Shadow Silence (28 page)

She let out a long sigh and took a sip of the brandy. “I know,” she said, hanging her head. “And believe me, I am more grateful than you can ever know that my ferrets and I are safe. Without Frith and Folly, I don't know what I'd do. But Kerris, it feels like I did something to piss off the gods. Maybe I did something horrible in another life and now karma is biting me in the butt. I don't know. If I did anything, I don't know what it is.”

I let out a long sigh and enfolded my feet up on the sofa underneath me. “They say everything happens for a reason, but I'm not so sure about that. And karma . . . karma isn't what most people think it is. The concept is quite different than you reap what you sow, or everything comes around. It's a Buddhist and Hindu concept, and is far more complicated than people realize.”

She frowned. “Then why did this happen?”

All I could do was shrug. “Sometimes, I think that bad things just happen to good people. Now, maybe we'll find a reason for this happening, maybe something good will come out of this. But right now, it's okay to be upset and it's okay to cry. You only wanted to make yourself a nice home. You didn't ask for any of this.”

“But I should have listened to you and not moved in there
to begin with. I was just so scared about imposing on D-D and ruining our relationship. I wanted my own place and I was angry at my landlady for kicking me out. I've been a model tenant for years, I've done everything she asked me to around the place. I fixed it up, planted flowers, and then boom . . . just a ‘get out' without even a thank-you or acknowledgment for what I've done. I want my own place, that nobody can take away from me.” She sounded so plaintive that I wanted to gather her in my arms and let her cry it out, but I knew it would take more than tears to fix this.

I glanced over at the clock. “Do you want me to call off the party tonight? I know it's not going to be particularly cheery for you. Anything you need, just ask me.”

“No,” she said. “They're going to want to hear what happened anyway. I might as well tell them now, and at least I'll be among friends tonight. Maybe it will take my mind off of what happened. Waiting's going to be the difficult part. Waiting to see what the fire marshal has to say and if Jack continues to turn on me like he did. I think that hurts most of all. We've been friends for a long time, and he just turned on me like . . .”

“He betrayed you. He did something no friend should ever do. And I'm sorry about that.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching mindless TV to take our minds off of what had happened. But I knew Peggin's thoughts were back at the house, with the charred remains of her life, and I knew it would take a long time to repair the damage that it had done.

*   *   *

P
eggin stirred herself off the sofa. “Let's haul the tree in here. We're strong enough to do it. We don't have to wait for the men.”

I glanced up at her from where I was aimlessly eating chips out of the bag. “Are you sure?” The tree was still in the back of my CR-V, along with everything else.

“I can only take so much sitting around watching
Judge Judy
before I start thinking about the fire. Do you realize the only things I have left are the clothes that you brought for me, and the ferret supplies? I don't even know if my jewelry survived. Not that I had a lot of it. Everything was still in boxes. Cardboard catches like tinder.” She sounded so plaintive that I gave in. After tromping around the woods the day before, I was still sore, but if it would help Peggin, I would drag my ass out to the car and carry things in.

The manufacturer had managed to jam a seven-foot tree into a four-foot box, damned heavy and hard to manage. Somehow, we wrangled it into the living room, where we dropped it with a thud. Then we went back for the rest of the things. After we had brought in all of the packages, Peggin let out a groan.

“I forgot! I was supposed to bring dinner home for everybody.”

“Don't worry about it. And don't even think about offering to go out and get it. Not after today.” I moved to one side, where I called Bryan. “We need dinner for everybody. I was going to call you earlier but things got rough.”

“What's going on? I've been locked up in my office all day.”

“Peggin's new house caught fire. We are talking
burned to the ground
. We got over there after the firemen had arrived. The place went up like old kindling. She's lost everything except what she has at my house.” I suddenly realized that Peggin hadn't called Deev. If she had, he would have been over here in a heartbeat. But then again, he was showing up in a couple of hours so maybe it didn't matter.

