The Ladies of Sweetwater Lake

Chapter Two

Joshua’s question brought Darcy firmly back to the business at hand—the fire. “As I said earlier, I was in the other broodmare barn helping to deliver a foal.” She knew the query was necessary, but it still bothered her.

Joshua wrote something on his pad, then asked her father, “And you, sir?”

Shamus’s mouth twisted into a frown as he peered away. “I was working in the office on the books.”

“Dad! You were supposed to be asleep.”

“Well, I wasn’t. I was just checking to make sure all the orders were made.”

“I did those yesterday morning, Dad—” Darcy snapped her mouth closed, suddenly remembering they had an audience.

Silence hung in the air until her father cleared his throat and said, “I didn’t know anything was happening at the barn until the alarm sounded. By the time I arrived, it was engulfed in flames.”

Joshua shifted toward Darcy. “What did the fire look like when you arrived?”

“Not much better. Smoke was everywhere and flames were beginning to shoot out the east side.”

“And you went into the barn to get the horses out?”

“Yes. Jake was already bringing a few out. I managed to open the stall doors so the mares would at least have a chance to run to safety.” The sounds of the frightened horses filled her mind all over again. Memories of the smoke-laden barn, the scent of fire everywhere, made her hug her arms to warm her chilled body.

“Did you see anything unusual or anyone who shouldn’t have been there?”

Darcy shook her head, having gone over the scene many times in the past few hours, trying to come up with something that would explain the fire.

“Are you having any financial problems?”

Darcy was about to answer when her father cut in with a chuckle and said, “I wondered when you would ask me that. No, Shamrock Stables is doing fine. You may look at my books anytime. I don’t need insurance money to pay my bills.”

Surprised by her father’s calm answer, Darcy pressed her lips together to keep from expressing her astonishment.

“Can you think of anyone, sir, who might have a grudge against you and the farm?”

“I try to do right by people, but I’ve made a few enemies in my lifetime.” Her father drummed his fingers on the arm of the leather-padded chair, a distant look in his gray eyes. “Have Ray Anderson or John Baker thought of anyone?”

“A few disgruntled employees, but no one who has worked for both of them. Do any of your employees smoke?”

“Not around my barns. I have strict rules about that. I had to fire a groom back about six months ago because he kept forgetting it. Caught him smoking while he was mucking out a stall. Sent him packing that very minute.”

“Who was that, sir?”

“Angus Feehan.”

Joshua jotted down the name.

“Was it started with a cigarette?” Darcy asked, thinking back to how fast the fire had developed and spread. It had only been seven, maybe eight minutes before she’d had to escape the barn or be trapped inside.

“I found a butt near where I think the fire started, but I don’t think it was the sole cause.” Joshua rose, sliding the notepad into his pants pocket. “That’s all for the time being.”

Shamus started to stand, seemed to decide against it and remained seated, a pinch to his mouth indicating exhaustion. “I’d like to be kept informed of your investigation. I want to know if there’s a connection to the other two fires.”

“I’ll let you know when I get the reports back from the lab. But from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like there is a connection.”

Darcy came to her feet. “Let me show you the foal.”

“I can find my way to the barn if you’re busy.”

“That’s okay. I need to check on the mares we stabled in that barn. Make sure they’re settled into their new home.”

Out on the front veranda Darcy paused and took a deep breath. There was still a hint of burned wood in the air, but mostly the scent of grass, flowers and earth laced the breeze. She looked toward the horizon and noticed the sun beginning its descent. A few streaks of orange and pink threaded through the blue sky like pieces of ribbon carelessly tossed about.

“It’s getting close to dinnertime, Mr. Markham. Would you like to stay and eat with us?”

“Please, call me Joshua, and yes, I would like that. I don’t particularly care for my own cooking.”

“Neither do I.” Chuckling, Darcy blushed. “I mean my cooking, not yours.”

“You wouldn’t care for mine, either.”

“I think we have established we’re both lousy cooks.” Darcy led the way toward the broodmare barn set off to the left and farthest from the house. “I promised myself when I came this summer to have Lizzy teach me some of her dishes. Of course, now I’m wondering when I’ll find the time, what with the fire and all.”

“Maybe I should throw myself on Lizzy’s mercy, too.”

“You know Lizzy?”

“Oh, yes. She’s a mainstay at Sweetwater Community Church.”

“That’s right. I’d forgotten that’s where my mother found her and asked her to be our housekeeper.”

“How long has she been working for your family?” Joshua opened a gate and stepped to the side to allow Darcy to go first into a pasture that shortened the trip to the farthest barn.

