Tin City Tinder (A Boone Childress Mystery) (25 page)

Except for the cookies.
 

I made those.

“The headstones came in this morning,” I said as I grabbed a beer for myself.

“I saw them. They look nice.” Cedar pressed the icy bottle on the back of her neck. She was wearing a bikini top and shorts, and I watched a stream of condensation roll down the full length of her sun-kissed spine. “Did you try your cookies yet?”

“I’m afraid to.”

“How will you know if they’re edible?” she asked.

“I could feed them to the graduate students.”

“That bunch of vultures?” Cedar sat on the table. “They think Barefoot Bennie’s is fine dining.”

I laughed.
 

But I didn’t try the cookies.
 

A lot had changed. Stumpy Meeks was still living in a trailer, but it was on Dr. K’s property, and he was getting treatment for diabetes. The county courthouse was undergoing repairs for the fire and water damage. The preservation efforts were being led by Mrs. Yarbrough, who wanted the building renovated, not just fixed. She would probably get her way. Lamar had let me back on the Allegheny VFD, and after two calls, I hadn’t been kicked off. G.D. Landis and Pete Mercer were locked away.
 

“Wish your mom could see this,” Cedar said.

“She was out here yesterday with Lamar. They’re coming back this evening when Mom gets off work. It’s probably better if she doesn’t hang around. Abner gets kind of squirrely when she starts butting in.”

“Heard anything more about old man Landis?”

“Nothing that’s not in the paper.”

Because the arrest of G.D. Landis took place in front of roughly half the town of Galax, it took only nanoseconds for the rest of the county to find out about it. By the time he was booked and processed through the Allegheny County jail, there was an old-fashioned mob outside the jailhouse. There was also a team of attorneys from Raleigh, the advance guard for a group that would soon include over a dozen high-powered and high-priced lawyers.

G.D. spent almost no time in jail. A judge who was presiding at the festival convened a special session in the courthouse annex as the volunteer firefighters knocked down the fire and were using foam on the Class D metals fire. He set Landis’ bond at two million dollars, and the old man was free. Free until Trey had him committed to a hospital in Raleigh for psychiatric treatment. Conventional wisdom said that he would die before the case ever came to trial.
 

For his part, Trey claimed no knowledge of his father’s arson for hire spree, and he had no idea that Autumn Hills was being created as a white man’s utopia. He cancelled the project and started trying to clean up the mess. Last I heard, he had sold his home and was moving to New York to pursue a career in art.

Pete Mercer wasn’t so lucky. After his arrest, he was housed in the drunk tank, which had not been cleaned since the last two occupants. He was being held without bond for murder, arson, kidnapping, assault, and lying on my employment application. A public defender had been appointed for him, but Mercer fired him and demanded to act as his own attorney. His trial was months away still, and no one expected him to go quietly.

Eugene Loach and the twins were dismissed from the Atamasco VFD, along with the captain of the station. Eugene closed the family store on the highway, and no one had heard from him or Dewayne since. I sometimes worried what they were up to.

Cedar took a long drink of her beer, tilting her head back so that her neck stretched out, tanned, long, and delicate.

“Cedar,” he began after clearing my throat.

“Yes?”

“I was thinking.”

“Thinking about what?”

“About fall semester and where we would both be.”

“Funny,” she said, “I was a lot more interested in the summer than the fall.”

She threaded her fingers through my and stood on tiptoe for a kiss, which was immediately interrupted by the sound of a car horn. A Chevy Suburban bounced over the rough group, coming too fast. I recognized the truck.

It was Gretchen’s.

But Gretchen was in the passenger’s seat.

“Oh hell. Luigi’s driving.” I started waving frantically. “Hit the brakes! Hit the brakes!”

“Oh my god,” Cedar said.

She hopped from the table, then grabbed my shirt and pulled me back. They stumbled through the row of plastic chairs as the brakes on the Suburban squealed, and the front bumper knocked into the first cooler, spilling ice and beer on the ground.

