Page 33 of Raging Inferno

Tamera waved a hand. “Knock yourself out.”

Dominic stood and left the room. Tamera watched him go with a sigh.

“Pep, you snagged a good one. He was the hottie of Serenity Shores High. Every girl wanted to date him. We were so damn jealous of Gwen when she caught him.”

“We’re not dating. I live out of state.”

“So? Do the long-distance thing. He looks totally worth it.” She wagged her brows.

“Tamera,” Presley warned as Dominic returned. Hopefully, he hadn’t heard the conversation.

“Your fire alarms are old.”

“So is this house,” Tamera remarked. “Earl, my former husband, and I had plans to remodel, but the marriage didn’t last long enough. Now I’m stuck with this money pit.”

“I wouldn’t trust them to protect you,” Dominic told her. “I have some in my truck. They’re the latest model. I’m going to replace yours.”

“That is so sweet of you, Dominic. Thank you.”

When he left, Presley asked, “Tamera, has anything out of the ordinary happened to you lately?”

Tamera thought for a moment and shook her head. “No. Why?”

“You need to be careful. I don’t believe Margy and Nancy’s deaths were accidents.”

Tamera choked on a puff of smoke and started hacking. One hand covered her mouth while the other stubbed the butt out in an overflowing ashtray on her desk. When she composed herself, she asked, “You think I’m in danger?”

“I can’t say that for sure, but you need to be careful and aware of your surroundings. Make sure you lock your doors. And be wary of strangers.”

“O-okay.”

Presley took out a business card. “I’ll be in town for a few days. If you notice anything suspicious or need to talk, give me a call.”

Tamera took the card and ran her hand over the gold embossing. “You’ve done well for yourself, Pep. I will call if there’s any trouble.”

“Are you going to the funerals?”

It took a few seconds for Tamera to answer. When she did, Presley was surprised.

“Probably not. I buried one friend. It was excruciating. I can’t go through that again.”

Presley thought that was selfish but didn’t voice her thoughts.

“You know, I just remembered, but someone was asking about you last week.”

How strange. Jessie had said the same thing. “Do you know who it was?”

“A man. I think he said his name was Andy. He was doing genealogical research and had come across your name as a relative. He’d been adopted and was trying to find out all he could about his birth family.”

Presley couldn’t think of anyone in her tree who had given up a child. “How did he know to contact you?”

“He said that someone had told him about how you used to cheer with us.”

“What did he want to know about me?”

“Anything I could provide, but I didn’t give him anything useful, mostly because I didn’t know what had happened with you. For that, I’m so sorry.”

“What did he look like?”

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