Hunt followed Emma and Birdie home and helped get Birdie inside before leaving them on their own. It wasn’t until he got back to the house that he realized he had a text from Ava.
Heard about the fire and that there was a death. Is Birdie okay?
He sighed. That explained what happened to the missing man. He stopped and returned the text.
Yes. A little smoke inhalation. Emma took her home. I need to see you tonight. Are you free?
He sent the message, then waited. When her text came back, he grinned.
I always charged before, but you get a deal. For you, I’m always free. My house. Six p.m. I’m cooking.
He laughed and sent one last text.
You’re not just cooking. You’re smokin’ hot, lady, and you’re mine, all mine. See you at six.
* * *
The firemen had been inside the loading area checking for hot spots when they found a partially burned body trapped between the outer wall and what had been a large stack of bagged cattle cubes.
At that point, Chief Pittman and a couple of EMTs were called to the scene. But it was Dub Truesdale who identified the body by the unburned part of the man’s jacket and the fact that he only had one employee unaccounted for.
Lon was sick at heart. The last time he’d seen Arnold had been in his jail, witnessing the heartbreaking conversation between him and his sons, who were awaiting transport to county. Now he was going to have to notify Donna Hollis that her husband had died in the fire and tell the boys as well. This was one of the times in his job when he wondered why some people suffer such tragedies.
He left an officer on guard at the scene and went back to the office to notify the county coroner. The body couldn’t be removed from the scene until it was determined there was no foul play. After that, Lon went to notify Arnold’s wife.
He drove across town to their home, but when he pulled up in the driveway and saw Donna sitting out on the front porch staring in the direction of the fading smoke, his heart sank. She’d either already heard or suspected, and it was no wonder. The sirens. The smoke. And she probably tried to call Arnold without getting an answer, and since there was no other car in the drive, Arnold must have driven their only vehicle to work.
She was already crying as Lon came up the steps.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Donna cried.
Lon sat down in the chair beside her.
“Yes, ma’am. I am so sorry. They found his body in the warehouse.”
Donna covered her face and began to wail. “Oh my God! Why is this happening? Wasn’t it enough that I lost my sons? Why did I have to lose my man?”
Lon stood. “I don’t know, Mrs. Hollis, and I’m so sorry. But it’s chilly for you sitting out here. Will you let me help you inside?”
Donna let Lon walk her into the house, then settle her on the sofa.
“Is there anyone I can call for you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “All I had was Arnold and the boys. We were going to move home to Bethlehem. That’s in West Virginia, where I grew up. I got my mama’s house, and we were gonna live there for free. Only now I don’t have any way to get there and no money to hire it done. I don’t know why I don’t just die, too. This isn’t right. This just isn’t right,” she said, and then leaned back against the sofa and closed her eyes.
Lon didn’t know how he was going to make it happen yet, but this was a situation he couldn’t ignore.
“We’ll help you, Mrs. Hollis. The people here in Blessings help each other when the need is great, and this is one of those times. We’ll figure it out, and we’ll get you home, I promise. Do you have family there?” Lon asked.
“Yes, my sister and two brothers,” Donna said.
“Then you get on the phone and you call them right now. You don’t need to be dealing with this alone. Just have a little faith in us. You tell them we’ll get you home.”
Donna looked up then, her eyes red-rimmed and swimming in tears.
“You can do that for me?”
“Yes, ma’am. Even if I have to drive a U-Haul all the way to West Virginia and back myself, we will get you there.”
“How do I get our car back? It’s at the store,” Donna asked.
“We’ll get it back to you as soon as the fire department clears the area. Right now, they’re waiting for the coroner.”
She was quiet for a few moments, and then looked up at him. “Have you told my sons?”
“No, ma’am. Not yet. I wanted to tell you first. I’m going back to make the notification now, unless you want to tell them yourself. I can take you, if you do.”
“You tell them. Right now, I don’t feel like I’ll ever want to see them again.”
“Yes, ma’am, and again, I’m so sorry for your loss,” Lon said, then left the house and headed back to the station.
He wanted this day over with. He wanted to go home and see Mercy’s beautiful face and laughing eyes and hear stories about her day at Granny’s. This day had been a kick in the gut.
His feet were dragging when he pulled in at the back of the jail and got out. It wouldn’t be long before they’d serve supper, but he was about to ruin Teddy and Brian Hollis’s appetites, and hated like hell that it had to be said.
He entered the booking area, and then opened the door into the jail and walked down to their cells.
Teddy stood.
“When are they coming to move us?” he asked.
“Tomorrow,” Lon said. “But that’s not why I’m here. I’m afraid I have bad news about your dad. There was a fire at the feed store today, and he didn’t make it. I’m really, really sorry, boys.”
Brian leaped off his bunk and grabbed the bars, screaming, “No! No! Oh my God!”
Tears were rolling down Teddy’s face. “Does Mama know?”
“She does now.”
Teddy staggered back to his bunk and dropped.
“We don’t have family here. What’s going to happen to her?” he asked.
“She wants to go home, and we’ll get her there because that’s what we do here in Blessings. We take care of our people. We don’t rob them. We don’t hurt them. We don’t steal what is theirs,” Lon said.
Then he walked out and went back to his office and called Mercy because he wanted to hear her sweet voice and be reminded of good in this world.
While Lon was calling his wife, Donna Hollis was calling her sister. She was trembling so hard it was difficult for her to hold the phone, and then she sat listening to it ring and ring before it went to voicemail.