“Why didn't you call me? I would have been there—”

“I know, but what could you do, really? The firemen couldn't even get into the house. Then the furnace blew up, or at least we think it was the furnace, and the entire place is gone. And that prick, Jack? The Realtor? He hinted that Peggin started the fire to get out of buying the house or
paying the year's lease.” I was grumpy, but I couldn't help it. I was pissed out of my mind.

“Oh,
did he
? That, I can take care of.”

I wasn't sure what Bryan meant but he didn't sound friendly.

“If you could do something, it would be one big worry off her mind. Jack managed to get the fire marshal's attention with his comments. Meanwhile, Peggin had planned on bringing home dinner for everybody. Would you mind picking up something?”

“Not a problem. I'll head out now and be over within the hour. Meanwhile, tell Peggin we'll make sure everything works out. Somehow, we'll manage to help her.” He signed off.

I leaned back, staring at my phone. Whatever he was planning to do to Jack, I hoped it would be discreet, especially if it involved anything like a black eye. Peggin was in the kitchen, which meant she hadn't heard the conversation. Probably a good thing, actually. Deciding that I might as well make the cocoa, I pocketed my phone and headed into the kitchen.

*   *   *

F
orty-five minutes later Bryan came in through the kitchen door, carrying bags of food, and behind him, carrying more bags, was Deev. He immediately set them down on the table and went off to find Peggin, whom I had assigned to the task of stringing some Christmas lights over the hutches so that we could have pretty lights to decorate the tree by.

Bryan set the bags down and wrapped his arms around me. “So, it sounds like it's been one hell of a day.”

“You can say that again. We'll tell you what went down in a bit. I don't want Peggin to have to go through it again and again.”
Like she did with her story about the Lady
, I thought.

“I brought chicken and mashed potatoes and coleslaw, baked beans and mac 'n' cheese and biscuits. Deev also
thought it might be nice to add a holiday touch so we picked up some cranberry sauce at the deli, along with eggnog and Black Forest cake.”

“Have I told you how wonderful you are?” I leaned into his embrace. “Thank you. At least I remembered to rent the movies this morning while I was out shopping.”

“Movies are good. Music would be fine, too. Whatever works to take Peggin's mind off all of this crap.” He let go of me and picked up Daphne, who had decided to investigate what smelled so good in the bags. As he set her on the floor, he said, “No, you don't, young lady. Oof, you're a big cat.”

“Don't say that—she's a Maine Coon. They're supposed to be big.”

“Pardon me, then. I didn't mean to insult your size, Miss Daphne. You're full-figured and gorgeous.” He winked at her, and she suddenly gathered herself and leaped into his arms, knocking him back as she curled against his chest, purring so loud I could hear her from where I was standing. He laughed.

Deev and Peggin came into the kitchen, Deev's arm wrapped around her waist. “Next time Peggin forgets to call me when something like this happens, Kerris, I want you to read her the riot act. She'll listen to you.”

I snorted. “Do you really think she's going to listen to anybody? You know her.”

“Well, you've got me there.” Deev let out a snort.

Peggin smacked his arm. “I might remind the two of you that I'm right here and can hear every word.” But she was smiling, and I breathed a long sigh of relief. Deev seemed to be good for her mood no matter what was going on.

“And that's the idea,” he said very softly.

Just then, the doorbell rang. I glanced at the clock. “It's a little early for people to start arriving. I asked them to come around seven o'clock and it's only six thirty.” I wiped my hands on a towel and headed to the door. But, as I opened it, I realized it wasn't one of our guests. Sophia, the chief of police, was standing there.

“Hey, Kerris, is Peggin here?”

“Yeah, she is. Do you want to come in?” Concerned given what had transpired earlier, I backed up, motioning for her to come in. “Is everything all right?”

Bryan, Peggin, and Deev entered the room. Peggin's eyes widened and I knew she was as worried as I was.

Sophia nodded to everyone; she was still in uniform and had a harried look on her face. “Good evening, everybody. Peggin, I just wanted to drop by and set your mind at ease. I just took a phone call from Jack and he told me that he really doesn't believe that you started the fire. I also got a call from the fire marshal.”

