Page 53 of Up In Smoke

She’d thought for a while that the whole thing was her problem. But that was the thing with a small town like Redemption: Everyone knew everyone else's business.

She had come in with an understanding of small town life that wasn’t an idealized or romanticized version. Not everyone was good, quirky wasn’t always great. In fact, she’d known that few people would actually be her best friends and that she would get to know people well enough to know she didn’t like them. But she'd liked the idea that people knew what was happening. And she’d been there and helped others through their crises. But somehow, when her own crisis had hit, she'd simply forgotten that she was already a part of the community, and they would rally around her too.

Ivy stayed until the library closed at seven. With Luke at work, she was on her own overnight, and knew it meant she wouldn't sleep well. After doing her final check, she locked up behind herself and headed out to her car … the lone vehicle in a parking lot lit only by a few old yellow sulfur lights.

Was she being watched again?

She truly felt as if she was. But she was also becoming convinced she was simply paranoid. She’d never caught a glimpse of anyone out of the corner of her eye. Not found footprints around her home. And she’d received no cryptic notes or even gotten hangup phone calls.

Still, she locked the doors in her car as soon as she was in and tried to breathe easier as she drove through for a burger, a habit that was becoming far too regular. A habit that she had told herself she would quit when the crisis was over. But she was now coming to understand that it might never be over.

The fires might simply fade away in frequency. Or, she thought as she watched the sky gathering snow it softly dropped, their firebug might simply be put on hold for the colder months. She could be tense all winter waiting for him to strike again when he wouldn’t.

Tonight, she made Luke's rounds, seeing nothing. She'd gone so far as to trespass on one property, driving up the long stretch of gravel and getting out of the car to check out the old barn. But it seemed intact.

An apartment the Hernandez family had lived in was on the other side of the property. Luke told her how the boys would come out and play in the barn, which was at the time in better repair. She couldn't go up into the loft now without fearing for her safety. She hadn't even gone inside because, again, she'd gotten the sensation that she was being watched.

So she climbed back into her car and followed the gravel road back out to the main highway, none the wiser for her searching. Though she was tempted to head home, something nagged at her. A few moments later, she found herself pulling up to a tiny house indistinct from the others in the row of tiny houses.

It stood on a lifted foundation, clear of the flooding they sometimes experienced. Vinyl siding, a much older version of her own, sagged and gapped in a few places. Near the front door, a smudge marred the color and she recognized it as a trail of cigarette smoke left by someone who stood there talking to her neighbors or just maybe watching the world go by.

Without much hope, Ivy put the car into park on the gravel driveway behind the small beater that took up most of the space. Pulling her coat tighter around herself, she headed up the short walk and climbed the steps and knocked on Mrs. Hernandez’ front door.

Chapter Forty

It was one in the morning before Luke finally called her back.

“Luke!” Ivy frantically answered the phone. She was awake, sitting in her living room, the one torch lamp on. She left it lit most nights, not willing to make her house entirely dark and signal to someone whether she was awake or asleep.

The old rifle she bought herself after an assault walking home from her waitressing job years ago sat beside her. It was loaded and ready, though she really didn't think she would need it.

“I'm sorry,” Luke said. “We were out on a run.”

“I understand. Is everyone okay?” She wasn't angry, just concerned.

Their runs could be anything from a cat in a tree to a domestic dispute to a raging fire. So she always worried, but she didn’t tell him that as she listened to him talk about a kitchen fire in which an older man had forgotten he was cooking bacon.

Though her heart broke for the man who’d burned up his own kitchen, she was still focused on what she’d learned. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

He seemed to check with the others and again, Ivy was reminded that everyone in town pretty much knew their business. No one had commented on her relationship with Luke other than to say that they knew it existed. But a few had told her they hoped she stayed safe and she was trying to do that now.

“Yes, I can talk as long as we don’t get another call.”

“Luke, you're going to be so mad at me.”Not a good opening. “I went and talked to your mother this evening.”

“Oh, Lord. How did that go?” He didn't sound angry. Yet.

“It was okay. I asked her all these questions about you boys ...” Ivy let her thoughts trail off.

“And?” Luke prompted. At least he still didn't sound angry.

“She has to be covering for Mario. We thought she was covering for Tiago. And she did, but that was to help cover for Mario.” Ivy said.

“What do you mean?”

Ivy shook her head. It was a difficult trail to follow. “The exterminator at the spa couldn’t have been Tiago and it probablywasthe arsonist. I’m assuming he wouldn’t trust anyone else to lay down the accelerant. So it isn’t Tiago. But your mother covered for Tiago for something on the night of one of the fires! And she covered for Mario on another night.”

“Okay, I’m following now.”

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