents’.

“Not yet,” Casey replied. “I wanted you here first to,” he shrugged slightly, “To back me up I guess.”

“Well now that he is would you mind explaining just what’s going on with you, Mr. Rothem,” the detective said.

Casey nodded and did so. When he finished the detective shook his head, wondering aloud why the hell he hadn’t come to the police after the second apparent attempt on his life.

“Because,” Casey replied quietly, “I think it’s one of my family members doing this.”

“And so you were willing to take the chance that they’d succeed rather than letting us do something about it?”

“Well I did hire Mr. Fairchild.”

“And he had me watching his back too,” a voice said from behind the detective.

Families are messy - 24

Casey was relieved that Marcia didn’t insist on staying at his house overnight to keep him safe. He wasn’t comfortable with that idea, both on the ‘I’m male, I don’t need a female protector’ level and due to the fact that despite his every instinct telling him not to trust her on any emotional level he still found her to be the most interesting woman he’d ever met. If he was going to admit it, he knew that he had fallen for her. And if she’d stayed the night he might have said or done something he would regret later when everything was over and done with.

He did promise her he’d lock the house securely and make certain the alarm system was armed, even though that was false security since all of his family knew the code, just as he knew theirs. That had been Bing’s idea as a safety precaution in case of emergencies and it had started long before Casey and Kathy had parted. 

When he told Marcia he could see her debating the wisdom of his even staying at the house but he put his foot down, insisting that he would be very careful, and would lock his bedroom door, “and even put a chair under the door handle.”

“So help me if I get a call saying you’re dead I’m going to kill you,” she’d growled before finally leaving to the sound of his laughter at her comment.

He actually managed to sleep well, much to his surprise. He decided the fact that he’d allowed Duke to keep him company in the bedroom had something to do with that. Bloodhounds might not make great watchdogs but Casey had put a blanket down for the dog right against the door. If nothing else he knew the dog would react by baying if someone woke him in the process of trying to force the door open.

The only drawback to having Duke in the room with him was that the dog took advantage of it to wake him way too early for his walk. Grumbling mightily under his breath Casey had hit the bathroom and then dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt before meeting the dog at the front door. After attaching Duke’s leash to his collar the two of them went out to be greeted by the threat of rain in the air. They made it as far as the park before the threat became reality so they raced to huddle under the awning of a small mom-and-pop grocery store half a block away, where they remained until the torrent tapered off to a light sprinkle.

Once they arrived back at the house Casey headed upstairs to shower and get changed for work. As he stood under the hot water, trying to get rid of the bone-deep chill, Casey heard Duke suddenly start to bay and seconds later the smoke detector was blaring. Jumping out of the shower he grabbed his robe off the back of the bathroom door, pulling it on as he raced into his bedroom. The smell of smoke greeted him as he grabbed his cell from the dresser and stepped into the hallway, dialing 911 as he did.

There were flames at the bottom of the stairs and through the thickening smoke he saw Duke pacing agitatedly back and forth in the living room looking for a way to get up to him. He shouted for Duke to “Go”, pointing to the kitchen. The dog kept howling but followed his orders. As soon as he was certain the dog was out of immediate danger he told the dispatcher to send the fire department. The moment he knew they would he sped into his bedroom to grab his keys and then down the hall to the far end, throwing open the window. Climbing onto the sill he looked down, judged his chances of landing without breaking anything major, and then jumped, pushing off hard enough to land on the grass rather than the concrete of the driveway.

Staggering to his feet, letting out a sharp cry of pain when his ankle threatened to give way under him, he hobbled slowly to the back door leading to the kitchen. Unlocking it, not caring that the alarm system began blaring as loudly as the smoke alarm, he called to Duke. The dog was at his side in seconds and the two of them moved slowly to the back yard. 

******** ******** ********

Phoenix Rising
Book One of the Phoenix Rising Series

Available today, April 14th

https://spsilverpublishing.com/

Blurb:

Hex Phoenix, entrepreneur and businessman, arrives in New Orleans to conduct business. assisted by his long-time lover, Urbain Fortier. Life would be easy except for one small problem, someone wants to kidnap Hex. Why? Not because of who he is, but because of what he is, the mythical Phoenix. 

After escaping his enemies, resurrecting as Conleth Feu d'Oiseaux,  and reuniting with Urbain, he is now being hunted by the RIRA. The beautiful Giuliana is also searching for Conleth for reasons of her own. With danger and jealousy surrounding him, Conleth finds once again that being the Phoenix is not an easy life.