“And?” She tensed.

“No clear-cut answer yet, but it appears the fire started near the furnace. They found scorch marks on it that most likely indicate faulty wiring or a defective unit. I know you said that the furnace was relatively new. But that doesn't rule out that there was some malfunction that didn't show itself till now. Especially since it hadn't been used in a couple of years and you recently turned it on. Now, the home inspector that Jack hired verified that he gave it the A-OK, but he pointed out that there are often issues not visible during a cursory inspection. As to the squabble between the two of you, that's not my department and you'll have to sort that out among yourselves. But for now, the fire is being labeled as accidental. We'll know more later on in the week, but you can relax.”

Peggin let out a long breath and visibly relaxed. “Can I go over tomorrow and see if I can find anything that survived? Everything I owned was in that house. Except for a suitcase full of clothing and my ferrets.”

Sophia nodded. “The fire marshal said that you can come by tomorrow and look through the rubble. I warn you though, he said that there's really nothing left and it's also dangerous.”

Seeing Peggin's expression fall, she softly added, “I'll have a couple of my officers come over and help you look. I'm so
sorry this happened, but I'm very grateful that you and your ferrets survived.” She glanced at her watch. “I've got to go. We had an incident over at the Harlequin Theatre. Apparently one of the actors in the local production of
A Christmas Carol
came to rehearsal drunk, accused the costume designer of trying to sleep with her husband, and a brawl has ensued. Several of the sets were destroyed, and Tiny Tim has a broken leg for real. I have to go sort things out.”

I tried not to laugh but couldn't help myself. As I broke out in a loud guffaw, so did the others. Sophia looked put out for a moment, then joined us, shaking her head.

“I swear, this season does things to people. I see you're getting ready to trim your tree? Please, make sure not to overload any circuits or do anything stupid.”

“Everything I bought for the outside is LED so it's not going to take as much juice as incandescent lights. But I refuse to use them inside—I hate that neon glow inside my house. But we'll be careful and make sure to use common sense.”

“All right then, have fun. And I'll see you tomorrow, Peggin. Call me when you're planning to go over to the ruins of the house and I'll have a couple people meet you there. I don't want you hurting yourself on the debris.” And with that, Sophia skedaddled.

“Well, that's a relief. At least they don't think I started the fire. But that furnace was new. And furnaces that new don't usually fail like that.” Peggin twisted her lip into a frown. “At least I can go look through the remains of my life tomorrow. Corbin told me to take the week off. He's also giving me an extra week's vacation so that I won't lose out on my pay. Which is a good thing, given I have very little in my savings account right now. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do.”

“I forgot, that reminds me. I have something for you.” Bryan pulled out his wallet and removed a check from it, handing it to her. “This is from Jack. He wants you to have your options
fee back. I ran into him at the store while I was picking up dinner. He told me it wouldn't be fair for him to keep it. He also said for you to call him tomorrow to discuss negating the lease. Obviously, there's no house for you to live in.”

Peggin looked at the check suspiciously. “
Bryan
, what did you do?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about. But this is yours. It's made out for three thousand dollars plus the first month's rent. So you should be able to use it to put a down payment or first and last month's rent somewhere else.” He shoved the check into her hand, folded his wallet, and slid it back into his pocket, then turned back to the kitchen. “I'll start unloading the groceries. Deev, give me a hand.”

We watched them work together at the table for a moment.

“What did you have Bryan do?” Peggin asked me.

I opened one of the bags containing the new ornaments, carefully removing them from the plastic. “I have no idea what you're talking about. Now get over here and help me. I'd like to get everything set up so that when people arrive we can just eat and start decorating.”

Thankfully, at that moment the doorbell rang, announcing Ivy and Aidan's arrival. Peggin gave me another smoldering look, but beneath the suspicious glare, I could see relief and the gratitude. I just smiled back as we all headed into the kitchen to grab a plate of
food.