The Comeback Kiss (3 page)

A few years back, that
’
s exactly
what he would have done, without a second thought. Hell, a few years back, he wouldn
’
t have gone looking for the damn thing in the first place.

He
’
d been much, much smarter then than he was now.

Finn looked down the length of the alley, the back of which
jutted up against the parking lot of Max
’
s, the two spaces separated only by a cheap metal guardrail and some trees thinned by the winter. He had to get out of there before Tessa saw the car and announced his presence in town.

Tessa.
He could still see her
face in his mind. Light freckles sprinkled over nose and cheeks. Blushed lips. Chocolate brown eyes that flashed murder when provoked. Oval-shaped face framed by thick dark curls she always complained about but never cut. Something coursed through him, a
n
d it took a moment for him to recognize it as a mixture of regret and excitement.

Over a girl he hadn
’
t seen in ten years; a girl who would probably kill him with her bare hands given half a chance.

He pulled up the collar of his jacket around his face and
hunched into it as he headed out to the sidewalk. If he could get to the edge of town, he could probably hole up in the shack next to the lake until he figured a way out of town that didn
’
t involve relying on Babs friggin
’
McGregor, which had been just o
n
e in a long string of mistakes he
’
d made in recent months.

Well, it was over. The stupidity, the guilt, and the lame attempt at making up for something that couldn
’
t be made up for. From now on, he was the old Finn, the smart Finn, the Finn who moved throu
gh life free and easy, letting the past stay in the past.

Head down, he took a left out of the alley and kept his eyes on his feet. It wasn
’
t until he smelled the smoke that he slowed down and looked up. At first, he couldn
’
t tell where it was coming from,
and he was about to dismiss it as someone
’
s fireplace smoke when he heard panicked sounds coming from across the street. He grazed his eyes over the buildings there and saw smoke creeping out from under one of the doors, then lifted his focus to the sign
over the awning.

FOR PET
’
S SAKE.

I should let it burn down just for the name alone,
he thought. He looked down the street one way and then the other. No one. Nothing. He heard what sounded like a high-pitched bark, and saw that the smoke creeping out from
under the door was thickening.

Something in FOR PET
’
S SAKE was definitely on fire.

Hopefully, it was the person who
’
d named it.

“
Well,”
he muttered to himself as he felt the struggle between smart and stupid start to stir within him. “
Shit.”

Chapter Two

Finn clenched his fists in his pockets, decided that smart was gonna win this time, and started walking in the direction he
’
d been heading. It was early, but he was sure someone would be coming by soon. Someone who belonged here, someone who cared about w
hat happened in Lucy
’
s Lake.

Someone
not
him. He had bigger problems to think about right now, like how he was going to convince the car rental place in Brattleboro to deliver a car to him out in the middle of friggin
’
nowhere.

He
’
d made a few long, determ
ined strides before the barking grew louder, more frenzied. Finn grunted and stopped again, looking impatiently up and down the deserted street.

“
Christ,”
he muttered. “
What the hell is wrong with you people?”

He stepped out into the street and glanced at
the apartment windows above the offices for the
Lucy
’
s Lake Weekly,
just three buildings down from the pet store. Back in the day, Stella Hodgkiss had owned the
Weekly;
probably still did. Seemed fitting that the same woman who knew when the mayor
’
s wife f
arted in church showed no sign of waking up when the damn town was on fire.

Finn looked back to the pet shop. He hated pet shops. During his bird thieving days he
’
d worked in one to get leads on the good, rare birds, and it had sucked. Full of weird dogs t
hat seemed to be bred for funky looks and nervous urination, big-eyed fish that died the moment people got them home, and hairless cats that were even uglier than regular cats. He
’
d be doing the town a favor if he just kept walking.

He took one more step,
then stopped and closed his eyes.

“
Shit,”
he grumbled, then turned on one heel and darted across the street. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed 911. Two rings sounded, followed by a woman
’
s voice.

“
Nine-one-one, what
’
s your
—”

“
FOR PET
’
S
SAKE is on fire. Get someone down here now, or Max is gonna have to get some creative dog-meat specials on the menu.”

There was a rustling as the woman put her hand over the receiver and yelled to someone that the pet store was on fire, then came back on t
he line. “
They
’
re on their way. Who
’
s calling, please?”

Finn flipped the phone shut and picked up the pace as he stepped up on the sidewalk in front of the store. A sign in the window read,
Closed for Vacation until Feb. 16.
Through the window, he could se
e orange light flickering through the crack under the office door at the back, which meant the fire was probably mostly contained in there, for the moment. The smoke was another story; it filled the store, thicker toward the ceiling but still menacing eve
n
down low.