“My bad!” Luigi hopped out of the truck. “That is correct slang, no?”

“Yes, very correct. I think you’re getting the hang of idioms.”

“My bad luck.” He snapped his fingers. “Just in time to leaf.”

“That’s leave.”

He grinned. “I know!”

"Are you insane?" Cedar ran up to Gretchen. “You let Luigi drive?”

“Wasn’t he cool?” Her face was glowing. “I was taking him to the airport? And he says, I have only one regret about America, and I say what? And he says, I have not learned to drive a car. So I was like, I’ll teach you. So I let him drive from my house to say goodbye to you guys. Très cool, huh?”

“Gretchen,” Cedar said through clenched teeth, “You think it was cool that he almost ran over us?”

“Very!” Gretchen laughed and ran to the driver’s side. “Hurry up and say bye, honey-kin.”

“Honey-kin?” I turned to Luigi. “You let her call you that?”

Luigi shrugged. “How can I stop her? She is like the breeze though my bushes.”

“You mean the wind through the trees.”

“That, too.” Luigi stuck out my hand. “This is
sayonara
, Boone-san. Thank you for being my friend.”

“Uh.” I shook my hand. “Uh. Well. Sure. I—“

Luigi laughed. “Ah, you know so many words in class, but with friends, not so much. You must work on that.”

Gretchen honked the horn. “You’re going to miss your flight!”

Luigi hugged Cedar, then jogged back to the Suburban. “Boone-san! Do not forget the exchange program application. The deadline is soon. You must come Osaka. Visit me on my grass!”

“Turf!” Cedar and I both yelled.

Gretchen put the truck in reverse as Luigi closed the door. She whipped through a three-point turn and floored it, throwing mud behind her.

“I’m sad,” I said.

Cedar turned to me. She set a tender hand over mine. “It’s okay to miss your friend, Boone. I know you military types aren’t good at expressing emotions.”

“No, not that.” I removed the wrap from a tray of cookies. “I wanted Luigi to try my snickerdoodles.”

“You jerk face!”

I stuffed a cookie in her mouth.

“Mmm,” she said, taking a bite and chewing. “These are terrific. How did you make them?”

“Mom taught me.” I scooped up one and took a bite. Buttery, just the way he liked them. “You know, spending time in the kitchen with someone is a bonding experience? You talk about all sorts of things. And not just recipes.”

“Mm-hmm,” Cedar said, taking another bite of snickerdoodle. “Like what?”

“Like, you know, stuff.” I moved closer. “Like how sometimes, you can see all of the dots, but for some reason you can’t see to connect them. Know what I mean?”

She reached for another cookie. “Nope.”

I caught her hand. “I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

“That you have crumb on the side of your mouth.”

“Oh?” Cedar smiled. “Want to help me out with that, sailor?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
 

I bent down and touched my lips to hers. I traced the edge of her lips and felt the heat from her mouth as her breath caught, and I held there, feeling her skin against mine and thinking that she tasted way better than any cookie ever could.
 

INFO

TIN CITY TINDER

Copyright © 2014 David Macinnis Gill

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Macinnis Gill has been a house painter, cafeteria manager, bookstore schleper, high school teacher, and college professor. He now lives on the Carolina coast with his family and a rescued dog who thinks he’s a cat.

OTHER WORKS BY DAVID MACINNIS GILL

For Adults

Tin City Tinder, a Boone Childress Mystery

Ironville Inferno, a Boone Childress Mystery

Broken Circles & Other Stories

For Young Adults

Stand-Alones

Soul Enchilada

The Black Hole Sun Series

Black Hole Sun

Invisible Sun

Shadow on the Sun

Rising Sun, a novella

Short Stories

“Broken Circles”

“Cut Bait”

“Eating Dirt”

“Going for Broke”

“A Pale Heart”

“People’s Song”

“The Scent of Apples”

If you enjoyed reading this, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com or Amazon UK.

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