“Fourteen years. Mom died not too long after Lizzy came to work for us.” One of the mares in the paddock trotted over to Darcy and nudged her. She laughed and dug into the pocket of her black jeans for a few sugar cubes, holding her palm out flat. “Bluebell won’t let me leave without getting some sweets from me. She’s spoiled rotten.” She ran her hand over the horse’s dark brown flank. “She knows she’s my favorite and uses that to her advantage.”

Joshua walked around the mare, making sure the horse knew where he was at all times. “She’s a beauty. When is she due?”

“Not for another month. I can’t wait. She always has a beautiful foal.” Darcy patted Bluebell on the rump before continuing toward the far end of the field where the broodmare barn was located.

“I wish I had more time to ride.”

“You’re in horse country. How can you not ride?”

Again Joshua opened the gate and waited for Darcy to go first. “I know. Life gets in the way.”

When Darcy entered the barn, the scents of hay and horses permeated the air. They made her feel as though she had come home. For the past ten years, since her marriage to Clay, she had spent all of her time other places—many other places—while her husband pursued his fighter-pilot career in the Navy. With his death the year before, everything had changed…and yet it hadn’t. She wasn’t sure what she should do with her life.

“Mom! Joshua! Come have a look. She’s feeding.” At the other end of the barn Sean danced in front of a stall with the biggest grin on his face. As they neared, he darted inside.

“I can see your son loves the farm,” Joshua said with a laugh.

“Definitely.” Darcy went into the stall with Joshua following, pushing away the guilty feeling she suddenly experienced. But it still niggled. She hadn’t wanted to come home; she hadn’t brought her son to see his grandfather until now.

“See. Isn’t she neat?” Sean pointed to the foal nursing. “She lets me touch her. She almost fell once but she didn’t.”

Darcy inspected the foal who was all legs and still wobbly. The chestnut-colored coat reminded Darcy of the foal’s mother. She hoped she was as good a jumper as her mother. Despite the fire, seeing the filly caused Darcy’s hopes to rise. Life continued even amid problems.

“Grandpa said I could name her.” Sean continued to stroke the foal.

“Have you come up with one yet?” Darcy asked, remembering the first time her father had let her name a horse—a lifetime ago. So much had happened to her in the last twenty-four years, and yet her relationship with her father was the same—strained, at best.

“I was thinking of Big Red, but that sounds like a boy. What do you think, Joshua?”

Joshua cocked his head and thought for a moment. “You’re probably right. The correct name will come to you. After spending some time with her, I’m sure you’ll come up with something that fits. Naming something is important.”

Sean straightened, his shoulders thrown back, his big grin spreading even more. “I think so. I can’t just give her any ol’ name. Something real special.” He peered around Joshua. “Where’s Arnold? I was hoping to see him again.”

“He’s at home. He worked hard today so I gave him a treat and he’s resting up. I’ll bring him back some other time.”

“I never met a fire dog before.”

“There aren’t a lot of them around.”

“How did you come up with the name Arnold?”

“My first fire captain was named Arnold. He showed me the ropes. I wanted to honor him so I named Arnold after him.”

Sean placed his forefinger on his chin. “Hmm. That’s a thought.”

“Well, young man, right now you need to get up to the house and wash up before dinner. You know how Lizzy is about clean hands.”

“But, Mom, you and Joshua just got here.”

“Joshua’s coming to dinner, so you can talk to him at the table. That is, if you pass Lizzy’s inspection.”

“I will.” He raced from the stall.

Joshua chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever been used as a bribe to get someone to wash up.”

“As a parent you learn to use any trick you can.”

“I’m flattered.”

“My son was quite taken with you and Arnold.”

His smile reached deep into his blue eyes. “Maybe I can bring Arnold out here one day.”

“You’ll make my son’s day.” Darcy left the stall, and after closing its door, led the way into the barn to check each of the newly arrived mares to make sure they were settled. Joshua’s quiet study of her heightened her awareness of him.

Outside, a line of oaks and maples hid the sun, dusk beginning to settle over the yard. “What made you become an arson investigator?” she asked, relishing the breeze caressing her face, cooling her cheeks.

“I decided it was the best of both worlds.”

“What worlds?”

“When I was growing up, I would fluctuate between wanting to be a firefighter and a police officer. I fight fires, but I also investigate any that are suspicious in nature.”

“Do you have many in Sweetwater?” Darcy thought of her hometown and the people she knew and couldn’t imagine too many arsonists in the bunch.

“No, not usually, but with Arnold I cover more than just this area of Kentucky.”

“But now there’s a chance you have a serial arsonist in Sweetwater?”

Joshua paused at the gate to the paddock. Rolling his shoulders, he rubbed the back of his neck, apparently trying to massage a stiffness. “It’s looking like that. If these fires continue, someone is going to die. I have to stop the person before that.”