Finn looked around for something he could use to break the glass panes in the front door. There was nothing. He tightened his gloved hand into a fist and slammed it through the pane, then reached in and undid the lock. The smoke hit him hard in
the face as he entered, and he ducked back outside to take a big breath of fresh air before putting the collar of his jacket over his mouth and running in.

From what he could tell, it should be quick work. There were two puppies and a few kittens in cages
along one wall, and some birds squawking in the back. He headed to the birds first, as they were closest to the fire.

African grays,
he thought, grabbing a cage in each hand and mentally calculating how much he
’
d get for the pair on the street in Manhattan
as he carried them outside.

Not that he was going to steal them. It was just that old habits die hard. And the market was glutted with grays, anyway.

He darted back inside, searched under the register for the keys to the animal crates. He unlocked them, l
etting a springer spaniel and a shih tzu puppy loose. Another dog, some kind of border collie mutt mixture, was barking by the office door as the puppies ran around Finn
’
s legs like frantic, furry bumper cars. Moments later he chased the dogs out, carryin
g
two more birdcages with him. One of them was filled with common parakeets not worth stealing, but the other cage held a macaw that looked young and in relatively good health, smoke inhalation notwithstanding.

Macaws still got a decent price in New York. H
e
’
d bet they
’
d get about the same in a place like, say, Boston.

He set the macaw off to the side, slightly behind a wrought-iron bench in front of the drugstore next to the pet shop. He
’
d sworn he
’
d never do another bird job, but it wasn
’
t every day that a
macaw just dropped in his lap.

And Smart Finn? Would absolutely steal that bird.

When the fire truck finally arrived three minutes later, he was carrying out the last of the animals, two small kittens that had been frolicking in the front window display.

“
The fire
’
s in the back office,”
he said to Matt Tarpey, a big hulk of a guy who
’
d been the fire chief since Finn was a kid. “
Door
’
s closed, but a few more minutes, there won
’
t be a door.”

Tarpey shouted some orders to his guys, who went to work pulling ou
t the hose as people started to gather in the street. Finn ducked back toward the bench to make his escape with the macaw, then remembered he was still holding the kittens. He turned back and was instantly blinded by a flashing camera. He blinked a few ti
m
es to get his vision back, and when he did, he saw Stella from the
Lucy
’
s Lake Weekly.

So much for slipping out of town unnoticed,
he thought.

“
Dermot Finnegan,”
she said, her beady little eyes locking on him as she released the camera slung around her nec
k. “
I could just kill you with my own two hands.”

“
Yeah,”
he said. “
Get in line. Better yet, take these kittens off my hands, and I
’
ll save you the trouble by kicking my own ass out of town. No mob required.”

Stella
’
s face suddenly flashed into a smile as
she moved forward and put her hand on his shoulder. Startled, Finn instinctively flinched back, taking a moment to process that her expression held none of the hatred and vitriol he was expecting.

“
I
’
m so glad you
’
re here,”
she said. “
I was supposed to be
keeping an eye on the place while Vickie was away, and
—”
Stella put her hand to her mouth, eyes moist, then clutched it to her chest. “
I didn
’
t even wake up until I heard the fire truck. Thank you.”

Finn shrugged. “
No problem. Well. See ya.”

Stella grabbed
his hand and squeezed it, smiling up at him. “
Why didn
’
t you tell us you were coming home? I would have made you a dinner.”

Finn tried to recall if he
’
d ever heard “
made you a dinner”
used as a euphemism for “
beat you with a tire iron.”
Before he could re
spond, she threw her arm around his neck and hugged him.

“
I haven
’
t forgotten what you did for Frank and me,”
she said quietly into his ear. “
And now this...”
The kittens mewed and she pulled back, her eyes now full-on teary. “
It
’
s so good to have you home
again.”

Finn blinked, tossed a look at the macaw behind him, then looked back at Stella. “
What I did for... what?”

She sniffed. “
Oh, don
’
t be so modest. Although I don
’
t know how in the world you found out exactly the amount of our deductible for his foot
surgery. We never would have been able to afford it without you, even with the insurance. Seven hundred and fifty dollars is a lot of money to people like us.”
She squeezed his hand again, and Finn felt a stab of panic that he was in the social clutches
o
f a Stella gone mad, as he had no idea what the hell she was talking about.

She sniffed again. “
Your uncle will be so happy to see you.”

“
You know what?”
Finn said quickly. “
Maybe don
’
t tell Max.”

“
Oh, of course, you want to surprise him,”
Stella said, wip
ing at the edges of her eyes. “
But don
’
t wait too long. News travels fast around here, you know.”