Page 94 of Rest In Pink

“If you want a teddy bear, we have plenty at home.”

“This one was named Vince.”

There was a small part of my mind which noticed that the Blue House was now home for Peri, but most of it was occupied with the thought it was hurtling toward.

I was fucking in love with Vince Cooper and had been for, oh, about five weeks now.

“Crap,” I said. “Let’s go thank Vince for the car. We’ll drive it home tonight and show Anemone.”

“She’ll love it,” Peri said and took my hand, and we went out the back door and walked right into a big guy, pale unshaven face, white hair, dark eyes like coals.

Mickey Pitts.

With a gas can in his hand and the smell of fuel in the air.

He tossed the gas can away and smiled at me. “You must be Lizzie Blue. Unlucky you.” He looked down. “And precious little Peri Blue. The last of the line.”

Peri pressed close to me, and I stepped in front of her and backed toward the door, keeping her behind me, until we bumped up against the garage.

Mickey scraped a long wooden match against the calluses on his hand and held it up, the flame flickering.

I turned and jerked Peri up into my arms and ran around the garage. I heard the explosive puff of ignition behind us and then the roar of flames and felt a blast of heat blew by, and Peri screamed. I ran with every ounce of strength around the corner of the garage, screaming, too, screaming Vince’s name.

Chapter Forty-Two

Peri had liked the car. That was something. It was missing a pillow, but that was a problem I could do something about.

Liz? She hadn’t swooned in delight, but she hadn’t run for the hills either, just the bathroom, so the jury was still out. At least until Peri was done with the bathroom.

I turned toward Will and Patsy and shrugged. Patsy shook her head and headed back inside the office. Will tried a smile of encouragement.

And then I heard Liz scream my name. I looked for her just as she came running around the corner of the garage with Peri in her arms. “Mickey Pitts set the garage on fire!”

I ran to the Gladiator and jerked the fire extinguisher off its holder as Will ran for the garage bay and the extinguisher there, hitting a remote to open the bay doors. I ran by Liz and Peri, yelling at her to stay back, drawing my pistol with my free hand. I smelled the gas and smoke first. Then I saw the fire as I rounded the corner.

Above the sound of the burgeoning flames, I heard a dirt bike’s engine rev and spotted Mickey heading for the woods on the side of the big lot. I dropped the fire extinguisher and brought the forty-five to the ready. My finger was on the trigger. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the flames spreading along the back wall of the old garage.

I holstered the gun and picked up the fire extinguisher, pulled the pin and began spraying at the base of the wall. Seconds later, Will was at my side with a much larger, industrial one.

But the old garage was made of wood, dried out over the years. I knew we weren’t going to stop the flames.

Chapter Forty-Three

I put Peri in the new car since it was right there and the key was in the ignition. The engine cranked right up, purring, so much better than the old car. I drove it to the end of the lot, getting us far enough away to be safe. Peri was shaking, and when I stopped the car, she crawled into my arms and I held her. It was tight behind the steering wheel, but that wasn’t as important as the fact that she was terrified.

So was I.

“We’re okay,” I said into her ear. “We’re fine. I’ve got you. We’re safe.”

Vince wasn’t. I wanted to go back there and help, I wanted to make sure he was okay and not going after that son of a bitch, but he had Will with him and I could not leave Peri.

Dear God, I couldn’t leave Peri.

“That was a bad man,” Peri said, reverting to a much younger version of herself.

“Vince and Will are chasing him,” I told her. “They’re good men.”

“Yes,” Peri said, her voice still weepy. “Is the garage going to burn down?”

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