Alex Powers—
Smoke billows from the embers of the fire, plumes darkening to a sooty black.
The shattering sound of a window bursting jars the already noisy area, and the red flash of sirens throws bizarre light and shadows across the burning, ruined mill.
The final roof beam caves in and sparks swirl into the air drafts. Ash drifts down from the smoky haze, landing on my suit jacket. I flick them away and stare at the patches of melted carpet through the office doorway.
Firefighters haul hoses through it, drowning everything in a torrent of water, turning it to a soupy mess of black melted plastic and ash.
A flickering orange glow comes from the wood stacked in the milling area.
I spot the silhouette of a firefighter striding through the thick haze, dragging his heavy hose toward it.
A smoky campfire smell saturates everything at first but is soon replaced by the sharp chemical odor of burned plastic and insulation. It stings my nose and throat, and the taste of ash fills my mouth.
A car races onto the lot, skidding to a stop, and Tori shoots out of the door like a rocket from a cannon, her face a mask of stunned disbelief.
“Oh, my God. Daddy, what happened?” She flies into the arms of her father.
Tears douse his soot-stained face. “It’s gone, baby girl. It’s all gone. Everything I worked so hard for. I’ll never be able to rebuild.”
He’s like a soldier in a war-zone, going into shock at the sight before him, his life going up in smoke.
I quietly step away and pull my phone out, scanning my texts and finding and deleting the ones from Charlie Thompson. The texts that told me the job was done.
Smiling, I slip it into my pocket, then return to the others.
We stand in stunned silence and stare helplessly as the mill burns to nothing.
The firefighters are there more to prevent the flames from spreading to the surrounding woods and the house on the hill.
It’d be a shame if it all went up, too. Tori would be heartbroken.
Though, it would save me the cost of demolishing the place.
Half an hour later, the fire chief approaches with a discarded gasoline canister. He stops in front of Sawyer. “Looks like arson, Mr. Sawyer. The burn pattern confirms it. This was probably used as the accelerant. You know anybody who’d want to burn the place to the ground?”
I catch Tori’s eyes shift to me. She’s smarter than I gave her credit for, and I won’t underestimate her in the future.
“You got any security cameras that store footage off site?” the fire chief asks.
Sawyer lifts his eyes to the man, almost as if he’s swimming up from the depths of a lake. “What was that?”
“Security cameras. You got any?”
“Yes, yes. It’s stored on the cloud. I can pull them up in my study at the house.” But he makes no move to do so.
I step in to take control. “Raymond, why don’t you take Tori up to the house? See if you can help your father find them, dear.”
“Who reported the fire?” Tori asks.
“Ed did. Saw it when he drove up. If he hadn’t woken us up…” Raymond trails off.
“Ed? Where is he?” She glances around. “There he is, sitting on his car’s hood.” She motions him over.
“Yes, Miss Sawyer?”
“You’re the one who discovered the fire, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. Almost caught the guy who set it.”
“You saw him?” I snap.
“Yep. Plain as day. He was dressed in black leather and had one of them wraparound helmets, covered his whole head. He was riding a black street bike.”
“Are you saying a biker did this?” Raymond snaps.
“Yes, sir, Mr. Sawyer.”
I see my advantage. “How many of the employees ride motorcycles?”
“Only one, sir. Rafe.”
I study Tori’s reaction. She shakes her head vehemently.
“It wasn’t Rafe.”
“Of course it was him, darling. He’s the only one it could be.”
The sound of a motorcycle approaching turns all our heads.
“Ah, the man of the hour,” I mutter.
“It was arson, Tori. That son-of-a-bitch set my mill on fire.” Raymond jabs a finger toward Rafe as he dismounts and jogs over to Tori.
He takes her arms. “My God, are you okay, babe? What happened?”
“I’m fine. The fire department was already here when I arrived.”
“ What happened ? Like you don’t know.” Raymond jabs a finger into Rafe’s chest. “You burned down my mill.”
“What?” Rafe snaps.
“That’s not true, Daddy.”
“How would you know? He’s a criminal. He was caught red-handed. I’m sure I have it all on tape up at the house.”
“He didn’t do it, Daddy, because he wasn’t at the mill last night.”
“How do you know that?”
Tori looks nervous and uncomfortable, but then her chin lifts proudly, and her back goes ramrod straight. “I wasn’t at Cynthia’s. I lied to you about that. I was with Rafe at his house. The entire night.”
Raymond actually takes a step back. “What? You… you and him?”
Tori turns to Rafe. “They say he was dressed like a biker. It could have been Connor.”
They hold eyes, and Rafe nods. “Him or Charlie. They both had a reason.”
“Tori,” Raymond snaps, then points up the hill. “Go up to the house and wait for me there.”
“But, Daddy—”
“Go. Now.” Sawyer’s voice is sharp.
She turns to Rafe. “Come with me.”
“No,” Sawyer barks. “I need to talk to my employee. Go, Tori.”
“Go on, babe. It’s okay,” Rafe says softly but confidently.
A sheriff’s squad pulls in.
“Don’t you dare put him in handcuffs again, Daddy. He didn’t do it.”
“Go.” Sawyer whirls on her.
“There’s no need to snap at her, Mr. Sawyer. Your daughter is only telling you the truth,” Rafe says, taking a step between the man and his daughter.
I take the opportunity to step in. “Let’s all calm down. Tori, maybe it’d be best if you do as your father asks. We’ll get this all straightened out. I promise.”
Once Tori is gone, Sawyer spins to Rafe and jabs a finger into his chest. “I trusted you. I gave you a shot. I should have known better. You told me yourself you were on probation. Well, now you’re fired.