“You think it’s one person?”

“Most likely. That’s how arsonists work usually.”

Darcy again stopped and greeted Bluebell before continuing across the pasture toward the main house. “Do you usually catch an arsonist?”

“Arson cases are difficult to prosecute.”

She quaked at the thought that the person responsible for setting three barn fires so far would go unpunished. A mare died last night, but that could have been a person trapped in the barn. She could have been trapped in the barn if Jake hadn’t insisted she get out before she had a chance to save the last mare. That she wasn’t able to help the horse plagued her, making it doubly important that they discover who set the fire. “Then your job is quite a challenge,” she murmured, hoping this case was an exception.

“Especially when we have random fires with no apparent reason. It’s one thing when someone burns down a building to collect the insurance money or for some other financial reason. Usually we can catch that person. But with no connection between the fires, it’s hard to know what’s motivating the arsonist.”

“Didn’t you say some people burn buildings just to watch them burn?”

“Yes, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.”

Darcy mounted the steps to the veranda. “Why?”

Joshua frowned, looking back toward the place where the burned rumble of the barn lay in a large mound. “Call it a hunch. Just a feeling I can’t shake. Something’s driving this person—something to do with farms, barns, horses.”

“That doesn’t narrow down too many people in and around Sweetwater, with this being in the middle of the Bluegrass area of Kentucky.”

“I know. I have my work cut out for me.” Joshua held the front door open for Darcy. “But from what I understand, running a farm isn’t an easy task. I’d say you have your work cut out for you, too.”

“It has been a while since I worked with the horses. Until I got married, I was learning the ropes from my father while attending college.” And not doing quite the job he wanted, Darcy thought, remembering her father’s frowns and remarks when she didn’t do something his way.

“Sean told me his dad died last year.”

“What hasn’t my son told you?” Darcy stopped in the middle of the entry hall and faced Joshua, thinking of her son’s enthusiasm and lack of inhibition. As the saying goes, he’d never met a stranger—which thankfully had helped him make friends. They had moved a lot over the years.

“We talked this afternoon for twenty minutes nonstop.”

Darcy laughed. “Nonstop on whose part, yours or his?”

“Mostly his.”

“That’s what I thought. He doesn’t know how to keep a secret. Whenever he gets me a present, I have to open it right then and there, because he can’t wait. So this past Christmas I got his picture frame he made me on December fourth, the day he finished it.”

“He said something about his dad dying in a plane crash.”

“Clay was a fighter pilot for the Navy. During a routine exercise he had problems with his plane and crashed. Knowing the risks he had to take in his job, I thought I was prepared. I wasn’t—” A tightness in her throat prevented her from saying anything else. In fact, she wasn’t even sure why she had told Joshua that. But for some reason the man was easy to talk to, and for a year she had kept a lot bottled up inside her. For most of her life she’d held her emotions close to her heart.

“I’m sorry. Death of a loved one is always difficult. I’ve lost both my parents over the past eight years. They were the only family I had.”

A profound sadness and empathy edged each of his words and drew Darcy to him. “You didn’t grow up here, did you?” Darcy felt that she would have remembered someone like him, even though she suspected a few years separated them in age.

“No. Louisville. I moved here nine years ago. I didn’t want to live in a large town, but I still wanted to be close if my parents needed me.”

Darcy could tell from the tone in his voice that there was more to that story. Indeed there was more to Joshua Markham than merely being a firefighter. But she was only going to be here for a few months. With her heart still scarred from her marriage to Clay, there was no way she would open herself up to any more pain, to another man.

“Mom. Joshua.” Sean came running into the entry hall and slid to a stop a few feet from Darcy. “Dinner is ready. Lizzy made my favorite.”

“Pizza?” Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the atmosphere between her and Joshua had shifted and become charged with possibilities that she wouldn’t pursue.

“Naw. Spaghetti. It’s my favorite now.”

Darcy clasped her son’s shoulder and ruffled his hair. “You have a new favorite every week. I can’t keep up with them anymore.”

Sean blushed and leaned closer to Joshua, cupping his mouth as though he were imparting a deep, dark secret. “Anything Lizzy makes is my favorite. She’s a great cook. Wait ’til you taste her spaghetti. Mom, you should get Lizzy to show you how.”

“I doubt I could match her in that department.”

“Sure, Mom. You can do anything. Jake told me about the yearlings you used to break.”

“A long time ago. At the ripe old age of thirty-one I’m wiser now.” She placed a hand on the small of her back. “Just thinking about those days I can feel the aches and pains. Every once in a while there was one who didn’t like the feel of a bit and rein or the touch of a saddle and loved to show me how much.”