Families are messy - 23

“Not quite four-star,” Marcia said in amusement as Casey parked in the lot behind the restaurant.

“No, but the food is actually edible.” He waited until she got out and then took her hand as they walked around to the front door. “A bit noisy,” he observed as the sound of several televisions showing a football game hit them when they stepped inside.

“Your sister likes sports?” Marcia asked in surprise.

“Nope, but she likes men and other than clubs this is one place to meet them.”

Marcia looked around and had to agree as the majority of the unaccompanied diners were males in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. “Major meat market,” she commented with a laugh.

“Makes me feel very out of place,” he replied with a small chuckle as they found a vacant table. “Especially since I’m not big on sports.”

“You fit in otherwise though. I bet when you come here alone you get more than your fair share of the looks from the single women.”

“I haven’t been here since Kathy and I split up so I wouldn’t know.”

“Well take it from a woman, for a female on the hunt this is one place to go shopping. And you would be very popular.”

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Casey was very glad when the waitress appeared to take their drink orders. When she left he quickly picked up the menu to see what looked good. Marcia smiled and did the same. They discussed the options, finally deciding on beef tenderloin for him and chicken with almonds and cheese for her. The waitress returned with their drinks by then and took their dinner orders.

“To a successful conclusion to our problem,” Marcia said, lifting her wine glass.

Casey smiled, tapping his glass to hers with a nod, wondering as he did if ‘our problem’ was keeping him alive or if there was a deeper meaning behind her words.

They were half way through dinner when someone wrapped their arms around him from behind. He turned his head to look up at Darla who was studying Marcia with interest.

“What brings you to my neck of the woods?” Darla asked finally.

“Just taking my lady to dinner,” Casey replied as his sister released him and sat down.

“So you’re the infamous, what was your name? Mary, Mabel, no Marcia, right?”

“Yes Darla, this is Marcia. And Marcia, in case you haven’t figured it out this is my sister Darla,” Casey said by way of introductions.

“Alma told me about her.” Darla laughed. “Not too flatteringly I’m afraid but that’s Alma.”

Marcia chuckled at that. “Yes, she seemed to think I was not up to his usual choice in women.”

“Meaning Kathy.” Darla rolled her eyes. “My sister is a bit of a social climber, right Casey.” She looked at him for confirmation and he nodded. “Now me, I go for the kind of man who’s interesting, not stuffy. Oh, you’re going to just love Dirty.”

Casey snorted out a laugh. “You go from Skull to Dirty. Not so sure that’s an improvement, Darla.”

“Well his real name is Ringo but that was taken.”

“If you tell me his last name is Starr I’ll know you’re pulling my leg.”

“No, silly, it’s Winn. He’s not that old.” She turned to Marcia again. “So tell me all about yourself. How did you meet Casey, was it love at first sight, have you two done the deed yet?”

Marcia laughed at the look on Casey’s face before settling down to give Darla all the details, spinning the tale out of a whole cloth with quick looks at Casey to see how he was taking it. “And that,” she said to Darla in conclusion, “is exactly how it happened.”

Darla seemed about to reply when someone caught her eye. She was up immediately, planting a kiss on Casey’s cheek. “I’ll see you both on,” she frowned for a second, “Wednesday night, right?”

“Yes Darla,” Casey replied with a chuckle.

“Oh,” she held out her hand. “I don’t suppose you could, umm—“

Shaking his head, Casey took out his wallet and handed her a couple of bills. She looked at them, sighed in disappointment that there weren’t more, then thanked him and hurried across the room towards her intended target.

“What do you want to bet she shows up at the barbeque with someone named Knute or Shaq, instead of Dirty,” he muttered.

“Might be an improvement, but who knows. She seems sweet, if a bit ditzy.”

“Don’t let that fool you. Underneath the ditz is a smart if very spoiled young woman.”

“So you’re not ruling her out,” Marcia said, turning serious.

“No,” he replied with equal seriousness, “I’m not ruling any of them out, unfortunately.”

Families are messy - 22

Casey felt someone behind him and swung around defensively, only dropping his hands when he realized it was his brother. “Damn, you startled me,” he said in explanation.

“Sorry,” Bing replied with a laugh. “What are you doing, buying out the store?”

“Feels like,” Casey admitted as he looked at the overflowing shopping cart. “But I’ve got an excuse; I decided to celebrate my birthday at my new house with a barbeque. I expect to see you and Sammy there.”