I want you off my property. I don’t want to see your face here again.
If I’m lucky, you’ll go to prison for arson.
” Sawyer turns on his heel and stomps over to the sheriff.
I sidle closer to the kid, crossing my arms. “I’m surprised she lied to save your ass. Shocked, really. To soil her reputation like that for the likes of you.”
“She didn’t lie,” Rafe growls, leaning toward me.
I shove my hands in my trousers. “You know I took Tori out recently. We attended an event at the San Francisco Opera House. It’s right across the street from the courthouse.
There’s a terrace overlooking it. That’s where I asked Tori to marry me.
I even offered to have the judge come down and marry us that night.
But I didn’t have the ring.” I shrug. “And girls like romance.” I pull the ring box from my pocket and pop it open.
His eyes drop to it and widen almost imperceptibly, but I catch it.
“It’s really something, isn’t it? Four full carats.
Cost almost half a million. But then, nothing’s too good for my Tori.
” I snap the box closed. “So, you see, my boy, there’s really nothing here for you. ”
The sheriff and a deputy approach, and they cuff Rafe and put him facedown over the hood of the squad car. The deputy goes through his pockets, tossing things on the hood. A pocket knife, his wallet, his phone. Another one searches the saddlebags of his motorcycle.
While they’re busy, I knock the phone on the ground, then pick it up and hold it toward Rafe’s face. “Is this your phone?”
I jostle against the deputy and switch out my phone for Rafe’s and set it on the hood. Then step back as one of them glares at me.
“Stay back, sir.”
I raise my hands. “Sorry. No problem.”
I go around one of the company trucks and now that his face opened his phone for me, I access his contacts and block Tori’s number. Then I ease back and set it on the hood.
When they turn to glare at me, I lift my other hand with the phone. “Sorry, I guess I set my own phone down by mistake. This one’s his.”
I get in my car and drive to the house. When the door opens, Ruth stands there, her hand on her hip.
“Oh, it’s you.”
“Are Tori and her father here?”
She swings an arm toward the study. “Yup. In there.”
Stepping into the room, I quietly shut the door. The two of them are bent over a computer screen, watching the security footage, I’m sure.
“Find anything?” I ask.
She points at the screen. “That is not Rafe, Daddy. He’s not even the same size. And Rafe doesn’t wear a helmet like that.”
“He could have borrowed one,” I say, easing closer to Tori, leaning to look at the screen. “Show me again.”
Raymond rewinds the footage and replays it.
“What time is this?” I ask.
Raymond leans to see the timestamp. “Just before 5am.”
“Daddy, that’s not his motorcycle.”
Raymond leans back. “How would you know? Have you been on that damn deathtrap?”
“I have,” she says stubbornly, then points at the screen. “And it’s not that one.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s not him, Tori. And you are never to see him again. I forbid it.”
“You forbid it?” Her voice raises three octaves.
“Okay, whoa. Calm down, you two,” I say. “Perhaps she’s right, Raymond. Perhaps it’s someone else.”
“I think it could be Connor,” Tori says.
“Who is Connor?” her father and I both ask at the same time.
“A boy from school who’s been harassing me. I thought he was done with that, but I think this is exactly the kind of thing he’d do. Violence isn’t above him. He’s mean when he doesn’t get what he wants.”
“And what he wants is you?” I snap, rage filling me.
“Yes. I’ve tried telling him I’m not interested. I’ve tried avoiding him. It all just makes him even more determined.” She turns to her father. “He scares me, Daddy.”
“Who is he?”
“Connor Waters.”
“Waters? As in Governor Waters?”
“Yes.”
“You mean to tell me the son of the Governor scares you, but that… that biker,” Raymond points toward the window and down the hill beyond. “That biker makes you feel safe?”
“ Yes . I’m telling you, it’s not Rafe. It’s Connor.”
“Enough, Tori. It’s done.” Her father puts his head in his hands. “I’m ruined.”
I take her into hall. “Come, my dear. Let’s give him a minute.”
She’s trying frantically to call and text Rafe. “He won’t answer my calls. Why won’t he answer? And it doesn’t say he’s read my texts. It says they’re delivered, though.”
I pull the phone from her hand. “He left, Tori. He up and quit and walked out on your father, and you , apparently.”
“What?”
“Maybe the fire and the cops… maybe it was more than he wanted to sign up for.”
“He just… left?” She turns and moves to the window.
While she does, I block his number on her phone, finishing just before she turns around.
“I can’t believe he’d leave.”
“Here.” I hand her phone back, then dig the ring box from my pocket and pop it open.
Her eyes widen, and her hand goes to her mouth. “You bought me a ring?”
“Forget him, Tori. Marry me. It will solve all your father’s problems. I can afford to rebuild everything for him. If not, your father is ruined.”
Her eyes lift from the ring. “Why would you rebuild the mill? You want the land. I thought you wanted to put another vineyard here.”
“I’ve abandoned that plan. There’s something I want more.
You, beautiful Tori. You see how besotted you’ve made me?
I’ll give up all my plans for you. If keeping this place makes you happy, then that’s what I want, too.
We’ll rebuild it together, bigger and better.
We can fix up this house. There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t give you, sweetheart.
You must think of your father. You can solve all his problems with just one little word. Yes.”
“I… I can’t think about that now.” She takes a step back.
“Of course. You’ve had a shock. It’s a big decision.”
She walks to the window, staring at her phone. “Why won’t he answer my calls? Why would he just quit and leave?”
I come up behind her. “Maybe he left because he got what he wanted from you last night.”
She whirls, and her palm cracks across my cheek.