Sean’s eyes grew round. “Did you ever break anything?”

“Only my pride from time to time.”

“Maybe I can learn how?”

“Not ’til you’re much older.” Then in a whisper to Joshua she added, “And gone from my home.”

“Mom, I heard that.”

“Come on. Let’s go in to eat.”

When Sean raced ahead, she reached out and touched Joshua’s arm to stop his forward movement. The instant her fingers grazed him she pulled her hand away.

“Will you do me a favor, Joshua?”

“What?”

“Let’s not talk about the fire at dinner tonight. Dad may bring it up, but I’d rather not get him too upset.”

“Sure. I don’t have anything else to share about the fire until I get the lab tests back.”

“Knowing my father, he’ll try to pump you for information about your investigation. The doctor said he needed to reduce his stress level, which I’m not sure is possible, especially now with the fire. But I’m going to do everything I can to make his life less stressful.” Will that satisfy her father…finally? she wondered.

“Good luck. I’ve found if the person doesn’t want change, it’s nearly impossible to force one on them.”

“I know, especially someone as stubborn as my father. But that’s why I’m here this summer.”

“So in August you’ll be returning home. Sean said you lived in Panama City, Florida.”

“Yes, I’m a high school librarian, so luckily I could take the summer off to help Dad. This trip will be good for Sean.” She wasn’t so sure about herself, especially after the rocky start she and her dad had had.

“You haven’t come home much?”

Darcy thought of the estranged relationship between her and her father. “No, since Clay was in the Navy we were always moving, getting settled in at a new place.” She started forward, not wanting to go into the past. Going backward wouldn’t change what had happened and she was tired of trying to justify why it had taken a crisis to bring her home.

After they washed their hands, Darcy stepped into the dining room as Lizzy finished putting the last serving bowl on the table. The older woman turned to leave. “Why don’t you stay and join us for dinner?” Darcy asked.

Lizzy looked startled. Shaking her head she began backing toward the door. “I’ve got too much to do in the kitchen.”

“Lizzy, you’re part of the family and you have to eat.” Darcy inhaled the aroma of meat sauce, seasoned with oregano, garlic and onion, flavoring the air. “It smells wonderful.” She sensed Joshua’s presence behind her, and a tingling awareness shivered down her spine.

Lizzy glanced toward Shamus, who was already dishing up his spaghetti. “I don’t—”

“Come on, Lizzy. Joshua’s joining us.” Sean took the bowl from his grandfather and spooned a big helping onto his plate.

The older woman sighed. “I guess, just this once.”

“I’ve been trying to get her to join me for dinner for years,” Shamus grumbled, a frown creasing his brow. “Always said she was too busy. We must have the cleanest kitchen in the state.”

“You’re welcome to eat in the kitchen anytime you want.” Bristling, Lizzy sat next to Sean, leaving the other side of the table for Darcy and Joshua.

Shamus motioned toward the two empty chairs. “Sit, you two. I’m hungry and this is getting cold.”

“I like cold spaghetti, Grandpa.”

“You like anything that doesn’t move.” Shamus picked up the bowl of salad but didn’t put any on his plate. He passed it to Sean with a smug look thrown toward Lizzy.

The older woman pinched her lips together and focused on filling her plate with the main course. She held her petite frame rigid in the chair, her movements jerky.

At the door Darcy twisted partway around to look at Joshua. “You can always reconsider eating with us. I forget how—” She couldn’t come up with an acceptable way to describe the stressful, tension-laden meals she had spent with her father over the years. He was so set in his ways that he wouldn’t even eat in the kitchen when it was just him. Darcy was sure that for the past thirty-five years her father had eaten in the dining room and that was the way it would remain.

“Your father reminds me of my own.”

“He does?”

“Gruff on the outside, but mush on the inside.”

“Mush?” What was Joshua seeing that she had missed? Darcy wondered.

“Look at him with your son. He’s listening to every word he’s saying.”

Darcy glanced over her shoulder at her father. His gaze was glued to Sean, who was regaling him with details of the new foal’s first day. Seeing the attention her son was getting pierced defenses she’d built up over the years when trying to deal with her father.

Darcy moved into the room, continuing to feel Joshua’s presence close behind her. Had her relationship with her husband colored hers with her father? Even when Clay had been home, he had rarely shown any interest in Sean. Her son was starved for male attention, and that had provoked over the years memories of her own childhood: trying to please her father and never quite succeeding.

After she slipped into the chair across from Lizzy, she filled her plate with the delicious-smelling spaghetti and meat sauce, then gave the bowls to Joshua, who took the last bit. Her father and Sean had already started eating. Lizzy cleared her throat.