“If you insist,” Bing said, sounding as he felt quite put upon. Then he laughed. “Of course we’ll be there. Wednesday? Or are you pushing it back to...no from the look of that cart it better be Wednesday or we’ll be eating wilted lettuce.”

“For sure. I did think briefly about doing it last Saturday but then I realized that was even shorter notice than this is and that you and Sammy would probably already have plans.”

“If you consider the fact that the store doesn’t close until nine on Friday and Saturday as always then I did. And Sammy had some legal-eagle event he had to attend. He didn’t get home until close to midnight.”

“No wonder you two make sure you’ve got Sunday’s to yourselves.” Casey chuckled. “I think I’m getting old, I always forget about your later hours.”

Bing smiled. “Short term memory loss there, Casey? Guess we’ll have to get you some of that, what’s it called? Biloba?”

“Yep, and a big bottle of it.” Casey laughed while checking out the selection of cheeses, debating which ones to get. Bing made a couple of suggestions and between them they added enough to the cart that Casey wondered if he’d get it to the checkout stand without loosing the top layer. As he pushed it in that direction he asked casually, “Did you come in here to buy something for lunch?”

“No, just to pick up some water, which we passed three aisles back. I’d better get it and get back before the lunch crowd overwhelms my employees.” Bing paused saying, “You’re not working today?”

“Nope. Once I got the brainstorm for the party I figured I’d better get things in motion so I called in sick.”

“Smart man. Well have fun getting all that home. If you need help on Wednesday give me a call.”

Casey nodded, watching as his brother headed away, and then got into the checkout line, chuckling when the person coming up behind him took one look at his cart and immediately moved over to the next lane.

* * * *

Once Casey got home from his shopping trip and put all the food away he made some calls. The first one was to let Thomas know about the party, putting it on his shoulders to tell their employees about it. “Don’t make them feel obligated to come,” Casey cautioned. “I want this to be fun, not a command performance.” Thomas agreed although Casey had a feeling, knowing the man, that he would do his best to make certain everyone came even if he had to lay a guilt trip on them.

Next he called Alma. She surprised him by sounding almost civil, saying that she and Parker would definitely be there. He thanked her, giving her the same story he had given Bing about deciding to do it on the day rather than the previous Saturday, figuring that that would have been too short of a notice.

She agreed, saying somewhat scathingly, “You can not expect people to give up their weekend plans unless you give them at least a two week’s notice. Mid-week is much better if you’re going to be inconsiderate.”

He rolled his eyes, asking as if he cared, “And what would you have been giving up?”

“Why the hospital’s charity ball of course. Certainly you got an invitation, Casey. That in and of itself should have told you not to throw your party Saturday night.”

“I got one, but quite honestly I didn’t want to run into Kathy,” he replied.

Alma  humphed, said a few choice words about that, and hung up.

His last call was to Darla. She practically bubbled with enthusiasm, asking if it would be alright if she brought her newest boyfriend, who it turned out was not the infamous Skull but some wannabe rock musician she’d met at a club Saturday night. He told her that was fine with him and left it at that after making certain she wrote down the time and day. Knowing his younger sister he was very aware that she’d forget moments after the call ended if she didn’t.

Now he leaned casually against the fender of his SUV as he waited for Marcia to come out of the door leading to the theater’s parking lot. As he watched the door flew open and a group of people exited, Marcia among them. She was talking animatedly to a very good-looking young man who appeared to be intently listening to whatever she was saying. When she’d finished he replied with something that made her laugh. And then she spotted Casey and sobered, obviously excusing herself from the group before coming over to join him.

“You did show up,” she said.

“I did, though from your face when you saw me anyone watching would think you wished I hadn’t.”

“Sorry.” She looked at him and then smiled, wrapping an arm around his neck and kissing him quickly. “Better?”

“As far as what we’re trying to pull off, yes,” he replied, not willing to admit that he would have returned the kiss if she’d given him half a chance. He really hated these up and down feelings he had about her but there was nothing to be done about them for now. If their plan was going to work he had put aside the feeling of betrayal and go with the ones he’d begun having before her revelations.  

“Any place you’d rather go eat?” he asked once they were both in his vehicle.

“Not really as long as it’s public. One close to where one of your family lives maybe.”

He nodded. “I know just the restaurant. Darla’s not big on cooking so she might just show up there.”